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.