Start to Finish.

Well, I made it home.  I made it from Atlanta to the Arctic, back to Atlanta.  We raised money and awareness all along my route, starting in Atlanta and ending in Atlanta.  Covering new ground each day and taking a different route home than the one I took there.

From this - a completely clean and stripped bike:

To this:

 

A dirty, scratched, and road-weary bike that proved itself and never once faltered or stumbled along the way.  Not a single problem from this machine.  Through the heat, the rain, and the cold, up mountains, through mud and dirt, and back to highways, it never even balked at these changes.

From this muddy pass in the Brooks range of Alaska:

 To the big GA welcome center:

This was a welcome sign for me, even as a GA native.  I'm glad to be home and get back to helping Kris on the home front.  I rode straight to her house when I arrived home to GA.  She is currently in between chemo and starting radiation.  Her radiation treatment is everyday for 7 weeks (!!), AND she has opted to take the experimental chemo during her radiation treatments.  If that's not tough, then I don't know what is.  She is truly a tough cookie.

I rode the whole way.  There was something simple about it. I knew every day what I had to do.  I was riding for a cause and I had a purpose.  I achieved and overcame.  It was a great experience and I would not have changed a thing, except the reason for the ride.  My sister should not have to be dealing with her disease - no one should ever have to combat cancer.  I'm sure that the money raised for Komen will go to the right grants to help others, as well as research to try and find a cure for this disease.

I hope to have a welcome home party to thank everyone that was so supportive of this ride.  Once I have the details, I will post them up.  Thank you all and please keep checking back, as I will keep the site going as much as everyone would like.

Riding the interstate

So Monday - Idaho, Wyoming.... and that's it.  In the west you can ride all day and still be in the same state.  I rode all day and into the night a bit, and ended up in eastern Wyoming.  Camped and set my sight for eastern Nebraska yesterday (Tuesday).  I did that and a bit more.  From Cheyenne, WY,  if you ride 582 miles, you get to St. Joseph, Missouri.  Along the way I got many questions as to the bike, where I was going, and where I was coming from, but mainly folks asked where I was headed.  It was strange to say home.  All summer the answer has been, "I'm riding to the Arctic Circle in Alaska, to raise money for the Komen Foundation, it's a breast cancer charity..." The women I talk to tell me stories instantly about others they know who are survivors or talk of themselves and their personal stories without skipping a beat.  I mean, I'm a complete stranger.  But I guess since I seem sincere they open up right away and tell me how they made it through similar circumstances.

The men I meet say, "Oh really.  That's a long way," and then ask about the bike.  Fuel mileage, comfort, why in the name of all things holy am I carrying a second set of tires that are dedicated dirt tires.  Then I have to explain about Alaska and Canada and how the roads are not as wonderfully paved as they are down in the lower 48. I tell them of the Dalton Hwy and how I'm on my third set of tires.

Some folks, guys and girls, have even asked, "Isn't it frozen?"  The first time I got that question, I had to take a second and compose my answer as to not sound like a jerk.  I wanted to make them feel okay for asking me this question.  There is a major misconception as to the Arctic, and since the Discovery Channel tv show "Ice Road Truckers", people think the Haul Road is in a perpetual state of frozen chaos with crazy truck driver drag racing up to Prudhoe Bay to get that oil!!  It's kinda funny.  But everyone that I've met has been very, very nice.  The whole trip I have found that the most curious people have the best stories.

Anyhow, I've rambled enough and I'm headed east and south at a rate of 70 to 80 miles an hour, depending.
See you guys soon.

Good news...

My sister had her final Chemo treatment last week and today marks the first Monday in weeks that she gets to sleep in. She is a trooper and did a great job keeping herself healthy and as happy as she could be. I know the wonderful comments everyone made mean a lot to her and I appreciate all the support.

Back in the Lower 48

Thursday, I rode right into the interstate rush hour just north of Seattle.  As soon as I could, I turned left, making my easterly heading toward Wenatchee, Washington.  My brother Matt's Forest Service base is in Wenatchee, and also where his helicopter is stationed.  I missed Matt by 2 days (as he was off work and back home in Idaho), but I was able to stay with his buddy Chuck, who pilots the machine when Matt is on his off days.  They switch shifts - 12 days on and 12 days off. 

Me out in front of the big Bell super 205:

I rode out of the traffic and into the forest, up and over Stephens Pass, then down into the "Apple Capital of the World" (according to the sign).  

Top of the pass:

I stayed the night there with my sights set on Superior, Montana for Friday morning.  Superior is a small town just west of Missoula, Montana, where I have a good buddy that's a smoke jumper. He and his wife (who is an ex-jumper herself) set me up to stay with them my second night back in the lower US. 

After a pretty uneventful ride from Washington, through Idaho, and into Montana, I arrived here:

This is my buddy's house.  He and his wife, in true Montana spirit, hand build this home.  It's a timber framed house, meaning that the frame of this house is made out of large timber without a single nail or screw holding the frame together.  All wood dowels and very complicated joints.  It's a very cool place.

The inside of their house:

I hope they don't mind. It's just very cool and impressive.  I spent some time up here years back, helping do a few things on this house and also working on one of their old Toyota LandCruisers. I knew then that this place would turn out awesome.

So my first days back have been great.  I'm now at my brother's house in Idaho and I'm going to take a rest day tomorrow.  Then the plan is to head for the south Monday morning.  BKs birthday is Friday and I'm hoping to make it home for that.  So far, so good...  A lot of the excitement has rubbed off for a lot of the folks out there.  For me, I'm just tired.  I still have to make it home and get back to work!!

I really hope that the awareness and money we have raised does some good.  When I found out about my sister, I knew right away that I wanted to do something special for her and try to make a difference somehow.  Not only in her life, but in the lives of all everyone with cancer.  There are people out there that are willing to fight for and with their love ones affected by cancer- the donations and support prove this tenfold.  I thank everyone that has done either for me and my family, as well as anyone who needs the support of a loved one.  The positive attitude and kind words that many of you have written on this blog are a testament of the spirit and desire to help one another.

Headed home!

Well I rode all day after leaving Tok. I rode the section of the Alcan that I missed when riding the Top of The World Highway. It was a rough section, with much of it gravel, but I rode and I rode and finally I reached Watson Lake at the 37 Junction.  I arrived about 10:00 PM, just as it was getting dark.  I fueled up the bike and found a spot to camp.  Did the usual  - unpack the bike, cook, eat, clean, sleep.  The next morning was the same, I woke up at 6:00 AM because I didn't want to miss the pilot car.  Apparently they were only shuttling folks through the fire twice a day.  I was the first in line after cutting off the 60 or so cars and RV's that had already formed a line for their turn to get through on the Cassair Highway.  This is normal, by the way - the cutting in line.  All motorbikes go first in construction in Canada because the dust is so bad.  I like this system.  About 8:00 or so, a few more bikes pulled up.  We all introduced ourselves and I'm not sure what the deal was, but we were all named Daniel.  Yep - 4 Daniels riding south.  All to different places and riding different bikes, but with the same name and in the same line.  The youngest Daniel was riding a Hyabusa (this is a seriously high horsepower bike!) and doing some serious spot touring.  He and I rode together for the day.  The other guys were taking their time, meaning they were slower than us.  We didn't get going till 11:30 or so and we didn't make it through till 12:30.  My day was shot for making any miles, so I decided to ride with  " Busa Daniel" to the city of Stewart.  This is where the bear walk up river and gorge themselves on salmon.  It was worth it... the ride was great and the side trip was only about 38 miles or so.

The road in and out of Stewart:

                                                   

Crazy glacier water falls in lakes and river all along the road:

.

Dan's Busa:

It has close to 200hp.  That's more horsepower than most people have in their cars!  It's brand new as well. Most folks don't ride these bikes for more than a few hours at a time, but Dan has been on the road for over a week.

When we left Stewart, Daniel and I rode all the way to Prince George - 480 miles.  It was windy and there were two more large fires burning en route.  It was a good day.  Daneil headed west to his home town in Canada and I am riding south on Canada 97.  I hope to be back in the USA tomorrow.

British Columbia is nice though, and I will miss it here.  Alaska as well.  It was all really cool.  Everyone should get up here just once.

Breaktime is over now... time to go ride a few more hours before the day is done.  480 miles and counting.

Back in Canada riding south.

Well I left Valdez and rode up to Tok, AK yesterday.  It's not that far of a ride, maybe less than 300 miles.  I don't remember exactly.  It was too late to "make" it any where in Canada yesterday, so I stayed in Tok for my last night in Alaska.  I went ahead and got a little room with its own shower, which was nice after the night in Valdez we barley found a spot to camp.  I woke up early and I'm now on the road again.  I stopped in Haines Junction, Yukon, Canada, and found a local bakery to take a break.  I'm 1.5 hours from Whitehorse and about 4.5 after that to Watson Lake.  I'm still unsure if I will be able to make it down the Cassier Highway due to the wildfire that was burning on my way up.  It is still burning and apparently it's still winning.  I figure those guys are chasing spot - continuous timber and no real fuel breaks, which makes it very hard to suppress.  I will find out in the morning whether I can get through.  I plan on riding just west of Watson Lake today.

So here are a few pics from the riding in and out of Valdez.  Kevin said it was the best riding we had done.  I'm still torn as to what was the best riding day I've had so far.

Petty much every mountain surrounding Valdez has a glacier on it.  It's pretty impressive.

Us leaving Fairbanks, noticing the mountains with snow covering them.  This is the first snow I had seen since I arrived in Alaska.  Up in the Arctic there was no snow and it was a bit warmer.  All of the southern mountains had snow.

Pretty sure they call this Bridal Veil falls.  It's in Keystone Canyon when you ride into Valdez.  This was a very narrow canyon with waterfalls and a substantial river flowing toward the coast.

And finally, my birthday drink.  It was actually the night before my b-day (Saturday), but we celebrated early since Kevin was to leave the next morning for his iceberg tour.   Lucky.

So I will keep riding and keep writing as well.  I'm sure we will have a "welcome back home" party.  Any excuse for a big party, right?

I hope that all the folks following this blog have passed it along.  I do believe we are still shy of $9,000 raised for Komen.  I'm unsure if we will reach the "BIG" goal, but every dollar raised for research and support for cancer patients is worth it.  I've given out all of my ATLtotheArctic postcards along the road, so it's up to all of us to make this happen and finish strong.

Thank you.

08/15/1980 - My birthday

Thats right folks, I'm 30.  Might as well turn 30 in front of the world.  Kevin woke early this morning to catch his ferry right back to Anchorage from Valdez.  Me, I slept in.  I was tired.  I crawled out of the tent on my big 30th and was alone again.  Time to do some riding.  Right after I hang out in Valdez for the morning and check out the harbor, eat some breakfast, and relax a bit.  This is a very cool place.  The mountains surround this small town.  The Harbor and water are engulfed by the green mountains that jut straight up from the water.  It's a nice place.  I'm jealous of Kevin to get a boat ride and see the coast line of Alaska, but for me it would have been a 5 hour ferry ride and add another 310 miles to back track.  I was content to stay and relax then start my journey home from here.

So this is where I am and that's what I'm going to do.  I will head south soon.  I hope the Cassier Highway is open in Canada and that wildfire isn't still shutting the road down.

We will see...

Please READ this entire post. Don't just skim and look at photos!!!!

I was doing a lot of thinking after Kevin headed south.  I was thinking about my sister. How when we are kids we always have one toy that we cherish.  Just the one, and because we only have just one of that certain toy, we cherish it the most.  When we grow older and understand whats important in life, those same emotions manifest themselves towards the people in our life.  For myself and my two brothers, those emotions are for our sister.  She is our only sister and we love her without a doubt and cherish our time with her like no other.

That thought kept me rolling all morning.  It's 240 miles from Coldfoot to Deadhorse.  I had plenty of time to think about my sister and what I was riding for.  To know that I was trying to do what I could for the cause in a way that would challenge me and inspire others to do the same.  We are all in a very unique situation to help others through this website.  I hope that everyone that reads this will donate and then pass this along to a new person in their life and spread the word.  I hope that my ride has been an entertaining and inspiring event.

As for the ride, it was hard.  The Dalton is a very special highway, no doubt.  The road surface is terrible, the truck traffic is dangerous, the weather was completely awful.  The first day up to the Arctic Circle was ok, cold, windy, and a bit of rain.  By the time we reached Coldfoot, it was very cold and raining steady.  It rained all night and all morning in to Wednesday.  Our first attempt was rough to say the least.  You all saw the photos.  By the time we reached the Chandalar Shelf, it was raining hard and even the locals were not liking the weather and road conditions.  I had many people say they didn't know how we were making it through such awful conditions.  When Kevin told me he was ready to turn back, I was torn.  I knew that was the smart thing to do.  60 miles in 3 hours is not normal.  We were risking too much.

Thursday morning I was starting out alone.  I raced north to cover that 60 miles I had already ridden the day before.  The road was in better condition, a little dryer.  I rode to the top of the Shelf in a bit of rain.  About 8 miles further is Atigun Pass.  The road was one lane only and under construction.  It was also very wet and muddy.  I rode to the top and worked my way down the north slope.  When I reached Happy Valley I knew I would make it.  The weather had improved and the road was dry.  The road surface however, was terrible.  Pot holes everywhere.  It was slow going through this section.  I rode a ways and the valley opened up to huge expanses of tundra.  No trees, no shrubs, nothing but hard - very hard  - cross wind.  The road narrows here and the truck traffic was increasing.  Every obstacle you read about was there.  Poor road surface, wind, trucks.  Also construction and a ton of mud associated with it.  It was a difficult ride.  Many obstacles and just plain hard riding.  I will say it was some of the hardest motorcycling I have done to date.
 I did make it through.  I rode hard, stayed the course, and made it to Deadhorse.  It smelled different up there, it was cold and windy and you can see storms coming from miles out.  I looked back on the day's riding and knew I would have to ride right back through it all to get to Fairbanks.  I was tired and alone.

My sister has cancer and every week she has to go to chemo.  Much like what I had just ridden, she faces her own obstacles and hardships not just once, but every week!!!  Ask me if I'd ride the Dalton once a week and I'd laugh in your face.  There is the difference.  I have a choice.  For Kris and many others there is no choice to the road they have to travel every week.  They have to do it.  The only thing that makes it easier for her and anyone is her situation is the support from others.  The ones that cherish her.  For the comments on this post I want you folks to let Kris know that we are here to support her during her own battle.  That's what I'm asking of you today.

This photo is for my sister.

After making it up, I snapped these few photos and rode right back to where I started, another 240 miles that very same day.  Partly to push myself.  But mainly I just wanted to be heading towards home.

480 miles on the Dalton in one day.  Remember it never gets dark, I just kept riding until I reached that camp area.

I camped my final night on the Dalton at a BLM camp area.  I rode in very late, cooked up some dinner, set my tent, and layed down without any regrets or worries of rain or mud.  For if the weather worsened again, it didn't matter, at least I was headed home.

I arrived to Fairbanks today.  My work was not done.  I still had to swap tires again and clean my bike.  So back to Adventure Cycleworks to see Dan.   He is now one of my favorite people.  The guy is just plain nice and very informative on all things cool.

Dan went the extra mile.  He sold me a new set of tires for a deal and installed them for free.  Since my original set were no good to reuse, it was a very outstanding thing to do.  I now have my knobby set sitting in my hotel room awaiting shipment back home.  Believe it or not, they are still good.  Just not any good for regular highway use. Just "special" highways like the Dalton.

He simply stated, "For the cause, man."   He and his wife were very generous to do this for me and I appreciate it very much.

From this muddy mess...

to this clean machine...

Thank you, Dan.

His info for any ADV riders heading north for some adventure and excitement.  Go see Dan and Shawn. It's a great place and wonderful service.

Adventure Cyleworks

Dan 907-457-4259

info@advcycleworks.com

http://www.advcycleworks.com/

Remember what I said....

Arctic Circle....

Well we rode most of the day Tuesday in fairly good conditions. The Dalton Highway doesn't start until a good ways north of Fairbanks. But when it starts- it starts.  The sign reads "Dalton Highway" and 10 feet later, it is dirt.  No messing around -  the paved road ends and this gem of the north begins.  My first encounter with a truck was about 500 yards into it.  The road, sorry -  "highway" -  goes uphill slightly and hits a somewhat hard left turn.  For the truck, it was downhill and to the right.  We met in his favor.  It startled me, but I continued on and it was a nice ride.  No rain, not too much traffic.  A few big trucks, but nothing crazy.  I think Kevin was getting used to to his rental.  It's a G650GS.  This means it's a 650cc single cylinder motorbike.  It is tall, has very little power, and was somewhat loaded down.  All that combined meant he was not keeping up with the 1200.  I was fine with that and I took it easy and just rode the ride, happy to be exploring.  We finally made it to the Arctic Circle.  The pull off and the sign were the give away of course.  Otherwise, unless you had a GPS fix and just knew exactly what and where the Arctic Circle is, you would never know you'd hit it.  We lined the bikes up and got a few shots together.  I was happy to have fulfilled the "Arctic" part of ATLtotheArctic.

Kevin and I smiling away:

After the hooray of achieving this goal, we rode north to the Yukon River.  The bridge that crosses this river is cool.  It's long, downhill, and has a wood plank surface.  We fueled up there and headed to Coldfoot, and as we did, the rain began.  It did not stop until an hour ago.  I'm writing this the day after Yukon, meaning it rained for more than 12 hours straight.  Needless to say, Kevin was more than happy to pay for our tiny room at the Coldfoot camp.  It was a basic crew quarters for workers and travelers - small and basic.  The GoPro captured the whole place in one shot:

This morning we woke up and it was still raining.  It looked something like this:

for many, many miles.  I was into it. I told myself,  this is it, this is how it is and nothing I can do about it. The road was slick.  Like ice slick.  I'm not saying it was frozen, but so slick that it was hard to ride on.  With no end in sight to the rain.  We were cold.  Kevin was having a harder time than me.  I've gotten used to the big GS and he was relearning a new bike in the worst possible conditions.

We stopped and I decided that we would ride a bit more and stop again and eat.  We still had not eaten breakfast at this point.  Kevin was ok with it and we pushed on.  We made it the the Chandalar Shelf, about 63 miles north of Coldfoot.  It was raining harder than ever and cold.  I pulled off the road and shut the bike off.  This far north, the industrial traffic had picked up.  Kevin arrived a few minutes later and he got off his bike.  He said he was inclined to turn around, that he had just almost wrecked his bike and he had enough of all this.  I thought to myself...We have only ridden 63 miles in 3 hours... at this rate, it would make for a long day all the way to Deadhorse.  I wasn't going north alone in this weather and I didn't want Kevin riding alone to the south since it was was no better.  I told him I'd ride to the top of "the Shelf" and see what was what on the other side.  He stayed behind and waited.

I raced up the hill.  Third or fourth gear maybe.  I wanted out of the rain and if Kevin was to keep riding north, so did he.  I rode to the top and beyond a ways.  It was a bit dryer on the other side and it flattened out some.  I knew he wasn't in for any more of this.  At least not another 180 miles of it.  So I snapped a few pics and rode back down.

Accepting defeat for today.  At the time I was convinced that I'd lost my chance to get up to Deadhorse and back.  When was I ever going to be up here again?  Next year?  I just couldn't be certain and I was feeling pretty low.  We rode back to Coldfoot.  Logistically, we had a problem.  If Kevin wanted to head back to Fairbanks, and I wanted to finish the out the ride, he would have to stay in Coldfoot tonight.  There was not enough time in the "day" for him to make it back down alone.  If he left, I'd have to go with him, since I had all the camping gear.  It was a dilemma.  I had a heartfelt talk with myself on the ride back into Coldfoot, not knowing what to do.

We ended up eating and taking a minute and getting a plan together.  Tomorrow, I will ride north to Deadhorse.  Kevin will ride south to Fairbanks.  This gives each of us a full day to not feel rushed and make it to where we each want to be.  I will meet back up with him on Friday.  I will camp tomorrow night in the Arctic someplace, and then ride back to Fairbanks on Friday.

I was relieved to have made a deal.  One that works for us both.  He doesn't have to fight his motorbike all the way up to Deadhorse and I can finish the leg of the trip, knowing that even through all the diverse ups and downs I've had that I stuck to my goal and stayed strong.  I won't lie though, it was pretty miserable riding.  Raining, cold, slick.  It was just a mess.  The trucks were even having a hard time.  We were just risking too much at that point with so much rain and the road was straight up a mud pit.  I'm ok with heading up tomorrow alone and getting it done.  I'm glad Kevin has remained positive and he even stated he was having a great time despite all the weather and poor road conditions.  If he had felt more comfortable and it was not raining so bad we would have no problems, but considering what we were dealt, I understand his notion to not want to risk it and wreck the bike or himself.

Tomorrow I will head north, SPOT turned on, make it the Deadhorse and then south a ways. 

 David, I will look for the keychain.  I have not forgotten.

Tonight we are in Wiseman, 12 miles north of Coldfoot.

It's Time.

Its time to leave. After a bit of wrenching on Kevins bike. We had to make the turn signals work and fix the Dash so it gives speed and RPM's. No big deal. We are packed and ready to ride. I will post up once Im up and back. The spot has been replaced. My third unit and it seems to be working. I hope the track log works.

After a bit of this....

Time for a long ride. Oh and its raining again. Im ok with it.

I will check in ASAP when I return.

REPAIRS

My weekend is over.  I've accomplished a ton. I've serviced my bike, installed my new tires, did laundry.  I've also fixed the broken bits on the side cases.  My cousin Kevin arrives tomorrow and the roads start again.  Then its just 500 miles of mixed dirt and bad chip-seal road up to Prudhoe Bay.  After this I will have fulfilled my goal to create a trip to inspire and affect some lives in a positive way.  I have ridden so far and had many ups and downs.  I've tried to keep my positive attitude.  I've been self sustained on the road.  I put myself out there and now I'm days away of finishing the ride and achieving a goal for all of us. To have raised money and awareness for a disease that has affected not only my sister but myself and my family and many others.

It's strange to have ridden to the end of a small corner of the world.  There is no other way once you arrive to a place like this but back.  I feel sorta strange about this.  I will keep up with the blog of course and I hope that my getting home is as interesting as my getting to Prudhoe Bay.  I am to take a different route back.  Try some new roads and avoid the Alcan if at all possible.  At least the lower section.  I think I will have to ride to Watson Lake to pick up the Cassier Hwy down to Washington state.  On the way up the road was closed due to a wild fire that was at the time winning against the Canadian Forest Service.  I hope it is open and I can ride a new route to the lower 48.

The title of this blog is repairs. I met a couple today.  They shipped their bike from Australia and had just finished a return trip from Prudhoe Bay.  They said the road was a bit rough that it rained the whole time they were riding and that of course their rear shock had failed and it took them over 20 hours to ride back since the rear suspension was broken.  They had no real choice but to try and fix the bike here in Fairbanks or trailer it down the Seattle for repair.  A long hard ride it sounds like and I leave Tuesday for this road.  With a positive attitude and a willingness to accept a mishap or two might happen is the only way to plan, start, and finish a trip like this.  These folks had just that and were in excellent spirits.

If I should suffer the same fate as these fine folks, I think to myself that in comparison to what others are facing I'd take a broken rear shock over the adversities of a cancer diagnosis. The small things like broken bikes matter little and I will finish this ride strong just as my sister will finish her chemo strong and with no regret.

Rosann and Dan in great spirits after what sounded like a rough and long ride back to Fairbanks on a broken bike.  Here is their blog... http://www.altroutemotorcycle.typepad.com/

As for my stupid broken side case.

It should look like this..

It breaks like this...

I fixed it with steel bolts.  Steel is real and strong.

None of these photos were taken with the GoPro, in case you couldn't tell.  I've been charging all the batteries for it and had left it in the room.

This may seem like a small thing. But since I can't fit all my gear inside the cases, I have to strap my sleeping bag and other stuff to the top of these cases using the rack.  So after 5 of the rivets breaking by the time I arrived to Fairbanks, I had to do two things.  Complain about it and fix it.  Done and done.

This is what my room looks like after drying out, getting more food, fixing, cleaning, and re-outfitting for the next leg of the journey.  Hard to believe it all fits on the bike. I did spend a week on the road without a shower in the rain, then the hot, then the cold, then the cold rain.  So to be polite, I smelled like a foot.  I know.

My yummy freeze dried food, beef jerky, GU packs, Pro bars, and yes, SPAM.  Fry it up and its not so bad.  Gotta get some fat and salt believe it or not, it's an OK way to do this.

So I believe I'm good to go and ride to the top of Alaska.

Adventure Cycleworks

Well I arrived to Fairbanks in the pouring rain.  I was pretty worn out.  My tires had arrived which was good since I had just had a flat on the old set and after riding the roads on the way up here, they were done.  I also needed an oil change and the front brake pads seemed to be worn out as well.  I knew I was going to need a place to get this work done and my new tires installed.  My needs were met sooner then I had imagined.  Let's go a few days back to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada.  I was sitting at a coffee house, writing and uploading photos when another BMW GS pulled up with a couple from Australia.  They just shipped thier bike over for a holiday and were traveling the great roads up here.  We got to talking and I told them what I was going to have to get done to my bike.  They gave me the number to Adventure Cycleworks.

These guys were awesome.  I made the phone call in Tok, AK when I had finally had cell service again, and they told me to come by as soon as I arrived to Fairbanks.  I figured I'd have to leave the bike or wait on parts...
Nope.  I got the directions and rode over to Dan's house (where the shop is) and I pulled right up.  We unloaded the bike and rolled it right on the lift and got to work.  All parts I needed were there in stock and I got to hang out and talk with him about the area and bikes.  It was great.  These guys are awesome.  A father and son team that decided to cater to ADV riders and their bikes.  They have just one rule - they don't work on Harleys.  I was in and out in 2 hours, no waiting, all for a very reasonable fee and generally a great experience.

I had to remove my rear rain fender to make the fitment for the knobby tires easier.  They are letting me keep it there until I'm up to Deadhorse and back.  If anyone ever gets up to Fairbanks and needs work on their bike, these are the guys to go see.

The shop:

They have tires, oil, oil filters, brake pads... pretty much everything you need.

Front tire and new pads being installed.

New knobbly rear tire.  It's now a giant dirt bike.

Up on the lift and getting updated to finish this ride.  I'm really excited for this.

I get the weekend to rest, do laundry, and catch up.  My cousin Kevin arrives Monday and we leave for Deadhorse on Tuesday.  Fairbanks is a cool town and the people have been great so far.

Why am I complaining? I'm sorry for that... I'm not anymore.

Yesterday's post was written at the end of the day and I was just a bit angry for dropping the bike.  And really?  A button broke and I was writing about it?  Whatever, Daniel get it together.  Not sure what I was thinking.  Anyhow, that leads me to all the thinking I was doing this morning as I repaired a flat tire at 7 AM on the Top of The World Highway.  All that small stuff is nothing and I shouldn't have been complaining at all.  Really I wasn't.  I was just making a list of the stuff that was failing in one day.  My sister and many, many others have chemo weekly, so really a button, a broken rack, a worthless SPOT, and a dropped bike are nothing.  I'm sorry for the complaining.  NO big deal.

On to the new day.  I made it to Alaska yesterday.  After a ferry ride and a few hours of riding on dirt, I reached the most northerly land port for entering the US.  It was a good ride.  Jeff and I were still riding together as we rode into Chicken, AK, a small town 80 miles north of the Alcan on Top of the World Highway.  We stopped and camped at a BLM (Bureau of Land Management) campground area.  I was worn out.  I cooked my dinner, ate, and passed out. Well, I tried to read a bit.  I've been reading "Jupiter's Travels" written by and about Ted Simon's ride around the world solo on a motorbike.  He had some interesting things to say, some of which I have been relating to.  Like the crazy (I mean TOTALLY crazy) thoughts that come in your head as you ride.  Thinking about the worst and best possible things that could happen.  There seems to be no thoughts of normalcy on a ride like this.  It's all thoughts of extreme events that will likely not happen.

So I slept well.  It was a good sleep.  Rained all night, but it stopped before I woke up and it was not raining as I packed my gear on my bike.  We reached paved road last night, not great pavement, but not dirt.  After leaving the camp I was thinking, "Man, this road sucks!! Whats going on?"   Then a mile up the road I saw a sign.

It said......

Welcome to Alaska

YOU HAVE A FLAT TIRE

Nice...

So I pulled out the tools and handled it.  I plugged it and filled it back up and I will make it to Fairbanks, but that rear tire is done.  It's no good to ride for a long time.

Really cool stuff that happened yesterday.  

Ferry ride:

Then we rode this road for 100 miles... It was a total of 100 miles of dirt - 60 in Canada and 40 in the US.

And finally I reached this...

So my day picked up.  I rode for a long time and realized yesterday's post was ridiculous and that I have nothing to be upset about and I needed to get it together. I know why I'm making this ride. I know who its for and I know the bad days she is having and it just does not compare. I love you, Kris.

I'm in Tok, AK right now, 200 miles to Fairbanks, and I get new tires just in time.