|
Reload this Page chasing dreams... Maryland to Alaska on a WR250X
"You've got a lot of balls to ride that thing up here this early. Not a lot of brains, but balls." - Police officer in Tok, Alaska
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-07-07_287.jpg 30 days, 6600 miles, worn out tires, gear failures, rain, mud, snow, ice, dust storms, wind storms, crashes, broken luggage, broken parts... Maryland to Alaska on a WR250X in March 2012. |
I guess the beginning is as good as anywhere to start. A year ago I was a very different man. I was physically well but mentally and emotionally I was broken. Has it really only been a year? Almost to the day...
Chasing dreams and the ghost of my soul - ADVrider I figured out a lot on that ride. First and foremost, stock spark plugs only. :lol: Let go of the planning and just ride. It took me over two weeks of fighting a schedule and itinerary that was completely self imposed before I realized I was being absolutely ridiculous and needed to relax and flow. I refined my pack list and gear wants/need immensely. I have zero doubts about what to bring with me or what to wear and have the necessary tweaks Most importantly I think I finally found the courage to live for myself. From my last post in the previous Ride's thread Quote:
Long story short... I found a job bartending. In Alaska, for a cruise line's hotel. Starting in early April, through the end of September. The goal... well there is no goal. I've got an idea to follow the sun after the season is over and end up with a similar gig someplace warm over the winter... or maybe just hiding out in Baja for a while until the next season gets ready to start. Or not. Or maybe I'll hate it and end up working a 9-5 somewhere. My trusty steed, as always, is my 2008 Yamaha WR250R. It has since had an X change so I'm running 17" wheels front and rear instead of the usual 21/18. I've also racked up a total of just under 31,000 miles on the old girl with nary a problem. Coolant and hoses were changed prior to departure, so was the oil. Swapped the worn out stock seat foam for a seat concepts foam and cover. Heated grips are installed and a heated jacket and heated socks enlisted for the cold weather, and a dual controller. My trusty Nikon D40 will be doing photo duties along with my not so trusty DroidX smartphone. No routes except my old TAT maps in my GPS, just way points. My mountain hardware +35 bag is getting replaced by a Marmot never summer, and I'm shipping most of my clothes up ahead of me. Otherwise this is the same kit I've traveled with since 2010. In an effort to simplify, I swapped my riding gear for an Aerostich Roadcrafter. From the time I got the job offer to the time I left I had about 2 weeks. During that period I sold my car, my furniture, quit my job, got out of my apartment, moved everything I wanted to keep into storage or sold it or threw it away, shipped a box of clothes and my laptop ahead to myself, and basically closed up shop in Maryland. Monday March 5th - ready to ride... almost. Wasted half the day tying up loose ends. Big storm blew in west and south of me, dumping rain and snow on the two routes I wanted to take out of Maryland. More than I knew at the time this set the scenario for the ride perfectly. I decided to delay one day to wait out the weather. Tuesday March 6th - Ready to RIDE! Taken in front of my grandmother's house, where I had staged everything the day before to get packed as I had spent the night at my mom's. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-51-20_172.jpg |
March 7th
Up kinda late due to running around as late as I did the night prior and from taking advantage of the free breakfast... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0005.jpg Best view of the pack job http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0006.jpg I quickly aquainted myself with 200+ miles of West Virginia's finest. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0007.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0010.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0011.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0014.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0016.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0018.jpg After the first 50 miles of true back roads like the above, the rest was perfectly smooth race track quality pavement that was damn near empty. If this is what we get when we pave the world, pave it! Mile after mile after mile of perfectly smooth asphalt that you could tell was simply dumped and graded 2' thick over the existing gravel road. Amazing! 50+ miles of road like this! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0019.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0020.jpg and a little later... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0021.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0026.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0027.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0029.jpg Once again I kept riding until well after dark and made it all the way to Kentucky, where I stayed in an absolutely empty state park with hot showers and real flush toilets for free. Set up my tent, made a little first, and fell asleep listening to the creek that ran through the campsite; all was ok in the world. Tomorrow... would be less idyllic. |
One of my friends back home is on ADVRider, and his signature has the following quotes in it:
Quote:
Damn these crowded early spring campgrounds! Somewhere in eastern KY http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0031.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0032.jpg Weather forecast called for rain, lots of it, starting around 11am. I was up and rolling by 9ish hoping to put some miles on before I got wet. Shortly out of camp I came across this cool old post office http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-32-49_479.jpg with a big historical marker out front http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...9-32-56_66.jpg Soon followed by a cool old covered bridge http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0040.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0041.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0043.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-36-58_336.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-37-18_103.jpg Apparently occupied lols http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-37-11_775.jpg Shortly after leaving the bridge, it started to rain and hence these were my last pictures for the day. It was chilly, low 50's out, and wet but fortunately my Aerostich kept me dry... For about 45 minutes. Then I started feeling water on my pants, and sure enough I had an acute case of aero-crotch (water leaking past the main zipper where it bunches up at your waist). Then water started coming in near the neck. Eventually the fabric itself wetted out. I was soaked, head to toe, except for my hands which were in my summer gloves under rubber dish gloves. I made a stop at Woodford Reserve distillery hoping for a free tour and maybe a sample, neither of which they had. :mad: It was at woodford that I discovered that not only did the suit leak, but the 'waterproof' pockets on the suit did too. Goodbye cell phone! I slogged it as far as Shelbyville, KY as that was the first town I found with a verizon store. Fortunately my phone was insured, and they helped me through the claims process and found me a hotel nearby that was relatively inexpensive to dry out in. Assurion, the insurance provider for my phone, assured me my new phone would be overnighted and I would be able to get on the road again tomorrow. I also had the pleasure in stopping in to Derby Cycles in Shelbyville. Great moto shop, first of many that I stopped at, and one of the few brick and mortar bike shops I've found that have as good if not better prices for tires than the online shops. Unfortunately nothing in my size as both my front and rear tire were starting to get pretty thin, so on I went. Off to bed, full of greasy spoon goodness thanks to the waffle house across the street from the hotel and mostly relaxed thanks to the hotel's hot tub and good, soft beds. (Best Western Shelbyville, if you have to be in this part of the world its a great place to stay!) |
Friday March 9
According to the folks at the Verizon store, UPS doesn't usually show until around 3pm meaning I had most of a day to kill in Shelbyville, KY. This is harder than it looks. I bugged the guys at Derby Cycles for a while. Then I wandered around WalMart, got some bbq at the place next to the verizon store, bought a book from the dollar store (lol) and read half of it... finally 3pm rolls around and no sign of the UPS driver. So I continue waiting. And waiting. And finally... there he is! Drives right up to the shopping center, goes into the store next door, hops back in the truck and rolls out. wtf. Grab my helmet, jump on the bike and tear off after him. Ask him about my package... not on the truck. Long story short... Assurion is located in Nashville, TN, or at least the warehouse where they ship phones from is. They claimed to have shipped my package overnight via UPS. Problem: UPS Ground is effectively a next-day service from Nashville, as its close enough. Bigger problem: UPS gives no ****s about ground packages. My phone was mis-picked and sent to the wrong hub and would be delivered on Monday. About two hours of calling, yelling, complaining, and generally losing my shit over this, I got UPS to forward my phone to the house I was planning on staying at in Oklahoma early the next week. Wasn't particularly happy to be without my only communications device for the weekend and 1000+ miles I was planning to ride, but it was better than being stuck in Kentucky for a weekend. I had planned to abuse the hospitality of an ADVRider, BigDogAdventures.com aka Mark Sampson. Mark lives about 200 miles west of Shelbyville, so after I got everything forwarded and set up (or so I thought) I hopped on the bike and burned out to southern Illinois. My WRX in BidDog's garage http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0044.jpg Mark and his wife are truly wonderful people. Mark and I swapped stories for a couple hours over an oil change for my bike and some sandwiches inside later, and gave me a place to sleep on one of the comfiest beds I've ever slept on. Early (for me) the next morning, BigDog's out in the garage getting ready and I eventually pack up to join him for a day of riding... unfortunately his wife wasn't feeling well and he decided to stay home. Maybe next time! Off into the midwest I go! |
Saturday March 10th
Mark told me to head over to the next town if I wanted a decent breakfast. "When you get to the town square, look to your left for the little building that looks like its about to fall down. That's where all the locals and farmers eat" Sounds good to me! Eggs, bacon, biscuits n gravy, all scratch made or locally sourced, now thats a breakfast! Fueled and fed, I headed west out of town. Small town, fields in prep, small town, more fields, small town, more fields, small tow.... wait, did I just see a statue of Wimpy? http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0049.jpg Turns out I stumbled across the home of Popeye, Chester, Illimois! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0054.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0045.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0048.jpg They even have a Popeye museum, housed in the original theater builder where the creator started his career. It had since been turned into a store front with apartments above. Oddly enough, to me anyway, the owner was not a local but moved to Chester to set up the museum when she learned about the history and that the site was for sale, or something like that. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0051.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0052.jpg Chester is located high on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, and throughout town there are statues of the other Popeye characters. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0062.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0060.jpg The bridge west: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0076.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0074.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0075.jpg At the bridge they had a big bronze statue of Popeye http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0072.jpg Turns out this was also where Lewis and Clark crossed the Mississippi on their way west. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0081.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0080.jpg Into Missouri we go! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0067.jpg It didn't take long to get out of the flood plain and head up into the foothills of the Ozarks. Along the way I came across Fort Davidson, site of a relatively important civil war battle http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0082.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0084.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0085.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0091.jpg Dat's a big hole! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0097.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0099.jpg I had gathered from a few newspapers and weather reports I had been able to find during the day that I was heading into another front promising rain all day the next day. There were ample opportunities for camping, but I wussed out and found a hotel yet again, this time in West Plains, MO. Yet again it had a hot tub and plenty of nearby greasy food and a free hot breakfast, so it wasn't so bad. Especially when I woke up to it pouring cats and dogs outside. Good thing I had grabbed a cheap rainsuit from WalMart the previous day! Sunday March 11 http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0100.jpg |
Sunday was a long, chilly, wet day. It rained *all* *day*. Sometimes a drizzly fog, sometimes down in buckets, but always wet.
Here's where I'm going to plug Warm n' Safe's GenIV heated jacket and heated socks. Without them, I would have been absolutely miserable and dangerously cold on days like today and like the prior Thursday. Because I was able to add upwards of 90w of heat to my core, I was able to stay warm and alert in conditions that would have otherwise made me tired, sluggish, and at worst extremely hypothermic. A heated jacket is the best layering device for any sort of long distance motorcycling. Anyway, it rained and rained and rained. I had a few 'moments' thanks to a fast balding and flat spotting rear tire and a front tire that was solidly at the wear bars, but compound ultimately triumphed over tread depth and common sense. I only made two stops, once in Eureka Springs, AR to ensure that my infatuation with the town wasn't fleeting (it wasn't, big thanks to Arkansas Adventure Riders motorcycle shop for the coffee and coversation) and once in Fayetteville for food and gas. The roads are simply amazing in the Ozarks, dual sport and motard heaven. I had planned to maybe ride as far as it took to get out of the rain... which ended up being damn near all the way to the Oklahoma border. I almost didn't make it out of Arkansas however... the local police in Lincoln took offense to my rate of travel through their town. Shortly after leaving the town I see a cop car with lights blazing fast approaching on my 6... Pull over, bike off, helmet off (thankfully it had stopped raining), and stayed in the saddle with my hands on the bars. Cop pulls up behind me, gets out, and starts walking towards me... then stops as he reads my license plate... then finally walks up. "How are you tonight?" Cold, wet, kinda miserable, sir. "Yeah, I bet. Do you know what the speed limit is here?" uhh... [**** if I know at this point] 45? "here, yes, but back there in town its 35 and you were doing 47" Crap, sorry, must have missed the signs and zoned out a little, been riding all day, was just following the truck that was in front me, etc "...Did you really ride that thing all the way from Maryland? On a 250?" Yes. "Does it belong to you?" Yes sir. *looks me over, dripping wet in and under my rain suit* "Is it going to be a complete pain to get to your license?" No sir, its in my front left pants pocket, *digs out wallet, hands ID to him* "Where are you headed?" Tulsa. "Now?" Yes sir. *goes back to his car with my ID* At this point I'm assuming I'm getting a ticket or worse. A couple minutes later, he comes back and hands me my ID. "Be careful, pay attention, and slow down. You don't have far to go, but the roads are wet and slick and I'm a rider too, those tires aren't much good in this. Are you going straight to Tulsa?" Yes sir. "Ok, again SLOW DOWN and be careful out here. Have a good night." Thank you sir, you too! :checkered: :toast: Fortunately I did have plans to stay at must-go place when traveling, Rancho Highfive, and once again I arrived later in the day than I should have. And once again, Scott (HighFive) took me in, fed me, and gave me a place to sleep. http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07810-L.jpg Tomorrow... :D |
After keeping HF up past everyone's bedtime swapping stories and getting fed, I crashed in their spare bedroom and go to sleep in a bit the next day. HF took a half day at work and came home and told me to put my bike on the trailer, we're going riding.
Heh really? Yeah, get your bike on the trailer. We're going someplace special. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0103.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0104.jpg We load up the trailer, get in the truck, and start driving. And driving. And driving. Then... we keep driving. Scott seems to know where he's going... which is good because I haven't a clue. We can't be in Oklahoma anymore, can we? There's these things... rising from the ground... Scott those can't be mountains can they? Where are you taking me? Down the rabbit hole we went, Scott making promises of street taco's and bbq and runestones and a more. Street tacos? Nope, the truck's closed. We settled on a nearby restaurant which, to my eastern palette, had some of the best mexican food I ever ate. Soon after we ended up at camp, Campo HighFive, unloaded the bikes, and went for a ride. You do remember that I'm on street tires right? And I've got a few miles still to go right? "Screw it, they've got tires in Tulsa too" Onward, mush! http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07812-L.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07813-L.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07814-L.jpg Knobbies? We don't need no stinkin' knobbies! Hell we don't even need tread! Up and over the mountain we go... "By the way... if we can't through the creek crossing at the other end... we're gonna have to come back through the mud." Ok, lets go! Of course, we couldn't get across the creek. It was flowing fast and deep from all the rains over the last few days, and so we turned back up the mountain. About halfway up... hmm. The throttle grip is moving... but the motor isn't revving up. Oh no... please don't tell me I broke a throttle cable or something... nothing that bad, just my throttle grip had come loose and was simply spinning on the throttle tube. Fortunately, I could get the heated grip off without breaking off the wiring and made it out by twisting the raw throttle tube. With the sun fast setting, we limped back to camp to get set up, I set up the fire while Scott got the grub going. None of this freeze dried crap either, but scratch made Beef Stroganof from a recipe from Monty (another ADVRider) http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0108.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0111.jpg Pics don't do it justice, really hit the spot at the end of the day. The good cold beer didn't hurt either. Nor did the Son of Jiffy Pop on a Stick. Because everything is better on a stick! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0115.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0116.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0117.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0118.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0119.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0120.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0123.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0124.jpg Ain't many ways to spend a night in the woods, thats for damn sure. "Spare no expense" http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0133.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0134.jpg |
Bright and early the next morning (All pics from today are Scott's. I left my dslr in the truck and did not have my phone and therefore no point and shoot)
http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07817-L.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07818-L.jpg Campo HighFive http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07825-L.jpg Breakfast! (ok, these are mine) http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0135.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0144.jpg The day dawned cloudy and cool, but soon the sun came out to burn off the chill and the clouds http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0145.jpg Down by the creek before leaving camp http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0149.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0154.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0155.jpg Does this Aerostich make me look fat? Or is it my... fat? http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07828-L.jpg Up we went, alternating between nice open twisties along the crest of a mountain and some small bits of easy single and one-and-a-half track. http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07832-L.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07833-L.jpg Notice me looking at the rear wheel. For some reason the bike felt funny, wasn't turning in as well as I was used to and overall kinda riding funny. Nothing looked out of place however, and the tire pressure was fine... [Later in the day... We switched bikes for a short while. While we both are techincally on the same motorcycles, 2008 WR250R's... mine's stock except for the full exhaust and the sumo wheels. Scott's bike, R², has a dialed in Athena 290 kit, head work to complement, has been dyno tuned via a Power Commander V (with autotune), and has had the suspension reworked to perfection by GoRace Suspensions in Virginia. His also has the Safari 3.7 gallon tank while mine makes due with the IMS 3.25 gallon tank. Up the gravel road back to the paved highway, I relearned how damn nice it is to have a 21" front tire off pavement. Knobs too. And torque, R² comparatively had gobs of it and easily pulled up the steeper grades that would have me madly downshifting in a bid for greater forward motion. Back on the tar... I missed my sumo wheels greatly and really noticed the increased vibes from the big bore. R² was no longer a nice pavement friendly dual sport... it had gone to the gym a bit too hard and was now more of a dirt bike dual sport than a lightweight adventure touring bike. Not that there's anything wrong with that, especially seeing how it slots in nicely between Scott's Husaberg 390 and F800GS, but I was definitely happy back on my RX. With 30,000 more miles on it. "Man... your bike's motor is really really running smooth. Don't mess with it, it's running too good!" But... "How do you ride with the rear wheel hopping like that?" What? Yeah, your rear wheel is bouncing all the time, how do you not feel that?" Hmmm... sure enough I noticed it now too. Tire gone out of round maybe? It was damn near worn out after all, and we haven't been treating it nice at all. Shock going bad? Dunno, couldn't find anything... yet...] So... on we went! http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07830-L.jpg The view's were terrible http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07835-L.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...DSC07836-L.jpg The roads were worse. http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07842.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07847.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07853.jpg And the weather beyond awful (beached whale warning) http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07852.jpg Man this is pretty bad Scott. Lets get something to eat. Street taco's closed again?! At least there's a place advertising that they always have burgers... except for when we get there and they're out of propane. At least the beer is cold http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07856.jpg The wings were pretty good too. "Ok, remember that ridge trail I showed you?" Yeah... "Well, time to go ride it" Ok... but I thought you said it was a really really long and pretty difficult trail? "Not this part, don't worry." Ok, let's go! http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07858.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07859.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07861.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07881.jpg And the payoff... http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...SC07862-Th.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07864.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07865.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07866.jpg So yeah, I rode my motard up the K-trail. Even climbed up into the rickety old fire tower (I didn't stay long, the lack of floor structure kinda spooked me) http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07867.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07869.jpg http://highfive.smugmug.com/Other/Sk...O/DSC07872.jpg On the way back down the mountain, Scott let me lead and I turned the X loose on the long perfectly smooth paved sweepers back down the mountain, leaned her over as far as she would go (no chicken strips here damn it!) Not a bad way to spend a Tuesday. Back to camp, loaded up the truck, pretty good BBQ on the way home, and pulled in to Rancho HighFive in my usual fashion... late and stinking of the trail. :lol3 Oh well, he's a lucky guy with a very understanding wife at home. We did notice something after unloading the bikes. Remember those problems? Not turning in, and the bouncing? A few days prior, I had made a chain adjustment using my Motion Pro combo tire spoon and 27mm wrench to undo the rear axle nut. Today... after unloading and giving the bike a quick once over, I noticed my chain slider was half worn through and my rear axle nut was barely finger tight on. :eek1 How I didn't lose the bolt is beyond me. It must have been loose all day, at best, because the issues went away when it was tightened. I don't want to thing about how bad it would have been for it to let loose with the way we were riding it, especially on those twisties. On the less than lucky side, my replacement phone had not shown up yet. UPS tracking showed an exception, unable to find correct address. It was too late to call, but I must have given them the wrong address when I was in Kentucky. Sonofabi... In any event, they held it for me to pick up at the customer center in Muskogee. Which opened at 4:30pm. Looks like I'm spending another day and night in Tulsa... which turned out to be more than alright in the end. :) |
No pics from today, didn't feel like dragging the SLR around.
Wednesday March 14, putting around Tulsa. Decided to spend the day seeing the sights and taking in an unfamiliar city. But then I got sidelined at Brookside Motorcycle Co, Tulsa's Moto Guzzi dealer. I wanted to stop in anyway as they had a 2011 V7 Classic in black sitting on the floor and I wanted to go ogle the bike I'm still somewhat planning to replace my WR250X with. Here's a pic of said italian temptress for those not aware of them: http://www.webbikeworld.com/Moto-Guz...ck-right-2.jpg And here's the actual devil from Brookside's website http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...emotoguzzi.jpg I've been lusting over this bike for about a year now, especially when I realized its basically exactly what I want from my next bike: about 50hp, about 400 pounds, nearly 0 maintenance (shaft drive and air cooled, change the oil in the motor, trans, and shaft every couple thousand, screw type valve adjustments), good gas mileage combined with a 4.5gal tank to give a 160-200 mile range. It also looks the best of any of the retro standards (i.e. Shadow RS, Sportster, and Bonneville), has the best stock suspension, range, seat, blah blah blah. Its a cool bike. As I'm sitting there staring, starting to drool a little, one of the salesmen comes by and asks if he can help me with anything. Nah... just looking, explained I'm on a big trip on my WR250X, from Maryland to Alaska so just passing through, but like to stop and look at these since I'd like to get one for my next bike. Ridden the Sportster and a Bonne, haven't ridden a V7 yet thoug... "Oh... well do you want to test ride it?" *poker face* Uh, yeah! You know I'm not really in the market right now though? I mean, it would be crazy if I swapped bikes mid trip and... Oh your back with the keys and already made a copy of my license. So, I rode it. And it was sublime. The only nit I had with it was the legroom, the pegs are in between dirt bike pegs and sport bike rear sets, reminded me a lot of the seating position of my friend's Monster S2R1000 but with a shorter reach to the bars. The handling was light but confident, nimble yet stable. The motor, which is underpowered on paper, feels strong and healthy on the road. Its a stump puller for sure, but likes to rev and breath too. Flexible. And the sound, the pleasant rumble from the twin lafranconi pipes alternating side to side on the back of my helmet, was one of the most beautiful motoring sounds I've ever had the pleasure to ride with. Harley Davidson and Triumph are very lucky there aren't more Guzzi's dealers and bikes out there available, because its a better bike by half than either. Its a good thing it took my bank 36 hours to get back to me and I was already halfway across the state, as I would have been very tempted to try to get a bike with temporary tags through Canada. In the end, it was good I had the WR250X but... for the first time after a test ride, I was no longer perfectly content when I got back on my little Yamaha and I often found myself daydreaming about the Guzzi over the coming weeks while riding the WR. It was starting to get late in the day, so instead of touring more around Tulsa, I made tracks east then south towards Muskogee to pick up my phone from UPS finally. The pickup went without issue, then, following some directions left by HF to some nice twisties, ride a nice 10-15 mile stretch of long sweepers and tight corners worthy of any good mountain or river road before cruising back to Rancho HF for dinner and a good long soak in a hot tub. Alas it was time for me to gather my gear and get back on the road, but my time in Oklahoma had been wonderful. "Spare no expense" |
Thursday March 15
*knock knock knock* "No sleeping in at Rancho Highfive, get up and ride my Husaberg!" Scott's got a Husaberg FE390 he's mighty proud of. And he should be, 'cause its a real sweet bike. A real dirt bike, that happens to have a freshly minted Oklahoma license plate and some vestigial turn signals, tail light, and head light to make it a 'dual sport'. Oh poor R²... you've been exposed for the dual sport that you are. Scott's got a small MX track in his back yard that has a new woods section now on the back half. Threading through the tree's the Husa just floated and rode effortlessly and quick where the WR would be bashing and mucking about. Perfectly composed in the dirt, happy in the tight stuff, happy on the open stuff, happy on the jumps, happy to wheelie on command. Not as happy on the pavement, but hell its a dirt bike dammit. "Ok, I gotta go to work. Meet me for lunch at La Hacienda [or something like that] and I'll see you off proper. It won't be street taco's, but it'll be really good." Sounds good to me! http://s3.amazonaws.com/advrider/DukeGirl.gif The carnitas just melted when you ate it, and the taco's were 'the closest I've seen to real street tacos I've yet seen in a restaurant". Now that's a lunch! Spare no expense after all... http://d26ya5yqg8yyvs.cloudfront.net/deal.gif Food pics? Nah, you're gonna have to get off your butts and get your own. After eating... Scott tells me he's got a great route across Oklahoma. Just follow me... so we ride, and ride, and ride, up a bluff, along a river, and finally out in the flat country and the wide open plains. "Just got that way, stay on this road, until it ends. Turn right, then keep going until you hit New Mexico. Once there, go north into Colorado and check your GPS. You'll see the road north, cut west, then drop back south, and across that there's a dirt road that will save you about an hour". BTW, remember, there's nothing out here in Oklahoma. The food is terrible, the people are mean, its hot dry dusty and flat. Nothing to see here, nowhere to ride, just keep going... Quickly after we part ways, Scott back to work and family and life, me onward and westward, the road goes from a divided four laner to an arrow straight 2 lane highway. For something like 200 miles. Dead straight, only variation are the tree's which slowly became scrub and sage brush and the rolling hills of the eastern plains. And the temperature, which steadily rose to the mid to high 80's through the afternoon. Oh Oklahoma... I don't think those words mean what you think they mean. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0158.jpg Did I mention the roads were straight? And flat? http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0159.jpg Wait... whats that in the distance? http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0162.jpg Welcome to the Glass Mountains, a ripple in the great plains so named because of the crystals found in the soil that makes the hills glitter like glass in the distance. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0164.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0170.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0165.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0166.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0167.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0168.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0169.jpg Very pretty, but it was getting late and I was getting antsy to keep riding. The clock was tick tick ticking after all, and it dawned on me that I had been out for 10 days already and only had another 15 days to get to Washington with unknown weather, unknown problems, and over half the country yet to come. But sometimes its hard to move with sunsets like this: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0172.jpg Made it as far as Guymon where I grabbed a cheap hotel on the edge of town for the night. Tomorrow, push for the front range and the furthest point west I had yet been via motorcycle, Salida. |
Oh yeah, you might have noticed the new addition to my muffler. Somewhere along the way, and for the first time in many thousands of miles, the FMF pipe got hot enough to melt a hole into the hot side saddlebag. It also melted my spare front tube. As a stop gap until I could make a more permanent solution, here's my front tube and duct tape heat shield:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-46-16_383.jpg |
Leaving Guymon early on the morning of Friday March 16, I headed out to Boise City for gas and breakfast before heading north into Colorado. Sage brush and scrub had given way to nearly open desert:
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/DSC_0175.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/DSC_0174.jpg Desolate is the only appropriate word. There was evidence of man's presence here from the road itself existing, from the fences that (mostly) contained the few head of cattle I was able to see from the road, and a bunch of signs stating that "This land is NOT for sale to the ARMY!" but... there basically was nothing out here. Towns were an easy 100-150 miles apart, and consisted of a gas station and maybe a few other smaller businesses. There's really nothing out here but land and sky and sand and scrub and cattle. Sure enough, I came to HighFive's cutoff. It worked, thankfully I had the range needed to bypass the long leg north then west then south and could instead simply cut west on the well maintained gravel. It rejoined the pavement right where the paved highway turned back to the west. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/DSC_0177.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/DSC_0178.jpg My only real road companion for today was the same that had rode with all of the previous day since leaving Tulsa: wind. Lots of wind. I was riding mostly due west, and, of course, the wind was sweeping down out of the Rockies from the west at 30+mph, gusting as high as 60mph according to the various weather sites. It was so bad that I was unsure what was worse, the direct headwind that made my top speed somewhere around 55mph, or the nasty gusting crosswinds that blew me all over the road whenever I turned out of it its direct path. I promised myself on this day that I will never cross the plains again on a motorcycle that can't do 70mph into a solid headwind. The only saving grace of all the wind was the altitude. While the ground appears to be flat, in truth it has slowly been climbing in elevation since leaving Tulsa as I approached the Rockies. I was already near 5000ft and would be over 7000ft when I reached my destination, Salida, CO. While it and the wind effectively turned my bike into a rolling chicane, it also meant I was at least getting decent gas mileage. Stopped for food at Boss Hogg's Restaurant and Saloon in La Junta, CO. Easily in the top 10 best burgers I've ever had, it didn't last long enough to get a picture of it. http://s3.amazonaws.com/advrider/kbasa2.gif Gassed up after riding through the wastes of eastern, CO and continued northwest until.... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/DSC_0179.jpg Closer, and closer, and closer, slowly the front range of the Rockies rose into view. And not just the front range, but some of the highest mountains in the lower 48, many of which scrape the skies at a towering 14,000+ feet! In La Junta, I hopped on US 50 W once again, the same road I had ridden so many thousands of miles ago, and followed it into the heart of the mountains. Got gas in Canon City, and made a phone call to my host in Salida, Rick Ramsey (aka ramz) to let him know I was close. A little over an hour later, with the sun starting to dip behind the Continental Divide, I pulled into Rick's garage and got settled in for the night. The view from Rick's front yard sucks (taken in the morning) http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/DSC_0181.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...s/DSC_0182.jpg Tomorrow... maintenance day. My tires were beyond worn out. Chain was starting to get enough sideways play to chew into the tire, meaning it was going south, so it and the sprockets needed changing. Oil was old and dirty too. And I had to do something about my muffler, as the make shift heat shield was melting and stinking under the heavy load that the motor had been running. But first, Rick had a treat for me... YUENGLING!:toast: :aj::toast: Cold, delicious, wonderful YUENGLING! Special ordered from a shop back east and shipped to Salida just for me, a whole case of it! Up too late bs'ing about bikes, formula 1, art, politics, and tomorrow's tasks, exhausted from beating into the wind all day, I slept like a stone. |
Saturday March 17
This is what happens when you put 5000ish miles on softish compounded motard tire (Bridgestone BT003RS rear tire) http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-33-47_243.jpg And its replacement, a Continental ContiForce Sport Touring in 150/60-17. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-46-00_665.jpg Or at least its supposed to be a ST tire, I think I might have ended up with the sumo version as the tread is very similar. Tires were ordered from Motorcycle Superstore and shipped to directly Salida ahead of me, as was my replacement chain and sprockets (from Sprocket Center). Plenty of clearance http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-09-36_873.jpg Front was a stock BT090 with something like 15,000 miles on it. As an R, it ate front tires like nothing but now as an X the fronts wear like iron. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-41-12_776.jpg Replaced with a Continental ContiMotion sport touring tire in the stock 110/70-17 size. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-00-04_310.jpg Chain and sprockets were RK XSO x-ring and JT steel sprockets, replaced with another RK XSO chain, a JT 13T front, and a SuperSprox 45T rear. Going up 3 teeth to a 45T rear from a 42T along with the shorter rear tire would hopefully help me get some pulling power on the rockies and high plateaus of the western mountains and deserts. I had a 14T with me for when I got back to the coast at sea level and wanted to stretch her legs for a higher cruising speed (14/45 gearing is very close to the stock 13/42 ratio on the shorter tire and I generally liked the stock gearing). We also ended up changing out shifters to my spare which I had ordered a few days prior to leaving. Somewhere along the line the stock shifter got loose and its splines where it locks down on the shift shaft got loose and worn down. I need to pay more attention to this as its the second shifter I've worn out this way. Rick also helped me fab up a new heat shield for the FMF muffler using header wrap and a flexible metal and asbestos (or something similar) backed metal panel. So far so good, it works perfectly! You can comfortably rest your hand on the shield even after running the bike for hours at speed. All buttoned up http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-44-30_132.jpg Took it for a quick test ride and once again, she feels like a new bike and eager to ride! I love fresh tires. Unfortunately... the weather was going to take a turn tomorrow. That wind I had been battling for the last few days were the precursor to a massive storm front that stretched from Canada to Mexico, dumping a few feet of snow in the northern rockies, projecting about a foot in my direct path if I went due west, and much colder temps... unless... I went south. How south? Way south. Like I-10 south, and cross the Divide at Lordsburg, as that was the only place that was predicted to get rain instead of snow and have temps above freezing for several days. And of course, the storm was being fed my moisture off the gulf. Of Mexico. Meaning I'd be riding into stiff 35+mph headwinds that were violently gusting to 60+, 70+ in places. Sunday was going to be a long day... better drink some beer... |
With the weather having taken a turn for the awful (and quite frankly, dangerous), Rick and his wife loaded me in their van and gave me a ride south to the Colorado/New Mexico border.
Quote:
Hindsight, I probably should have taken up Rick's offer to stay in Salida for a day or three and wait it out, but I was in a moving mood and had to keep going. I followed US285 south to Sante Fe then to Albuquerque and finally to Socorro. Several times during the day the dust and sand created near brownouts on the road, the sand coming up under my helmet and coating my visor and face with dust. I stopped for lunch in Oja Caliente at a little diner/gift shop (Mesa Vista Cafe), had a great buritto smothered in green chili. While I was sitting and eating, a massive gust blew up outside and when the dust cleared, my little windscreen was gone, probably halfway back to Colorado. A blessing in disguise though, wind blast was a bit smoother without it. I stopped in Santa Fe briefly, mainly putted around downtown and swung past St. John's campus to get a look at it (I had applied and been accepted there several years ago, but decided not to attend). Seems like a cool town, kinda reminded me of an adobe, upscale, and larger Eureka Springs. After Santa Fe, I decided to head in a more south westerly direction and eventually followed rt 14 out of town. Soon I came up to a little town that looked strangely familiar... looked a lot like the town from Wild Hogs actually. Madrid, NM... aw hell, it IS the town from Wild Hogs! :laugh1: The wind was blowing bad with lots of dust and the weather was turning so I didn't bother playing tourist with the camera. The roads in and out of town were wonderful though, and the new Continentals were great through the rolling hills and canyons. As I rolled back up in elevation, the weather turned cold and colder, then slowly it started snowing. Great. Fortunately I was near a town, Cedar Crest, and pulled in to a bar, the Lazy Lizard Bar and Grill, to see what the weather was supposed to do (if I had cell service). http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-42-10_866.jpg As I pulled my helmet off a couple guys were hanging around out front. "Wow, riding out in this weather? Where you coming from?" Maryland. "Hell, Maryland?! On that! If you come inside, I'll buy you a beer." Hell I need to wait this snow out anyway. The guys at the bar http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-27-32_649.jpg Fortunately the snow cleared quickly before it stuck to anything, and I made it to Socorro without further issue. The best thing about Socorro was the nicest cheap hotel I've ever stayed in, a $35 econo lodge with a bed as comfortable as ones I've seen in hotels costing 10x as much plus a full hot breakfast in the morning. Tomorrow... big radios, big country, and more weather. |
Somehow I managed to actually get up and moving at a decent hour, usually I'm the last person checking out but today I got moving around around 10am. I decided to gamble and try running over the divide on US 60 then to follow US 191 south through the Apache National Forest as one of the guys at the bar yesterday described it as "simply epic". Unless there was weather.
Of course, there was weather. About an hour outside of Socorro I crossed through the little town of Magdelena where I got gas and stared woefully at the soggy, frozen clouds hugging the mountains. The little, oft ignored, voice in the back of my head said "might as well turn back now, you know you're not getting through here. The light and possibly clear spots you're seeing is just a trap." I of course ignored it, for a little while, because right up the road was the Very Large Array. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0186.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0188.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0189.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0190.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0191.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0192.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0193.jpg Those brown dots are cows. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...4-02_108-1.jpg :giles: While it was certainly Very Large, it was absolutely dwarfed by the valley and surrounding mountains. I wanted to get closer, but there were signs that basically said "US Govt Property, Stay the **** Out" and soon a little white securty truck sitting about 1/2 mile down the road from me. I quickly snapped my pics and kept rolling. Its hard to tell in the photo's, but it had started snowing and worse started sticking and the temperature was dropping. Looks like I'll have to find another way over... back to Socorro and back to I 25 to continue south. Fortunately I quickly found a way to the frontage road and original highway that had been replaced by the interstate so at least I didn't have to worry so much about being run down by passing semi's. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-54-24_498.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-54-19_833.jpg It was still windy and hell, and it was still cold as hell, but at least it wasn't sn... ****. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-10-56_383.jpg Fortunately it wasn't sticking to anything except my visor, but it kept snowing like this for a solid hour. I'm maybe 3 hours from the Mexican border, I'm in the desert, and its cold and snowing. Even more fun, it hailed for a little while too, little BB sized hail that made the roads just fantastic to ride on and is easily my new favorite motorcycle weather. Really? Really? Then, as I entered the town of Truth or Consequences... it stopped. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-58-12_995.jpg I wanted off the interstate again, so outside of Caballo I turned on to Rt 159 and followed it up and down and around into the mountains and eventually into the Gila National Forest. This was easily one of the twistiest, nastiest motorcycle roads I've ever ridden and was cursing myself for not being here unloaded and in warmer weather. Up into them thar hills http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0197.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0195.jpg Looking back... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0194.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0200.jpg Looking forward http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0201.jpg On and on and on and on it went like this, finally rising up and over 8000 feet to cross the pass http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0209.jpg Looking back down the valley http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0202.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0206.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0207.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0208.jpg Heading west, down to around 4500 ft in elevation on the other side http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0211.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0214.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0215.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0217.jpg I have no idea how cold it was, probably easily into the mid teens if not colder, but it was spectacularly beautiful. Coming back up towards the divide, the temperature kept dropping and the roads kept getting more fun and interesting, except they were definitely getting slick. Nothing like an open pit mine to spoil the scenery http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-52-45_487.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-52-50_188.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-53-07_767.jpg Eventually ended up in Silver City, NM at a Wendy's to get my new favorite cheap road food: 10pc nuggest and a small chili. Add a few packets of hot sauce to the chili, add crackers, break up the nuggets into the chili. Good, filling, and warming. I almost slipped and busted my ass getting back on the bike as the parking lot had turned to a sheer sheet of ice. The temperature sign on the local bank started at 30 degrees when I ate but was already at 25 degrees in the time it took for the sun to go down and me to eat... time to stop for the night. Found a cheap-enough local hotel with a clean bed and HEAT and turned in for the night. Tomorrow I finally get over the Great Divide. |
Tuesday March 20.
There are few stronger demotivators to get riding than a warm hotel room, hot coffee, and below freezing temperatures when you wake up. Eventually the sun came up over the mountains and as the world around me slowly started to thaw I made my way down and over the continental divide. Unfortunately the side was on a blind crest with no real shoulder, and it was cold and I had just starting riding, so I didn't stop and get a picture. Oh well... I followed the highway west out of Silver City and more or less plummeted straight down to the desert basin below and to what remains of the town of Lordsburg, NM, effectively a truck stop and a few run down looking businesses. I've never seen so much altitude dropped so quickly on a highway, nearly a mile in elevation over about 20-25 miles, it almost felt like I was free falling at times. Out of Lordsburg I decided to stay on I-10 and as often as possible its frontage roads and headed directly west to Tucson. But first, some minor desert detours http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-00-19_915.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-00-25_859.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0219.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0220.jpg You can just make out the interstate in the distance... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0221.jpg I putted along like this for 30 or 40 miles paralleling the interstate but effectively out in the middle of nowhere at the same time. Once in Tucson I made a quick phone call to a college friend who lives out here now, but she was tied up for the day. Oh well, onward and westward. I did stop at a dealer in Tucson, Ride On powersports, and they hooked me up with a new chin curtain for my Shoei Hornet. Actually it was from a Shoei Qwest but it fit and worked and more importantly it was free, so thanks guys! As always it was getting late in the day and I really decided to push some miles as I could feel the clock ticking. Still had to take some time from the main roads while I had sun though... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0224.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0225.jpg BTW, when it got late and as I was riding west, I realized something... I CAN"T SEE! My Hornet's visor had been sandblasted pretty badly during the wind storms in New Mexico so it was covered with little scratches and pock marks and therefore the setting sun was damn near blinding with the visor down. I ended up camping outside of Phoenix, near Superior in the free Forest Service campground there. Getting lost in the middle of the desert in the middle of the night is never a good idea, but I just about managed to do it by being stupid and trying to follow an 'interesting' road on my GPS to a site I thought was the campground. It wasn't, and in the process I managed to break my throttle grip loose for a second time. :diaf: At night. On a road I later found out was private property. Fortunately I could still just slide the grip off without damaging the wires and I was able to limp it to the camp ground sans grip and sans grip heater. Wednesday March 21. Learned a couple things camping this morning. Alcohol stoves don't work at all when its cold out, put my lighter clean out when I touched it to the puddle of alcohol in the stove. JB Quik Weld works better if its heated up first in a pot of hot water when its freezing out. I really need to better plan out where I stop or at least stop earlier in the future (we'll see how that goes). And I really dislike camping below freezing. Grip back on tight, or so I hoped, I decided that since I was in Phoenix and had time to kill that I'm going to ride the Sheeps Bridge loop. For those who aren't familiar, there is a suspension bridge across the Verde River is used by sheep herders to move their flocks down to wherever they're going, and this bridge crosses outside of Phoenix. There is also a dam at the south end of the trail that has a walkway under the spillway to get the sheep through without incident. It is possible to ride a motorcycle across the bridge and under the dam, made a great 60 or 70 mile loop that can't be gotten to and ruined by quads and can't easily be gotten to by full size 4x4 unless they can manage a deep long crossing of the Verde at the lone ford or convince the dam operators to let them drive across the spillway (you'll see that in the pics in a minute). Since I started from the south, I decided to make my way north to the Bridge via the Horseshoe Dam undercrossing. About 10 miles of twisty pavement and 10 miles of washboarded by relatively well graded gravel road, I arrived at the Dam. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0228.jpg |
Here's the spillway, you can see the path down and out pretty well.
http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0230.jpg The drop down, looking up. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-12-19_311.jpg The climb out http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-06-04_668.jpg Kinda steep but really really easy otherwise. Into the rabbit hole... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0232.jpg And we're through! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0235.jpg It was an extremely tight squeeze, I almost didn't make it through with the bags on but with a little rubbing all went well. I'm just glad I didn't have to go back through... right? The rewards: perfect easy smooth fast desert two track. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0236.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0239.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0240.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0242.jpg Someone had cleared the wash at the Creek... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...2-50_594-1.jpg so it was a simple affair to cross unlike some of the nightmare attempts I've read where it was all like this: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...2-54_415-1.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...2-57_151-1.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...3-02_985-1.jpg About 20-30 miles later, the reward http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0243.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0245.jpg A little history http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-06-30_427.jpg Walking across the bridge http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-07-21_116.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-07-24_845.jpg Why walking? Because of this nightmare: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-01-20_235.jpg It gets worse above the top of the lip you can see in the photo. There's several big ledges, lots of big loose rocks, lots and lots of smaller loose rocks, and more steps and rocks. I tried. I tried several different lines. I tried loaded. I tried unloaded. I tried walking her up. Maybe if I was a better rider. Maybe if I had knobby tires. Maybe if I had a real dirt bike instead of a loaded up dual sport. Maybe if I had come from the north like every ride report I've read of doing the sheep's bridge did. Here's as far as I got before the rear tire just trenched in and started doing a nice smokey burnout in its new hole. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...5-13_176-1.jpg All I suceeded in doing was wearing myself out... and breaking my throttle tube when i dropped it hard on the right side. Fortunately, I was able to break my throttle grip free once again and break off the offending pieces of the throttle tube so I could ride it out. So back through the desert I go, back under the dam, and back to town the way I came in. Feeling a little defeated and foolish I ate lunch at a Dairy Queen, fashioned a new throttle grip out of electrical tape, said screw it and got moving. I'll have to figure out the grip later. The sunset and the last I would see of Arizona. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0246.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0247.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0250.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0252.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0253.jpg I eventually limped my way into California and crashed in a fleabag motel in Needles, CA. Tomorrow I'd play in a new desert, one I've been through but never actually seen until now. |
Over the course of various cross country trips back in the day, I've crossed the Mohave desert 4-5 times and somehow always at night. I've never actually seen it. Today, that would change.
Thursday March 22 Left Needles on historic Rt 66 (pre 1937 alignment) and headed towards Goff and the Mohave preserve with the hopes of doing some desert explorin'. Shortly out of town I came across a honey stand with free samples http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-31-50_208.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-31-58_167.jpg So yummy... Through the nearly-a-ghosttown of Goff, I headed out into the gravel and sand roads of the Preserve unsure really where I was headed or what I was looking for. I had a few way points marked in the park that I got from Mark (BigDog) that looked intriguing but the general idea of the day was to just wander and explore in a northwesterly direction. The main roads were hard packed graded gravel... the smaller roads were deep sandy two track that I really had no business being on lol. Some places were rutted out badly and full of deep sand and I quickly grew tired of the sand and dodging cacti. I thought I had taken some pictures but they're not on my camera or phone, so I guess I didn't, but it looked a lot like what I've seen of Baja. Lots of sand, lots of big whoops, lots of sand, and some occasional rocks. Back on to main roads, I followed signs to another cool cabin http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-01-37_162.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-01-57_570.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...3-03-14_48.jpg It was beautiful and quiet out here, and I could see living here if I had running water and a/c in summer lol. I got a little lost again leaving the Rock House but generally followed established trails and roads. I was surprised at how many cars and trucks I saw out here as I wasn't expecting to see much of anyone. To be fair, they seemed equally surprised to me so lol. On one of the roads I came up on a car with the doors and trunk open and a man and old woman standing next to the car. I slowed down as I passed and asked if they needed a hand. "Nope, we're just pulled off to have a picnic." Ah ok cool, have a good... "Hey, you want a beer?" Hell yeah I want a beer! The man was taking his mother out to see the grown grandkids out in California or something like that and both decided the best way to do it was to rent a car and drive, staying on back roads and just seeing everything. Very very cool. Shared a couple Sam Adams with them, they fed me some of the rotisserie chicken they had in the trunk for lunch, and enjoyed a little desert roadside picnic. Why not? As I looked into the distance, I noticed that the road I was on intersected a paved road... but then continued straight out into the desert, winding along like a sandy snake to the horizon. It looked like the direction I wanted to head-ish and I had plenty of gas and there was a town at the other end, so instead of pavement I kept going straight on the Mohave Road. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0261.jpg This is about 8 miles in to it and was one of the nicer sections. You can see the road continuing off into the distance. Most of it was DEEP DEEP whoops, and utterly exhausting to ride on my loaded up street bike. It went on like this for about 30 miles, where it split off and continued like this for probably another 40 or 50 miles. I turned and followed another sandy bit of two track to the base of a mountain where I had a waypoint for a spring. Sure enough there was a spring there, but all that really marked it was a clump of lush tall grasses, a small tree, and a water trough for livestock. I loathed going back on that road, back the way I came, and did not want to continue on it out into the desert, so instead I followed the cut off I took from the spring towards the road I crossed early and towards the town of Kelso. 5 miles later, the road ended at a Wilderness marker stating that everything beyond this was now federally designated wilderness, no vehicles allowed. ****. **** **** ****. My GPS showed it to be about 10 miles or so back to the main road... ok go for it, how bad could it be? Bad. Real bad. Real real bad. The sand was deep enough that I didn't need the kickstand when I got tired. The 'road' devolved into a sandy wash and eventually split, several miles in, at a large rock outcrop and continued in both directions. I was too far in at this point to turn around... then I spotted powerlines on wooden posts. Where there's utilities, there's a utility road, and that has to lead back to a real road and/or a town eventually... I cut across the open desert and eventually made it to the powerlines, and followed it down a 15 mile long sandy two track path back to the main road... I've never been so happy to be back on pavement. The closer 'roads' I had seen on my GPS had been long closed in reality and effectively did not exist. This was probably the dumbest thing I did on this trip, possibly ever on a motorcycle. I thought I learned not to go down random closed roads and trails on my TAT trip or that one time in Western MD when I ended up on the wrong side of a guard rail after bushwacking through the woods, but I guess I needed a reminder. I ended up in the town of Kelso, and ate at the train station. Cool little place for sure. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-48-50_204.jpg Chili dog! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...6-21-20_66.jpg Back on the pavement, I headed north towards Death Valley with slim hopes of making it to a campground before dark. Another cool park near the Valley http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-19-18_552.jpg Shortly before sunset I came to the town of Shoshone. There I found a gas ($5.70/gal for premium) and a campground that was cheap and had a pool fed by a warm spring, and a bar to get breakfast and dinner. Good enough, close enough, no reason to push it further today. Grubbed, soaked, and slept like a baby. |
Friday March 23.
"Yea, though I walk through the valley in the shadow of death, I will fear no evil." Up relatively early, got breakfast at the town diner, and left Shoshone on Jubilee Pass Road (2500ft elevation) and dropped down to Badwater Road, heading to the lowest place on the continent, Badwater Basin. The road through the valley was mildly interesting, as instead of burning straight across the playa it hugged the cliff walls on the east side of the valley. The wind and temperatures kept things interesting too, as did the traffic as there were more than a few RV's and other family sized vehicles out and about on the road. Guess that's what I get for coming on a weekend when its still pleasant in the Valley? On a rare straight and empty stretch, I did manage to top the bike out in 6th gear finally, at 93.9mph banging off the rev limiter. The shorter rear tire and gearing definitely helped, dunno if she'd be able to do the ton or not but its nice to know I've used all of the available motor at least once. It's all uphill from here... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...0-47-29_80.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-57-17_629.jpg See the sign on the cliff above the bike? That's sea level. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-50-21_513.jpg More at Badwater Basin http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-48-01_329.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-49-00_521.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-52-14_300.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-52-23_768.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-52-51_532.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-53-53_851.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-54-33_396.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-59-38_370.jpg I had to chuckle when I saw a foreign tourist reach over the side of the walkway to grab a handful of water from the badwater pool for a drink. He promptly spit it out of course, but seriously... its called BADwater because the guy's mule wouldn't drink it after walking across the desert, why would you try?! The basin really is sublime, despite the tourists. Nothing here is on any sort of human scale. The mountains overlooking the basin are well over 10,000 feet and simply tower so far above that everything feels flattened in an attempt to make sense of the gargantuan scale. I didn't bother taking my DSLR out because I knew it would simply fail to capture the scale and grandeur around me because my senses had failed me too. Up and back out of the basin, I gassed up at Furnace Creek ($6.39/gal for premium if I remember, thankfully only needed a gallon), chatted with a group of ADVRiders who were waiting around the pumps for another friend to show up. They were all out on big bikes (KTM ADV's, BMW GS's, etc) and enjoying the faster, longer desert roads and two track that were more or less verboten to me now thanks to tires and gas range. Didn't stop me from pushing it later in the day however... Climbing out of the valley, remember about 50 miles prior to this I was at -280 feet elevation. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-38-34_555.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-38-48_554.jpg I got lunch and gassed up again at Panamint Springs (under $6/gal, but again only needed another gallon. If you're only carrying 3.75 total with reserve bottles, no reason to pass up gas out here) and continued out of the basin. Overlooking the valley... Goodbye Death Valley! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0264.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0265.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0266.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0267.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0268.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0269.jpg Ok, time for one more adventure. Shouldn't bee too bad, the road is reported to be kept purposely awful to keep the meek and timid from wandering out here. Saline Valley Road. "Officially" it's closed by the Park Service to prevent the foolish from venturing out, but it is open. And there's a hot springs in the middle. I could use a good soak... Well the joke's on me. Saline Valley 'Road' just simply beat me up. The sections that weren't horribly washboarded, and by washboarded I mean damn near mini whoops 3-4" deep spaced about a foot apart causing a teeth chattering ride at just about any speeds I could manage safely on street tires, were either full of deep sand or big rocks. By the time I reached the turn off for the springs I was exhausted and worse the sun was setting fast. I did not have provisions to stay the night as I hadn't planned on getting caught out overnight (dumbass) so instead I kept going. The wind picked up near the dunes causing the road to disappear under the silt and visibility dropped to something resembling pea soup fog. The sand washes and washboarding and rocks wore me out, wore out my rear shock for sure too. Don't be an idiot like me and attempt this road on street tires on 17" wheels. You want knobbies, you want a 21" front, and you need a bike that can get up and run on top of the washboarding to smooth it out with suspension that can handle it if you want to spend any real time out here. However, the single coolest moment of my trip happened out here. As I was descending into the valley, I got buzzed by a F16. He was close enough to the ground that I could make out the pilot and the markings. The roar from the jet nearly made me crash as its sound triggered something in the death center of my brain that locked me up, until I realized what happened. **** yeah America! Climbing out of the valley: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0271.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0273.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0275.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0277.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0278.jpg Once I crossed into the bristlecone forest in the Inyo National forest, the road suddenly when from shit to smooth graded dirt awesomesauce. Up around 7000 feet: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-47-23_957.jpg I popped out of the desert into a pine forest and the High Sierra with almost no warning. I ate dinner in the little town of Big Pine and grabbed a hotel in Bishop while my brain tried to wrap itself around the massive and total change in scenery. Tomorrow, I make for the coast. |
Saturday March 24
Up and out of Bishop earlyish in the morning, just long enough to get breakfast on the cheap at the Denny's across from the hotel, then heading up US 395 looking for a way over the Sierras without backtracking south several hundred miles. It was cool, low 50's, when I left and the temperature steadily dropped as I climbed up in elevation. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-41-11_125.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-41-16_494.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-41-52_781.jpg What a wonderful highway! Except for the short-ish four lane parts, it wound its way up from Bishop all the way to Carson City hugging the mountains and running up the valleys in long, winding curves. The first open pass as I went north was near Tahoe. I took the fun road (207) over the mountain into South Tahoe then hopped on my old friend, US 50. It was cool enough out that I didn't want to stop and dig out my phone or camera unfortunately, as it was stunningly beautiful. US 50, as I'm sure the Cali people know, cascades out of the mountains down to Sacramento before merging into I-80. It continued the mornings style of ride, easily and lazily twisting down out of the mountains. Outside of Placerville the storm clouds were gathering and the weather looked like it was going to turn wet. I stopped for gas and lunch, and called Charles (HardWorkingDog) to make sure I still had a place to stay for the night. Fortunately I did and hence I made my way to the city by the Bay. On my way through Sacremento, I passed a road sign that was unfortunately on the other side of the highway that read off the distances to various towns along US 50. The last... Ocean City MD 3037. http://www.route50.com/sacramento-sign-new.jpg Since I was a kid, every time I went to the beach, I was greeted by its counterpart that read "Sacramento CA 3073". http://www.route50.com/US_50_Sign.jpg Word is the California sign is the typo, and is also a replacement sign. Cool story overall The Sign Battle Saga Starting down on I-80, then 680, and finally to Charles' house for the night. I had made it, I finally rode to Pacific! I didn't care that it was raining, I didn't care that the traffic was kinda bad and the roads worse, I finally made it! To add the hospitality of a dry garage, good food, and a comfy bed was great, especially since Charles helped me swap my front sprocket to a 14T to get back some cruising speed now that I was out of the mountains and likely to be close to sea level for the rest of my ride and some other maintenance, laundry, etc. His wife's 3-berry jam ruined me too, every other jelly or jam I've had tasted since like garbage. Sunday March 25 - four days to catch the ferry! The next day I rode across the Bay Bridge, down the Embarcadero, and stopped in Golden Gate park for a photo a long time coming... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0279.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0280.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-38-05_798.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-39-07_804.jpg Time to ride up the coast... |
Sunday March 25, continued
Left the park and headed up and across the Golden Gate Bridge. About halfway across, looking out over the Pacific and back over the city of San Francisco, my mind flooded with the memories of the previous three weeks and last two big rides, and here finally at my goal I was overwhelmed by the moment and started crying. I had to pull off on the first exit across the bridge to collect myself before continuing up to CA 1 for my ride up the coast. The afternoon stayed clear, cool and sunny as I motored north and watched the sun slowly fall into the Pacific for the first time. And the road... jesus what a road! I've never seen anything snake in and around and back in and out on itself so many times. Thank God for the law that makes slow cars use the turn outs to let faster traffic through, and the fact that people actually do it. I really really really wished I wasn't on a loaded up bike with a nearly worn out suspension. There is a totally and completely different feel to the Pacific coast vs the Atlantic Coast. There weren't tourist traps everywhere, it felt more lived in instead of lived on, like riding through someone's back yard instead of past miles and miles of storefronts and trinket shops. It also meant there weren't a ton of places to stop for food or gas. I stopped at the bridge over the Russian River at the Indian place there for dinner... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-12-51_593.jpg With the sun fast setting and a belly full of Vindaloo, I kept riding beyond what was probably reasonable or sane. It was dark, no street lights or moon light to light the road, rock slides, cows in the road, random traffic, and it started to get cold and foggy. I tried camping in several of the parks on the way up, but I refuse to pay $25-30 to set up a tent for the night. By the time I hit Westport I was completely spent, mentally and physically, and resigned myself to stopping wherever the next camp ground was, money be damned. Fortunately a few miles later there was a KOA. No one at the gate since it was well after hours, so I slipped in and set up shop for the night. And I froze. Even in a 0 degree bag in a tent, the soggy cold ocean air robbed me of warmth at every chance to the point that I barely slept all night. It was easily one of the coldest nights I've ever spent outdoors, at a mere 40 degrees and drizzling. Monday March 26 After a night of little sleep, I was surprisingly refreshed when I woke up but still uncomfortably cold. The skies were grey and sullen, but at least I managed to get up, packed, and out before the campground opened. Score one for my budget, and considering I didn't use any of their facilities except for the patch of ground I slept on I didn't feel bad about rolling out. Pretty soon the road turned inland and rejoined the 101 for most of the day. At the junction, I saw a sign for the "Drive-Thru Tree Park" and of course I had to stop. And of course they were still closed, but I found my way in and around... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-32-42_662.jpg It more or less rained all day, so I was confined to my rainsuit and didn't stop to take pictures at all. It was just too much of a hassle to stop, dig out the camera or phone out of their respective waterproof sacks, snap a photo, bag them up, readjust the rain suit, and get moving again. I didn't stay on the 101 the entire time, taking the Ave of the Giants for example and the other scenic byways that paralleled it. I was constantly amazed at how run down many of the northern California towns seemed to be. It reminded me of West Virginia with bigger trees, taller mountains, less industry, less pretty, and more blatant weed consumption. Maybe it was just the weather and fatigue wearing on me though. I stopped for breakfast outside of Eureka and ran in to a guy at the McDonalds who had just gotten back from spending 3 years living off of his R1. 90,000 miles on one and 60,000 miles on a second R1! We talked about my ride, his ride, how he packed (backpack with a change of clothes basically, nothing else), how he managed to stay comfortable (including several 1000+ mile days, to quote "It ain't hard to run 1000 miles when you spend three or four hours at 140mph :lol: ), why there aren't any more cheap hotels, how much food and gas have gone up in the last couple years, etc. It felt good to meet another long distance rider, someone you could tell just simply understood the 'why' without needing to explain. Eventually... Hello Oregon! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...6-17_859-1.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-36-24_338.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-36-33_101.jpg It stopped raining for a few hours and instead was just damp and cold, but eventually of course the rain returned. By the time I reached Port Orford the wind was howling in off the ocean from the south-southwest thankfully, giving me a push mostly up the coast and the rain was coming sporadically in sheets. I did try to make one stop, at Cape Blanco, which Oregon claims is the westernmost point in the lower 48 (wikipedia disagrees). http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-16-29_873.jpg This was the dumbest and most dangerous picture I've ever attempted to get. See the little parking pad and turn around at the end of the road? I wanted ride down to that and get my picture there but the winds were blowing so hard it knocked me over while riding. I had to fight with all of my strength to get the bike back upright, turned around, and back to the road where there were some trees to break up the wind. I damn near got blown into the pacific, bike and all. Eventually made it as far as Florence, no sign of the Machines but a nice, reasonably priced clean local motel with a good chinese place across the street and a hot tub and sauna for my aching bones. |
Tuesday March 27. Another no picture day because it was another day of all rain all day.
I kept following the 101 until I just couldn't take the slow traffic, dumb drivers (no wonder they don't let y'all pump your own gas), and shitty weather anymore, eventually punted around Lincoln City and made my inland to I-5. Burned up through Portland, which looked more like Pittsburgh or some other mid-sized Appalachian city than anything I've seen for a couple thousand miles, then jumped on US 30 North to stay off the freeway for a while and hoping for something more scenic, and crossed into Washington at Longview, where I got gas to avoid dealing with another Oregon pump jockey. Not much to say after this, I simply burned up the 5 to get to seattle as quickly as possible. A quick stop for gas in Centralia and to contact Clif, my host for the next couple days, to let him know I was close. Nothing like hitting a strange city in the tail end of rush hour in the rain, but I was absolutely amazed at the number of riders out and the way traffic seemed to flow relatively well and consciously of the motorbikes. I guess if you don't ride in the rain you don't ride up here... Made it to Clif's in time for dinner and spent most of the rest of the evening drying out, getting cleaned up, and planning the next day's moto-tour of Seattle. Wednesday March 28 One of my favorite things to do when out on the road, I think I've mentioned, is stopping by a town's motorcycle dealerships to see what there is to see and fortunately Seattle is blessed with some of the best. I should have taken more pictures, but... hindsight and all that. I almost have to come back through this way if I leave Alaska so maybe I'll do it then. First up, the biggie... Touratech USA. They were interested enough to put me on their facebook page under "Parked out front" https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net...79631866_n.jpg I've bitched as much as anyone at the cost of Touratech farkles and basically had written them off as overpriced toys of the rich and overly gear obsessed... but goddamn this is a honest to goodness motorcycle shop run by guys who ride, love to ride, and love making great quality gear and garb for riders. Its one of the only places in the USA where you could literally ride up with a stock bike and money (lots of money) and outfit yourself for a round-the-world trip in one visit. Second stop was the other end of the ADV spectrum, AltRider. AltRider: Venture On They focus on the non-german ADV type bikes (and the germans too, of course) and are kinda like the scappy, grassroots cousin of Touratech. Definitely more of a hooligan atmosphere here. Had a long stop at Moto International, one of the best Moto Guzzi dealerships in the nation. Moto International Had a long talk with Dave Richardson about what's likely to be my new bike this fall, the V7 Classic, bike and Guzzi's in general, then had pizza at the pizza place across the street. The sun came out finally and the city felt like it suddenly came alive with it. Next stop was Ride West BMW Ride West BMW Motorcyles - Seattle, Washington - We Ride, We Race, We are the Northwest's Motorcycle Touring Resource! . As I walked in the door, I heard two of the guys behind the counter go "Holy shit, an Ellicott City Motorsports sticker!" Turns out both of them were originally from Maryland, used to work at Bob's BMW (my local BMW shop) and were very familiar with the trials and tribulations of local dealerships back home. More looking at bikes and gear I can't afford, then a quick stop at Ride powersports, before calling it an evening and riding home under overcast skies. Spent most of the night bullshitting with Clif again and playing with the dogs, keeping everyone up past their bed times. Thursday March 29 My last full day in the lower 48. A nothing day really, Clif's wife let me borrow the car to stay dry while I ran some errands (books and food for the boat trip mainly). Later in the day I dropped in to the Eastside Riders MAG (Meet and greet) at Celtic Bayou for beer and food. http://cyb.smugmug.com/photos/i-57sB...57sB5cq-XL.jpg Friday March 30. End of the line, and new beginnings... Got a late-ish start leaving Clif's house, but no worries at all since Bellingham was less than 2 hours away and I didn't have to check in until 3pm. A quick run up some back roads and some time on the 5 and before I knew it... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-33-39_566.jpg I had just enough time to get some food and buy some tie-down straps before it was time to board. Of course waiting in line it started raining but fortunately they let me on early to get out of the rain. Off with my duffel, strapped and locked my helmet and 'stich to the bike, grabbed my camera, and headed up to the Solarium to claim a deck chair as my camp site for the next couple days... http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...7-21-59_49.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-40-05_589.jpg Bon Voyage! http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-32-14_351.jpg |
March 30 to April 2 - Alaska Marine Highway from Bellingham to Ketchikan on the M/V Matanuska, and from Ketchikan to Haines on the M/V Columbia.
Leaving the dock http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-12-28_982.jpg Sunset off the bow http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-32-12_857.jpg In order to bypass riding through the Canadian interior in late winter I took the ferry, properly known as the Alaska Marine Highway System, from its southernmost port in Bellingham, WA to Haines, AK. The first stretch, from Bellingham to Ketchikan, is by far the longest at about 36 hours. We left Bellingham at 6pm on the 30th and arrived in Ketchikan early on April 1st. Nothing to do but sit around and wait as we slowly sail up the Inside Passage. It was mostly dead calm except for the two or three sound crossings that were exposed to the open ocean swell. On the ferry, you can either rent a cabin, sleep in the lounges, or as I opted to do sleep on the Solarium deck. Its open to the air and has heaters to keep it warm, so even in winter its tolerable. Most of the nights it was below freezing but I stayed warm and comfortable (helped no doubt by my 0* down sleeping bag). http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0286.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0282.jpg It was actually quite pleasant to sleep outside in the fresh air and out away from the rest of the herd on the cattle erm... lounge deck. The views didn't hurt either. Morning http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0283.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0285.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...7-31-42_94.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...7-33-02_61.jpg Later in the afternoon the sun came out http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0303.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0300.jpg The boats fortunately have a lounge too, so I spent most of my time there. :freaky http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0309.jpg The next morning we pulled in to Ketchikan and changed boats. Changing boats gave me a chance to run around town for the little bit, which is nice because there's no other way to get to Ketchikan as there are no roads to the mainland. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-33-39_682.jpg On the new boat Solarium deck :chewy: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-12-04_951.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0317.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0332.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0353.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0356.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0357.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-12-31_278.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...2-36_396-1.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-12-36_396.jpg Around 10am on the second of April, the ferry pulled in to Haines, AK. The weather was borderline cold, probably at most 40 degrees, and the roads, at least down here, were clear. Only 660 miles or so to Fairbanks... ...But I'd have to get there first. :white: |
There is a strange feeling in Haines, like you're hanging off of the edge of the world. Because you kinda are out exposed on the edge, the edge of civilization anyways. There are remote parts of the country in the lower 48, but nothing like up here. The atmosphere carries a seriousness I've not felt elsewhere yet on my travels, and it whispers 'be wary'. The closest to it is riding on the Outer Banks south of Hatteras where you are basically exposed to the Atlantic Ocean on a tiny spit of sand. Death Valley might as well be Manhattan by comparison. Once off the ferry, I rode about 10 miles to get to the actual town of Haines, where I topped off my gas tank and got some cash for the ride through Canada just in case the station that were open didn't take or couldn't take credit. I asked the woman at the gas station how people were saying the roads were today, and a man who had just come in said it was great all the way to Haines Junction, clear the entire way.
That information was already several hours old by the time I recieved it... Stopped at the border http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0358.jpg "What brings you to Canada?" Moving to Alaska. "Awful early to be on that thing isn't it?" Yeah... probably but hopefully it won't be too bad. Seen any other bikes this year? "No, not really. A few locals maybe". Hmm... He took my passport card inside and came back after about 10 minutes. "Ok be careful out there, welcome to Canada." Maybe 30 minutes from the border it started flurrying. I could feel the mountains soaring up around me, but I couldn't see them... everything was white. There was easily 5-6 feet of snow on the sides of the road in places, not drifts either. There were more than a few occasions where I couldn't even see from the blowing snow, thank god the road was paved with asphalt so it contrasted with everything else. This was sketch. Beyond sketch. The winds were bad, mostly on my nose blowing down out of the arctic and they seemed to be bringing not just cold but snow as well, fortunately the dry fluffy kind that doesn't stick anywhere because its too cold to stick. About 14 miles outside of Haines Junction... I sputtered out of gas. One bottle in... and 12.5 miles later I was out again. Second bottle in... pulled in to the only gas pump that took a credit card to conserve my cash. Also got a burger at the only restaurant in town, which was actually somewhat decent. I could not imagine living in a town and isolated as this, let alone growing up here knowing the same 150 people cradle to grave... maybe I was just in a bad mood because of fatigue or the weather or the stars but damn I could not get out of Haines Junction fast enough. The weather was definitely turning sour and I wanted to make it at least as far as Destruction Bay before I stopped to try to minimize tomorrows ride in what was likely to be less than ideal conditions... I still had delusional hopes about making it to Fairbanks tomorrow. Destruction Bay is only 60 miles from Haines Junction or so, and another 430ish to Fairbanks so in theory it should be ok. I couldn't remember how far the next town, Beaver Creek, was. Shortly out of Haines Junction, it started sleeting then snowing. Snowing snowing. I promised myself that if it turned bad within 20 miles of leaving HJ, I would turn back, if not push on. About 5 miles from Destruction Bay it started snowing in earnest and I felt the temperature drop. It was TIME to get off the goddamn highway before I hurt myself or worse. Fortunately the gas station in DB is also a motel, the Talbot Arms, and they had room available. How much is a room? "$88" How far is Beaver Creek from here? "About 180km" Hmm.. snowing, suns going down, 3+ hours to ride... I'm covered in ice and rhime, the bike is covered in ice and slush, its stupid to keep going. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0359.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...e/DSC_0360.jpg I didn't realize until I stopped how bone tired and cold I was. To make matters worse the bike was running like absolute shit, cutting out randomly in top gear until I let off the throttle and hit it again, and I could tell from riding that the chain tension was waaaaay too loose. Great... just what I want to do in sub freezing weather, adjust my goddamn chain slack. I said screw it, I won't be able to ride first thing in the morning anyway so I put it off till tomorrow, got dinner and a beer, and watched some TV before falling asleep worrying about the road ahead. Tuesday April 3 Its amazing how much food and sunshine can improve ones mood. It was still cold, several degrees below freezing, but the roads were clear enough at Destruction Bay to keep moving (against the advice of oh... everyone at the hotel and restaurant that morning). Once again, if I get up to halfway to the next town and it turns to shit, i'll turn back. Otherwise, I have to keep moving. My money was running out only slightly faster than my patience for this ride and I was ready to be done and sitting somewhere for more than a few days. Leaving DB: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-36-30_980.jpg The Yukon is so breathtakingly and harshly wild beautiful its almost beyond description. I was ecstatic to be there, and infinitely happy that I had not slogged through the previous 1500 miles of the Canadian interior to get there. Especially since 70 miles outside of Beaver Creek, the AlCan turned to this: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-07-15_256.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...-07-07_287.jpg Seventy (70) goddamn miles of hardpack snow with the odd stripe of clear pavement, often on the wrong side of the highway, save for a few 1-2km clear sections. It took me FIVE (5) hours to get from DB to Beaver Creek. 120 miles, 5 hours. I dumped it three times, fortunately at extremely slow speeds because I was on a motard with street tires. Screw Canada and their inability to keep their ONE SINGLE ROAD in the Yukon open and clear of snow. And its not like they weren't plowing, its just that the plows that were out were merely skimming the surface of the snow picking off maybe the top 1/4" of snow. Maybe they get paid by the hour or something. For the privilege I paid $1.50 more per gallon for gas, 2x as much for food, and wasted most of a day flailing around on roads I had no business being on yet. I have never been so happy to see the United States, with its functioning snow removal equipment, cheap fuel, less expensive food, and actual highway maintenance. Even better, I got confirmation (for better or worse) from the border guard at the US customs house that I was the first motorcycle to come up from the lower 48 for the year. The roads in the US were comparatively perfect and I was able to motor as far as Tok before night caught me. And there... the Canada Strikes Back! Remember how I paid for gas using my credit card? I had two nice giant $100 holds on my debit card from those gas stations. As I was already on fumes financially at that point, it made getting things like dinner and a room at Fast Eddie's fun. Canada sucks. Fortunately I had some food left in my bags from the ferry for dinner. An my family doesn't suck so a couple quick phone calls I was financially solvent again and able to pay for my room in the morning and get breakfast and get gas since those holds would stay on for about 5 days. Wednesday April 4 Leaving Tok... on the home stretch... it was maybe 5 degrees when I left and I was wearing damn near every piece of clothing available to me and I was just managing to stay tolerably warm. Lunch and gas in Delta Junction, and I pulled in to Fairbanks around 2pm. Figuring I might as well make an entrance, I just went straight to the hotel where I'll be working all summer and introduced myself. "Hi, my name is David Dawson, I just rode my motorcycle up here from Maryland and I'm looking for [my new boss]. Is he around? I'd like to say hello." That's it folks, we made it! The hotel put me up for the night. I met my roommate and we moved most of my ride gear and the crap I shipped up to myself to my new apartment, started work about a week later. The weather went from cold and snowy to 50's and sunny the day after I arrived. Spring has come to Fairbanks. Now, just a scant three weeks later, nearly all of the snow is gone, the roads are clear, the bikes are out, and the sun doesn't set until around 1030pm, and its still light at the edge of the sky through most of the night. I've gotten the briefest glimpse of the northern lights twice and seen probably 3 dozen caribou total. The hotel has a 'beware of moose' sign on the entrance. Local and micro brews are cheaper than Budweiser. There's a pizza place, a thai restaurant, a falafel stand, an ice cream stand, and a dive bar with a hot dog cart within walking distance of my apartment. So far this has been the best crazy stupidly retarded idea I've yet had. Oh, and I'm making at least twice as much money with half the rent and other bills I had in Maryland. The end is just the beginning however... Dust to Dawson is fast approaching in June. The haul road starts just outside of town. Denali is less than 2 hours away. I'm mobile, hostile, and agile, and by the end of summer I will probably be not just out of debt but have some money saved away for the winter if I don't drink it all. The plan? I don't have a plan. I'm just living for me, living for tomorrow, living for life. |
I need to give thanks to the following people without whom this trip would never have been competed. First and foremost, my mom and dad for supporting me in the decision to move as far as possible and still be in the actual country from them.
A massive, huge, mega thanks to BigDog, HighFive, ramz, HardWorkingDog, and Cyborg, all inmates over on ADVRider, for giving me a place to sleep, feeding me, a place to wrench, a place to decompress, and generally putting up with some smelly stranger from the right coast riding a bike thats too small, with too much luggage, that they've never met before with some crazy idea to ride from Maryland to Alaska too early in the year for a silly summer job. All of you are wonderful people with wonderful families and I hope that one day I can repay your kindness in kind. I said it to HF and I meant it, I don't know how quite to handle people I barely know being this nice to me. Hopefully next time through I can mooch less and we can ride more. And thank you, all of you, for reminding me again that the people you love and care for and care for you are really all that's important in life. And thanks to everyone who took the time to read this. I hope you were at least entertained, and that it helps push you to follow whatever dreams keep you awake at night, mind racing, palms sweaty, and heart fluttering. Ride fast, take chances, safety third. |
Epilogue
So I've been in Fairbanks for about a month now, finally got out to do some riding out of town a few days ago. http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b.../parkshwy1.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b.../parkshwy2.jpg http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...012/dicks1.jpg Sometimes you just get lucky when you're grabbing a picture. :lol: http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b...012/dicks2.jpg Some forest roads near town http://i209.photobucket.com/albums/b.../parkshwy3.jpg Trail's End BMW here in Fairbanks is doing local rides every thursday night, D2D is fast approaching, and I might be trying to ride some or all of the Haul Road over Memorial Day weekend. Here's to enjoying the Northland while I'm up here! jeiger |
| All times are GMT +1. The time now is 16:32. |