Crazy Idea

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 morning I took a bus 45 minutes into the New Mexico desert to get to work. One day, I noticed a few motorcycles in the parking lot. Were these guys crazy? There's a free bus to work every day, you can read a book or take a nap, you don't have to waste gas, and more importantly, it's AIR CONDITIONED! After a full day of work, these guys have to walk out into the 100 degree sun, sit on black leather seats, above an engine burning gasoline at almost 500 degrees, and sit there for 45 minutes in a 60mph wind! That's crazy! Why would they do that?

Why would they do that?

Those guys are definitely crazy. They must think it's fun or something. Weirdos. Give me A/C and free gas any day.

The next morning as I admired a beautiful sunrise from my air conditioned, chauffeurred bus. There wasn't another vehicle in sight. Except for a motorcycle. He was quite a ways behind us, but as I watched I realized that he was gaining on us rather quickly. As he passed, something clicked and I realized that he was definitely having a better time on his bike than I was in my suddenly confining bus. I don't know what convinced me, but after that I knew I had to try a motorcycle.

Four years, three bikes, a few track days, and several thousand motorcycle miles later, I met someone who had ridden from Houston to the Southern most tip of South America. His story was intruiging, inspiring, and in short made me extremely jealous. Because the longest motorcycle trip I'd made so far was 1,200 miles (and 100% in Texas), I wasn't sure that I wanted to tackle that trip right away. Instead, I decided that my trip should be from the Southern most point in the US to the Northern most point in the US. On second thought, maybe I should do southern most point in the continental US to the northernmost point, because riding from Hawaii would be impossible. I filed the trip idea away, next to "remodel house" and "build electric car" where it probably would have sat for quite a while.

A few months later, while deleting junk emails, I happened upon a contest to win a new motorcycle. The way to enter the contest was to tell about your "Dream Motorcycle Trip." Hell, who couldn't use a new bike? So I decided to enter. The contest rules were simple: write a short essay describing where you'd go, route and destinations along the way, and why. In return you could win a brand new bike along with a stipend to help make your Dream Trip a reality.

Ok, well I already had my starting point figured out, most people know that Key West, FL is the Southern most point in the continental US. (it helps that I've been there before). All I knew about the Northern most point was that I was pretty sure it was in Alaska. A quick Google search revealed that Point Barrow, Alaska held that honor. Easy, plug those two cities into Google Maps, and I should have a pretty good start at a plan, right? Not so fast. Apparently, there are no roads whatsoever to Point Barrow, AK. At first I'm skeptical, but I've seen "Ice Road Truckers" so maybe there is something to this. After a little more research, I determine I need to go to Deadhorse, Alaska, which is the furthest North that you can drive to on a road in the US.

Now, I plug those two cities into Google Maps, and Presto! A plan, right? Wait a minute. This has me driving for hundreds of miles through the Midwest. Nothing against the Midwest, but after staring at a 100 miles of corn fields, I'm pretty sure I'm gonna be bored. Maybe I can hit a few National Parks on the way? Maybe I can stay out of large cities? Many clicks and a few hours later I have a much better idea of where I want to go. I may have added a few hundred miles to the trip, but I've made it way more interesting.

Now let's see... I know from experience I can do about 400 miles/day on my bike before I get really miserable. Plus I want to take a few stops to see some of the sights... so I calculate that my 7,200 mile trip will take 22 days. Whoa! That's a lot of time. Who can get three weeks off of work for a crazy vacation like that?

That's when it hits me. I need to do this. I need to do this now. I can't even wait to see if I'll win the bike or not, because by that time it will be too late. I need to take the trip in the summer for obvious reasons (Deadhorse Alaska is well above the Arctic Circle, and if you have ever ridden a motorcycle in the snow you understand you don't want to do it. Ever). Plus, I've just realized that luckily (relatively speaking) I've recently been laid off from my job so I have all the vacation time I need!

So after debating the competing points: 1. A time when you don't have an income is not a good time to go on vacation 2. A sportbike is not good for traveling long distances 3. Your family is going to think you're crazy 4. You're girlfriend is going to think you're crazy and kill you 5. You'll never be able to do this when you are employed. 6. You'll never be able to do this after you get married and have kids.

It became obvious that I had to do it. Now. The next chance I get would be after I retire. And while I had been hoping that retirement would come early for me, the whole unemployment thing was definitely making it look less likely.

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