My motorcycle and I are on a boat.

Wed. Sept. 2nd 2009
Marine Highway.
I'm riding on a boat with my motorcycle. This boat is filled up with the most incredible people I've ever met.
Dude1. Florida -> Fairbanks via Motorcycle.
Dude2. Kyak Inside Passage. Vancouver -> Homer AK.
Dude3. Drove to Valdeze and worked all summer, construction and bar tending...
A small sampling, but enough to illustrate the point. This has to be the most amazing group of intrepid explorers and idiots I've ever had the pleasure of spending several days with! If you ever get a chance to ride the marine highway, either direction. Do yourself a favor, and DO NOT book a cabin or estate room. There is plenty of room on the deck to pitch a tent, or hang out on the solarium. That's where all the cool kids are going to be.
There seems to be some commonality amongst this band of rebels. It's that nearly nobody is an expert at whatever adventure they set out on. This was the longest trip for nearly all the motorcyclists I met. The Kyak guy had never done anything like this before.(he had some amazing stories!) And right down the line, it was the same tale again and again. People sort of testing the limit of their pleasures and fortitude:)
I don't know. In the cozy bed back at home this journey was madness. Expensive. Dangerous. Irresponsible. On the road, it became hard to imagine anything being more natural to be doing with one's time.
With all the insecurities in this world, wealth, health may come and go with the tides. Health might render us incapable of the simplest tasks. But there is nothing that can rob a soul of these memories. I will hold them as long as I still know myself.
The endless valleys. The nameless mountains. The lakes that go on and on for 20, or 30 miles. The rivers that go god knows where(thank you Robert Service). The sun of mid-day which you are convinced will be there in the sky forever. The darkest hour before every single sundown when a body is the most alone. The endlessly cold nights. The toes that will 'never be warm again'. The fear of breaking down 100+ miles in the middle of nowhere. Surviving the rain. Knowing when to stop and rest. Trying to tell the difference between being brave and stupid.
I just have this idea, this suspicion. I'll wake up, back at home and think, "What the hell just happened? These are things other people do. Not little old me!"
Anyway. For a couple more day, we've all got the dolphins and whales to keep up company. A school of killers wales swam with the ship yesterday. They looked not large as in a zoo. But just the right size out here:)
I can't wait to get back on the bike again!!
Curious to see how it get's on. The only plan is to go east. Hit Nebraska to visit a friend, and maybe to Iowa to visit my sister. Hopefully still be able to get to North Carolina to visit my niece and nephew:)

Wishing you were here.

Sunday, August 30th 2009
9:30pm, Beak Creek Hostel, Haines AK.
The ferry!
Lot's of days to fill in. Best to keep it short.
Decided to take the Marine Highway(the ferry) out of Alaska! Called them up to make the reservation because the web site is complete crap. Sent the same search into the engin three times. It gave me three different interaries ranging from 4 days @ $500 to 30 days @ $2,500.
The lady on the phone was nice. I asked when the next ferry leave from Homer to Bellingham was. She replied, "Let's see...well, there is one leaving in 3 hours....could you make that? Oh your in Fairbanks...you'll probably not make it then. The next ferry is Sep.29th"....
!?!?!
Seriously, apparently it catches lots of people off guard. The ferry from Homer only leaves once a month. Damn. Turns out the ferry from Haines leaves every Monday at 6pm. So I booked a ticket for me and my bike, and rode out of Fairbanks.
Took four days ride to get here. It rained some. Saw some glaciers. Met some of the coolest people so far on the trip. Seems the only motorcyclist left in AK are the hardcore ones(me NOT included!). In Wasilla at the Kawaski Powers ports shop(hate my new tinted but cool looking face shield), I was told about some dude who had just passed through attemping to get to Prudo bay, but was snowed out....
In Tok I met some guy riding for an organization trying to ban the use of cell phones while driving. He was going to Prudo bay....told him about the snow reports. He seemed prepared. Even had an extra tire with him on his awesomely modified KLR650.
Later that day I met the guy who was trying to get to Prudo bay. Mike. Met at border city and rode together for a day. In the pass from Destruction bay to Haines Junction there are a lot of frost heaves. I'd never ridden with anyone before, and despite knowing better, I was leading, and pushed my little blast harder than I should have to 'keep up' with Mike's triumph street triple. Well, I hit one bump really hard at 60+mph, and my back tire rubbed against the tie downs I'd been wrapping around the back seat to hold everything on the bike.....melted right through those puppies. My gerry can fell off, and nearly everything else. It was embarressing and hysterical at the same time:)
As it happened, besides the extra set of tie downs I had in case any of them broke on the road, I had a third awesome ratchet set I'd purchased in Fairbanks for the ferry(You have to bring your own tie downs for the ferry). We had that bike re-outfitted in about 20min. This was the 3rd 'set up' I'd gone through with strapping all my crap on the bike. But it was easily the best, and will probably not change it again.
Haines is beautiful. It was a long stretch sans gas. 160 miles or so. Used the full gerry can of gas. Scary! Rode through this cathedral of a high altitude valley. The clouds hanging around you. Like being in an airplane. Epic to the point of being spiritual. The journal entry was rather sappy, but for friends and family, I'd be more than happy to indulge face to face.
Nice to be staying at a hostel. Even though there was parking down near the proprietor, I rode my bike right up to the cabin. Fuck it.
The ferry leaves at 6pm tomorrow. Will take 5 days and 4 nights...I think. Either that or it's 3 nights and 4 days. Eh. I can't remember. I'll loose some street cred for taking the ferry part of the way out(was 1,200 miles ride from Fairbanks to Haines!), but I'm told it's a 'once in a life time' sort of things. We'll see:)

Whoa. That's big.

August 22-24th 2009
Denali,
my buddy and I went down to Denali this weekend. That's a big mountain. We were blessed with clear skies leaving Fairbanks. We could see the peak from the city. That's 250miles away! That is really far to be seeing something That's twice the distance my childhood home was from NYC. And it wasn't that close to the city.
You can't take your car into the park, so they have buses to take the visitors all around. We attempted to take the bus out to Wonder Lake because the mountain was unusually clear. Perfectly clear, but only made it 60 of the 90miles in before we had to catch the last bus back our campground.
We saw some bears right up close. Freaking grizzlies. Those guys are strong. I watched as the cub causally dipped his paw into the hard packed earth as if it was chocolate pudding. Then he was pulling up roots 1/2inch think and tearing them as if they were cooker spaghetti. OMG. Those things are strong. I'd harbored a secrete disdain for bears through out the trip because of the inconvenience they'd cause me packing and unpacking my life everyday on the bike. Being super careful about food and contaminating anything else with sent. But now. After seeing them that close....I had a healthy amount of fear for the bastards. Pepper spray was not going to save you in an bear attack. Nothing would save you. Tip #6 Stay away from bears.
It was really cold that night. We got back to camp in the dark. Cooking was a pain in the ass. The stoves wouldn't light becase the fuel was frozen....the pasta wouldn't cook because the water couldn't get hot enough...etc. Eventually we went to sleep cold and unsatisfied. Which was fun too:) It was the first real miserable night of the trip so far. Our rapid decent into self pity over undercooked pasta was comical and lightened the mood.
Breakfast went slightly better:)

What is your position?

Wed. Aug.19th 2009
@ Fred Meyer eating a sandwich.
Dropped off the bike at the Harley Dealer. $100 an hour they charge for work! Man alive. What can you do huh?
The Helmet guy at the dealer looked at me and said, "You're a traveler right?" when asking my know edge of the locality. He was pointing me towards a motor sports shop on the outside of town where I might be able to find a new face shield to replace mine which was all scratched up.
The title struck a chord. I'm not a motorcyclist, or a scientist or explorer....I'm just a traveler. As if a body in motion is a perfectly acceptable thing to be...so common in fact that there is a name for these people. Travelers. It fit like a glove.
It's time to plan the escape route.
The locals frown when I tell them I want to ride out before winter. They expect the first snows in maybe a week or so, and full on winter in 3-6 weeks. I'd planned on spending some time here in Fairbanks, but Fireweed has gone to seed, and I've got to get out. My buddy gives me word that no one really expects I'll get out of here with the bike. Man. How do people even know I was coming?!
I always new it was going to be close coming here this late in the season. That was a decision made back in NY....back in June. But then the setbacks in San Fransisco, and Seattle, both taking longer than expected. Dispite the odds though, the risk paid off by making it here, alive, in one piece, and in perfect repair.
All I can think about now is getting back on the bike to ride across the U.S. I'm looking forward to that more than the entire rest of the trip. It's the only thing I ever expected or wanted on this journey. Not that I would/could trade this adventure for all the tea in china.....and I'm not expecting the lower 48 to compare to the Andes, Amazon, or the Northern Rockies(BC, Yukon, AK).
There is the great desire to see my country! I want to see with my own adult eyes this land which I plan to spend the rest of my life in! It's romantic and silly I know, but the idea has been the call to adventure. It got a hold of me, and there will be no peace till the conclusion!
I don't know. These are all big ideas for a little guy. I'll contend, from birth -> death that I will be the least unique person to grace this sweet earth. I don't have refined tastes, manors, speech or written word dispite a good upbringing. My personal endeavors to learn or gain new skills have proven time and time again how uniquely ordinary or average I am.
The line a body must cross to fight against one's nature or accept will always allude me.
At the end of the day, there will be no peace unless something is learned or created. Sleep has never come to be during daylight hours. There is always something which needs mending or making, or further study. And, when those are exhausted, there is one's precious family to love & waist time with:) Family is one of those for granted bonds that can withstand droughts and famine. But even the hardiest plants flourish with love and attention!
Ahh! It's not good to think too much. It get's a body into trouble.
My god I am enjoying this adventure. The inspiring people I meet. The unbelievable adventures and tales of brave ancestors and trail blazers on the Yukon and Alaska. Renewing old friendships, and changing old ones.
Searching for expectations or meaning in unexpected disappointments has been interesting also. On any other adventure there has never been time for that sort of reflection or to ponder "why".
Ha! Anyway! I've got an escape to plan!

Keep moving.

Tue. August 18th 2009
8:10pm. Sitting in my buddy's cabin here in Fainbanks. It's hard to believe the trip here is over! It took so much planning and care. Not that's I'm sorry. The ride up here was mind blowingly beautiful. When I get home I will write about the great wilderness here. It differs from the intensity of the Amazon. Lonely and Peaceful.
Quick note about yesterday. Probablly the best riding of the trip. Had a horrible realization in the morning. My back tire was not going to make it to FB before going bald...which was probably going to happen around Tok....so I hatched an idea. There was lots of tread left on the sides of the tires(can you see where this is going). So I rolled the bike back and forth across my lane getting it as leaned over as possible. White line to yellow line.....white to yellow. Almost instantly I realized how much fun it was! Why had I not thought of doing this sooner!??
It felt almost exactly like skiing when I learned how to parellel. Staying in the carve as long as possible, then slowly upright...and boom switch to the other side. Back and forth down the hill. It was exactly like that, only on a motorcycle, and I never reached the bottom of the hill. I got to ride those carves all day long! It was awesome! I probably looked like an idiot, but of the 6 other motor vehicals I saw that day, I couldn't care less:)
I love when you stop for a rest/snack and it's 40min...60min...no 70min sometimes before anyone passes you on the road. That meant for a moment in time, the closest human was 70miles away, if not further. It was fun.
Today was mostly in the rain after Delta Junction. Bearly any tiresaving swerving was possible. I rolled into Fairbanks on a breadth and a prayer. So Happy! Quick stop for gas proved I still had some tire tread! Thank god for the USA. As soon as I had crossed the border in to the US the roads became nice once more. None of that damned chip-slate crap. Well bearly any:)
The timing plate cover poped off somewhere today. Put some gorrilla tape over the large hole to keep water and other crap out. Other bikers seem super concerned about keeping thier bike SUPER clean....I like to clean it as mush as possible. But, it's more of a routine inspection sort of thing than pride of any kind.
The Harley Dealer had a dunlop tire in stock when I stoped by today to ask. Got an appointment tomorrow to have the thing mounted.
I know I just got here, but it's been getting colder EVERY day I was riding north. I think with in a week there will be the first snow of the season.
I've got the get the hell out of Fairbanks before winter. Super tired. New tires tomorrow. After that, it will be time to hatch an excape plan. I'd only ever planned on getting to FB. Never how to get out. Turns out this place is really really far away. Don't think I'd make it back through those passes again before winter hits them. Several days already I woke to see snow dangerously low on the mountians. Also it's been hovering +- freezing every night since Hope BC.
Here's to getting out of here with my bike!