Epilogue

Destinations reached, animals “shot”, campsites camped, borders crossed, latitudes passed, gas burned, friends met, and money spent.

Let’s be honest, no one really cares about the rest of the story. Once you’ve reached the climax, the story ends, right? If this were a Disney story, the credits would be rolling.

But I don’t want to stay in Alaska “happily ever after” (who would believe I’d be happy in Alaska anway?) and I owe it the story and to my short memory to record the real ending of the trip.

After a much-too-short sleep and much-too-short shower, I left the hotel to prepare the bike to sell, ship my belongings home, and procure a plane ticket. Unfortunately, none of the bike dealers in town are very excited about taking the bike. They pretty much tell me that they’ll take the bike, they’re honest and tell me that it’s a horrible deal for me and I’m better off selling it myself.

So now what? My plan was to fly to Portland to visit Laura for a few days. So. After some weather research, consult a few maps, check the balls for saddle soars, I decide to ride to Portland. adding 2,400 miles to my trip.

I’ll be honest, I’m not psyched about it, but I’m able to convince myself that it might be fun (unexpectedly motorcycling all the way across Canada???). I plan on it taking 3.5 to 4 days, so I get my ass in gear and get on the road.

Day 1, I make it to Tok and stay at the Eagle Claw camp again. I see 3 female/offspring pairs of moose on the way.

Don’t expect too many more pics, the goal of these next few days is to burn some miles. Or since I’m mostly in Canada, kilometers.

Day2, I’m on the road early, but the bike seems to be getting less and less powerful. Sometimes I can hardly keep 60mph, sometimes I can cruise at 75 no problem. It’s kinda weird. I finally decide to take a 3 hour lunch break at the biggest town within 200 miles and check out the bike. I clean out the air filter, replace the spark plug (with a little help from the local mechanic), check the fuel filter, clean out the carb, and add some more carb cleaner to the gas tank.

After 100 miles or so, I can really tell the difference. 250 miles later the bike is running even better than when I bought it. A huge relief.

Unfortunately, the bike chain is stretching like maternity pants, and I have to keep adjusting the tension every 100 miles. I arrive in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to find a surprising number of motorcycle shops which relieves me. Unfortunately they have all closed 15 minutes before, because I forgot to change my watch when I crossed the border back in to Canada.

After weighing my options (I really wanted to keep riding into the night, and get some more miles done) and decided I better wait in Whitehorse until I can get a reliable chain. I go back to the same campsite I stayed at before, and who do I run into? All the guys from Victoria that I rode with a few days ago: Rich, Derrick, and Pete. What a crazy small world! They are also waiting in town for the bike shops to open. We exchange war stories and head out with some other people we have met to hit up the legendary Whitehorse Nightlife.

We had a blast, drank some beers, and I jammed on the drums with the live band.

Don’t worry, Mystic Monkey, I will not be getting a call-back.

I have to say that the people in Yukon are some of the craziest and friendliest I have seen. I think they need to do a “Wild On” episode there.

Day 3: After getting my new (and wonderful) chain, and wasting a lot of time hanging with the guys and eating lunch, I finally got back on the road. With a working bike and a fresh chain I expect to kill a LOT of miles today.

Ride.

Ride.

Ride.

This road is actually pretty nice, and I find myself enjoying it in spite of myself.

I end up getting stranded in a small town (Dease Lake, BC) because all the gas stations within 100 miles close at 9pm, and don’t open until 7am. I convince a restauranter to serve one more meal after closing, and they even offer to let me camp behind the restaurant. Sweet.

Day 4: Today is definitely mile killing day. I get out of BFE during the day, while the gas stations are open, and make it to the more populated and civilized southern portion of BC during the evening. I’m able to ride until midnight. I use my finely tuned ninja-camping skills to set up my tent in a crowded campsite (Green Lake) with waking up too many people.

Day 5: My ninja-camping skills come in handy again to sneak out and be on the road by 8am. I finish up with BC ahead of schedule, and I’m hoping to get to Portland by 4pm.

Unfortunately US Customs is backed up pretty well and it takes 30 minutes. I’m sure it could have been worse, so I can’t complain too much.

Now that I’m in the States, I have to slow down a little bit, but I still feel like I’m making good time.

Then I hit North Seattle. Ugh. Traffic kills another 30 minutes. But at least I’m not headed North, that lane is backed up for like 50 miles.

Then I hit more construction in Southern Washington. Crap.

I finally make it to Portland at 6pm. I don’t think I’ve ever been happier to see Laura.

Since I hadn’t changed clothes or showered in three days, she’d never been happier to tell me to take a shower. I got some clean clothes, but shaving was a two day dilemma.

I was able to spend about a week in Portland with Laura and some friends, arranged to sell the bike, and then fly home to Dallas.

Conclusion

Well, I’d love to have some great eureka moment to report. I can’t really sum up some profound new realization or life-changing event. Of course some part of me was hoping that I’d finish this trip with the drive and direction to land a new job. It’s not really something I can put into words, but I do feel very ready to tackle the job-search. Which is convenient because according to the poll, the blog audience agrees whole-heartedly that the job search should be the next adventure.

Too bad, I was looking forward to something a little more Tropical. But getting back to the real word will be nice for a change too.

So in conclusion, I am very glad I tackled this challenge. I really do feel lucky to have the opportunity to have tried it. So many times when I would tell someone about my trip, I could see that they longed to do something like it too. I feel so blessed to have the means, the knowledge, and the support to have finished this trip, and I thank every one who helped me during it. I could never have done it completely by myself.

I recommend that everyone pick one goal they want to accomplish and run with it. It doesn’t have to be something life-changing, or extreme, or anything like that, just make sure it’s something that you’re passionate about.

Until next time, keep the rubber side down.

Fast Facts

Odometer Reading: 14,271

Final Mileage Count: 11,080