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Arctic Adventure - 11,424

11,424!

After slogging through some more blazing heat and slow moving traffic all the way from DC, I made it back to Philly just as it started rain - a welcome relief!

In lieu of photographic evidence of my odometer before leaving (I forgot!), I resorted to my tire change receipt, which was done right before leaving.  Honest!

The motorcycle is back in the garage - where I suspect it'll stay for quite a while!

Finally, If you haven't already donated, heck, even if you've already donated, you can make a donation on my Arctic Adventure blog or on the SDCADVSA website.  Remember, all the proceeds go to Native American women who are victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

Lastly, I want to thank the good guys at Revzilla for letting my post my adventure to their blog.  Remember, they're good guys who sell good motorcycle gear to good riders.

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Arctic Adventure

I've been resting and relaxing in Atlanta the past week with the Boss (Mona) and not posting. Tonight is the last night of my Arctic Adventure. The Boss and I drove from Atlanta to DC and are having dinner with a old friend. I'll arrive back in Philly tomorrow - 32 days since the beginning of the adventure.

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What do we live for; if not to make life less difficult for others. - George Eliot

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Arctic Adventure

I’m ahead of schedule so I decided to take a small detour and see the Boss who’s currently in Atlanta for School.  I’m trying to get there asap so I haven’t been stopping for many pictures.

The one below is me helping out another rider (I forgot his name) who ran out of gas only a mile or so before his exit in North Dakota.  My spare gas can (2 gal) was full so I gave it to him.  He’s from Alberta, Canada and he’s off to tour the east coast of both, the US and Canada.

Today is my 22nd consecutive day of riding and I’ve covered about 10,000 miles so far.  The past few days have been uneventful, I’m just trying to cover as much ground as possible so I have as much time with the Boss as possible.  I’ve done 600+ miles for the past 4 days.  I’m tired, my body is aching all over and I’ve stopped listening to my music since I’ve heard all of it way too much by now.

My third skype interview is online if you haven’t seen it.  I’ll do one more skype interview next week and then a live, in studio one when I get back (should all go as planned).

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Arctic Adventure

Among other boby parts, my hand and wrist are really starting to hurt, despite a liberal use of cruise control!

As most of you know I’m doing this ride not only for myself, but also to raise money and awareness for Native American women who are the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault; and their children.

One use of the donations will be simply to provide a change of clothing for the women who’ve been sexually assaulted.  Often, being that most reservations are quite remote, the women who’ve been assaulted have to travel for hours just to get to a hospital for an exam and treatment.  Can you imagine not being able to shower or change for hours after being sexually assaulted?  And then having to put the same clothes back on to travel hours back home?  Our donations will provide a modicum of comfort to these women after the horrific trauma that’s been afflicted upon them.

As part of my effort to get the word out, I’ve been leave a trail of flyers behind that I printed before leaving.  Every time I stop to get gas or stay somewhere I try to drop one or two off so that random people find them and, hopefully, check out the blog.  Below are a few that I remembered to take pictures of (as well as a few random shots from the past few days).

Also, if you’ve been contemplating donating, nows a perfect time.  If you’ve been wondering, any amount works, $5 or $500 or anywhere in between.

My trip is getting close to it’s end.  I’ll need more than a few miracles if I’m gonna reach my goal of $10,370 - which is $1 per mile.

You can make a donation form my Arctic Adventure blog or directly at the South Dakota Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault's webpage.

How ‘bout it?

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Arctic Adventure

The eagle has landed!

Update:

The day started off well.  The plan was to go to Adventure Cycleworks to change my oil and then leave for the Arctic Circle either later that day or the next morning.  Checking the weather revealed that it was supposed to rain here in Fairbanks the next morning and in Coldfoot (the halfway point) the next afternoon.  So it was either leave this afternoon or, wait until all the weather passed.  Unfortunately, waiting that long wasn’t really an option as I have to stay on somewhat of a schedule.

Taking advantage of the the extra long days I started out around 3:00 and I felt I could make it to the Arctic Circle but, I had a sinking feeling that I wasn’t going to be able to make it to Deadhorse because of the narrow window in the weather.

As I got on the James Dalton Highway (aka the Haul road) it began to get overcast.  That didn’t worry me because I was heading out of that and could actually see blue skies in the distance.  As expected, after some time the clouds cleared.

I bumped into a couple (2 up) coming back from the Arctic Circle, they told me the road was fine but didn’t know the it’s condition further up.

As I made my way up I could see the Alaska Pipe Line running parallel to the road.  After a few miles they turned and were only a few yards apart so I stopped for a photo op.

I continued up the road with lots of company by big trucks but no other bikes - probaly because it was so late.  After a few hours I made it to the Yukon river and it’s distinctive bridge with a wood plank surface.  I was very excited as I had seen and read about the river and the bridge on advrider.com many times.

I crossed the river and after a total of about 7 hours of riding I could see three other bikes way up in the distance.  Just as I caught up to them I spotted the sign indicating that we’ve finally reached the Arctic Circle.

I was ecstatic that after all the years of dreaming and planning that I finally made it.  I stayed there for about 45 minutes as I got my pictures and soaked up the excitement of realizing a long standing goal, however it was already 11:00 pm and I had to keep moving.

Eventually I passed Coldfoot and then Wiseman, the only two stops on the way to Deadhorse.  Coldfoot is essentially a 24 hour truck stop with gas, food and some hotel rooms.  Wiseman, on the other hand, is the tourist’s stop.  It has a B&B as well as a few homes.

As I continued passed Coldfoot and Wiseman the temperature began dropping and the sky ahead was very dark and I could tell it was raining.  The dark clouds concerned me because, as I read many times, the Haul road gets incredibly muddy and slick when it’s wet.  Also, this time I couldn’t see blue skies ahead, only more dark clouds that were getting lower to the ground.

As you might expect, after continuing north, it began to rain.  The road was getting muddy but still quite rideable.  

About 100 miles short of Deadhorse I began to ride in and out of thick fog and eventually had to put my (tinted) faceshield up in order to be able to judge the road condition in front of me accurately.  The Brooks mountain range was completely socked in with fog and it was beginning to rain harder.

I decided to turn back to Coldfoot rather than attempt the fog enshrouded Brooks mountains with limited visibility.  Had my faceshield not been tinted I would have continued.  Even if it weren’t tinted, continuing in that sort of weather might not have been the right thing to do as people do die attempting Deadhorse in the wrong conditions.  Rather than attempt life or limb merely for bragging rights I began riding back to Coldfoot.

I was quite tired by that point as I had been riding for about 10 hours already and I had about 2 hours more to get back to Coldfoot.  Then suddenly, a wolf was on the side of the road about 50 feet in front of me.  I don’t know exactly what I thought at that moment but in a split second it began charging at me.  “Holy Shit!” I thought.  I slowed for a second or two as it got closer than, with an enormous twist of the throttle, I got the fuck out of there!

That’s when it began.  “What if I had been in the middle of a corner and couldn’t gun it like that?”  “What if there were more than one?”  “What if it were a bear?”  “WHAT IF IT WERE A GRIZZLY!?!?” 

With deliberate haste, I made it back to Coldfoot.

I thought I could get a room and maybe attempt Deadhorse the next day.  It was 3:00 AM and, unfortunately, there were no available rooms.  I had to make due by putting my head down and sleeping at a table.

After about 2 hours it got too noise to get anymore sleep.  I ate breakfast and I was way too tired and the weather hadn’t let up and was getting worse up north so I decided I better just head back to Fairbanks.

Had my visor not been tinted I probably would have made it to Deadhorse.  Admittedly, that wasn’t something that ever occured to me - especially considering it’s almost 24 hours of day light up here. However, for me, anything past the Arctic Circle was just icing on the cake.

Bragging rights would have been nice.  I’ll get those next time.

Now for my long ride back to Philly.  I think that this is going to be the toughest part, mentally, now that the adventure is over.

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Arctic Adventure

Alaska!

Today I was supposed to ride from Haines Junction, Yukon Territory to Tok, AK however, that turned out to be a pretty short ride so, I manned it all the way up to Fairbanks - a respectable 493 miles.

I’m staying at the U. of Alaska dorms for a whopping $35 a night.  A member of advrider.com, the motorcycle forum I frequent, has made arrangements with the university to allow motorcyclists to stay here at a discounted rate.  Nice!

Tomorrow, I’ll change my oil at Adventure Cycleworks - an independently owned repair shop (aka - Dan’s garage).  Dan is thoroughly versed in adventure motorcycling in AK.  He even talked me out of buying new tires.  Said mine had plenty of tread for the job.  That’s a savings of about $300 (or more) Nice!  

Here’s the kicker, though.  I’ve gotten conflicting reports of the Haul road condition (the road to the Arctic Circle and Deadhorse).  Geoff, an experienced rider from Down Under, said, a few days back, it was a piece of cake.  Said he could have done it in a day.  Then, later, in Stewart, I talked to a guy who had just done it and said it was tough going.  Said they had just put down stone ranging in size from golf ball to softball.  I get here and Dan from ADV Cycleworks tells me it was closed today but he didn’t know why.  I would hate to get this close and not make it.

So here’s my plan, I’ll get out and size up the situation.  I’ll go out a bunch of miles and see how it goes.  If it’s good, I’ll go to the Arctic Circle and re-evaluate there.  If it’s been too tough going, I’ll at least have made it to the circle.  If it’s not too bad I’ll keep going north and re-evaluate as I go.

Finally, the second installment of my interview with NBC 10 aired today at 5:30 (east coast time).  If you missed it, it'll eventually be online here.

If you missed the first one, you can see it and all my stammering, here.

Lastly, you're always welcome to head over to my Arctic Adventure blog.

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Arctic Adventure

Today I rode from Watson Lake to Haines Junction - actually a short day as it was only 364 miles.  Tomorrow I ride to Tok, Alaska.  I don't know exactly how far it will be because Google maps can't seem to map the route.  The mosquitos up here are insane!  At times there are so many that you can breath them in - yuke!

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