Monthly Archives: June, 2009

Bellingham to Juneau

The trip from Victoria to Bellingham was probably the scariest part of my trip so far as many of the bikes components had not been tested prior to that ride. I just kept thinking, “If I can make it to the Ferry, at least I’ll get to Alaska” and it worked!

Bellingham to Juneau was an epic exeprience as our rugged little ocean ferry passed through the inside passage and scraped by the untouched coastlines of the Pacific. The full experince of the Ferry ride wasn’t realized until the open seas where in people lined the upper decks to loose their lunches over the side. I was almost one of them:) This experience however inspired me to leave the ferry early and hit the great open roads on the Yukon! All together the ferry was great, I met a multitude of wonderful people, each with their own story of adventure. It really was a ship full of people with interesting stories, Soldiers, Open Ocean Kayakers, Helicopter Pilots and Technicians, Scientists and Veternarian students to name a few. Really an adventure in itself. Great people, scenery but horrible, horrible food.

Haines to Tok

Like a bat out of hell, I hit that highway hard. In the first 32 hours of riding I had only slept 2 straight hours. The secret is that up here, it hardly gets dark so you really never feel tired. You have to literally put yourself to bed or it won’t happen. I guess it’s like that little kid in me who doesn’t want to go to bed, and up here, there’s no-one to make me:)

The most beautiful and memorable experience so far has been riding in the endless Sunsets and Sunrise and Twighlights. Each part of the suns daily journey is extended, so it’s not abnormal to drive through a 2-3 hour sunset, really, really memorable.   As a motorcyclist, I don’t think it gets any better. I’ll turn on some Bob Marley and just cruise…

If you’re a mountain man or woman, you need to see this place. It’s a picturesque dream come true. The magnitude of the mountains and Glaciers is hard to explain, and certainly doesn’t show up in pictures. It’s a real lonely barron place that makes you feel quite small and insegnificant. It’s like being in a place where time has stopped, it’s amazing.

As for gear and the bike. Everything is holding up well, It is colder than an iceage on the road at times, I usually stop the bike right before I freeze and fall off and push the bike for a while, this trick definalty works to warm up.

Tok to Anchorage

I’m heading to Anchorage to have the bike serviced, I’ll write agian soon from there!:) Much love to all and best wishes.

Kind regards,

John