Yesterday I checked on the status of getting up the Dempster to Eagle Plains, and onto the Arctic Circle. The Dempster was closed at 195km so getting up was not an option. The highway was not only washed out, but apparently flooded. The woman at the information center said her cousin came through (they let you through at your own risk) and the water was up to his doors. I called the motel in Eagle Plains, and the lady said "oh no it is raining here now" in reference to my riding a motorcycle up that way. I did want to go up the Dempster a little ways. I was told of a park called Tombstone, and a place called Two Moose Lake. The scenery is supposed to be unforgettable, and lots of wildlife. One local said there were about 1000 Caribou up there (somewhere I really could not understand him). It was sunny, so I started up the Dempster to explore Tombstone, and possibly Two Moose Lake.



They were grading parts of the Dempster which made the trip in portions a little challenging. The gravel was loose for a period which caused the bike to shimmy a lot. About 25 miles in I feel a funny sensation and hear an unfamiliar noise. I stop to see my rear tire going flat. I have had more then one rider tell me that if you go up the Dempster expect to get a flat. Many adventure riders carry two extra tires. Many also do it with knobbies also. First thing I do, after a few not so bad words, is pull out my bear spray. Then I pull out my plug kit and portable pump. I didn't have to look for the leak, just looking at the back tire a half inch slash was there staring at me. I started to pump up the tire to see if I could preserve the bead, which was intact. I then plugged the slash and it held air. I pumped up the tire and headed back to Dawson 50 miles away. I choose the largest shop as my best bet to get the tire patched. Maybe a mistake. They wanted me to remove the wheel, which really took less then 5 minutes. 2 1/2 hours later, three tries to patch the tire, and several bad scratches to my rim, I leave with a used tire and scratched up $800.00 wheel. The tire was provided by a guy named Dick who owns one of the motels in Dawson. He is a Beemer rider who has several used tires left by other riders who ship them to him and use them on the Dempster. Wish I knew, he could have changed my tire without the butchering done at the shop. They didn't charge me anything, what a deal.



I located Dick and thanked him in person for the tire. With him were an older couple. We got to talking and they said they had just come over the Top of the World Hwy (the day before) and I said I had too. Then the guy says, you were the one beeping at us. BUSTED! They were in the first RV that I was beeping at to get it to move over into a lane. He said they ride there to avoid the pot holes which shake up the RV terrible. No hard feelings, and we wished each other good travels.

I rode back to the beginning of the Dempster where a rider from Idaho named Steve came up to me. He was looking for someone to ride the Dempster with. I advised him of the situation down the road, and he decided he would try it on Saturday. He wanted me to stay over and ride it with him, and I would have loved to see what everybody was talking about, but I decide one flat and a day delay was enough. We parted and I started for Carmacks, YT. Guess what? It started to rain, 9th day out of 10 I found myself riding in the rain. I made it to Carmacks, and the hotel, was, well, a dump. Nothing much in Carmacks as most of these small Yukon towns. No Internet that is why I am posting both tonight.

My ride to Watson Lake was uneventful. It was a little cool, and yes I had more rain, now we are at 10 out of the last 11 days. 14 out of 28 days of this trip I have been in rain. Today was a short 382 mile day to give me a little break. I plan to get to Fort St John tomorrow, that is 555 miles. I have no commitments, so if I feel I need to stop early, I will. I am over 9000 miles on this trip so far. I have video but the Internet connection here is unreliable and keeps kicking me off. I will try to edit with those videos when I get a better location with a good connection. One of the videos shows the smoke from a forest fire about 20 miles from here. It is on the Cassier (sp?) Hwy (RT37) which is now closed due to that fire. That is the route I took up on my way to Alaska. On my way here I went by several areas marked with signs dating the forest fire that destroyed that area. I believe it was 1958, 1968, and 1998 that the signs stated. The 1998 area was still pretty bare. Hope the one raging now is not so bad, that was a pretty route.

The Dempster Hwy, as much as I saw that day.

It has been three days since my last post. On Tuesday Rene' and I started back to Anchorage from Healy. We stopped back into Talkeenta for a late second breakfast at the Roadhouse Cafe'. This place was featured on Man vs. Food. They have huge portion's, and the whole little town is cool. Lots of young adults hang at the park and it reminds us a little of the Jackson, WY community. We got into Anchorage and checked into our room before grabbing a shuttle into town. Rene' wanted to check out some of the trinket shops. There were a lot of drunks, and vagrants on the streets. We had dinner and went back so we could get some sleep for an early wake-up on Wednesday.

A sad day as Rene' was leaving my company, but good in that it was kind of a half way point where I would be headed, at least generally back towards home. I rode with the shuttle driver as we took Rene' to the airport. He was kind enough to let me come along, and he dropped me off back at the hotel. I had packed all of Rene's stuff to be shipped back, and I took it to the UPS store where some of my stuff was waiting. AAAHH a light bike, and no more three trips into the hotel with bags. I like traveling this way. After the UPS I headed to the dealer to have the slave cylinder changed, and an oil change. It doesn't seem to have made much of a difference, but it is working (the clutch). When the bike was finished it started to rain, eight days in a row I had been riding in the rain at least for a little bit. I started for Tok. Now on Tuesday, Terry one of the Denali Dome owners got an update for me on the Top of The World Hwy or Road. The AK DOT advised they were planning on opening the road on Thursday, but that it would be very rough, and extreme caution was advised. So while riding from Anchorage, having left at 12:45 I was considering my options. Do I go through Tok and onto Whitehorse or stop in Tok and hopefully the road and the weather will cooperate and I can try the Top of the World Hwy. Going through Whitehorse would be a 500 mile detour.

Some of this was determined on my ride to Tok. My neck was bothering me and I put on my heated gear and cranked it up. AAHH the heat on my neck was wonderful, but it was making me groggy. I started nodding off, not recommended at speed on a motorcycle. Finally when I "woke" to see me headed for the shoulder which was a mound of loose stone, I decided I better pull off and walk the haze off.I hate to say it but I don't remember alot of that trip. I turned off the jacket and was good from then on. I stopped in Tok at Fast Eddies for dinner. They had an update and that said the road would open at 0700 on Thursday and extreme caution was advised. I decided I would do the detour and head to Haynes Junction for the night. I thought it was about 200 miles, but when I came to the sign that said it was 289 miles, and it started to rain on me again, I decided to turn back and see what things were like in the morning. I slept real good, I must have been tired.

That brings us to today. Now if it was raining again, I was going to bag things and start towards home. But it wasn't raining, and it didn't look like it was going to. I met 5 guys at breakfast who were from Colorado. Three of them, Mike, Wayne, and Barry were headed to Chicken, and they asked if I wanted to join them. I did, and it was a nice easy relaxing ride. I had been tearing up the roads for weeks now, it was nice not to go like a bat out of Syracuse. The first video is on that road to Chicken, a neat little town I really enjoyed.

I finally came across some wildlife I could get my camera turned on to. We came across a Moose and her calf crossing the road just outside of Chicken. I forgot I have the little point and shoot in my tank bag or I would have taken a picture with that too.Mike, Wayne and Barry hung out in Chicken for a little and headed back towards Tok. I took this oportunity to pan for gold. For a $5.00 deposit you can get a gold pan and pan for gold from a pile of rocks from an active gold mine. This is of course one of those things on my bucket list, so I went for it. I didn't do it long as I had to hit the road, the Top of the World Hwy for Dawson. I actually found three little specks of gold. I fell four pounds short of my four pound goal of gold nuggets, but I was real happy just the same. I will definitely go panning again. I started out on the ToW Hwy and found it to be very easy to do. I was sweating it for nothing. With the riding I did with Ken and Dave, I was very prepared, and handled it easily. I was even passing slower traffic, including two RVs. I have nothing against RVs as someday I may find myself traveling that way too. But some people really shouldn't be behind the wheel of them. I passed two of them on this road. The first I beeped my horn a few times to try and get them to use a half of the road other then the middle. Didn't work and I passed the white knuckled driver with about a foot clearance between my handlebars and the ditch. This next video shows the ToW and me chasing down and passing another RV that would not give up the center of the road either.I passed through Canadian Customs with a few standard questions and aired up my tires. I was expecting a smoother ride from that point but found the Canadian portion to be a lot of loose gravel that is a little more challenging then dirt on the American side. Again the lessons learned riding with Ken and Dave were invaluable. I might still be up there slowly plowing away if it weren't for that experience I have gained these last few weeks. A word for other riders thinking of it, as a matter of my opinion. If you are not comfortable with dirt, gravel and loose stone, then this highway may not be your thing. If you are thinking of doing it on something other then a dirt or adventure bike, then you need to be proficient with gravel or you will find it a long road to haul. Another note. I had this idiot in a motorhome coming at me on the loose gravel at about 60 to 65 MPH. These things throw up stones big time and I got peppered. I don't thing my bike received any damage, but I haven't checked it over yet. I was hoping he would fail to negotiate one of the next curves!

The top of the World Hwy seems to be exactly that, on top of the world. The views are vast and spectacular.

Into Dawson City. This place is like a throw back to the western days. The streets are dirt, the sidwalks are wood planks, most of the buildings are 1800s era built. I felt like a cowboy walking the sidewalks with my riding boots clunking on the wood. Pretty cool place. I leave tomorrow hopefully for the arctic circle. I was advised by more then one that if the road to Eagle Plains is wet or there is a threat of rain to re-consider. They advise that a slimy layer of slick clay develops on the surface and they found it very difficult to navigate with their knobby tires which give more grip then the Anakee 2s I am running. If no threat of rain for two days a long the route, it will be a go!

The bus trip through Denali was a bit on the long side. We didn't see much wildlife and what we did see was at quite a distance. I was not able to get any good wildlife photos, but there is some hope for the some of the landscape photos. We did see some grizzlies,

Dall sheep, moose, a golden eagle, three wolves, and caribou. The weather held out and although it rained on my bike, we weren't there to enjoy the moisture. We did not see Mt. McKinley so there still is no proof it actually exists. At one of the stops, you can stand on a brass marker and look through a window with a mountain outline etched on it. This outline is supposed to trace the actual outline of the mountain. I just saw clouds. The bus trip took us from one side to the other side, so they claim, of this vanishing mountain. We met many nice people on the bus, and with a 12 hour bus ride, it sure is a lot nicer riding with nice people.

I am still hearing that the road from Chicken to Dawson is closed so tomorrow, which is now today I will have to make some decisions and change some arrangements. We leave for Anchorage a little later this morning.

Today Rene' and I left the McKinley View B&B, a very nice place for a stay, for Healy. Guess what? It was raining! The day did clear a little and we made it up to Denali. I booked us a rafting trip, that was about 4 hours long and was actually two separate trips. A scenic route, and then a whitewater trip. The scenery was nice through out both trips. Our rafting guide for the second half, Amy hurt herself on one of the rapids. She kept rowing, but she was hurting. We ended up doing a little bit of bouncing of the canyon walls until she could recover. Rene' was a little worried about the rafting, she had never done one. We booked a shuttle bus for tomorrow that will take us to the end of the road in Denali and back. The trip, if we don't get off is about 12 hours round trip. The other guests here at the Denali Dome B&B, another nice place, all are reporting seeing lots of wildlife on their Denali tours.

The weather forecast for tomorrow, you guessed it, rain and isolated thunderstorms. My only concern is the 20 - 30 MPH winds forecast with 45 MPH gusts in the high wind areas. We have to cross one such bridge that actually has a wind sock on it. Could be interesting if all the conditions are against us. We ordered our subs from Subway. They will make them in the morning and we will pick them up on the way to Denali. Once you leave the Bus stop for the trip into Denali, there are no services except bathrooms, well I think there are bathrooms.

I am hoping to get a lot of photos taken tomorrow. Not the ideal way to do wildlife or landscape photography, but it is my only real option right now. I also have to make a decision tomorrow on where I am going to go after dropping Rene' off at the airport on Wednesday. My original plan was to head up to Tok and then take the Taylor Hwy to the Top of the World Hwy onto Dawson. But all the rains have washed out the Hwy. They had it open for a few days, but more rain washed out all the repairs. If the road is closed, I can't make it to Dawson without an additional 500 miles detour. One option I am considering is heading south to Homer and maybe doing some photography down there or changing my reservations a day to allow me to detour up to my planned destinations. This would of course move everything preplanned and reserved a day back.

We stil have not seen Mt McKinley, and I am beginning to believe it is really a marketing ploy, and the mountain does not really exist. Still hoping to see a piece of it. Mileage today was 136.

Not much happening today. There is a steady drizzle which won't stop us from going anywhere, but what are you going to do when you get there. Not much fun walking around in the rain, not that riding is any more enjoyable in the rain. Again the forecast, depending on who you check is not good for at least a week. The Weather Channel has us at partly sunny right now, not even close. The aviation weather site has rain for the next few days. This photo is of the satellite view of the clouds. There isn't any real weather radar coverage for the area we are in. The cloud cover has been stuck over Alaska for over a week, and will stay for a little while longer. The high temps predicted for the next few days are in the mid 50s to low 60s.

Yesterday I started out in a light rain that eased up after about 20 miles. It was a little chilly but manageable. AK 1 was in mostly good shape, and goes from a 2 lane highway to a two lane mountain road to a 6 lane highway that dumps into Anchorage. The mountain road parts are fun and scenic. I took the bike to the BMW shop I had originally scheduled a tire change for. I had them check the light clip, and the clutch. Since the issue on day two, The clutch hasn't been right, and although it works, the engagement is near the top leaving little to no friction zone. They ordered a new slave cylinder and I will take it back Tuesday afternoon when Rene' and I get back to Anchorage.

On the way to Anchorage I saw a moose that was standing near the road. Unfortunately, I had shut down the camera, so by the time I restarted it, the moose ran back into the woods. Dagnabit.

I had time before picking up Rene' at the airport so I went to the UPS store to ship some of my stuff back. I felt putting the dry bag with about 30 lbs of stuff on top of the top case which is already about 40 lbs would be too much weight high and back. With the weather forecast looking down right crappy, I figured I wouldn't need the tripod along with some of my other stuff. Rene's flight had been delayed in Chicago due to weather, but she made it in OK. We left Anchorage in the rain for Trapper Creek where we have lodging at the McKinley View B&B. There was lots of construction which slowed things a little then all came to a stop. Apparently an over size truck got hooked on a power line, and there we sat, not moving for almost three hours. We were only 26 miles from our destination. Luckily, it wasn't raining, and even a little on the sunny side.

This video is a part of the ride to Anchorage on AK 1. The next video just shows our three hour wait. We met and talked to a lot of other motorist during this stop.

Today we went into a small town that has all the activities. The town, Talkeetna has flight seeing, boat tours, a train tour, rafting tours, and a couple of real nice cafes. We finally signed up for a flight to see Mt. McKinley, but this mountain does not want to be seen. The clouds moved in so we flew around looking at a few glaciers and stuff. We may go back tomorrow to take a jet boat tour. You can do it even if it is raining, a real possibility for tomorrow. We'll see. Mileage for yesterday was around 330, and today about 60. Here is a video clip from the flight.

Today was one of those days. I started out to replace the headlight bulb and in doing so discovered a tiny little plastic tab that holds retaining clip is broken. I had to fiddle with it for about 15 minutes, trying to get both hands into a space the size of an open mouth. I know my dentist Tim can do it because he has had both hands inside my mouth, I think one of his feet too. I finally got the bulb in and the retaining clip secure. I'll have it checked at the dealer tomorrow, and if warranty, replace, if not I have a fix in mind. The way it should have been.

The scenery leaving Whitehorse on the Hwy 1 was much better then coming in. The road was fast at first, then the frost heaves. I was standing on my pegs for many of the heaves, and some tossed the bike right up slapping my but. A guy on an 1100 RT bottomed out on one. I know which one it was! The road had gullies some 3 to 6 inches deep running across or diagonally across the road. The section between Whitewater and Beaver Creek, about 20 miles was the worse. They were filling in the road with loose gravel. Glad Ken and Dave gave me some dirt experience.

The day was cold and wet all day. I was shivering, why? Because I didn't want to stop and put on my heated gear, moron. Anyway I started having cramps in my neck and shoulder that I still have now. A hot shower helped, but didn't cure it. I rode about 150 miles in rain to include pea sized hail, and a thunderstorm in the mountains. The closest lightening strike I counted was 3 miles away, the loudest, 8 miles away. The hail storm was heavy and hurt. Ping, ping, ping the hail hitting off everything. Even with insulated leather gloves, it hurt the hands. I had a layer about an inch thick laying in my crotch, cold and wet. I tried to get some video of that, but the camera was aimed too high. I pick up Rene' tomorrow in Anchorage, and I really hope there is an improvement in the weather.

I have two videos here, one is a little long and is the ride through Yukon Territory nearing Alaska. It has some scenery, weather, and high winds. The second video is the hail storm and is short. No Joy when both the helmet visor is wet inside and out, and your glasses are also, plus the inside of visor is fogged as well as your glasses. It was like looking through frosted glass. I finally pulled the glasses down on my nose so I had a slit between the helmet top and my glasses to look out.

The mileage is 647 for yesterday, and 533 today for a four day total of 2614, the equivalent of going from Syracuse to Seattle in four days. I have logged 7000 miles on this trip so far.

Sunday I rode 17.25 hours and covered 803 miles, my new personal long. I was bushed at the end. On Monday I covered 631 and today about 650 miles. Almost 2100 miles in three days. I was too tired to post on Sunday, and yesterday the hotel I stayed at had too weak a signal on their WiFi and it kept kicking me off.

Sunday after saying good bye to Ken and Dave I started north on RT 97 to get over to RT 20. This road was recommended by everybody as a must do, so I did. I didn't plan on it adding 140 miles to my planned 664 mile trip. After an hour or two I started to hit some windy conditions. By the time I got onto Rt 20 there were some good strong gusts. The first video is at the approach to the Oregon Washington state line. I stopped for fuel, and had breakfast with two riders, John, and hopefully not sounding like too big and idiot, I think Bob. They were good




company, and they were headed east. This video shows some of the motorcycle movement from the gusts. This second video is on Rt 20 with the wind. Rt 20 is a beautiful twisty mountain road with fantastic views. The road is mostly sweepers with a few tight twisty turns.

While leaving Washington State I had a Bald Eagle flying over head. I went to the border and waited in line with many other cars. I watched almost everybody get a brief delay, then move on. Me, I get the fifth degree, and am questioned for about 10 minutes. Maybe next time I will stop chanting "Allah Akbar" when I pull up to the officer. He finally let me go through. The ride into British Columbia was also beautiful. I learned real quick that the Canadian drivers either drive very slow or very fast, nothing in between. It was not unusual to see cars passing me at about 90 MPH with maybe 25 feet between them. Wonder what the accident death rate is in Canada. This next video is as I am headed north to 100 Mile House. I ended up riding for about 90 miles in the dark to get to my destination. I am riding beside a train and going through two tunnels. Beautiful scenery here also. There were many signs saying to watch for deer, elk and big horn sheep. I only saw three deer, two live bucks, and a dead doe, all along the roadside.

Monday's ride was more and exercise of separating myself from all the RVs. Lots of RVs and they are like land turtles, until you go to pass them, then they race you to the next no passing zone. They never could win that race. The scenery was mostly hilly, with some mountains, and then more mountains the more northwest I got. There were lots of rivers with rapids, and many rafting enterprises along the way. I saw many a teenager with inner tubes walking back from where they exited the river. I am sure they were having lots of fun. I would like to try it someday.

My destination was Stewart, BC which is just across from Hyder, AK. The roadway in, and out is RT 37a. A very scenic route that if I can I would like to return to to spend a day or two doing some local photography. I only did video due to my time constraints, bummer. Here are a couple of those videos showing the scenery. I saw a black bear on the way in that had been hit on the side of the road, and on the way out there was one just walking along the side of the road. I road to within eight feet of him, but did not have the video running, bummer two.

Entering Stewart in the evening on RT 37a (above)

This is leaving Stewart on Rt 37a, the next below id also leaving stewart and is of two waterfalls cascaiding down the mountain.

RT 37 had many views of the mountains, and it winded through and over some of them. The roadway was good at first. You would be going along then the sign "loose gravel" and the paved road is now a gravel road. It would switch back a few times, and had construction where they were putting down oil and stone. The road went from a nice two lane road to a back country two lane road, which isn't all bad, except you were never really sure what surface you were on. I also like having the road lines, and they were now abscent. I made it to the Alaskan Highway in one piece, and took that to Whitehorse. The Alaskan Highway is a fast route with plenty of passing opertunities for encounters with land turtles. But the road was a little boring. Back home I suppose this would be one of the more popular roads, but compared to much of the others, it is a little boring.

Remember if you want to read any of the older posts jsut click on "older posts" near the bottom of the page. I changed some settings so you should be able to send the link to friends, and you should be able to post a comment without signing in, if the setting to hold.

Another beautiful day in Redmond Oregon. I am not riding today although I almost went with Ken and his Missionary friend Eric who just stopped by. I have a lot of riding coming starting tomorrow, and a break before that isn't all bad. I tried to see if they could make some adjustments to my Sargent Saddle as it is starting to sting a little. The sting is pressure points on my butt. They only sell them, so I'll have to use the Airhawk cushion. I'll send the saddle back when I get back home for a little more padding.

The advanced forecast for my trip up to Alaska is not promising. I should be OK on my first two days, which gets me to Stewart, BC which is across the border from Hyder, AK.Then starting Tuesday morning the forecast calls for anywhere from 30 to 60% chance of rain. Most of you know that where I go the rain goes, here being an odd exception. So I will have to put on a lot of miles on some twisty mountain roads in rainy weather. Hopefully it won't be that bad, or a heavy rain. The forecast while in Alaska isn't any better. They say only 30% of the visitors to Alaska actually see the peak of Mt. McKinley because of the clouds. Looks like so far we'll be joining the 70% club that doesn't see it. Bummer at this point.

I was just talking to a person I met here, Dan who is recommending a throttle lock. He has a bike very similar to mine, and he likes it, so I am going to consider it. Help save the stress on my right wrist.

I will have the bike packed up tonight so all I will have to do is pack up the camping gear and give it to Ken. Ken will put in in the Happy Trails trailer and take it back to Boise. He'll ship it back to me from there in about a week. The alarm is set for 0445 local time, and with luck I'll be headed north at about 0600. That should give me enough time to try a different route suggested to me by both Liz (BMW in Eugene) and Ken. It is Rt20 (I believe the same one I live 4 miles from back home) in Washington that runs along the top of a mountain range. Reported to be spectacular views, hell I can't pass that up. Tomorrow nights stop is in 100 Mile House, BC.

I took a 370 mile day ride today. I hit Crater Lake which is truly a must see for everybody. I spent a lot of time just pulling off every overlook to gaze at the beautiful blue waters. This lake is the result of a volcano that erupted then collapsed into itself. I took a lot of photos and many of them are set to be made into panoramas. This photo is a merge of three photos. I have some video of this lake also. After Crater Lake I went back to find that darn FS19 route. I found it, and the kicker is I was on it, but turned off of it to do a video of a covered bridge. I just didn't notice the 19 sign down the road. Anyway I found it, and took it. Surprised a deer as I was coming around a tight right hand corner. I was going easy, and slowed while Bambi tried to climb a hill. This road was full of nice sweepers with some twisties to start. Towards the end it was more twisties, which are fun. The difficult part of the road was the foliage is right to the road edge, and the sun shoots through the trees causing bright spots and shadows. There are places an elephant can be standing by the road and you wouldn't see it until you passed it. The end was a reservoir with an earthen dam. After that I did RT242 again. This is a super twisty road that raises 5000 ft in elevation as you run it. I was slowed by a group of 8 loud cruisers of an undisclosed make. Hell I almost hit one in the rear around a corner as I was down shifting into FIRST GEAR. That bike almost got the one in front of it too. After about 4 or so miles they pulled over, and I was able to run some of the road at a more reasonable pace. I had to pull over for a rider who was just a little faster. Here are some videos.

Crater Lake 1

Crater Lake 2

Tail end of FS19 at the dam

I will be leaving for Alaska early Sunday morning. My posts will likely be short and without video or photos. I will have to travel about 14 hours for the first three days and about 12 hours the second to meet my schedule. If my time is good, I'll try to include some.

)n yesterday's ride we ended up at Paulina's Peak Overlook which is about 7300 ft above the sea level. Here are a few photos from that stop.

This picture is what looks like a large caldera. The light gray is lava and it is in a large bowl.

This photo is a view of the Three Sisters. I can see them, and they are closer to my camp site. From our site we have the Sisters, Mt Washington, and Mt Jefferson. They are all snow covered peaks that are really impressive to look at.

A photo of my drop incident. Some say it gives the bike character. This is what can happen when you ride dirt. There is an F800GS like my old one here that really took a dump. I hear he estimates he has $4000 in damage. He wasn't hurt but his bike took a beating. I'll just sand and repaint the crash bar, and figure something out for the two little nicks on the valve covers.

Ken needed a picture of me showing off my handy work.

Ken and Dave at Paulina Peak Lookout, that is the Three Sisters in the background.

Ken and I on Paulina Peak. Now before anybody says anything, I have my riding gloves, cell phone and beenie in my coat pockets.

Today's riding was about 9 miles in the ERC, Experienced Rider Course. That took about 5 hours and it was in a parking lot in full hot sun. I love the sun, but on hot bikes on hot pavement wearing all the protective gear, it takes a little out of you. I hung out here at the rally and checked the vendors out. Tomorrow I plan to head to Crater Lake and then on the way back look for that darn Forest Road 19. I now know it is in Westfir and uses a different name. Should be a good day of riding.

I didn't get to the blog last night. Everything isn't set up here at the rally yet. Currently I am sitting on the grass, and have been for an hour next to a power box so I have the power to run the laptop, charge the helmet, cell phone and camera.

Yesterday I was in Eugene for the 6k service. I decided to change the tires as the rear would probably not make it to Alaska. I can not afford any delays or breakdowns due to the tight schedule I have to get to Anchorage. After the service I decided to do a little exploring. Liz the lady at the parts counter suggested a dirt ride along the north side of some reservoir. I Did that and I have some video of it, plus the views. I also wanted to take a RT 19 which is supposed to be very scenic, but I could not find it. It is right there on the map, but due to the detail I could only get a guess as to the area. The GPS was no help, it said it didn't exist. Anyway I wasted about an hour looking for it, and going down the WRONG road some old timers said was 19. I had to double back 60 something miles to head back to the rally. I had planned on taking 242 from 126 after I got off 19. I knew where 19 was on 126 but that was the ending end for me. I took 242 and that was an awesome road. This was far more challenging then the Dragon, and much more scenic. There is video of that too. After I got back I set up my tent in a blustery wind. Language was kept to a low mumble, but still not for the weak at heart. We met at the Happy Trails tent and had a pot luck dinner. They do a lot of dutch oven (not the covers over the head kind) type of cooking. The chicken was very good, and so was desert. Here it is: cut up boneless, skinless chicken breast into thirds, and brown in oil a few minutes. Put into pot with Russian dressing, pineapple and apricot preserves, add a package or two of Lipton onion soup and cooks for a few hours. Add white rice to the mixture towards the end, and walla a meal. The desert was cake mix 7up or sprite with apple pie filling cooked in a dutch oven over the coals. Yummy. After dinner it was off to the sleeping bag where I FROZE all night long. It got pretty cold.

This is RT 242, a very nice moutain ride.

Today was the GS ride through the dirt roads of Oregon, around Redmond anyway. Very very challenging for me. I have little dirt experience and we were on all kinds of difficult surfaces. We did about 70 to 80 miles in the dirt and I did have a Little incident. After navigating several different types of gravel and dirt I came to this down hill right turn in a mix of soft dirt and stone. The front end kicked back and forth the tail end whipped out a little and down I went. No injury to me, and the bike suffered some scratches. A shame, I hate to see it happen, but with the amount of dirt and type, I was very much aware it was a real possibility. It is all training, you can't learn it without doing it. A side note, Dave is a madman on dirt. He does it better then most can do the pavement. I have only one video post for today and that is the end of the dirt ride up to the top of a mountain for the mountain views. Spectacular view.

Some views from yesterdays ride on dirt.

Another video of my solo in the woods yesterday

Another view on the solo ride.

Ride to the top of the mountain.

Tommorow morning I take the ERC, Experienced Rider Course which starts at 0700 and ends at 1130.

Ken and I met with another rider, Dave to go to the rally. We took Rt 26 to Rt 126 to Redmond. The roads were great sweepers with elevation changes. Starting out in Idaho the scenery was flat going to a hilly high plains that continued into Oregon. There we started to get more alpine type scenery and the hills became more like mountains. Ken and Dave stayed at Redmond, and I continued on to Eugene for my bike is scheduled for it's 6k service. To get to Eugene I stayed on RT 126 which took me through the Cascade Mountains. The scenery is spectacular through here.

Coming into the rally site and at the site you can see the Three Sisters (three peaks), Mt. Jefferson, and Mt. Hood. On my to Eugen I rode past Mt. Washington. I hope to get some pictures or better video of these features for a future post. Today's videos are of this ride into OR, and my solo into Eugene.

Eastern Oregon on RT 26

Central Oregon

Nearing Eugene Oregon.

Today is a rest day and a day to prepare for the ride to the rally. The rally is in Redmond, OR. and runs from Monday for some to Sunday for most. The bike is washed, and the mechanical's checked over, and she is ready to go. Ken and I will be riding with another rider and our start time is not yet determined. The ride is only about 350 miles so with stops I figure about 9 hours. I will not be at the rally tomorrow (I'm not one of the some) but continuing on to Eugene, OR. I have a 6000 mile service scheduled there Tuesday morning. The bike has 5282 on it now (started with 2092) and the ride to Eugene should be about 470 miles. Depending on the time of day, I may take a detour to see a few sites prior to ending the day. I have to check the rear tire and may have to change them in Eugene. I normally hope to get 9000 plus, but the ride across on the super slab (highways) has flatten the tire in the center. Despite my best efforts with the awesome roads out here, I can not wear enough of the sides to even things out. If I think I can get to Anchorage with the tire I get them changed there. I have a tire change scheduled already for Anchorage. We'll see how it plays out.

Today we rode to the foothills of Boise to hike. The ride was only about 54 miles total, and the walk about 4 miles. There is sooo much you see on these trips. I rarely remember some interesting things until later. Yesterday, I saw to Bald Eagles on the ride. I also saw the damage caused by a forest fire, and the renewed growth coming in.

On today's walk I saw several chipmunks, and ground squirrels. I took some video of the walk, the scenery, and some flowers for the nature or lady folks. We hiked at a ski resort that has hiking and mountain bike trails. The road there was maybe ten miles, but loaded with twisties and sweepers. The roads out here are more challenging then the Dragon at deals gap, and may be as numerous in turns. This area is loaded with great motorcycling roads, both paved and unpaved.

Here are a few of today's videos.

A view from the hike

Flowers on hike

More flowers for the ladies

A sweeping view from the trail.

Last flower video for the ladies!

The ride back from the hike. Great twisty road with several elevation changes. Had to watch for the sand and rocks. Had the front end slip a little on some sand patches. It gets your attention, but the tires regain grip in an instant.

A note: The older posts are now hidden, you can access them by clicking on "older posts" at the end of the last post.

Today was a day ride around Idaho to the tune of 322 miles. Yesterday was 461 miles. Ken took me on some of the best twisty roads I have been on, and we even did about 57 miles on a twisty dirt road. I have done some forestry stone roads, but this was my first dirt. The scenery was spectacular. I have four videos showing two of the dirt track, and two of the return on these great mountain roads. On the way out we were stuck in a line of slow RV traffic for most of the way, but on the way back, little traffic.

Dirt road to Stanley, ID. This road was about 57 miles. You can see that if you slide off, you go down bye bye.

This is part of the fire damage from a forest fire that burned 48000 acres.

Leaving Stanley with a view of the Saw Tooth Mountains.

The road home. Very twisty with some sweepers. Very fun and challenging.

Lets see if I remember the mileages. Tuesday was 471, Wednesday was 450, and today was about 280, obviously I can't remember them all. The ride from Idaho Falls to Meridian was nice. Again the landscape is immense. The first video is an effort to show that vast space. You can see towards the end the road going almost to a point. My last post I mentioned distance, and when I look at that distance I see it as 20 or 30 miles when it is really is maybe 10 to 12 miles. You will also notice the sky is BLUE, not GRAY, and not a cloud to be seen. Big difference from old Siberacuse. Of course every time I leave a heat wave comes in, what's with that.

I am visiting with Ken and CJ. They have a very nice home, and are great hosts. Ken has ridden all over the world, mostly dirt, and he is going to show me around Idaho for next few days. It should be interesting and I'm sure a challenging adventure for me. We'll head over to Redmond, OR together along with another guy on Monday.

The second video take is passing through an area known as "The Crater of the Moon". This is a large area where the lava flowed up through cracks in the earth's surface. No volcano needed. The lunar rover was tested in this area because of it's close resemblance to the Moon's surface.

Travel today was mostly straight line with some twisty or curvy areas. Noticed my rear tire is almost toast already. Only 4700 (about) miles on them, and they need to be replaces. I was hoping for 9000 miles, but looks like 6000 will be the limit. Good news is I can cancel the tire change stop min Anchorage. The bad news is if I get the same mileage out of the next pair, we are talking a possible second change in Missoula.

Vast Landscape

Crater of the Moon

This video is me leaving Buffalo, WY on RT 16. I took lots of video, but will post only a few of them.

Today's riding was very nice. Most of it was secondary scenic twisty roads. The traffic was light for the most part and the clutch problem seems to be resolving. A brief word on the clutch, the more I think about it, the more I believe somebody screwed around with the bleeder at the motel. I had absolutely no problems, and after leaving the motel, maybe 30 or 40 clutch activations later I have an empty reservoir and no clutch. A bleeder shouldn't just start leaking like that out of the blue.

I left Buffalo on RT 16 for Ten Sheep then to Worland, up to Cody where I got on RT 14 for Yellowstone NP. Road a short loop and headed to Teton NP and down into Jackson, WY where I briefly met with my nephew Greg. From there up over the Teton Pass to Idaho Falls. I am about 3.5 hours from Boise the destination I should have reached today (070710). This is such amazing country out here, I was in alpine covered mountains, high plains, canyons, and a couple of National Parks.

When you ride alone and for that amount of time you can't help but to think of things, despite your best efforts. I was on the high plains headed to Worland and there was a sign for "Worland 15 miles". Being up on the plains, you can see for ever, but I could not see Worland yet. I was thinking I used to drive 20 miles to work, and it did not seem to as far away as the horizon was looking at the time. I'm going and going and still no Worland until after what seemed like 50 miles it was there. My point is what distances we are really driving when you can see them unobstructed. Driving to work, back a few years ago, I was going up and down hills, around curves, through hamlets or towns. You loose the perspective of distance because your view of distance is very limited.

Here are a few more videos to give you a view of the road as I traveled them. Never mind that one pass over a double solid line on the Teton Pass. That goofball was doing 25 MPH and could not keep it in his lane. Besides I was missing some twisties that needed some riding.

Leaving Yellowstone, South Road.

Passing by the Grand Tetons

Teton Pass. Rene' and I did this pass a couple of times last year on our trip. I is just a few miles from where we were staying.

This video is of me leaving Sturgis by RT 14A in the rain for the first time. This was a test ride to see if the clutch problem was solved. The clutch worked OK but not like it was. Here is how the day went:

Rene' called nice and early to get me going, so far so good. I got everything ready and called BMW roadside assistance to get the tow there early for the 27 mile ride to Sturgis Yamaha BMW. Their service opens at 0830. We got there at about 10 after 0900, not according to plan. The folks there took the bike right in and after looking it over, they advised nothing appears to be wrong. They re-bled the system and did a 20 mile test ride. John with service suggested I do a local test ride and bring it in if I detect any problems. The above video is the start of the local test. The other videos are part of that ride.

I rode the loop, I don't know the distance, but it was a good loop, and nice and twisty. The clutch wasn't great, but I felt I could move on so at the end of the loop in Spearfish, SD I started west. I felt I had enough daylight to get a good distance closure to Yellowstone. When I pulled off for gas in Gilbert, WY I had no clutch again. I called John, and he advised me to return. I was truly not happy at this point, and some virgin ears may have been popped! I started back 100 miles to Sturgis. John apparently called me but the damn "smart" phone was also giving me trouble. Once I got to Sturgis one of the mechanics flipped the clutch handle a few times and the pressure was back. I believe this was what John was going to suggest, but since the phone didn't work I took a fast 100 mile ride in the wrong direction. The apparent problem is the mineral oil used as a hydraulic fluid can develop very small bubbles, and until you get all the bubbles out, you can get large air bubbles that effect the pressure of the clutch.

So as I ride the highway the vibration is migrating those bubbles up to a spot where they form into a larger bubble. Hopefully this will clear up soon. I am now able to manage this problem. After my second time back in Sturgis, I again took 14A to Deadwood and on to Spearfish. This time it wasn't raining, and the roads were mostly dry, so I had a little more fun.

Funny thing about the weather, I have had more rain on this trip, and it is only four days so far, then I have had n all my other motorcycle trips combined. I had to break out the heated liner it was so cold. Only got up to mid 50s, yet back home you guys are having a heat wave. WHERE IS THE JUSTICE.

The Wyoming landscape out here is vast and awesome. There are parts where you see for it could be 50 to 100 miles. You could call it rolling prairie, but the hills are sharp lots of times, not really rounded. There are few trees, except on some hills that are covered with pine. But you can look out for miles and see only a few trees, and they are not like our trees, tall and strong. These trees look like something out of Harry Potter. The dandelions are enormous. The puff balls are the size of baseballs. There are cattle and horses everywhere, but no signs of owners, they are just out there. Along RT90 there are large wooden snow fences and every entrance ramp has a flashing light sign or gates to close entry to RT90 because of high winds and blowing snow. I suspect that will be next for me on this trip.

In South Dakota, like there in Sturgis you can have these great canyon or mountain areas. Rt14 runs through a canyon, and along this roaring stream that is crystal clear. The canyo walls shoot straight up and appear to 5 or 6 hundred feet high, maybe more. Truly beautiful scenary. I really should take the time to stop, and photograph it, but with all the mechanical problems, I must move on.

RT14A in the rain

14A in better weather, second time around.

This video is just me riding in the Minnesota rain. I was in and out of rain all day while in Minnesota. Once I crossed the South Dakota border it was sunny. Just like leaving New York!

I spent the morning at the dealership while they tried to fix the clutch problem. They do not carry many parts so they were advising I might not get repaired until Wednesday when they can get parts over nighted to them, at my cost of course. They determined the bleeder valve for the slave was leaking and they took one off of one of their new bikes so I could get going. That was real nice of them, and I really appreciated it. I had to wonder how the bleeder valve after 2500 miles all of a sudden goes bad.

After about 137 miles I notice the clutch problem is back. The reservoir was full, but I was loosing pressure in the clutch handle. I notice the clutch handle and the master appeared to have fluid on it. I called them up, but being that far away, nothing could be done. I decided to run it as far west as I could, hoping it might be just air in the line that would work it self out. Every fuel stop got trickier as the pressure problem worsened. Finally as I decided to call it for the night I was able to get it into a motel lot with virtually no pressure. I had to stall it in first when I got to a space. I will call Roadside Assistance again tomorrow morning and have it towed to Sturgis Yamaha BMW. Hopefully they will get it fixed.

I am wondering if the slave is getting too hot and the fluid is boiling. When the bike sits for a minute or two cooling off, the clutch seems to work OK. I also noticed the bike is running just a tad over the mid spot for temp.

Due to the clutch problem I was not able to run through the Badlands and will likely have to skip them for this year. I am still hoping to hit RT 12 to Yellowstone and get some good video on this site. nI am drying out the video camera as ther is some moisture behing the cover lens. So much for weather proofed!

Today was a wash, not just because of the rain, which isn't a big deal, but right from the start things went wrong. I set the alarm for 0530 and when I looked at the clock this morning it was 0642. I can build my own computers, but apparently I don't have the technical skills to set a motel alarm clock. Needless to say my start was late. I was running fine and stopped for fuel. At this stop I also started to prepare for the rain I was headed into. Another rider, named Darrel asked if I wanted to ride together since he was headed the same way. I agreed and after he got ready we were on our way.

The above video was as we were crossing over the Mississippi River into Minnesota. After this video was shot we hit some construction areas. I went to downshift, and I had a dead clutch lever. I could still shift, but it was without the clutch. On an up shift I again noticed I don't have any clutch pressure. Being it is a hydraulic clutch I pumped it, and the pressure started to come back. But a few minutes later the pressure was gone. I spotted a rest area which if I had to, I could stall it if necessary to stop. I was able to down shift into neutral and cost to a spot. Upon checking my clutch reservoir, it was empty. I looked over everything, but can not find a leak so I suspect it is on the inside of the slave at the rear of the transmission. Needless to say, on the 4th of July I had little hope of getting it fixed, and non of the roadside assistance programs will bring hydraulic fluid, even if I knew what kind it took.

So there I sat at the rest stop, under a pavilion as it was raining heavy waiting for a tow truck to take my bike 73 miles to Lakeville. Today's ride was 237 0n the bike, 73 in a tow truck. That 73 was North, not West. Dell was my tow truck operator and he was very helpful, getting me to the dealer and then to a hotel. The good thing is the dealer is open tomorrow, the bad my bike is sitting outside the dealership where any smuck can screw with it. I was not harmed in anyway, and if it had to happen much better it happen here, and not in the wilds of Canada or Alaska. Certainly if it happened when I have to do 2700 miles in 4.5 days I would have a problem. That time schedule is critical for me to make.

Today was 790 miles on the bikes odometer. That is my longest ride to date. I got started about 45 minutes later then I wanted. I made some packing changes. Rene' suggested I ship the camping gear like last year, and I decided to do that. That brought down the other bag to the seat. I also could bring my good tripod instead of my so so one. Much heavier, but more capable when I get to doing some photography. The weather was great and the traffic not too bad.

I had a car with it looked like the parents, and two daughters who thought I was a rolling site seeing attraction. They were Asian and the father kept taking pictures of me. I would pass them, they would pass me, and each time he was snapping pictures. He then with this big grin, nodding his head up and down, holding his thumb up with one hand and the camera in the other. I gave him the thumbs up, which we did twice. The last time they passed by both daughters were waving. Guess we made each others day.

I have this short video of me going through Chicago. Not real interesting, but other then the two daughters, nothing else was worth videoing. You can see the Sears tower in this.

Test Ride Video

This is a test video of the test ride with the full load. The bike handled great despite it's loading.