WOW!!!

Well, one of my dreams came true over the last month. I've wanted to ride my motorcycle to Alaska for a long time, and, I DID IT!!!!!!! Dave and I have planned this trip for a long time, and talked about it for even longer. With all the things that have happened over the last year to both of us, it is amazing that it still worked out, but it did.

We went from the start of the Alaskan Highway:
To the end where we had a little celebration:
To back home, where we finished it off with a beer:
After which, I got to put the last pins in my map. Pretty well filled in now.........
With the exception of the pin in Hawaii, Dave and I have traveled to all the others together on the two bikes you've seen in the pictures we've posted. What a feat!!!!! What fun!!!!!!

When I started riding again a few years ago, it didn't take me long to find someone who enjoyed riding the same that I did. It is really unusual to find another who rides the same style, doesn't whine (at least not often), who doesn't care where we stop, who likes to pick journeys and not destinations. Well, I've been blessed in finding that person. Despite our differing personalities, when it comes to riding and our core values, we don't have many issues on our trips. At least nothing that can't be resolved. So Dave, thanks for helping to make this a "trip of a lifetime"!!!!

For those of you who have been reading this, you know that it at times was almost overwhelming. The distances were so vast and the emptiness is almost impossible to comprehend if you haven't experienced it. It created a need to do whatever you had to to stay connected to your loved ones.

Meeting the people who travel the Alaskan Highway, and those who live along it, was a GREAT experience. They all had something in common, a sense of adventure, a sense of purpose, a knowing that there is something greater out there than they are, but yet a willingness to face it.

I listened to a lady talk to some young people one night, telling them how much she enjoyed listening to what they've been doing, how she would visit her kids to listen to them tell about the excitement in their lives. Sounded to me like she was trying to live vicariously through the lives of others. Folks, there is plenty of excitement out there for the taking. You don't have to sit back and listen to what someone else has done. All you have to do, is grab life and get a little of your own.

I've been asked where I'm going to ride now that I've filled my map in. Well, there still are a whole lot of places I haven't been. Rides that I need to take. Places I'd like to go back to (I'd ride back to Alaska in a heartbeat). Places I want to take Mary Jo to see. You see, it isn't in the places you go to, it is in the ride to get there. If you haven't learned anything else from the things Dave and I posted, you need to understand that. All the things we go through (including nice rides in tow trucks) are just part of the trip. Both the expected and the unexpected. It is what makes things interesting.

Ok, I've rambled on long enough. I sure hope all of you who have been reading this have enjoyed it. I've sure enjoyed doing it. And, just maybe, I've convinced someone else to take a "trip of a lifetime" to someplace. Doesn't really matter where, just do it!!!!!!

My thanks to my family and especially, Mary Jo, for letting me take this journey. For giving me the encouragement to do it (for the most part) even if they didn't understand why I needed to. With my family grown, doing well and starting families of their own, some may say this was a mid-life crisis thing for me. I don't think so. It was more the fact that there was a road I hadn't ridden that was calling my name. Well, it was quite a trip in answering that call. One I'll never forget and that I'll go back to in my mind for the rest of my life.

Go enjoy life. It only happens once.

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....................