Run to Deadhorse

I made it to Mica Guides today, which is in Glacier View, AK and where my friend Don is who owns the guide service that takes climbers out on the glacier where I took pictures in 2010. I came straight here without going to Fairbanks because I thought I had already blown my timeline for getting my Iron Butt certification--you have to go from Key West to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) in 30 days. Well I left DC on May 29th and mistakenly assumed I'd blown it already. But I didn't leave Key West until June 3rd. So I have until July 3rd to get to Deadhorse, which is about 24 hours of riding from here, or 825 miles. I've come this far so I'm going to go for it and leave tomorrow morning. The Dalton Highway which leads to Deadhorse is mostly dirt and gravel. I'd be better off on a dual-sport bike rather than my street one, or at least have better tires for dirt, but I'm going to try anyway. I may not make it, but I won't know until I get up there.

Glacier View (A) to Deadhorse (B): 825 miles

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Back in the USA

I crossed the border into AK earlier this morning. I'm at a cafe with internet access right now drinking coffee. I may even make my destination of Palmer today. The weather is still crappy, but not like it is back in VA from what I hear.

Toad River to Whitehorse

I camped last night and it rained. The rain stopped long enough this morning for me to break camp, and then it started raining again. According to weather reports, it looks like I'll be facing rain the rest of the trip. It's kind of cold, too--maybe 50 degrees.

I went to the Yamaha dealer in Whitehorse to sort out my battery issues. I had them test my battery and it checked out fine, leaving me feeling like a bit of a dumbass. I thought the battery should be able to power my lights for more than 10 minutes (ok it may have been more like 30 minutes), but according to the service tech that could easily drain the battery. So that's good news.

Outside the Yamaha place there were a couple of BMW guys changing their tires from dirt to street. We talked for a bit and then a couple of guys rode up on Yamaha Teneres, which is Yamaha's new dual-sport. We had a mini rally in the parking lot talking bikes and weather and road conditions. I'm thinking my next bike might be a Yamah Tenere.

No Cars

Dawson Creek, BC

The last couple of days since leaving Castlegar have been pretty low key. Although the drive to Banff and Jasper was awesome, it was cloudy and rainy so I didn't get to really experience the parks the way I wanted to, and I didn't want to wait for the sun so I kept going. Also, there were traffic jams even in these parks. I camped out again and really enjoyed it--it was in the Pocahontas forest outside of Jasper, which by the way was a super cool, laid back town.

Pocahontas Campsite

Banff to Jasper

Leaving Pocahontas

In addition to the elk, I saw a momma bear and her cub and later on a moose. I didn't stop to take pictures.

Yesterday I made it to Dawson Creek, which is the beginning of the Alaskan Highway. For whatever reason, yesterday was the first time I've actually felt road weary, where the miles were going by slowly and I wasn't really enjoying the ride. I think the main reason is that the scenery has changed from mountains and twisty roads to flat and straight and windy, and also I'm not hanging out with anyone from here on.

At the end of a 6-hour or so day, I was cranky and just got a hotel. Everything was bugging me, and I just wanted to take a shower and a nap after camping the previous night. Well, while I was checking in I had left the light on the bike on. When I came out to unpack, I discovered it wouldn't start--just what I freakin' needed. So instead of a shower and a nap I had to track down a place to charge the battery, and then try to find a place to buy a new one.

In the course of this seriously annoying quest I encountered the nicest people on earth next to Mormons--the Canadians. I walked, with my battery, to a nearby muffler shop to see if they had a charger. They were happy to help me, and in fact gave me a ride back to the motorcycle, waited for me to reinstall the battery, and then gave me a jump just to make sure it started. He said if I needed anything else, anytime, I knew where they were.

With the bike running again, I started out to all the snowmobile dealers to find a new battery, with no luck. But, everyone was bending over backwards to help, including customers in line behind me. They were recommending places to check, calling other places in nearby towns to see if one was in stock, and in general people were actually eager to help me. What the hell? It was so foreign to me to be the object of so much friendliness and trust and care from strangers that it made me uncomfortable. So I went back to the hotel and took a shower and a nap. I think I also ate a couple candy bars.

As for the battery, now that it's charged I can start the bike no problem, as long as I don't leave the lights on. I still need a new one though, because 10 minutes with the lights on shouldn't have drained it. I'm going to try to find one in the next town, Fort St. John. Towns are getting smaller and smaller and further apart as I head north and west, so I want everything to be whole.

Sportsmobile's Daddy

I want.

Tomorrow's Ride

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I didn't make it all that far today; about 6 hours from Castlegar. I wound up in Golden, BC, just outside of Banff because I was tired and hotels are cheaper outside the park. Tomorrow I'm going to try to see Banff and Jasper then head out of the park to Hinton--should be about 7 hours. Someone suggested I head to AK via Hinton rather than the more typical route through Prince George, so I'm going to give that a try.

Today's ride was pretty cool though. Rain gave way to sun not to long after departing Castlegar, and I got to practice my wet road handling skills. Had to take a ferry which is always kind of fun.

Castlegar, BC

Today is the last day of the North American FJR Owners rally I attended in Castlegar, BC. And it's raining cats and dogs. That's not a huge problem really, as I have rain gear, but it's going to mess up the scenery. Plus I have to go over a pass in the mountains and there's been reports of hail. But anyway, I had a great time at the rally meeting other FJR owners and going on local rides in this magnificent region.

Jealous of this Guy, Lots of Gadgets

 FJRs at the NAFO 2012 Rally

Rain on Departure Day 

Today I'm headed for Banff and the Canadian Rockies, which are supposed to be spectacular. Hopefully over there it's not raining, but I'll check the weather map to see. I'll wait for the sun if I have to in order to see this area in all it's glory.

Glacier National Park, MT

Once again, the national park was a mixed bag. Stunning scenery marred somewhat by traffic jams. I took the Going to the Sun road from west to east, and was not disappointed with the landscape. I even got to see some big horn sheep up close:

Through the FJR Owners forum, I had arranged to meet up with Bob and Janet and ride with them the rest of the way to Castlegar. We took Going to the Sun road, this time east to west, then backroads the rest of the way. Every bit of the ride was amazing, with the weather being perfect, the roads curvy, the scenery mountains and rivers.

Bob and Janet

Escape From Yellowstone

I'm really ambivalent about national parks. Sure, they're beautiful and all, but they feel more like a museum than actual nature. There are just too many people, too many cars and RVs. Now, the people are friendly (a nice couple helped me pick a backroads route to Glacier), there's just too many of them. I've seen equally magnificent scenery just riding back roads through the mountains, and there were almost no cars. Anyway, I went to one location, the Yellowstone Canyon, and after finding a parking place and staring at the falls for a minute with a crowd, I decided to get the hell out of there. The experience made me question my decision to go to Glacier NP if it was going to be as crowded as this. However I've decided to go to Glacier anyway, primarily to ride the Going to the Sun highway, an legendary road twisting through the park.

Yellowstone to Boulder, MT

I'd never been to MT before, so was excited to take 287 towards Glacier NP. The weather was great and the road and scenery were amazing--mountains, rivers and valleys, and as they say, a big sky. Toward the end of the day I was trying to figure out where I'd stay when I passed a sign that said Boulder Hot Springs Inn. I slammed on the brakes and headed there. It was a creepy old retreat center with like one car in the lot, but I didn't care, I wanted to soak in the hot springs. I went in to the office and a nice hippie woman told me all about the springs and I booked a guest room there. I went up to my room, which was decorated like a grandmother's house, but comfortable otherwise. I changed into my bathing suit and enjoyed a hot soak in the outdoor pool that was fed by the hot springs, enjoying the cool, dry mountain air and taking in the mountains as the sun made it's way down toward the horizon. I slept well.

In the morning I was fed a nice hippie breakfast by Theresa, the cook. I hung out in the lobby and messed around with the computer and drank coffee. Around 11 am I geared up and headed for the west side of Glacier National Park.

Boulder Hot Springs

Yes! Something finally broke!

I've waited for today for several months. I finally got to ride WY 296 and 212. These are incredible roads, twisty with unmatched scenery through the mountains. I climbed up to 11k feet, where the temperature dropped to about 40 degrees. There was still snow everywhere, in fact a small lift was still operating and people were skiing!

WY 296

My planning has paid off. I've used many of the things I thought I wouldn't necessarily need--breakfast bars, coffee, fingernail clippers, the plastic raincover. I charged a GoPro battery in the tank bag. I'm at a coffee joint in Red Lodge, MT right now, powering up the computer and emptying the SD card from the GoPro to free up space for more ride footage.

Finally met up with some other FJR owners on their way to NAFO (North American FJR Owners rally in Catlegar, BC). Scott and John. We had lunch at the pizza place in Red Lodge, chatted about bikes and modifications. Our routes are going to be a little different so we parted ways rather than try to ride together.

Checked in to a cool lodge tonight in Cooke City, MT outside of Yellowstone, with no electricity. The power was out. Electricity was one of the reasons I didn't camp tonight, the other is that the campgrounds in Yellowstone were full. Imagine that.

My Gear in Lodge, Electricity Out

  

 Cooke City, MT

But I'm psyched a couple of things broke today. I lost the zipper from my tankbag, the zipper used to attach the bag to the base plate. I looked around for a while but couldn't find it. Then, changing lenses in my new sunglasses, I cracked the frame. Then tonight, tightening one of the straps on the tank bag baseplate, I broke the plastic buckle--it was weak from the sun already. But because of my planning I had bought an outdoor gear repair kit, which had a spare buckle. But it didn't fit. But I put super glue in the kit just in case. And, well I used it to fix the cracked frame, and am going to see if it fixes the buckle, that is, if it's actually strong enough. I will be happily surprised if it works. And I think I can cannibalize a zipper from elsewhere on the tank bag.

Well the superglue was crap and didn't work, so I used some paracord to fix it, and it actually works better than the original now. Very satisfying.

My Campsite From a Couple of Days Ago

Nevermind

Forget all the whining I did about camping. I camped last night in the Shoshone NF and I wouldn't have traded it for even a night at the Ritz. Waking up to spectacular scenery and the cool fresh mountain air was bliss and made any hassle worth it. I fixed a cup of coffee and slowly broke camp, it was like a meditation as I put things away, packing them carefully onto the motorcycle. I felt good.

Leaving Casper it was REALLY windy, Wyoming windy. I remembered the feeling of the wind and the quality of the air from living in Cheyenne Wyoming for 4 years when I was in the Air Force. The wind was so strong I had to counter steer in order to continue straight down the highway.

Beautiful Morning

 Windy North of Casper

 Mountains Outside of Sheridan

 About 10,000 Feet Outside of Sheridan

 Campsite

Left Denver Early

I had a great week in Denver, but felt that waiting until Sunday to leave would just interrupt my travel momentum; it was time to continue on. So I left this morning with the idea that I'd head straight up Interstate 25 and try to get to Sheridan in the northern part of Wyoming. I took a different turn, so to speak, and it all worked out great.

As I approached Cheyenne, I struggled with whether or not to call an old missileer colleague and friend, Lt Col Dave Martinson. I figured he'd be busy and not really appreciate a last minute phone call, but I figured I had nothing to lose so called anyway. Well it turned out that Dave was not only free but he had a Harley and suggested we ride out to the Bunkhouse, west of Cheyenne for lunch. The Bunkhouse is an out of the way restaurant mostly for cowboys and bikers. Inside are mounted animal heads and the place feels very Wyoming. We both got steak sandwiches, which at the Bunkhouse means a steak between two pieces of bread. It was great to catch up and hear what was going on with the other missileers we knew. Afterwards, Dave rode with me part of the way to Laramie, and I got this footage--kinda hard to see Dave, but it's him:




The other thing I struggled with was whether or not to ride to Sheridan on the interstate, or break off into Medicine Bow National Forest for some better roads and better scenery. I decided for the scenic route and it was amazing. From Laramie I took WY 130 to Centennial which took me through the Snowy Range Pass at an elevation of almost 11,000 feet. The air was very cool. There were almost no cars, and riding through the mountains and then the plains I felt myself decompressing amidst the vastness of the land. Along the way I saw lots of pronghorn antelope, but didn't try to get any pictures.

I continued up WY 487 north to Casper, WY where I am right now--in a hotel. I'm conflicted about the whole camping vs hotel issue. Every time I check into a hotel I feel like a wimp. Then I get into the room, take a shower, change clothes and think, "This is awesome. Pure decadence." It's also nice to have internet access so I can update this blog and check email and stuff. Camping, as it turns out, takes a lot more planning and is less flexible than staying in a hotel. It takes longer to set up and break down, and generally if I'm camping I'm also cooking (boiling water) so I have to deal with that too. You pretty much have to know where you're going to camp before you start your day, or at least figure it out well before you're done for the day. I love camping, but as a means of lodging while traveling everyday it's kind of tough. Still, I expect to start camping more often as I get away from cities and head into the wilderness of MT and then Canada. It'll just mean a little bit shorter riding days to allow for the extra time needed to camp.

Awesome Ride Through Rocky Mountain NP

Randy, my Denver riding partner, and I headed out yesterday morning to ride Rocky Mountain National Park. It was a great day and a great ride. The smoke from the Ft. Collins fire wasn't too bad so we had great views. A long day of about 10 hours of riding, check it out here compressed to 2.5 minutes:

Denver is Crazy

A lot is going on here in Denver, and I'm not leaving until Sunday morning most likely, the 17th of June. Besides my high school friend Matt being in town Saturday for the concert, my Air Force roommate Johnnie living here, and my DC roommate Praveen living here, my brother Gabe is in town for business. If that weren't enough, my Air Force friend Bill is also in town for work. But it gets weirder...

I was in a coffee shop yesterday and met Kyea. I mentioned my trip to Alaska and how I had photographed ice climbers in 2010. She says, "Oh, my cousin went to Alaska in 2010 and went ice climbing, I have a picture..." After searching on her computer a bit, I was wondering if she was going to pull up a picture I'd taken of her cousin. It turned out not to be the case, but I knew the climbing guide in the picture and showed her a picture of him from my computer. Crazy.

4,000 Miles: My Trip So Far

View Trip as of June 13, 2012 in a larger map

Denver Day 2

My second stop in Denver was to visit my long time friend and former Air Force roommate in CA, Johnnie Cooper.  It was great to see him after all these years and to meet his wife Julie, and their awesome cats and dogs. He's got a great place that backs up to open space and has a nice view of the front range. The view was obscured somewhat from a wildfire up in Ft Collins, but once the sun set the outline of the front range was beautiful. And typical of any lazy Sunday afternoon, we sat on the deck as the sun went down and baited mouse traps to launch an all out offensive  in the ongoing war between Johnnie and the small rodents invading his back yard. Johnnie grilled us some tasty burgers and brats to the sound of 10 or so mouse traps snapping shut at various intervals. Johnnie quietly chuckled demonically as he turned the delicious meat on the grill. It was a good day.

It was a good day for another reason too--I had another random encounter with a fellow motorcyclist. At Johnnie's place I had parked my motorcycle in his driveway. One of his neighbors, seeing the loaded down bike, knocked on the door to find out what the story was. So I came out and we chatted about the usual biker stuff, and then he offered to ride with me out of town whenever I decided to leave Denver. His name is Randy, and he rides a beautiful Kawasaki Concourse, a sport tourer like my bike. I've been looking at the map and as you can imagine, there are a lot of great roads leaving Denver through the mountains and into Wyoming.

Denver is my point of departure from the lower 48 basically. When I leave Denver I'm riding due north through Wyoming and Montana and into Canada. From here on out the ride will be mostly through open space, mountains and wilderness. The rest of the way I don't know anyone to visit or stay with. I expect to be camping more from this point onward. I am welcoming this phase of the journey, but don't know how the solitude will affect me. That is part of what makes this trip an adventure.

Santa Fe and Denver

Well it's Sat morning and I'm on the 13th day of my trip. I can't even tell you how fast the time has flown by. It's been great the whole way, just riding and visiting great friends. I know how lucky I am to have this opportunity so I am relishing it.

I rode from New Braunfels, TX to Sweetwater, TX on Thursday, where I spent a great night in a luxurious Hampton Inn. That's a great hotel, I'll look for them when I need another one. They had a hot tub which was great for my aching body. On Friday I rode to Santa Fe, but had time in Clovis, NM to get an oil change at a small Yamaha shop there. The ride was great and sunny once I got out of Sweetwater, and the weather was nice and cool, a welcome reprieve from the sweltering heat and humidity down south.

I spent a great evening in Santa Fe with a friend I know from high school, Melissa McDonald. The house and garden and food we ate were like they were from a magazine, I wish I had taken more pictures. Got to meet her crazy kids (all kids are), but luckily I avoided another time out.

Then last night, through a pretty wild coincidence, I met up with my good friend Matt Caesar, his brother Chris and their friends and went to see Big Head Todd and the Monsters at one of the most incredible venues in existence, Red Rocks near Denver, CO. They had flown in from VA for the show, and not only was the timing spot on but Chris even had an extra ticket for me. I love stuff like that. We got to the show early and tailgated, played frisbee and enjoyed the beautiful weather and scenery. It feels really good to be out west.

Me, Matt and Chris at Red Rocks

Windmill Farm

Wow, yesterday was the best riding day yet--I had open 2-lane highway mostly to myself that went through beautiful Texas countryside and smelled like mesquite and sage. There was even a cool windmill farm to ride through that looked incredible as the sun went down.

Riding, Windmill Farm

New Braunfels, TX

It was about a 5 hour trip from Houston to New Braunfels, where I met up with my friend and former combat crew commander Jim Gray. A funny thing happened just before I got to his house though. Another motorcyclist, seeing my Virginia plates, started following me. It was apparent he wanted me to pull over, so I did. His name was Martin, and he noticed the packs on my bike and just wanted to chat and find out where I was going. I told him about my trip, and he gave me his number and email "in case I needed anything." So cool. I'm hoping for lots of random experiences like that on this trip.

Martin

Camping in FL, Houston

I camped for the first time on this trip in the Torreya State Park in FL. I found it by just looking at my road  atlas, but I also have a cool app for my phone that detects your location and tells you where nearby campgrounds are. It was a nice campsite but really hot and muggy, not many people there as it was a weekday I guess.

Arrival at the Campsite

Campsite

Luckily they had cold showers.

Dinner

For dinner I had dehydrated Katmandu Curry--pretty good.

Longest Ride Ever

I left the campsite Tuesday morning (5 June) and headed for League City near Houston to see Air Force friends from LA. It was a grueling day of 13 hours and 700 miles, with lunch and stops. Not a typical riding day I hope. I arrived around 9:30 pm CDT and was quickly introduced to Steve and Christie's 2 chocolate labs, Tek and Remy. And then, while unloading my stuff, I quickly let them escape out the back door into freedom. So for the next half hour the three of us stalked the two dogs around the neighborhood until they were finally convinced to surrender in exchange for some treats. When we got back to the house Christie put me in a 43-minute time out at the bottom of the stairs, one minute for each year of my age--apparently that's the standard rate for time outs.

Had a great visit, met the kids Sully and Ian, and Steve and I went to Boondoggle's for a great lunch--I had jambalaya pizza, delicious.

Steve and his Doodads

The Zen of Ass Pain

One drawback to long distance motorcycle riding is pain--ass pain. Ancient texts reveal that pain is in fact a selfish, self-centered experience, and to control the ass pain it often helps to think of someone else's ass. I find this very effective. There are other techniques as well. It is possible, using the mind, to relieve pain by removing thoughts of pain. In other words, compartmentalize the ass pain.

Modern science has also contributed much to the field of ass pain management. Mental anesthesia is the technique of imagining a pain killer entering the body, so sometimes on a long ride I imagine snorting some crushed Vicoden followed by a shot of tequila. That usually helps. Some say deep breathing and relaxation can help but that's a load of horse shit and just makes me hyperventilate, fall asleep and run my motorcycle into a ditch, so I don't use that technique anymore.

If you have some techniques for controlling ass pain that I haven't mentioned, please leave your tips in the comments section.

Breakup

I had a falling out with my girl today. You know how couples get in big fights over directions? Well, my girl (let's just call her "Garmin") took me on a wild goose chase today leaving Tampa. Normally I have complete trust in her direction finding abilities, but today she took me through local roads with traffic and stoplights, instead of going on the interstate--obviously the quickest route. She was apparently pissed off at me, because she was also giving me the silent treatment. She would only talk to me to tell me where to turn. Whenever I suggested an alternate route, all she would say is "Recalculating" in a really patronizing and monotone voice. I don't know what her problem was but I doubt she's getting a firmware update anytime soon if you know what I mean.

Tampa

Yesterday I left Brent's house and rode to Key West, the true start of my trip to Alaska, and I'm starting to worry--my butt is really saddle sore, and I'm starting to like it. Kind of like the time I worked out once; I was sore the next day but it felt good. Ok anyway the ride yesterday was almost 450 miles and I rode from about 8am to 7pm. It took a little longer since I had to backtrack from Key West. But man it was a nice ride through the Keys, then the Everglades, and around 4pm as the sun was getting lower, it was a great ride into the Tampa area. That FJR is just an amazing machine, cruising at 80 with no effort whatsoever, eating up miles.

My favorite part of the day starts around 4pm when the sun gets lower and the light becomes amazing. By then I'm usually on a stretch of empty road with nice scenery and just loving it. One thing I've noticed already is that there is about half as much traffic everywhere than in DC. It was Sunday in Tampa, but still, the roads were clear and it was easy to get around.

Below is a little riding footage from my trip from the Keys to Tampa:

Mile 0

Just took my picture in front of the marker for the southernmost point in the US, mile marker 0. I'm at the police station to get an officer to witness my start.