Home!!!!!

Another GREAT trip!!!!!!!!!!! We made it home!!!!!!!
That's all for now. Will wrap it up later................

Texas!!!!!!

After 14 states, 4 Canadian Provinces, 2 Canadian Territories, over 9,000 miles, and too many stories to mention, we finally got our welcome home sign!!
We left Rawlings, Wy. around 6:30 this morning. Got into Amarillo about 8. 685 of some of the most boring miles we've ridden in a while. 460 of them were interstate, while the rest were on 87/287 coming out of Raton, NM. Really great scenery!!!!! That is why there aren't any pictures posted. Coming through Colorado, which should have been at least something to look at, the haze covered everything. Couldn't even get a glimpse of Pike's Peak. What a bummer.

We hit the Texas border around 6, thought about just riding the rest of the way home to surprise everyone (for about 10 seconds), decided that was a bad idea and headed for Amarillo. Should make for a fairly easy day tomorrow, about 450 miles. Trying to get Dave convinced that we need to leave at 5:30 in the morning so we can beat the heat. Don't know yet how that is going to work out. But, we'll be home in pretty decent time tomorrow. Didn't think I would ever say this, but I'm ready to be home. Usually, we only take a week trip and we're never ready for it to be over. This time, after a month on the bike, 10,000 miles when we get home, I'm ready to stop. Missing loved ones (that's you dear), tired, hot (now we are back in Texas) and just ready to relax knowing I don't have to get up in the morning early and crawl back on the bike. I'm probably dumb enough to eventually do something like this again, but not for a little while.

Won't be a post tomorrow (other things to do when I get home), but like I said yesterday, I'll try to put a wrap up on this over the weekend. Depends on how rested I get...... :-)

It has been a really great trip. Once we hit the drive, it will be a successful one (defined by making it home on the bikes). Probably have a beer from Harley's House to celebrate. Dave asked today if there was beer there, and I asked him when he'd ever been there and there wasn't.......... So, sometime tomorrow afternoon, we'll have a cold one just to say thanks for a great trip and safe one!!!!!!!!!!

Ok, off to see if I can convince Dave to leave early, then to bed...............

Wish us well on the last 400+ miles....................

Closer to Home

Sorry there was no post yesterday. Wasn't much to say. Spent most of the day waiting at the Harley shop for the bike to get well. Then, the ride was all interstate, so no pictures. I just wasn't in the mood to take pictures and you didn't miss much. Missoula to Dillon, Mt. doesn't have much to see. Plus, everything is hazy. You'll see that in some of the pictures to follow. Not a cloud in the sky, but everything is covered in haze. It seems it is all caused by the fires in California..............

The ride from Dillon over to Jackson Hole had some really scenic things. Like all the potato fields........
Here is a shot from Teton Pass down into Jackson. You can't see the town because of the haze. At least it doesn't show up in the pictures...
Here is a shot of the Grand Tetons. This is usually a GREAT picture. But, again, the Californians had to share their smoke with the rest of us......
After we left the Grand Teton National Park and headed southeast on route 287 (yep, the same 287 that goes through Ft. Worth), the scenery got really good. Here is a GREAT shot of what we got to watch for over 200 miles:
This shot didn't come out as well as I hoped. If you zoom in, look to the left of Dave's head, just above his bags. That gray thing is his ponytail. We were running about 75 mph and his hair was blowing straight out to the side. The flag on the back of my back was doing the same thing. We estimated the cross wind at between 45 and 55 mph. The bike was leaning at about 80 degrees just to keep it going straight.
We'd planned on making more than the 500+ miles we made today, but after fighting the wind for a couple of hundred miles, we decided it would be more fun to have a cold beer. So, we stopped in Rawlings, Wy. It is about 1,100 miles from here to home. Should be there in a couple of days unless we run into bad weather. Sure hope we miss it all....... From here to home, it won't be too exciting. All interstate from here to Raton, N.M., then 287 towards Dallas. Oh boy. Love that route.............. But, we'll try to post tomorrow night just to let everyone know where we are. May not post the day I get home. Have other things in mind that might keep me busy for a while, but I'll try to put together a wrap up post. Dave and I were talking tonight about all the stories this trip has generated. It will be a while remembering them all...................

What a Day!!!!!

Dave and I got a chance to ride one of our re-do rides today. It is rte 12 (the Lewis and Clark Trail) across Idaho from Lewiston to Missoula, Mt. It is a great ride. Follows the river all the way through the canyon with lots of twists and turns.
See how the river bends. The road runs right beside it.
Here is the sign at the entrance to biker heaven. There are some roads that should only be open to biker traffic, and this is one of them.
Why is it that when you are really having a GREAT time, something always seems to happen to change it? The black thing hanging from my bike is the drive belt. When it looks like that, it is a really bad thing!!!! Means it won't go anywhere.
Here is what it looks like when a tow truck is waiting on your bike. Only other time this bike has been on a truck/trailer is when I wrecked it a few years ago. It is NOT a good feeling!!!!!!
Tow truck hauled me and the bike into Missoula to the Harley shop. Luckily, they are open tomorrow and should be able to get it fixed and us back on the road. This was a 157 mile ride in the tow truck. Over the years, I've come to be pretty familiar with my shortcomings. I work on them and have better luck with some than others. After spending 3 hours in the cab of this tow truck with Gomer, I realize that I REALLY need to work on my patience. 157 miles at 35-45 mph seems to take forever. All I could do was watch the scenery and other bikes pass us by. I tried to have a conversation with the driver. It went something like this:

Mike: (after passing several fishermen in the river) The fishing pretty good around here?

Driver: Must be. See lots of fishermen. Don't know myself, don't fish.

After about 30 minutes I tried again:

Mike: You know, it sure is a better trip on this road on my bike than it is in your truck cab.

Driver: Wouldn't know. Never been on a motorbike.

That pretty much covers all the conversation for over 3 hours. I know, keep working on the patience thing..........

There were still people at the Harley shop (even tho they were closed for the night), so we were able to push the bike inside instead of having to leave it out. That was a good thing, since it meant I didn't have to unpack everything off it. All I had to do was take what I needed. Hotel right across the street that gave us a 15% discount since we were broke down. Really nice of them. The Wingate by Wyndham. Bad part is they don't have any beer, which would REALLY taste good right now.

Well, my dinner should be delivered here soon. Going to eat it, watch a little TV and go to sleep until the shop opens in the morning. Hopefully, we'll be on the road a little after noon. Not sure how this will affect our plans. Just have to play it by ear.

Stay tuned for the next episode...............

Back In the USA

Well, we found another road to add to our re-do list today. Rte 6 through southern B.C. is a definite come back and do it again. There were places in it that were as challenging as the ride we took on the Dragon (motorcycle riders know where that is). Only difference is the Dragon is 12 miles and this was almost 200 miles long. It was great!!!!!!! Twisties, scenery, critters, little towns. A whole lot of fun!!!!!!!
Even had a place in the middle where the road just ended. Had to get on the ferry to cross the river, or we would have made a really big splash, as the bikes (and Dave) don't float very well.
Then, back to the twisties.
This is the sign we've been waiting on for quite a few days. It is always good to see it during a trip. Means you are back home!!!!!
Had a little excitement at the border. Seems they wanted to search the bikes. Had to unload everything. Caused me just a little worry, but they didn't search really thorough. It was more to see our reactions as they checked each bag to decide if they REALLY needed to look through things. Finally told us it was okay to repack. A whole lotta fun!!!!!!

This sign has been a lot of fun for us.
Seems like they had just chip sealed the road and there was some loose gravel on it. We exercised so much caution, you wouldn't believe it. We kept the speed down to around 70. After some of the roads we've been on, this was a piece of cake!!!!! Loose gravel? Just hang on a little tighter!!!!!

Speaking of keeping the speed down to 70, after we crossed the border into Washington, the speed limit was 55. I had the cruise set on 70 (see above). We were meeting some traffic and the lead vehicle suddenly had all kinds of brightly lit flashing lights on it. I throttled down and started looking for a place to pull over, as there was no doubt he had us. Just before we came even, he turned all the pretty lights off, and as he passed us, he shook his finger at us. Really nice officer!!!!!!!!

Had a really tough time finding a place to stay. Friday night (read weekend start), recreation area, and a big Indian Tribal gathering makes for a lack of rooms. Finally got one. Not a lot of fun, as the traffic was heavy, the temps were high and my Harley gets really warm on the inside of my legs when you spend two or three light changes just to move up a block and do it again. Took 3 or 4 really cold beers to get them cooled off.

But, the best thing was they had a laundry where we found a room and my laundry is DONE!!!! Means I'll get to put on clean undies in the morning. It was starting to get tense.........

We are staying within 90 miles or so from where we made it home in 2 1/2 days a few years ago. This time, we plan on taking 5 or 6 days to do it. Depending on the weather (where the rain is) and how we feel about wondering around for a while, we should be home mid next week. We'll see how it goes.

Ok, off to bed so I can drag this old body out in the morning and climb back on the beast.....

Prince George, B.C. to Vernon, B.C.

Started off cool this morning, but not bad. Still having blue skys. Put on chaps and coat. Shed the coat early afternoon. Really wish the chaps had come off. By the time we stopped for the night, it was almost 90. Way too warm for chaps.......

Rode through some very interesting terrain today. Started off the morning with everything green and lush. This is what we saw first:
Within a 100 miles or so, it started to change to this:
Then this which reminded me of riding through some of the southwest:
Then, back to this:
The vegetation literally changed as you went around a curve. It was pretty amazing!!!!!!

Stopped in a little pub just outside of Vernon for a cold beer to help us cool down. I tried to talk them out of the pool light, but we couldn't figure out how to get it loaded on the bike for the trip home. I thought it would look good hanging on my deck:
Should be "back in the USA" tomorrow. Isn't there a song about that? If not, maybe I should write one........... It will be good to be back. We've ridden a little over 7,200 miles so far and all but about 1,200 of those are north of the Canada/US border. Really hard for me to comprehend. It is getting time to be back in the States.

Dave and I were talking after dinner tonight. We decided that this would have been a much easier trip at 19, or even 45. Or, if you get right down to it, at 50. We are both getting a little sore and stiff. Old bodies just don't seem to handle this as well anymore. Maybe if I'd worked a little to get in shape before we took off, it would have helped. Note to self: next time, be in better shape. Think I'll remember that??????

Dave is really glad it is heating up. Not me, so much. It would have been nice to have a few days in the 70's instead of going right from 40 to 90 and then even warmer as we get closer to home. Oh well, at least there is no rain in sight. By the time I get home, I might be wishing for it to rain on me just to cool me down!!!!!!

Th th that's all folks....................

Day 2 of Sunshine!!!!

We woke up to another day of sunshine!!!!! What a nice deal. It has been really enjoyable the last couple of days to be able to see things. We even took our jackets off this afternoon. Riding in shirt sleeves for the first time in 2 1/2 weeks.

Here is a shot of the glacier that was hanging over our hotel last night. I can't believe all the glaciers we've been seeing. With all the news about global warming, I didn't think we would see any!!!!
Notice how the road just keeps on going? Are you starting to catch a theme here?
No, this isn't the same shot a couple of seconds later!!!
After we turned off the Cassiar Highway onto route 16, we had to start dealing with something we haven't had for 2 weeks, traffic. 16 is a pretty major east/west route up here. Truck, RV and car traffic was really heavy all afternoon. Scenery isn't as nice either. Saw a lot of this:
Not much more to tell for today. At least Dave was able to get a couple of pictures to post. :-)

Headed more south in the morning. Depending on how the day and traffic goes, we will either spend tomorrow night or Friday night back in the States. I think I'm ready............

Sunshine!!!!!

WOW!!!!!! What a change!!!!! Woke up this morning to this color and brightness to the sky that I really wasn't sure what it was. Found out after asking a couple of people that it was the sun and blue sky!!!!! A really nice change. So nice, we started off with light gloves on. It only took about 25 miles before I stopped. Dave asked why and I told him it was time to put the winter gloves back on. He agreed!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are some of the sites we saw. Not sure if it is any prettier down the Cassiar than where we've been, but at least you could see it and have blue sky in the background.



Here is a shot of Bear Glacier just outside of Stewart BC. It is pretty amazing.
We were supposed to do laundry tonight, but Dave decided it would be a good idea to ride to Hyder Alaska. The population is about 15, right across the border from where we are staying. When you cross into Hyder, there is no American Customs/Immigration. When you come back, of course there is Canadian Customs. I'll have more to say about Canadian Customs/Immigration after we leave Canada......

If you go to Hyder, you have to get Hyderized. This involves drinking a 1 ounce shot of some type of liquor that you can't taste first, smell or anything else. You have to drink it all down. So of course being the brave travelers we are, we decided we really needed to do it. Well, we have the card and bumper sticker saying we have now been Hyderized. See below:
The bar is pretty neat. It has money on the walls from all over. It started in 1956 and they have over $75,000 stapled to the walls. You just know that Dave and I put some up!!!!!

They even have girls dancing on the bar!!!!!!!!
Since we got Hyderized, of course the laundry went by the wayside. Guess we will need to do that some other night (soon!!!!).

Dave had to hurry tonight since I told him he couldn't eat until he was done with his blog. He wanted the Alaskan King Crab Legs really bad. So, while he finishes them, I am updating mine.

Guess I better start repacking what I had taken off the bike in my mistaken idea of doing laundry tonight. Oh well, such is life on the road...................

Cassiar Highway

Who is that masked man????? This is pretty typical biker attire that we are seeing up here. Talking to the locals, they are all pretty upset that they aren't having any sun. Every day has been cloudy with at least some rain. Getting tired of clouds and rain. Would really like to see this country in the sunshine!!!!!
Here are a couple of shots once we got on the Cassiar Highway. It was 147 miles from the Alaskan Highway to Deese Lake where we are staying tonightl


Went through Jade City. I didn't realize until we got up here that 75% of the jade mined in the world comes from right here. That is pretty amazing when you think about it. Think of the people throughout the world that use jade in their worship.

The road wasn't too bad. We've been told that it was horrible, not bad, and everything in between. The first 12-15 miles was pretty rough. Then, most of it was okay until the last 20 miles before Deese Lake. We had 16-17 miles of dirt (or mud as the case may be). Takes awhile to travel 16 miles when you are only going 25-35. Everytime we tried to go faster, it either got slick or potholes appeared.

We've added gas cans to the bikes. Decided there might be a couple of places where we might not be able to get gas. On the ride down, I hit a pretty good bump, heard a noise and looked in the mirror in time to see my gas can go sliding down the road. It had bounced loose. Dave avoided it, stopped and picked it up. I went back, put it back on the bike and fastened it a little better. Good thing it was a plastic can and not metal or the sparks might have started a nice little fire.

Plan on making an easy day tomorrow to Stewart, doing laundry again and checking out the town. It is on the British Colombia side and Hyder, Alaska is right across the border from it for those of you checking maps.

Better get off. Dave is ready to do his. He had trouble with the connection he was using last night, so really wants to get something good posted tonight.

Tok to Whitehorse

Today was the coldest day of the trip by far. I know this because Dave told me when we went out this morning to load the bikes. He told me again after riding a block to breakfast. He continued to tell me (and anybody else who would listen) at every stop the rest of the day. Now I hate to use the "W" word. But, I guess I really need to. Not mentioning any names, there was a whole LOT of whining going on about the cold. When I finally told him he was whining, he corrected me. Told me he wasn't whining, he was COMPLAINING!!!!!!!!

Doesn't he look like a happy camper?
We actually had more sunshine today than we've had in the last week and a half.
Beautiful mountain views with the sun shining off them. I think the road conditions from Tok to Haines Jct. got worse in the week between us traveling them. Take dirt and gravel, mix well, soak with a week's worth of rain, make either potholes or smooth (like glass) surface (at the discretion of the construction crews) and it makes for interesting riding conditions. With the potholes, fill them with water. Then, you don't know if they are 1/2 inch deep or 1 1/2 feet deep. Sure is hard on the kidneys.......

I think the view coming back south is even better than going north. Either that or it just looked better because we could see more.

Saw our first grizzly today. He was about 20 feet off the road. This picture was taken from the other side of the road. He was a BIG boy!!!!!! Didn't really want to get too close or take too much time trying to get him to pose. I was afraid we would have a really close up shot of him.........
The plan tomorrow is to head almost to Watson Lake. There, we catch 37 heading south. Heading south is making Dave REALLY happy. He is really looking forward to the warmer weather. But, once we head south, it will seem more like we are on our way home. As much as I am missing everyone, this trip has been so good I hate for it to end. Once we head south, the end will be in sight and I don't like that. Oh well, all good things must come to an end.

Hopefully, we will continue to have internet access once we hit the Cassiar Highway. It isn't as heavily traveled as the Alcan, so we don't know what to expect. We will keep updating whenever we can get access.

More tomorrow (or the next day)......... Time for me to get some sleep..............

Valdez North

Well, we rode more miles today than we have the last several days. Made it all the way from Valdez to Tok. As bad as I hate to say it, we are officially at our turn-around point. So, when we start in the morning, we will be on our way home. Just not sure all the routes we are going to use going home.

Here is a shot leaving Valdez:

Just one picture of some of the waterfalls we saw going through Keystone Canyon. I can't even begin to tell you how many we saw.
Here is a shot of Worthington Glacier. We stopped at the state park and were able to get some close up shots of it. You can just barely see the blue tinge in the picture. The overcast day wiped out the contrasting colors, but the blue was really bright when you see it in person.

The silver thing you see is the Alaskan pipeline. It was running pretty close to the road in this shot. Got to follow it for a few miles. Pretty impressive. Really big!!!!!
We made it to Tok and were trying to decide if we wanted to continue or not. It had been cold (really cold) all day with scattered rain off and on. Got pretty windy at times which made the rain and cold even better. Only about 90 miles from the Canadian border. But, we have to traverse the 47 miles of the same nasty construction we went through coming up. Talked to some people who had just come through it and were told it was raining pretty hard and the construction was a mess. So, like good little boys, we decided to spend the night here and hope it isn't raining in the morning.

When we were looking for a room tonight, one of the things we look for is WiFi access. Well, we stopped at a motel, checked rates (cheapest we've paid for a while) and saw a sign saying they had wifi. So we took it. Decent rooms. Now for the interesting part. I went to access the internet and got a screen from Alaska Power and Light telling me I needed to set up an account. Called the office and they brought down a brochure telling me how to do this. There is a fee for the use of it. For the first time in 2 weeks, staying in places every night, this is the first time I've heard of having to pay for access. The lady from the motel is computer illiterate. According to her, all motels in Tok have the same deal. But, looking in the milepost, there are places here that offer free internet. I think she doesn't have a clue. Oh well, it isn't that high, it is just the principle of it.

Since we are limited on what we can do based on what I subscribed to, I need to get off so Dave can do his. I am still fuming over this.

Alaska Marine Highway

Our morning was pretty boring. We hung out in Whittaker, which is a pretty dumpy little town. Started out as an Army base during WWII, and seems to have just gone downhill since then. The view out our room window was of the town dump/scrapyard. Got to listen to the workers breaking up an old metal container for most of the morning. It was raining pretty good, so we couldn't really go anywhere. Watched old movies on 1 of the 4 or 5 TV stations in the room.

At 1:45, we headed for the Alaskan Marine Highway terminal (in other words, the ferry system). We went from Whittaker over to Valdez. Left at 2:34 and arrived at 8:30. Pretty good ways traveling at 14 knots. Probably took more pictures during the trip than at any other time. Went from really cloudy/foggy to starting to clear off as we neared Valdez.

A pretty typical shot:

We even got to see a couple of whales. Look to the right side of the picture and you can see one venting. I just about missed it.......
The blue junk in the foreground is an iceburg. Pretty good sized just floating out there by itself. Broke off one of the glaciers that dominate the area.
Here is a shot as we were nearing Valdez. Starting to clear off a little.

During the trip, we saw porpoises, sea lions, whales, eagles, sheep and some seals. It was unbelievable!! What a way to finish the day. Valdez is 180 degrees different from Whittaker. Saw the oil terminus. Huge holding tanks for the oil coming down from the North Slope. We will probably get some pretty good shots of the pipeline tomorrow if it isn't raining too hard.

Tomorrow we start our way back to the Alaskan Highway. Once we reach it at Tok, we will officially be working our way back home. Still not sure of the exact route yet, but we know we will take the Alaskan Highway back to Watson Lake. There, we will start south on the Cassiar Highway (route 37) through British Colombia.

After what we saw today, it will be really hard to leave here. It is so beautiful. Been meeting all kinds of people (still/again, whatever) with different stories about why they came up here. Some stay, some don't, but they all have something in common. A sense of adventure.

Well, it is 11:45, the darkness is finally starting to show up, I'm tired, so I guess I'll finish this and go to bed.