Here we go!

So the time is here and I can't wait. I'm glad I waited an extra day, really got a lot done with no hurry. Got some better straps and reorganized some things. Got the bike all loaded up and even took it for a test drive out on the highway. When I went out this afternoon it was 102 degrees! But that is just a taste of tomorrow and the next several days. Today in Amarillo TX it was 105 degrees and 2% humidity. 

The Vstrom is a heavy beast at low speeds but I am impressed at how it handles at speed with all the weight. I wish I had weighed all the stuff but it has to be over a hundred pounds. Maybe more.

So tomorrow I will depart early (4:30 am or so) and ride to Amarillo - about 600 miles. If it is still that hot I will probably find a Motel 6 or something. I could try to camp somewhere but I know I wouldn't sleep well and I don't want to get fatigued on the first day of a loooooong journey.

Here are a few pics that Susan took of me leaving on my test ride this afternoon.

Almost ready to go

Just a little over a day before I depart. Really doesn't seem like it. I have been preparing since last Fall and now it doesn't seem quite real yet. 


I spent today packing my tank bag and saddlebags ('panniers'). Tomorrow I will gather all my clothes and pack my camp roll (dry bag with my sleeping bag, sleeping pad, fleece throw, clothes, and my netbook). Then load it all up and hopefully make a short test ride. 


Here are a couple of graphics of my tentative routes going north. 

This is just a picture so you can't zoom on it. But I will travel thru Amarillo, TX and then across northern New Mexico. Into south eastern Utah, possibly thru Moab, then up thru the Green River Valley and onto I-15 north thru Salt Lake City. Really hate to ride thru there it is so 'urban', but it will save me time to spend up north. I may just stay on I-15 on up into Montana and then ride a highway up to the border crossing at Roosville (west of Glacier Natl Park). 

After crossing the border I will ride highway 93 up thru Radium Hot Springs (was there on my first trip in 2008) and up to Jasper on the Icefield Parkway. Then just keep heading north to Dawson Creek which is the start of the Alaska Highway. 


[For some reason Google Maps won't continue the route into Alaska to Fairbanks.]


It is hard to imagine but Google Maps shows it is almost 3000 miles from Houston to Dawson Creek - and it is almost 1400 miles to the end of the Alaska Highway in Fairbanks! I just can't wrap my mind around those numbers!

Houston to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska - The start

I am planning to depart home in Cypress (Houston), TX on June 10^th and ride solo to Fairbanks, Alaska, and from there north on 500 miles of dirt road called the Dalton Highway (aka “the Haul Road”) to Prudhoe Bay. Once I get my bumper sticker at the General Store I will turn around and come home. :-)  I expect the trip will cover about 10,000 miles and take at least 30 days.

My general plan is to ride west from home out to west Texas (hot and boring!) and get into New Mexico, up through Utah, Idaho, and Montana.  Not sure of a route yet, I will figure it out as I go depending on the weather and what other riders tell me on the way.  I plan to cross the border just west of Glacier National Park and then ride hwy 93 up to the Icefields Parkway to Jasper and on up to the Alaska Highway to Fairbanks.  And I have no idea how I will come back, except I would like to stop and see my sister and BIL in Camas (Vancouver), WA.  Maybe a stop in Jackson Hole, WY if the timing works out. 

On this email list are past riding friends from Kansas, neighbors (in Kansas and Texas), former work and flying club associates, family members including my 11 year old nephew (hi Jake!), and the previous owner of the bike I am riding (thanks Will!).

I will camp most of the way with a hotel stay every 4 days or so – again depending on the weather and circumstances. I will stay in campgrounds as well as some “adventure camping” along the way.  I have enough provisions for about half the trip so I will eat out the rest of the time.

I will also carry a SPOT personal GPS tracking device (like I used last year). It will update my position every 10 minutes via satellite and then update a map so you can watch my progress if you are so inclined. 

I’m not sure yet how often I will be able to send out email updates via email here. Many places I will camp will be remote with likely little or no cell phone service.  Also, I will not use my cell phone in Canada but I should have access once in a while via wifi.  I might send out an email or I might just update my blog, or I might wait till the next day if I am tired! Details and links to follow. 

I have been listening to fellow bikers talk about going to Alaska for 3 years.  I kinda thought about it last year, then started reading trip reports and travel logs on the Internet forums and began to think I might actually be able to do it.  I got serious last summer or fall sometime and then researched and found a bike specifically for the trip.  I bought the bike last October from Nashville and rode it home. I have been slowly modifying it and adding equipment (“farkles”) over the winter and spring.  Over the last several months I have been gathering more personal equipment together and I am now doing final maintenance and service  on it (new tires, chain and sprockets, air filter, plugs, oil change, etc, etc).  It is almost time to go and I can almost start to feel it.