After that many events in one day, we had to find something positive to report home about. We went to the North Pole. They even have a post office. I'll only share with Marlee my conversations I had with Santa while there. Stay believers!!!!

We stopped on our way back down from the Dalton Highway by a stream near the road. John commented that he had seen little wildlife. An eagle and a rabbit was his two sightings. I had seen nothing. John went down the hillside to check the stream. I stayed on bear watch. LOL John saw no fish in the stream. The water temperature was reported at a chilly 40 degrees. Some people stopped and advised us if you go up and down this road enough you will see a moose. Whatever.

Remember that John lead back to Fairbanks. Well that was until we stopped. He asked if I wanted to lead. Why not. We took off down the road only to be surprised shortly thereafter.

On a flat chip and tar part of the road I saw a female moose and her baby pop up on the right side. Not knowing what it might do and praying it would just stay right there, I proceeded at speed (going about 50 mph). Nope, not my luck. Up jumps mom to cross the road. The baby was right behind. I veered left and applied the brakes hoping I would stop in time. I heard the rear brake eventually lock up as mama moose galloped in front of me. She ran in a diagonal path across the road thankfully. She was kicking up rocks from the road as she went. I finally came to a halt upright just as her back legs passed in front of me. I could literally have reached out and touched her. The baby must have returned to the right side of the road.

John rode up to me with the biggest grin you have ever seen. There must have been 2 million flies around me from the moose. He said my skid mark on the ground was about as long as the skid mark in my pants. He was proud I had kept it upright. He was also proud he got to see a moose finally.

We moved up the road a little and pulled to the side so I could check my bike and my wits. People started stopping everywhere. They must recognize the scared biker moose face. We could see the mama moose up the hillside calling for the baby. You just have to look for something brown in my picture to know that was my moose.

FAILURE. Yep, it was a complete let down. The sign clearly says the road is unpaved from here forward. You see 18 wheelers and trucks flying up the road. My bike is clearly not built to ride that far north. It was like riding on some one's unpaved driveway. Miserable is not even close to what its like to constantly find a clear path. We weaved and dodged for 3 miles. John was leading so he stopped and asked me if I wanted to keep going. I had just come from the longest, fastest, windiest ride. Total heaven. Now this crap for another 40. I said no thanks, I'd rather turn around. So we went back to the Dalton sign to review our plans. We checked our mileage on this tank of gas and decided to ride back to Fairbanks on the road we had just come.

As I was riding back, I thought about what a let down this was for the day. Some things in life are not meant to be. The road back was just awesome.

On the way out, I lead the way. John saw something come off my bike and stopped me. After a thorough inspection, we saw nothing missing. When we got back to town we started talking about packing my bike differently. When John touched my luggage rack it nearly fell off. Two bolts had worked themselves loose and fell off. Off to Lowes we went to get that fixed. Hopefully, I will experience no more of that.

OK, it's the big day as we head to the Arctic Circle. We didn't get up particularly early, but we did fill the tanks before we left Fairbanks.

It was over 70 miles of the longest straight a ways followed by big climbs and long falls. It's very curvy, but in long slow grades. The sky is the purest form of blue. It's also the most abandoned road you could find. You get to see quite a bit of the Alaskan pipeline. Really wild stiff.

About two hours later, we arrived at the Dalton Highway sign. The road to the north that takes us to our destination.

Then..........

Well, well well. We found out exactly how many miles I can go on one tank of gas. It's exactly 223 miles. That was 43 miles after I switched to the reserve tank. As John would say, it's 8 miles before the gas station. Standing on the side of the road as bear bait, I enjoyed the vast wilderness. This part of Alaska had very few trees and lots of green space. The bugs found me, but they were just annoying and not biting. Thanks to Jessica at Chevron in Cantwell for the free half gallon of gas that got me to the gas station.

While there we met one of the characters of Alaska. John, a tattoo artist from New Hampshire, relayed to us his stories of trying to ride to Prudhomme Bay. Nice to get road condition report from him, but wow, let it go bro. He didn't make it and we kinda know why.

Since we didn't start till 1, we now had lost some precious time in getting to Fairbanks. We called and reserved our hostel accommodations. We got in about 10. It was very light out still. Weird. Every place, short of fast food, was closed by the time we unloaded and got back out.

Everyone at the hostel is from Europe. I fully expected that to be the case. The couple from Germany who has finished their bicycle ride from Venezuela to Prudhomme Bay had plenty of stories. I believe this trip took them 17 months to complete. We just don't do that stuff in America. By the way, these people met John too in his pursuit to make it all the way north. They also know hwy he didn't make it. I think one guy said he went by him on his BMW going at least 100 miles an hour. NICE!

Ready. Set. Go. I thought I had a ride from the hotel to the warehouse, but the hotel had a line of demarcation that was 1.5 miles short. Declining their offer to call a taxi, I walked to the Harley dealer and they gladly gave me a ride.

It was great to finally meet Joni and see my bike. They had put the windshield and mirrors on. More importantly, they had hooked up the battery. That saved me serious time. I assembled the parts of my luggage on the ground. The picture is the final product. I was pointed to the nearest gas station and away I went. I met John at the hotel where he was finalizing his packing. I only had to make some final adjustments to the mirrors at the hotel. We grabbed some quick lunch and away we went.

I would like to say the ride towards Fairbanks was anything than a road surrounded by really tall trees and mountains, but that would be a lie. The scene is quite breath taking, but the same all the way to Denali Park.

I left Seattle for Anchorage around 5:40 eastern time. I got to Anchorage about 8:50 eastern time. It's been one long day of airlines. Did you know the Alaskan Sports Hall of Fame is at the airport? I found that quite bizarre. The walls are covered with dog sledders, skiers, hockey players and two former Duke basketball players. Just another reason to hate Duke. The best plaque belonged to some high school kid who the cross country championship for his school. They compared his feat to something like the movie Hoosiers. Dude looked like he was in serious pain running.

The scenery here has lots of mountains in your view. The temps are low 60s with a slight breeze from the south. That doesn't mean a warm breeze up here since it's coming off the ocean. My lined leather jacket is looking better as a choice.

They talk about how far out the tide goes when it's low tide. I took a picture from the plane to give a little example of the change. It's pretty significant.

Today I left for Anchorage. I really appreciate that you have to get to the airport two hours early to sit for an hour and half waiting for my flight. I asked a total stranger to take my picture for the blog. It's amazing that some people still believe you when you ask. Yeah, I'm still out their promoting Ray's business. If it's free, I'll wear it.

I first flew 5 hours to Seattle. Delta provided us with no sandwiches and no movie. They actually encouraged you to buy food for the flight from the vendors at the airport.

I had my first small world experience on the flight. I sat next to an elderly woman from Michigan. She kept looking at my book written by Stieg Larrson. She told me she had read it and was now on the second novel. When I got to Seattle, I met an elderly couple from Wisconsin and they were reading the same book. Who knew that when I bought that book at Sams that everyone around the globe is reading it.

The view as you fly over the mountains is pretty spectacular. I stared at the the mountains and didn't take any pictures. I reminded myself to just take them and worry about what I take later.

I talked to my shipper while on the ground in Seattle. I get my bike tomorrow at 9:30. John gets to go to Harley at 9:00. We hope to meet up and get on the road by 11:30.

WOW!!!! It's been a fast week finishing up the last details for the trip. I got the confirmation Friday that my crate had arrived at the storage facility in Anchorage. They said they are going to open it up before I get there. I asked if they could send me some pictures. Not much to do now, but ride it back now. We are down to just four more days before this whole thing begins.

I got a package yesterday from my college roommate. He sent me a really nice pair of riding glasses. Hey Kummy, look at the pictures I post in the future because I will definitely be wearing them. Thanks a bunch!!

I finally ordered my final items for the trip. I needed a second pair of gloves, a tank bag, highway pegs and clear glasses. With these items, I'm left with only needing a camera and possibly a video camera. I just don't want to miss on out on the beautiful scenery I believe we will be seeing.

My bike has arrived and passed through the Port of Tacoma and heading to the Port of Anchorage. My bike being there on Friday is comforting. Losing my bike for three weeks is not comforting. I think the people from the shipping company also can't wait to meet someone who would ship their bike to Alaska to ride it back. I'm starting to get a feeling of the enormity of this ride.

John and I finalized some plans for where we will be staying the first couple days. We are going as cheap as possible. Hostels seem to be readily available up north so we are going to try them out. Each one has wifi, water, etc. The weather forecasts for next week appear to be pretty good.

On July 13, I decided it was time to get a hotel room for the first night we will be in Anchorage. I have been on this task for three months. The hotels are not cheap there. The cheap ones have horrible ratings. All reviews say to spend a little more money or you will be sorry. I couldn't get Joni to give me any recommendations on a hotel choice. John got the local Harley dealer to recommend Holiday Inn Express. How about $209 with my AAA discount? I knew it was going to be up there, but that goes to show you what a room runs up there. I think John was in a little shock since we plan to use either hostels or camping grounds throughout most of the trip. He followed up with Holiday Inn to see if his H.O.G. membership got use a better rate. Damn if it didn't. Why would anyone give a Harley rider a better rate than a AAA member? Life is full of conundrums.

We are going to visit the Sign Forest at Watson Lake YT. If you don't know what this is, check out this website. John thought it would be a good idea to get a Hidden Valley license plate to hang at this site. I procrastinated until today to ask Bruce, the HVL POA manager, for a free plate to put up. Bruce couldn't have more responsive and as energetic as we are to put up our plate. A big thanks goes out to Bruce. Look forward to that picture also.

The first mad rush of adrenaline came at the beginning of July. I decide to use Custom Built Crates from Milford to crate and coordinate the pickup of my bike. I conveyed the address to Joni. She told me she would need my bike right after the July 4 holiday. Now the problem was that I didn't take my bike to Honda until the Saturday before the holiday. I now had to get my bike tuned up, packed and crated before July 9. Luckily in my line of work, I understand what the goal is and just put my head down to get it accomplished.

I started packing my bag on Tuesday July 5. I hadn't tried to put my gear on my bike yet. I had visualized it quite a bit since reading the book provided by my brother. I know the one tip I appreciated was to buy two and half gallon zip lock bags. You can pack different things in each bag. You separate out your clothes for an easy reach each day. Luckily, all my clothes fit in the bag John had let me borrow.

Honda got right on my bike and I had it back July 7. They asked me to scruff the tires before I crated the bike. I rode around a bit before heading home to pack my bike. I put all y gear on in my garage. Having assessed it's security, I took a ride around the neighborhood. All seemed to be in place.

I took off for Milford to drop off my bike on July 8. The first thing I noticed was that at 70 mph my bag on my passenger seat didn't want to stay in place. It's really quite concerning as you ride along pushing it back into place. Having gone 50 plus miles with everything still attached, I dropped my bike with Eric at Custom Built Crates. Their customer service is A+. This was not their first rodeo and you can tell. Eric assessed my bike for the height of my crate. He gauged the equipment I had brought. I advised him to take off my removable windshield and mirrors. With that evaluation over, I left my bike in his hands to get it ready for its trip. A full 20 days before I arrive I have had to release my bike for the days ahead.

R and L carriers came and picked up my bike. I asked Joni how many times she thought my bike might get docked between now and its arrival in Anchorage. We are guessing it won't be more than five or six times. That's just five or six times someone with a fork lift can shake my crate and attempt to move my bike. You have no control over this fact. You got to trust your craters that your equipment is in tight. You also have to trust your shipper that she picked a reliable carrier. I hope for a success story when I get to Anchorage.

It's now June, John is asking me where I might want to stop. Really, I have no clue. I had thrown out the idea of going to the Artic Circle since we are going to be so close. John purchased a GPS system to map the trip and made a calculation that we could get this accomplished while we are up there. Prepare yourself for my picture in front of the much noted sign welcoming you there.

I had discussed with Western Hills Honda that I would need there help in assessing my bike before I left for my trip. Greg, their service manager, couldn't have been more helpful. His only request was that I try to get it to him as soon as possible around the first of July.

I began to ride my bike more in June to get in some seat time. I tried to ride my bike at every opportunity. The one thing I couldn't fit in was the long ride. I could ride around for two hours at a time, but not four of those rides in a day. I know I'm in for a bit of trouble here, but when you're 4000 miles from home, you can't be crying about that.

I'm also getting some tips from other riders about riding in altitude and long distances. I got a book from my brother, Greg, about biking and camping. It had plenty of tips on packing your bike and other issues you run into while camping.

I decided now was a great time to break it out and see if it works. My sleeping was very warm and comfortable. The auto inflating air mattress looks like it's going to be well worth the investment. My two person tent assembled easily. Knowing that I can get that stuff up relieved me of some stress. Marlee seemed to enjoy my sleeping bag.

My next actions came in May. It was time to get that passport issue resolved. I have to admit the process is ridiculously easy. At the clerk's office across the street from the Hamilton County Courthouse, they took care of the whole thing. You only need a birth certificate, the application, two pictures and some cash. Three weeks later, I had that process completed.

I began to get together other paperwork like my bike registration and insurance card. I had purchased my flight on Delta in May.

In December, I began to do some exercising. I just wanted to do some core work to offset the vast amount of sitting I was going to do this summer. I stopped drinking soft drinks in January. Removing that one item from my diet allowed me to lose five pounds. It almost makes you wonder what you're doing by drinking the stuff anyway. I continued my exercising through March.

January began my search for items I would need for my trip. I tried to find some luggage to fit my bike. Instead of spending money on luggage, I borrowed a bag from John to sit on my rear seat. I purchased my sissy bar and luggage rack to hang more stuff on my bike. I thought about saddle bags, but I couldn't justify the cost in the grand scheme of things.

I had to buy a sleeping bag, air mattress and tent. I can't emphasize more that knowing someone who has experience in this area couldn't be more valuable. I fortunately met someone who had vast experience in this area. We traded emails from various web sites for the purchase of these three items. His choices wound up being right on point.

October 2009

John Gehlenborg is the President of the Hidden Valley Riders Bike Club. I joined the club in 2009. John presented the opportunity to all of the club to join him on a ride back from Anchorage, Alaska in August, 2010. John is buying his bike from the Anchorage Harley dealer. He has been working on this plan for at least two years.

I bought my Honda VTX1300R in 2009. I put on over 4000 miles in 2009. I passed along the opportunity to my family. We discussed how this could be a once in a lifetime experience. The trip would involve my being away from work for two consecutive weeks for the first time in my career. It also involved making sure I would be back in time for my daughter, Marlee's birthday. With all issues cleared, I assured John I would be going with him on the trip.

My participation in the trip would involve crating and shipping my bike to Anchorage. In talking to the Anchorage Harley dealer, they recommended using the business of Classic Motion in Anchorage. Joni from Classic Motion has been very helpful in getting various quotes and options in order to get my bike to Alaska. She has been in contact with me at various times over the last 9 months coordinating the shipping of my bike.

John has done all of the planning for the mileage and highways to be traveled on a daily basis. He also purchased The Milepost, an essential book for traveling back from Alaska.