alaska

Day 21 and our (almost) iron butt ride awaits. Lets do this thing!

When life gives you Alaskan ferries, take pictures.

More about day 20 right below!

Another day on the boat. The weather goes sour, we get soggy, and we get to visit the brothels of Ketchikan. Day 19, your time has come!

The boat was underway and all we could do at this point was wait. We may have been stuck but we managed to make the most out of our time. More about what we did after the break..

A new day, a new adventure! We pack up, head into town, and wait for the Ferry. Day 17. Lets rock and roll!

Rain. The Bringer of Life. Rain. The Bringer of Flash Floods. Rain. The Bringer of Wet Socks. Rain. The Bringer or Boring Days.

Rain. We woke up very much the same way we fell asleep with rain tapping on the roof of the tent. We still managed some adventure once the rain broke. Day 16 is here!

Our ride from Tok to Haines was horrible and beautiful at the same time. I guess it was too much to ask for perfect weather the whole three weeks. Nevertheless we trucked on. To Haines!

After a restful night at the campgrounds behind House of Harley, we got packing. We were to make a Wal-Mart stop and then hit the road for Tok. Our riding portion of the adventure was almost over..

It was another beautiful day in Alaska. We had just concluded our one night stay in Homer. We had figured, by this point, we were sufficiently far enough away from Haines that we should slowly head back (almost 1000 miles). There was still much more to see though! There were a few stops left on our list and both were worth it. Day 13 here we come.

A preview of things to come. We enjoyed Seward but there was much more to see. More about Day 12 after the break..

Day 11 was a bit of a rest day. After sleeping about 12 hours we did decide to keep trucking. There was much to do and not enough time to do it all. More after the break..

After surviving a day of hell, we knew we needed a break. Our target destination for the day: Anchorage.

Daily report:

Still a little weary from the day before, we packed up and got back on the bikes. We then proceeded to ride back the way we came. Back to Glenallen, back to that darn Thai food truck.

80% of the pictures I took with my cell phone didn't really serve justice. Just take my word for it it was beautiful. We survived a night camping out on the Denali. It definitely got the coldest here that night. We were prepared though with lots of warm clothing (and worst case, our motorcycle gear). By the morning the clouds rolled in and we couldn't see much. So, after a light breakfast we begrudgingly broke down camp.

Selling a motorcycle be a bit nerve-wracking the first time you do it. In this article, you learn actionable tips and tricks to get selling motorcycle right the first time.

Note 3/27: this is a repost back from September 3, 2013. Enjoy!

We woke up to sun to subtle drips and taps on the top of the tent. (Ugg. Rain.) We had enough of the Arctic Circle. We packed up with haste and began our journey back down to Fairbanks (and beyond). More info about Day 8 after the break..

Note 3/17: this is a repost back from September 2, 2013. Enjoy!

Rumor had it it was raining in Anchorage. Rain is a good thing but not when you're riding your motorcycle through it. We decided to book for Fairbanks. Our final target: The Arctic Circle.

Note 3/17: this is a repost back from September 1, 2013. Enjoy!

Top of the World highway was reccomended to us from the guy who originally owned Gregg's motorcycle. He said "if there is one thing you shouldn't miss don't miss the Top of the World Highway." So if it's not obvious enough, we chose this to be our experience entering Alaska for the first time. More info past the break.

Note 3/17: this is a repost back from August 31, 2013. Enjoy!

After another night of successful camping, we were on the road again. Destination: Dawson City.

Note: originally posted on 8-29-2013.

We had our eye on the prize, Yukon territory. It was a bit of a stretch from Vanderhoof but we were naive. So we packed up our stuff and headed back out on the road not knowing what the day would have in store for us...

Note 3/5: this is a repost back from August 28, 2013. Enjoy! We were off and running early in the morning. We knew it was to be another long day in addition to crossing into Canada. See the route and log below for more info.

Note 3/3: this is a repost back from August 27, 2013. Enjoy!

The adventure begins.

It's 4:30am and you're stumbling around in the dark attempting to prevent the weight of your eyelids from pulling you back into a deep slumber. The motorcycle gear seems harder to put on. ("Did I snap those damn buttons incorrectly, again!?"). In your head you know you're ready for what is about to come next but you aren't quite ready to leave. You feel the sharp vibrations of your phone in your motorcycle jacket pocket; you know it's time to go.

Note: this is a repost back from August 26, 2013. Feel free to follow along!

The Bike!

Both Gregg and I own the BMW R1150GS (both 2000 model year). I was apprehensive about upgrading from a 2002 F650GS at first because of the size but was soon convinced after purchasing that it was one of the best decisions I made for this trip. The 1150GS is meant for long haul trips over gravel, dirt and, of course, pavement. The model year design was moderately simplistic compared to some of the newer bikes. (2002-2004 versions have servo brakes which are known to cause problems, etc.) One of the main benefits of owning the same bike is that we have the same gas mileage and the fact that we can easily carry one set of emergency replacement parts should we need them.

Note: This post was original posted on August 25, 2013 after arriving back from this trip. Follow along! As you may or may not know, Gregg G. and I just finished our trip to Alaska. We rode our motorcycles approximately 7081 miles in just 3 weeks! We took tons of pictures and videos of which some came out quite well. (I can't wait to share) Most importantly of all, we met some great people and forged some great memories that will stick with us for a lifetime!