New Adventures

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://jealousadventures.blogspot.com/ and follow it. Also, let me know of any must-see or must-do activities along the way. Maybe I'll bring you a crappy t-shirt.

Final Facts

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 National Forest
Pike National Forest
Gunnison National Forest
Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park
Grand Mesa National Forest
Arches National Park
Bridger-Teton National Forest
Caribou-Targhee National Forest
Grand Teton National Park
Yellowstone National Park
Glacier National Park
Banff National Park
Kootenay National Park
Muncho Lake Provincial Park
Stone Mountain Provincial Park

(I am surely missing some of the National Forests and Provincial Parks, there were definitely more, but it’s surprisingly hard to find them on a map)

Times Zones:

EST
CST
MST
PSD
Alaska

Countries:

USA
Canada

Border Crossings:

4

Bikes:

2005 KLR 650
2008 KLR 650

Chains used:

3

Sets of tires:

2

12V Accessory plugs melted:

3

Oil:

5 Qts.

Estimated gas (assuming 43 mpg):

130 gallons = $332.80

Flights missed trying to get from Portland to Dallas:

4

Total Elapsed time:

37 days

New Friends:

Dozens

New Memories:

Hundreds

Lessons Learned:

Alaska is cold. All the time. And it takes a special kind of person to live there.

Dirt tires work awesome on dirt.

You cannot spit your gum out with your helmet on.

Bikers are awesome at helping each other on the road.

Wi-Fi is hard to find in Canada.

People from Yukon hug everyone.

Trying to see a buffalo at night is like trying to see a polar bear in a snowstorm. With your eyes closed.

The world is huge.

The world is small.

The world is beautiful.

All little kids wave at motorcycles.

Gas stations hate selling 3 gallons of gas to motorcycles.

The hippie movement is still alive and well.

90% of RV’s can be found in Utah, Wyoming, and Montana.

Everyone either loves or hates Texas. Which is awesome. It means they never say, “you’re from where? Oh, where is that?”

Pictures can never do justice to all the great stuff that is out there. Go see it for yourself.

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

Dalton Highway – Day 2 – Deadhorse!

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 go further just take a photo, a GPS reading, and head back.

As we get closer to the Brooks Mountain Range, we can clearly see snow.

I’m starting to think that we may have an interesting ride through the pass. After all, it’s below freezing, and snow isn’t known to melt too fast North of the Arctic Circle. I mean, that’s why they call it the Arctic, right?

Luckily, the road was in a decent condition. It was definitely muddy and tough, kept you on your toes, but there was no snow left and we passed through without issue.

But it was definitely cold. Here we are in the sun, around mid day, and Dave’s bike is reading 1 deg C.

Look at all the snow! Good Lord, someone should tell Alaska that it’s in the Northern Hemisphere, and that type of behavior is not appropriate in August.

After the pass, the drive was beautiful. It’s past the Arctic tree line, so there are no trees whatsoever. In fact, approaching the mountains from the South, the trees had been getting steadily smaller and smaller until they were about waist high. “Mini – Trees.”

So anyway, the pass opened up to wide open valleys and the plains of the North Slope. Everything was covered in waist high shrubbery and water logged marsh. It sounds odd but it was really quite beautiful. The road continued to be unpaved, yet friendly. That is until the last 50 miles. It was an hour of washboard, ruts, mud, stress, and fun.

But it was worth it. When we got to the end of the road, the furthest North that you can drive to in the US, it was an unbelievable feeling of accomplishment, finality, and surprisingly a sense of loss. The goal is complete, there isn’t anything more to work for, to look forward to, no light at the end of the tunnel.

But what a wonderful light to bathe in.

Now, the town of Deadhorse is also aptly named; it is a mud-paved collection of prefab metal buildings where industrial machinery outnumbers passenger vehicles, and there is no alcohol allowed within 200 miles.

It is definitely the journey, and not the destination.

We made our way to the Arctic Caribou Inn to see about getting a tour to the Arctic Ocean (The entire area is run by BP and there is no access to the ocean for the public). I had tried to book it several times over the phone, but there was never any answer. The Inn informed us that we were welcome to go on the tour – after a 24 hour waiting period for an FBI backgroud check. Boo.

At $200 a night for hotels up here, and no alcohol within 200 miles, we decided to just head back.

We did a grueling trek back all they way to Fairbanks, arriving at 3am and scrambled to find the very last available room in town. We had to drive to 3 hotels and called another 10, but we found one. At 4am, settled in for a much deserved sleep.

Don’t worry, the journey is not quite over yet, more to come!

Fast Facts:

Odometer Reading: 11,880

Elapsed Miles: 8,689

Northernmost Lat/Lon:
N 70 13.362
W 148 25.242

Southernmost Lat/Lon:
N 24 32.783
W 81 47.853

Longest day of the year: 63 days, 23 hours, and 40 minutes, from May 20 to July 22

Longest night of the year: 54 days, 22 hours, and 51 minutes, from Nov 24 to Jan 18.

Lowest recorded temperature: –62 deg F.

Lowest recorded wind chill: –102 deg F.

Guess what happens if you pee outside when it’s –40 deg F? Nope, it does NOT freeze before it hits the ground. It vaporizes into a cloud before it hits the ground.

Dalton Highway – Day 1

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 pirate bike, it has a wooden peg leg!

They don’t mess around in Alaska, this thing definitely sets a new standard for ATV.

I noticed I could use some new front brake pads, but there weren’t any in Fairbanks. They had enough life left for the next few days, so I just lived with them.

Dave and I head out of Fairbanks towards the start of the Dalton Highway. There is definitely a different kind of breed of people up here, they have to be tough to live in this environment. This sign actually reminded me of something I’d see in Texas though.

You can see the Trans-Alaska pipeline, sticks out like a sore thumb.

Here we finally start the Dalton Highway.

Most of the Dalton is unpaved, with a few random stretches that are paved. Most of the unpaved part is packed dirt, but some is loose gravel and even mud.

Here is a close-up of the pipeline. There were several places when we were even closer to the pipeline, driving under or over it.

10 seconds after this was taken, we were shoo’ed away by security. Yeah, 100 miles from the nearest town, security and maintenance crews patrol the pipeline constantly. The 800 miles of 4 foot diameter pipe pumps oil continuously, and is heated to keep it moving through this cold environment. It is a true engineering marvel, and for more info you can check out the Wikipedia article.

Throughout Alaska, British Columbia, and Yukon there are many forest fires raging. We passed this one that was very close to the road, and the pipeline. I’m only and Electrical Engineer, but having a forest fire anywhere near a pipeline full of hot oil seems like a bad idea. I have no idea how they deal with the constant threat of wildfire, but apparently it’s under control.

On the way up, we meet some bikers on their way down. They have gotten halfway up and had to turn back. Even though it is clear weather here, up in the mountains there is a blizzard. The mountain pass is reported to be horrible, two of the bikers said they were sliding backwards, and trucks were advised to use chains. Not a good sign.

But we press on, weather can change fast in the mountains, and we didn’t come all this way to turn back after hearing some rumors.

After a few hours, we reach the Article Circle!!!

The views are spectacular, the weather is great, it was definitely a high moment. We even had a celebratory beer.

Here we are, North of the Arctic Circle, stuck at a stop light, and there’s not even an intersection. WTF?

There was construction ahead, but there were no lanes blocked, no workers, and the light was stuck at red pretty much forever. So we ran it. Mail me a ticket.

We made it to Coldfoot Camp, which consists of a motel made of prefab shipping container units, two gas pumps, and a surprisingly well equipped restaurant. I’m sure they named it “Coldfoot” for a good reason, and I think the reason is that the post master wouldn’t let them use “S--t Hole.” We split a 8’ X 10’ hotel room for $200 a night (monopoly, baby) and I learned that Dave was an investment banker who had a BMW, Harley, cigarette boat, and one of the stars of American Pie as an investment client. Why he was hanging around with unemployed riff-raff like me, I’ll never know.

One guy we met at the restaurant was an equipment salesman who had driven the Dalton dozens of times. He sais the secret to getting over the mountain pass in the ice is to get a running start, and not stop for anything. Hmmm…

Odometer reading: 11,118

Elapsed Miles: 7,927

Fairbanks

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 little hostel called GoNorth, and it was a perfect choice. I will definitely be staying in more hostels in the future. This one was apparently very popular with Germans, as the staff was fluent in German, and about half of the occupants only spoke German. I tried listening for any words I may recognize, but only caught “Bier” and “Hasselhoff.” Guess I need to bone up on the German.

I thought I’d be ready for the full hostel experience, being a huge fan of Hostel and Hostel II, but this place was nothing like that. There were a lot of interesting characters around. One that sticks in my mind was a guy who came to Fairbanks to work an oil job, and his only transportation was riding a ‘82 Suzuki piece-a-junk motorcycle. The other day his chain snapped, which broke open his crank case, which caused all his oil to leak out. Well as you know from my previous experience, motorcycles tend not to run well without oil. His broke-down bike caused him to lose his job, is unemployment got him kicked out of the house he was living in, so he was now homeless at the hostel, hoping someone would buy his bike for $100 so he could get a bus ticket… and I guess just be homeless somewhere else.

I filled my spare gas tanks (I had two gallons of extra gas because gas stations are located so far apart on the Dalton) and figured out a way to strap them to the bike, washed clothes, checked the brakes, chain, and all bolts. The Dalton is known for being rough, so I didn’t want anything rattling off.

Since most bike shops are closed on Sundays, I had to wait till the next day to replace my chain (which had started making some odd sounds) and my tires (which were worn quite well and made more for highway than gravel).

While doing laundry, I think I learned a lot about Fairbanks. This place is definitely laid back. Maybe it’s just because I haven’t been in a Laundromat for a while, but it seemed like a crazy mix of people, with emphasis on the crazy.

These ads from the Laundromat bulletin board sum it up:
Fetish Ball – Food, entertainment, fun, and demonstrations!
Freight Dog Pull – Dogs compete in four weight divisions.
and ads for three separate Farmers Markets. Farmer’s Markets aren’t weird of course, but the fact that Fairbanks can support three different ones is definitely odd.

The other hostelers were having a grand old time hanging out in the common areas, but I was so exhausted from trip prepping all day that I had to just hit the sack. Ready for a tough day tomorrow!

Sorry, no interesting pictures today, but you can check out the GoNorth link for more info about the hostel. Or you can just check out pictures from Hostel.

Tok

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.

Speaking of VW’s, this place is a hippy haven, if you want to check out some bohemian people, this is the spot.

After leaving Whitehorse, I find myself on the road without my usual travel companions, the RV with the green gas can and the fat girls from Iowa. Actually, there is hardly anyone out at all.

The road is winding through some very desolate and beautiful country.

I stop for lunch at a gas station, and end up meeting three other bikers. They are three friends from Victoria, Pete and Richard are on V-stroms and Derrick is on an older KLR, like my first one. We are headed to the same destination, Tok, Alaska, so I end up tagging along with them.

They are a complete riot to hang out with. They enjoy everything they do, and bicker and argue like a three-way married couple.

We cross back into the good ‘ol U. S. of A. without any trouble.

Below, you can see the border. American trees and Canadian trees don’t get along apparently. It’s pretty eerie, this line of nothingness right in the middle of the forest.

The country here is starting to get much wetter, there are lakes everywhere and the parts that are not pure water seem to be very muddy and boggy.

We arrive in Tok and find a camp site recommended to me by the BMW guy I ate dinner with in Whitehorse.

An older couple has started this camp which caters to motorcyclists. It is very nice, you can camp in your tent, in one of their wall tents, a teepee, a cabin, or a bunk in the bunk house. It’s called Thompson’s Eagle Claw and it is awesome. The couple lives right there in a cabin they built over 6 years. There is no electricity or running water at the camp because they don’t even have electricity or running water in their cabin. Very cool.

This is a typical road in Tok, nothing special, but notice there is a paved street, a sidewalk, and in between a dirt path. This is for ATV’s, dirt bikes, and snow mobiles, and every major street has these. Crazy.

Odometer: 10,594

Elapsed Miles: 7,403

Fast Fact:

Mr. Thompson (from Eagle Claw) is a logger. He informed us that since all the ground around Tok is gravel, the trees do not have a good root system, the roots only go down about 6 inches but make a giant round mat around the base of the tree. Therefore, if you are camping and hang your food up in a tree, a bear can simply push the tree over to get your food.

This also makes wildfires especially dangerous, because after the trees die, the slightest wind can knock the whole forest over.