Trip Stats

Ok, here are some numbers from the trip. I travelled 10,857.5 miles and used 262.7 gallons of gasoline for an average miles per gallon of 41.33. The total fuel cost were $1188.71. The most I paid for gas was $6.84 per gallon. That was at a middle of nowhere station in the Yukon Province!. Canadian gas is in general about $1.00 more per gallon due to the higher taxes.

I spent around $900 on food and lodging for an average of $42.85 per day. that's all I can think of now, more later.

We made it!

I am a little late posting this, but we made back safe and sound. The total mileage was 10,857.5 miles, almost 11,000 miles. As a matter of fact I was thinking of driving around until I hit 11.000 but the closer I got to home the further that thought meant something. I can say that having done it, I enjoyed it and wouldn't trade the experience for anything.

I have to say that jumping back into work has been very hard. I had a couple of long days in the office and off to Mexico City for a trade show and customer meetings. Next week Dallas. So it starts again. You have to wonder why a guy that travels for a living chooses to travel even more when he is off??!!

Well, I'll keep posting some stories as I can. Maybe a few pictures and stats from the trip.
Stay tuned.

Last overnight

Today was mostly gas and go.  We got in about 600 miles in 13 hours of driving. We did make a stop for Willie to purchase a tire since his rear is getting very low on tread life. He will try to make it home on the existing tire, but its nice to have a back up. I should make it on mine but they are also almost worn out.

As it happened, we are stopping in Columbus, OH where my brother, Danny lives.  He is graciously putting us up for the night. It was nice to visit and have a meal together.

Barring any issues, tomorrow will be our last day of this trip. There are only 485 miles left on this 11,000 mile journey. I am especially looking forward to seeing my family.

Of course, now comes the hard part-cleaning up the bike and putting away the gear.

More posts later...

Stergis

As a coincidence, the Stergis motorcycle rally is this week. Stergis is a small town in western South Dakota right off I90--the interstate we take to get home. We had to take a cruise through town to check it out. That sounds an obvious choice until you understand that the gathering is for cruisers, more specifically, Harley Davidson cruisers. Picture bad boy movie type motorcyclists and the accompanying bad girls to go along. 

It was quite the scene. The whole town is loaded with bikes. Thousands of bikes. Keep in mind that the estimates are that a half million bikers visit here from Aug 8-14.  On the roads and highways the bikes out number all the other vehicles 2 to 1. Every exit has the gas stations clogged with bikes. The town is loaded with vendors selling everything. Then there are the bars.  3 story bars.  Everyone seems to be having a good time.  The atmosphere was like the state fair only lots bigger and a tad more partyfied.  Cruising around reminded me of Myrtle Beach.  I took a few pictures, I hope they give you some flavor.

We enjoyed seeing all the people and a activities but were glad to get out of the traffic.  We made it out of SD and through Minn, now we are in Iowa and we will take a more southerly approach avoiding the Illinois, Ohio, and PA tolls. It is still 1300 miles to home, another two days.

Finally, we must have stood out as our dirty and loaded bikes provided a contrast to the shiny chrome and neon lighted bikes that were all around around us.  Some guy on the street even made a comment, but I could not hear him. I think he was probably commenting on how he liked my HiVis green helmet.  It must have been a friendly comment because he was laughing at the time!

Glacier National Park

The weather has held and as we come south it is getting warmer.  The scenes are changing from mountains to farmland. We had great photo ops when visiting Glacier. Even saw a goat and some big horn sheep- right next to the parking lot.  It was very busy and there was some delays due to construction, but overall a nice visit.

The next few days and will be less touristy and full of driving back home.

Saying goodbye to Thomas

Our group got smaller today.  You see we had picked up two other single traveling bikers.  Thomas has been traveling  with us 10 days and was like a member of the family. Brent was the other.  Both had similar bikes as Willie-the BMW GS1200 Adventure. It is the perfect bike for the trip up the Dalton Hwy. Similarity has the ability to create an instant kinship. We met Thomas early on our way up the Alaska Hwy.  After running into him 4 times, we laughed and said why don't you just join us? So we road together, ate together, and camped together for 10 days.  Brent was going our way on the Dalton. We met up with him about halfway up at Coldfoot Camp. He was with us two days and nights. He lives in Anchorage.  He is engaged.  We kidded him about being gone from his fiance but found out she just wanted him out so she could lock in some wedding plans. (No wonder he rode so fast!). Brent was mid 30s and an aircraft mechanic.

Thomas was also the same age and a mechanical engineer from South Carolina by way of South Africa.  He had finished some contract work and was on his way back to South Africa but was taking a couple of months to travel North America. He has a great personality and always contributes to the team, always willing to share his knowledge and wisdom.

I will tell you that riding in the extreme NW, one gets the chance to meet with other bikers. There are many riders on the road up here.  You generally meet each other at the gas stops since there are only a limited number of them. You sometimes see each other multiple times as with so few roads, everyone is typically following the same route as us.  For instance, there was the guy from Mississippi, also on a GS1200, that we ran into at McDonalds in Whitehorse and again at a restaurant in Hyder. Now he was a case of similarity without kinship. He was the type of guy that during the first 30 seconds you heard about all his multiple bikes, why they were the best and how he knows everything about every subject. I guess we know why he rides alone.

All that to say, if it is that hard to say goodbye to a fellow biker after 10 days, how hard is it to say goodbye to your own flesh and blood that you have raised from birth? I am in that phase of my life now. Two are out of the house, and my last one will leave for college in about 3 weeks.  I am lucky though because I get to see them often as they are living in town. 
It is these things that you get to think about when you have a lot of "helmet time".  Speaking of which, we got to make the run through Jasper National Park yesterday in Alberta, Canada. It was like Yosemite only it was 50 miles long. Today, we get to see Glacier National Park as we will be back to the lower 48. I'm looking forward to that.

Enjoy the pictures.

Lions, Tigers, and Bears, Oh My!

Well today we got to see and photograph a Grizzly Mama and her cub.  It was at Tongas National Park.   The park service has built a nice walkway along a stream that is frequented by bears. Our timing worked out great as the bears were only there for a couple of hours.  The next adventure was seeing the 5th largest glacier in North America.  We had to travel 17 miles up a dirt road but that is nothing now.  See attached pictures. 

We are traveling southeast towards Prince George.  We will then travel to Banff. We will be 2 more days in Canada. BC is a huge Province.
For the motorcyclists out there, the roads are great here. Windy and lined with trees with views of lakes and streams.  I am almost tired of the twisties. However I am perfecting my cornering techniques. My " chicken strips" are very thin!