545 miles!

That was s LONG day! 545 miles! Oh my arssss just reminded me to buy a custom seat next big ride!!!!

I went thru Prince George around 10pm thinking, ahhhh I'll stay at hotel on the South side of town.... Well, the town completely disappeared and it turned PITCH BLACK out. Plan B stay at camp site 15 miles down the road...
All the camp grounds had a gate across the entrance... And it started pouring rain again!!!
Plan C... Pull over ANYWHERE and camp!!! Luckily there was a rest stop, so I pulled in and put the tent up in record time, under headlamp.

I'm at at my first break, after only one hour of riding... In the nice town of Quesnel, BC.

THE SUN IS OUT and I'm drying off!!! Yeah!!!!!!!!!!

Time to find my sunglasses! I love that word....SuNGLASSES!!!
Cheers!

Rain go away!

It's been raining allllllllll day. My feet are even soaked! What's up with that??? So I had to get creative and use SUBWAY plastic bags to keep my feet dryer. Only 4 black bear sightings today. ;)
On to Prince George tonight.
Cheers!

Monday 13Aug

Hi from Smithers, BC. I'm soaked from head to toe... So much for riding gear and rain gear! Ugh!!!
I'm enjoying a hot cup of Starbucks and waiting in line at Safeway for some fruit and water.
It's been a lousy day of riding... Pouring the whole 7 hours!!!
Yesterday wasn't too bad... Light sprinkles.
My campsite lastnight was AWesome!! Best yet!!!

Monday 13Aug

Hi from Smithers, BC. I'm soaked from head to toe... So much for riding gear and rain gear! Ugh!!!
I'm enjoying a hot cup of Starbucks and waiting in line at Safeway for some fruit and water.
It's been a lousy day of riding... Pouring the whole 7 hours!!!
Yesterday wasn't too bad... Light sprinkles.
My campsite lastnight was AWesome!! Best yet!!!

Into the Yukon!!

It's another beautiful day of riding!! I crossed into Canada without a hitch (the Canadian Customs are ALWAYS so friendly, unlike our American hard-asses).
I'm enjoying a powerade drink at Distraction Bay while I debate putting on the rain gear. It's sunny overhead, however I see a storm ahead. Boo!

Well, time to saddle up.

10 Aug 2012

What a beautiful campsite!! And it's Free!! I stopped around 1030pm just as the sun was setting, so the lake was full of color! ;)

The tent went up, the sleeping pad pumped up and a nice hot cup of bedtime tea down the hatch!

I woke to a paid of very protective Trumpeter Swans!!!! When they started their takeoff run, it sounded like HUGE blades slapping the air and water! Very impressive!

I just finished off a bowl of oatmeal, granola bar and morning tea as my neighbor came over to talk.

He is riding his bicycle from Deadhorse Alaska to Whitehorse, YT!! Pretty cool!

Time to breakdown camp and hit the road.... Next stop Canadian Boarder (about 40 miles)

Next Stop Canada

93 miles to Canada!!

I just met s really nice lady from Quebec and a guy from Germany!
I love this open road riding!! I meet some really neat people!!
Cheers!!

Pay Attention!!!

What looks different at this gas station????
I grabbed the YELLOW nozzle and almost pulled the handle... SOMETHING told me to STOP!!

The yellow is FUEL OIL!!! WTF! It's the same size as the gas nozzle!!

That was a close call!! I don't think my Beemer would run too good on fuel oil!!!

Beautiful day of riding... TOK here I come!

Alaska Highway Bound

On the road again!!! Fairbanks to Port Townsend via North Pole to visit Santa! 1800 miles..

Carbs to Go

Hi from the Atlanta Airport!!! I think I'm about to pass out from all the sugar in one Cinnabon sweet roll!!!! Ugh!!!
I'm on my way back to Fairbanks for the next leg of my motorcycle adventure-Fairbanks to Seattle via the Alaska Highway!!!
I've had a wonderful family reunion and now it's time to get back in the saddle before jumping back into the sandbox in Afghanistan.
Omg! Cinnabon was NOT a smart choice!!!! Time to was it down with a milkshake. Haha!!!!! Barf!

Proud Dad!!!!

My son is now an Airmen!!! Yeah!! I'm so proud of him!!!
My family flew in from NV, MS, MN and WA!!
This has been a wonderful break!!!

San Antonio here I come!

I'm off on another leg of this grand adventure... This time via jet!! My son is graduating from Air Force Boot Camp tomorrow, so a proud dad will be video taping, photographing and rooting for our new Airmen!!!
Congratulations Airmen Chad Peterson!!! :)
I was going thru my storage shed in Fairbanks and came across my old Army uniforms... They are a bit tight but still looking sharp!
The Cav Shirt was something we all made while deserving in Korea.

Deadhorse or Bust!

I took full advantage of my great weather window and saddled up the beemer for a ride up to Desdhorse along the world famous Haul Road (as seen on The Ice-road Truckers) this approximately 500 mile long road out of Fairbanks takes ya thru the most spectacular and diverse terrain I've ever seen! (it's not for your big beautiful chrome Harley's and Goldwings)

The road mostly parallels the Trans Alaska Pipeline over mountains, along pristine rivers and over mosquito laden tundra. The road is a mix of gravel, dirt, mud, chip-seal and asphalt. If its raining, then about half the road SUCKS!!! If you luck out like I did, and the weather was DRY for a few days in a row, about 50-75 mile SUCK! The bad parts were thru the construction zones (better name should be DESTRUCTION ZONES). They lay this thick, wet, dirty, nasty gravel down that will make your heart skip a few bests as you fight for your life to keep your bike up-right and going straight.

It took about 16 hours to reach Deadhorse!! I met a couple dual sport guys from the Seattle area and we leap frogged north. I hope my go-pro videos turned out!!

The highlight for me was in Deadhorse!! I pulled into an abandoned warehouse to wait out a rain storm. I cooked some dinner and had got the bike ready to leave on s moments notice if security kicked me out.

I was sound asleep when something was "kicking" my boots (feet still in my boots)... I thought "must be the security guy about to kick me out" so I uncovered my eyes only to find s big mamma brown bear and cub staring at me!!! SHIT!!! I jumped up and my tarp went flying and the bears bounced back about three feet!!! Now we are sizing each other up.... Her looking at me as a Scooby Snack for junior and me thinking.... The same thing!!!! My mind kicks into overdrive! Gun? On the bike!!! Shit! Knife??? On the bike!! Play dead???? Too late for that!!!! I reach over and turn on the ignition and honk the bike horn!! Cha Ching! It worked!! The mamma bear did a 180 retreat with baby bear in hot pursuit!!
I wish my go-pro was running thru all this!!! I would've had a winning You-Tube!!!

Catching Up!

Well, so much for blogging everyday... Time for a little catching up....

I had a WONDERFUL visit in Juneau!! I met lots of nice people and spent some quality time with Terri and her two girls... Hiking up Mt. Roberts, hiking around the glacier and sleep-overs. I fell in love with Juneau.

It was time to shove off on my next leg... Ferry up to Skagway. The weather gods were once again on my side and I had a spectacular view of Tracy Arm.

The scenic road out of Skagway was well worth the extra miles! It was wired riding thru clouds!!!

I took the LONGWAY to Fairbanks, On the Top Of The World Highway. More beautiful scenery and zero traffic. The only rain was s 20 minute DOWNPOUR as I waited for the tiny ferry out of Dawson City!!! I got a real treat riding thru Chicken Alaska. I was dropping water from my helicopter back in 2004, when the Worst fire season played out!!! I even tried my hand at a little gold panning, but I didn't find anything.

This blog stops at Fairbanks...