tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5017582337667417452012-02-16T18:27:27.276-06:00jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.comBlogger341100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-31652727768049892202011-07-27T22:44:00.003-05:002011-07-27T22:47:21.177-05:00

Hello everyone! I'm having some new adventures, but I didn't want to dilute this blog. So I've started a new blog to document my less-epic-but-still-totally-rad adventures, check it out at http://jealousadventures.blogspot.com/. I am leaving for an awesome trip tomorrow and will be documenting it as thoroughly and hopefully entertainingly as possible. Please hop on over to http://

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-62082944321904969962009-08-22T23:12:00.000-05:002009-08-23T23:44:01.337-05:00

Miles: 11,080 States/Provinces: Florida Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Texas New Mexico Colorado Utah Idaho Wyoming Montana British Columbia Alberta Yukon Alaska Washington Oregon National Parks/Forests: Apalachicola National Forest Ocala National Forest Everglades National Park Big Cypress National Preserve DeSoto

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-66271001463113401602009-08-22T22:12:00.000-05:002009-08-23T23:43:40.688-05:00

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

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-32125880011122812092009-08-11T17:11:00.000-05:002009-08-18T18:14:24.235-05:00

We wake up in Coldfoot to figure out why it’s really called that. It’s August 11, and it’s 28 degrees F! Brr! Luckily I have my trusty heated vest, and I layer on pretty much ever stitch of clothing I have. Luckily it seems to be enough, I’m not really that cold. We head North to see how bad the mountain pass is. The plan is to get as far up as possible, and when we feel like it’s unsafe to

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-55173438551876308672009-08-10T22:52:00.000-05:002009-08-18T18:04:10.925-05:00

I got packed up early at GoNorth and headed over to the motorcycle dealer to get my new chain and tires. While there I met Dave on a BMW 1200GS (the crème de la crème of dual sport bikes) who had the same plan as me: get new tires and head up the Dalton. We were both alone so we decided to ride together.I got my chain, tires, and did a little frontier fixin’ in the parking lot. Look, it’s a

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-64586657573236093632009-08-09T23:33:00.000-05:002009-08-18T00:11:45.658-05:00

I left Tok pretty early in the morning. The other guys were going up a rather famous motorcycling road to Dawson City called the Top of the World Highway. I was tempted to go with them but it would have easily taken me 2 days out of the way. I needed to press on to get to the Dalton Highway! I got to Fairbanks after a wet ride and spent the afternoon prepping for the excursion. I found a great

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-82850770453672448322009-08-08T23:31:00.000-05:002009-08-16T23:47:38.158-05:00

There is a red fox in the campsite as I’m breaking camp in Whitehorse. The teenagers in the site next door were up all night talking and drinking, so the fox is going through all the food they left out. Another great sighting, the VW bus. I now know why I never see any in Texas, they are all in Montana and Canada, and they are all 100% outfitted for camping. They are everywhere up here.

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-87157005473396966792009-08-07T00:16:00.000-05:002009-08-16T23:13:43.205-05:00

The road cuts through huge swaths of wilderness and nothing-ness. Check your gas often, service stations are very few and far between. Today I saw elk, buffalo, and a coyote on the road. Some of the people I have talked to have also seen black and grizzly bears on the road. I treated myself to a stop at the Liard Hot Springs. This is my first visit to a hot springs, and it was definitely

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-31311906074440253432009-08-06T23:34:00.000-05:002009-08-16T22:57:32.824-05:00

Today I got to Ft. Nelson from Jasper, no problems, where I met up with the Mile 0 marker of the Alcan Highway. It is interesting that all the historic spots are at mile markers, when everything else in Canada is in kilometers. I’m sure that’s because it was originally built by the US Army Corps of Engineers. Heading North! It was a nice ride, I got to a campground pretty late and my

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-64349824515764541582009-08-05T23:33:00.000-05:002009-08-10T01:55:49.749-05:00

After my night uploading blog stuff in the hotel, I got up, checked out, and went to see the sights of Banff and Jasper National Parks. Banff is a small town in Banff National Park, and here is another great Canadian sign I found. The parks are SPECTACULAR! And very large, it took me just about the entire day to drive through them. I got to stop very often and check out some of the falls.

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-87761251877892299652009-08-05T01:39:00.001-05:002009-08-05T01:39:56.034-05:00

Ok, I’m taking a little time out to just summarize a few key stats here. Feel free to look them over if you want, but it’s more just to make sure I have them recorded. States/Provinces: Florida Alabama Mississippi Louisiana Texas New Mexico Colorado Utah Idaho Wyoming Montana British Columbia Alberta National Parks/Forests: Apalachicola

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-14733865528982918462009-08-04T23:16:00.000-05:002009-08-05T01:16:55.466-05:00

40 miles down the gravel road, I’m dirty, tired, but I made it to town to pick up the part that has been Fedexed to me. I fix my speedometer (finally!) grab some lunch, and make a run for the border. There are like a dozen signs telling you you’re entering Canada. I guess a lot of people ended up in Canada that didn’t mean to or something? Not as bad as the line to get into the US at Juarez, but

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-80085406322068406572009-08-03T23:54:00.000-05:002009-08-05T00:43:52.208-05:00

I got up and out of camp early so I could make it down to town to call the motorcycle store in PA to have them ship my part. I got that accomplished with so little ease it almost scared me. While in town I picked up some groceries and headed back to Glacier National Park. The motorcycle place thought it would be better to ship to a US address, so I’m stuck in Glacier for today. Since I got back

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-19178886740962146432009-08-02T23:44:00.000-05:002009-08-05T00:46:55.290-05:00

Ok, so I got to Glacier National Park as early as I could, because I’ve noticed that campsites are pretty hard to get around here. Especially since it’s still a weekend (Sunday). I luckily got a camp site, there were only a few left. As soon as I got my tent set up, I went to go see the sights of Glacier. It was very nice to actually be looking around a park during the day, rather than the

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-91200849238060035172009-08-02T00:28:00.000-05:002009-08-05T00:47:31.303-05:00

I saw this billboard on the side of the road in Montana today. You can see more here. I’m pretty sure I saw the same or a similar one somewhere else (Colorado maybe?) so maybe other states have picked up the campaign. I must say, they have some good ones. It has inspired me to make my own. I can’t wait to get back home to my photoshop. Ok, that doesn’t have much to do with my trip, other

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-23268236514891797102009-08-01T23:10:00.000-05:002009-08-02T10:10:27.886-05:00

Ok, I can keep this one short and sweet. I start the day heading out of Yellowstone, in the general direction of Glacier National Park. As soon as I can get cell phone service, I contact the support crew and start looking for my new speedometer cable. I also got all the supplies I need to replace the crappy cigarette lighter. Of course every dealer within 200 miles doesn’t stock the part

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-36209556127861526562009-07-31T23:00:00.000-05:002009-08-02T01:15:09.280-05:00

Up early to get to Grand Teton! No problems, the miles fly by. I grab some picnic supplies in town to have lunch somewhere in the park. The park is huge, awesome, and organized. I’ve never seen anything like it. The mountains are really something, the most intimidating, sharp, dangerous looking rocks I’ve seen. After riding through most of the park, I eat lunch and move on to

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-68638655946756299042009-07-30T23:44:00.000-05:002009-08-01T23:10:49.787-05:00

Up early so I can get back to Arches. It’s 20 miles away so I’m already behind, since I was hoping to wake up there. As I’m packing up my stuff, the Camp Nazi comes up to me and chews me out for coming in too late and leaving too early. He says my motorbike makes too much noise and that I came there just to wake people up. I tried to apologize, but as soon as I said the word “sorry” he snapped, “

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-81312478546905881502009-07-29T22:20:00.000-05:002009-08-05T02:08:52.632-05:00

After spending a night at the friends’ cabin, I got a tour of the mountain. There were hawks, chipmunks, ground squirrels, deer, and lots of lakes, streams and wildflowers. Gorgeous. I heard someone mention that it was illegal to feed the wildlife, but they were just too @#$%ing cute! Only Kim Jong-il could say no to that face. My dad and I went fishing. The pond is about 100 feet from the

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-89210870417029193432009-07-28T22:19:00.000-05:002009-07-29T20:32:28.070-05:00

On the road early, 6am, trying to get to Pikes Peak as soon as possible. Just a few miles down the road, I got distracted by Capulin Volcano. I decided I may as well go to the top of this one too, since it’s on the way. Unfortunately, the rangers at this park are not nearly as ambitious as I, for they didn’t open for another two hours. Just down the road, crossed into Colorful Colorado.

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-77136734162979883982009-07-28T00:05:00.000-05:002009-07-29T20:34:00.899-05:00

Ok, I need to update on my part of the trip after I left Lubbock. A few hours down the road, in the middle of NOWHERE in the panhandle of Texas, on a two lane wanna-be road, a State Trooper (what is he doing there anyway) decides to pull me over. I am pretty sure that he thinks I’m on a sport bike, but when he sees that it’s a crappy dual-sport he lets me off with a warning for doing 75 in a 70.

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-2506377037478303582009-07-27T17:43:00.001-05:002009-07-27T17:43:37.164-05:00

Today was a lazy day in Lubbock. Got to sleep in, get some errands done (pick up new tarp, straps, etc), and Laura even helped me manually adjust the preload for the rear suspension, which is quite difficult when the adjustment mechanism is broken. It’s amazing what you can get accomplished in an apartment parking lot with a few ratcheting straps and some sweat. Also got to eat lunch at the

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-87713288147542413382009-07-27T17:41:00.001-05:002009-07-27T17:41:02.844-05:00

New bike’s initial odometer reading: 6,349 Getting out of Dallas took a little longer than expected, but after all the setbacks I’ve had I’m pretty happy with everything. Thanks to Nicole for coming to help me pack and see me off.   I had some nasty rain on the way, but after I got through it there was some nice cloud cover. I had to stop near sunset to get this photo: Rolled in to

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-35699811413029951052009-07-26T01:08:00.001-05:002009-07-26T01:12:11.931-05:00

Ok, so I have acquired another bike, the last one was totally shot and it will be a while before it makes it back to the road. Luckily I was able to find a newer one, decked out with long distance accessories. I still have a few little things to add to it, but it’s already got almost everything I need. It’s only a couple of years newer, but the old one’s design hadn’t changed since like 1987,

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-77757030210345604072009-07-23T23:57:00.000-05:002009-07-27T11:15:42.302-05:00

  Bad news, the bike will be too much work to get ready in any reasonable time frame to finish the trip.   Good news, I’m too stubborn to quit. I’m going bike shopping. That’s why I’m calling this Day Six of the trip, even though I’m not actually riding anywhere. Bad news, new bikes cost a lot of money that I don’t have. Good news, there are several decent bikes on craigslist, I found one I

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-11221039433812706642009-07-22T22:39:00.001-05:002009-07-22T23:04:34.730-05:00

Up at an optimistic hour. Great sunrise seen through the door of the tent. Even found a friend while packing up camp. Start up the bike, paying extra close attention since it behaved weird last night. Starts up fine, head out. 1/10th of a mile later, the bike dies again. Hm. This seems odd. Better check it out. Battery. Check. Ignition switch. Check. Gas. Check. Coolant. Check. Oil. Oil

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-87451957113306099102009-07-22T00:24:00.001-05:002009-07-22T00:24:54.019-05:00

Up early to leave Florida today. Spent most of the morning in some expected rain showers. Finally got out of it at lunch time, so stopped to put most of my clothes (mostly my shoes) in a laundromat dryer while I went across the street in my socks to McDonald’s for lunch. With comfortable, dry clothes, the rest of the day was fairly uneventful. Rode North on past Tallahassee and turned west on I-

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-1539363342538050632009-07-19T20:38:00.001-05:002009-07-22T22:47:48.011-05:00

I wake up pretty startled and confused. I mean, it’s not often that you wake up on your back in a parking lot, and even less often that it doesn’t involve some sort of substance abuse. Plus, I’ve only been out for about two hours. I’m feeling surprisingly well, both physically and mentally, after two days that I’m sure rival the abuse dished out by military basic training. And I’m doing this for

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-48346464473518943022009-07-19T19:52:00.001-05:002009-07-19T19:54:12.086-05:00

Ok, time for Day TWO! I got my hardest day out of the way, stayed fairly dry, and had no major issues except of course for going to bed at 5am. Got to sleep in (if you can call sweating and swatting mosquitoes “sleeping”) and not feel guilty because it rained pretty much all morning. Around noon it brightened up. I decided I had gotten all the sleep I was going to, plus I was drenched in sweat

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-5807692380030436122009-07-17T19:17:00.000-05:002009-07-19T20:02:39.146-05:00

For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Iron Butt Association (I’m not kidding, it’s really called that), they document and certify motorcycle rides of extreme length. The basic one is to complete a ride in 24 hours of at least 1,000 miles. If you’re not sure how far that is, it’s about the same distance as the Moon from the Earth. Look it up, I’m sure it’s on Wiki or something. It also

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-42597334842655552512009-07-14T23:10:00.001-05:002009-07-14T23:10:10.593-05:00

Aka – the bike. After some research and a lot of internal debating, I’ve decided to leave my trusted Buell XB12R Firebolt at home. Apparently the last few hundred miles to Deadhorse are on a gravel road that would not be very sportbike friendly. Plus, I may want to leave the bike in Alaska and sell it rather than ship it back. So after consulting my local Craigslist, I was able to find a good

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-27753912218814331042009-07-12T23:44:00.001-05:002009-07-12T23:44:45.640-05:00

I am flipping through the channels, and on the History Channel tonight, the Ice Road Truckers are taking the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Deadhorse, the same road I will be on at the end of my journey. It’s nice to see some previews of what the road looks like. Of course, theirs is filmed in the winter. There better not be nearly as much snow when I’m up there! Photo by Podknox

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-63667116435839182222009-07-12T10:49:00.001-05:002009-07-12T10:51:43.081-05:00

The route has changed a little over the past few weeks, and I’m sure it will continue to change. If anyone lives near my anticipated route and wants to say hi, let me know, email me early on with your phone #. I’m probably going to have to take 1 or 2 days more than is listed here, especially if weather slows me down, but here’s my plan so far:Day 1 – July 21: Leave Dallas, TX for Apalachicola

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-501758233766741745.post-7579628770636446972009-07-07T23:20:00.001-05:002009-07-14T23:35:16.606-05:00

I'm going to do it. Wait, let me rephrase, I'm going to attempt and hopefully finish it. I have an idea, a plan, the drive, and the required lack of sanity.I think the idea really started about four years ago, while I was working as a summer intern at a nuclear waste disposal plant in Carlsbad, NM. Obviously, a site such as this is located about as far from human habitation as possible, so each

jaredkuperhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01729795780783215866noreply@blogger.com4