Summary of Trip

It's hard to summarize a trip like this.  It was 15 years of wanting to ride up the 'Haul Road' and go to Alaska.  It's surreal that I actually took the trip and completed it.

0 bike drops.  :) The bike was NEVER horizontal.  Not even a 0 MPH drop.  There were times in the mud on the Dalton I thought it would happen but it just didn't.

Alaska is too big and beautiful to do in the time I was there for. However I was there to ride the roads, and that's what I did.  I saw some beautiful sites, met some interesting people and took alot of pictures. I also pushed myself further then I ever had being sick and being on the Dalton. 

I've been asked multiple times if I would go back. Hell Yes!!  In a Van Camper next time though.  At themoment I have no interest in doing any long distance trips on a bike again, after time I'm sure I'll forget the pain and romanticise the good stuff again.

This bike has taken a beaten with the trans lab trip and now this trip.  I'd give it 2 thumbs up.  I can't say enough about it's reliability. If only it was a shaft drive bike it would be hands down the perfect bike.

Day 18: Ypsilanti MI to North Grafton Ma

710 miles (google again)

Woke up and was on the road beefore 9 am. 8:45 is still before 9 am. Crossed the border into Canada by following the signs too "bridge to us" which isn't really the way I wanted to go. I did stop at duty free for gas. Canadian Border guard had a slew of questions. I admitted to her I had bear spray. She asked if it said Bear spray on it and I said yes, and has the proper EPA number also. She gave a look like she had no idea what I was talking about and said ok, have a nice day.

The drive across southern Ontario is pretty boring, Not much to see, not much to do other then just drive. I love the signs that tell you how much the speeding fine is. I was in the 95-180 dollar range the whole time.

Stopped along the way at a gas station/convenience store and got some coffee. They also had the cleanest public bathroom that I had seen the whole trip. Little things matter. At this point I was in alot of pain, EVERYTHING hurt. I just kept pushing along. Eventually I stopped for gas and lunch, had to talk to the credit card people to let them know yes, that was me every 2 hours putting gas in my bike.

I headed for the border and snapped this picture of the falls from the bridge.



I then pulled up the the US border. He started to ask the regular questions then started to ask about my crossings. He questioned AlCan? I said, the Alaska Canada highway, then told him everywhere else I crossed. He looked at me funny and asked where I was going to stay tonight. I told him I was going home. He smiled and said have a nice day.

Whew, 2 crossings no hold ups, that's what I needed. I hit Rt 90 and just did 75 with traffic the entire way. Stopped for gas in Ma at the Lee service center. This meant I had not much m ore then an hour to get home. My legs were swollen, my butt hurt, my wrist hurt you name it, it hurt.

9:15 p.m. I rolled into the garage, grabbed my toiletries and jumped into a hot shower.

Day 17: Bloomington MN to Ypsilanti MI

663 miles according to Google.

being I was up late the night before because of all the fiasco's I didn't get up that early.  I  headed out in what looked to be rain but it turned out to be pretty warm.  Leaving Bloomington some really fat guy in a tricked out Avalanche tried to hit me with his truck.  It was on purpose, he was waving his finger at me as to say "don't change lanes in front of me".  Well it was time to show this Minnesota drivers how we do it in Boston.  :)  He backed off...

Next up was the ride through wonderful Chicago.  It's funny they just can't seem to finish a road there. Reminds me of 95 through CT in the 80's.  I followed Mark M's advice to drop down to rt 80 and go across to 94.  This was ok, I guess. I hit traffic around Joliet.It was hot and I was dehydrating quickly.  Evenutally I made it through all the traffic and entered Michigan. I stopped and got some gatorade. 

I love the Michigan State Trooper cars. That large red light on the roof is straight out of an old movie.

Eventually I made it to Katherine and Michael's house.  The garage was open and I dismounted.  We chatted then ordered some pizza.  After eating I headed out to find out what the noise I was hearing was.  Katherine pointed out it was most likely the chain and we looked closer at it. It had a few kinks in it and was pretty much done.  We cleaned it, lubed it and hoped for the best.

Off to sleep I went, hell bent on being home on Saturday.  No pictures were taken today. There was nothing of interest to see other then slogging it on the highway.

Day 16: Regina SK to Bloomington MN

@750 miles

The day started early but somehow I didn't get out early. For some reason on the bike in the morning and the early afternoon I have to fight for every mile. I get groggy, I get lots of pain. Then sometime around 4 p.m. I get my wind and start cranking miles. I can't quite figure it out.

As I was headed towards the border I was running on the outskirts of a nasty looking cell. It sprinkled a bit but I could see the rain in there. Luckily I stayed on the outskirts of it.

<insert picture> they won't upload right now for some reason.


From there I headed to the border. I got asked all the usual questions and had all the usual answers. Other then the dude in the box seemed crabby it was going just like every other border crossing. He asked me to pull the bike over to the inspection area. Really?

He has me open all my bags, he looks in, touches some stuff and hands me my passport. He then says, your all set after you head to the garage. Really? So I head into the garage where 3 CBP's were standing by their mobile x-ray machine. I get asked the same questions and if I can pull all the stuff off the bike. I tell them the hard bags do come off but are a royal pain in the ass. They have me pull everything else. Xray them, then open them to look. I was upset they didn't open the plastic bag that has my dirty underwear.

Quote of the day:

CBP in the garage "Where are you headed today"
Me "I was hoping for Minneapolis but now I'm having all my stuff searched so who knows how far I willl go"

From there it was the rolling prairie of North Dakota, but it got real HOT. My feet were on fire so I switched from my Sidi boots to the hiking boots I have with me, took off my fleece and then kept riding. The scenary is much different but the speed limits are 110 kmph

<insert prairie pic>



Passed through Fargo then called ahead to get a room in Minneapolis. I was making pretty good time until the bumper to bumper traffic outside of MN/SP. I then go to check in. I ask if they have a luggage cart and am told they didn't know where they were.

5 minutes later a women with 5 kids comes walking out with one to load her luggage. I asked where she got it and she told me the people inside got it for her. Hmm.

My key wasn't working in my room, but I got it to open once. Put half my stuff in and never got back in again. Thelock was screwed. They had to use a gizmo to open the door for me to get my stuff. I got moved rooms. Then realized I could not find my key. I searched and searched. still no key.

Went to dinner came back showered, then check my helmet sure enough in the ear pocket is the key to the bike. I have 2 spare sets but still.

Tomorrow I'm going to hope to make it through chicago then head for the Northern (throughOntario) route.

In Michigan.. Will report tomorrow

Not much to say other then sitting in Friday night Chicago rush hour traffic in the heat really sucks.

Got I to ypsilant Mi (Ann arbor) at 10:15.

Chain is kinked but it should make it home. Hopefully. Going to try and be in the road before 9 tomorrow. Got 700+ miles to go. Heading through southern Ontario.

Not sure if I Took any pictures today..

Anyone want to rub my butt? Its pretty sore. I may throw on the sheepskin seat cover tomorrow.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 15: Edmonton AB to Regina SK

485 miles (google again)

Woke up not early and by the time I headed downstairs the coffee was gone. For some reason I have an aversion to the coffee maker in the room.  I packed up and hit the road.  I just wasn't feeling it from the beginning and was sleepy from the get go.  Of course this was the morning that a guy in a white pick up truck merged onto the highway and decided he liked my yellow bike so much he wanted the paint on his pick up truck. Luckily I saw what he was going to do and hit my horn which did nothing.  I hit the brakes, gave him the lane.  He looked back and waved like everything was peachy.

After that, I pulled into a Tim Hortons and got a coffee and bagel.  Back on the road and I pulled into the "border town" LloydMinster AB/SK.

I grabbed a shot of the signs which was basically me stopping in the middle of an intersection.






When pulling away I heard a noise coming from the bike when starting.  I pulled over to check it out and coulldn't find anything.  I then stopped at the info center took off the helmet to listen.  It sounded like it was coming from the chain.

I unpacked the bike, put it on the center stand and looked at it. Nothing looked wrong, maybe it had picked up a bunch of dirt along the way.  did a full chain clean/lube and the noise I was hearing went away.

The views have definately changed along the way.







So I then took off. What I neglected to do was get gas in Lloyd Minster.  With the highway speeds my gas mileage was lower and yep, I ran out of gas 8 km before the Battlefords.  So there I was on the side of the road out of gas, so I opened up my Primus bottles and put in 2 liters of fuel.



Got to north Battleford gassed up and hit the road again.  Droned on into Regina and wound up downtown.  Started to head out of town then found the Comfort Inn on the way out.  The sky was looking like I was running into the storms so I just stopped. I'm going to bed early and hopefully gettig up early. :)

Tomorrow I'm going to try for Minneapolis. Who knows if I'll make it or not.  Weather says, rain in the morning.

Day 14: Ft Nelson to Edmonton

648 miles according to Google.

I need to stop trying too remember things when I'm exhausted I forget some funny tidbits.

For instance: while eating lunch in Tok there was an elderly couple and their middle aged son eating lunch. It was father's day so this was their big meal. They were serious Holy Rollers. Which is fine, but the son was talking all sorts of propoganda and craziness. He kept references the "newsletters" he go from all over the place. At one point they were talking about divorce and how everyone was going to hell and how the kids would need to be raised by the village. i.e. It takes a village. The mother without missing a beat responded with the quote of that day. "If the villiage raises the children they could turn out to be Atheists"

I just noted it as the quote of the day.

Anyway, I woke up this morning not wanting to look out the window because it was supposed to rain. I finally looked out and it hadn't rained yet, so I packed the bike up real quick and went for my continental breakfast. I did my morning check to see what is hanging off the bike and then headed for gas. My motivation was pretty low.

I got to the end of the Alaska Highway and of course had to take some pictures.




As I started driving I didn't realize I wasgoing to lose an hour on another time change. This meant I had a really late start. After a while it started to rain and I could see some thunderstorms ahead. I was wearing leather gloves so I pulled over to put my covers on. Sure enough as soon aas I did it stopped raining. Stopped for lunch in Grand Prairie. I had no idea it was that big of a town.





As I approached ValleyView I saw some real NASTY clouds, a rain bow, some lightning and could see the rain ahead. Luckily that is where the road heads south. Which is good because there was some severe storms out there today. For once I wasn't in them.

I didn't take that many pictures but I made it to edmonton. I learned my lesson and called ahead for a room. It was mine and I was good for a late check in. Went to Denny's for dinner and got chicken fingers. Dennys had BEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't realize it until halfway through. Good think I like Canadian.... eh!

Not sure where I'm heading to tomorrow. It's going to be an audible because of the weather. I have to make a decision in Saskatoon whether to head towards the Manitoba line or head south to cross the border into North Dakota maybe to Minot if the day is going well. If the weather is bad and I run into storms I'll just pull up then.


Quote of tonight over heard at Dennys. Two guys, lets say not the coolest guys in the world were talking. They were obvious friends from back in Vancouver that were both in edmonton now. One was bilking the Canadian govt to pay for his school and getting H Money (not sure what that is). The other guy was in town because of work. He was doing something selling to the oil workers. Mr. Sponge off the govt said that oil would be done in 10-20 years so he should keep that in mind. His friend threw out this zinger. "It may be done for cars, but we will have more space ships then" Ohhh he was serious. His friend took a second and told him they use other gases for that not gasoline.

btw, It gets dark here. Ohhhh how nice it is to see night.