More pictures

More pictures from yesterday.

On the approach to Muncho Lake, northern BC:

First bison sighting:

And here some guy from Vancouver decided to land this plane in the middle of the street (the Alaska Highway).  He was taking his wife out to dinner in Liard River.  I don't think the locals were expecting him:

Into the Yukon

Here is a map of today's ride:

Liard River Hot Springs to Whitehorse, the Yukon

406 miles

The weather cooperated for most of the day.  It only rained for about 45 minutes in the afternoon, but there wasn't much wind, and I was able to keep riding.  I arrived in Whitehorse one day earlier than planned, but I am exhausted from all the riding.  I probably spent 7 or 8 hours on the bike today, and I went as fast as I could reasonably go.  I just wanted to get to Whitehorse and finally be done with it.  

Today I saw a lot more wildlife.  I counted 5 brown bears and 3 groups of bison.  The bears were much less ferocious than I imagined.  Mostly they just stood or sat by the side of the road and looked funny.  The bison tended to stand in the middle of the road.

A couple nights ago, I camped in Fort Nelson.  I met a guy from Chicago riding this bike, a 1200gs Adventure.  What you see on the bike is everything that he brought with him.  2 spare tires, 1 tank bag, 1 map, a tent, and maybe an extra t-shirt.  That's it.  He's already been up to Alaska and Prudhoe Bay.  He showed me video of the roads in Alaska (and it's not good).  Now he's on his way back to Chicago.  He's been riding very long days:

This is the road and the scenery between Fort Nelson and Muncho Lake (somewhere in northern British Columbia):

As I got farther north in BC, more wildlife started to appear.  Here you see what Canadians call "sheep," or what I would call a mountain goat:

This is the road approaching Stone Mountain, just south of Muncho Lake:

I stopped in Toad River yesterday for gas and lunch:

Again, these were some of the first mountains to appear in northern BC:

Pictures

Today I reached Liard River Hot Springs in northern BC.  My internet connection is terribly slow, so I can only upload a couple pictures for now.

Here is the start of the Alaska highway in Dawson City, BC:

This is what the roads looked like for most of the distance from Dawson City to Fort St. John and Fort Nelson:

Last night I camped out in Fort Nelson.  Today I rode to Liard River.  There are no more straight roads.  North of Fort Nelson, the Alaska highway enters the mountains, and it never stops twisting and turning.  I spent most of today shifting between 3rd and 4th gear as I went through patches of gravel, around tight turns, over hills, and around mountains.  I passed Muncho Lake, which was spectacular despite the fact that it was raining again this afternoon.

Around Muncho Lake, the highway follows right along the lakeshore.  If you swerve off the road, you're going into the lake.  And there is no guardrail or barrier to stop you.  In some places the mountains encroach right against the lakeshore, so the road is carved against a cliff or a wall of rocks on one side with the lake immediately on the other side.

The scenery was impressive.  I couldn't take as many pictures as I wanted because it was raining, but I did get a few pictures, and I'll try to post them tomorrow.

Today I had my first real animal sightings.  Several mountain goats and two Canadian bison.

I also watched some guy land his airplane in the middle of the road.  He circled over Liard River one time in a bush plane, checked for traffic, and then made a quick landing right on the Alaska highway.  It took all of 10 seconds to land the plane and then turn into the driveway of the local lodge.  I'm not sure you could get away with that in the civilized world, but it was cool to see.

British Columbia

Today's ride:
Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson, British Columbia
281 miles

Great weather today.  Mostly sunshine.  Rain has finally stopped.  I can practically smell Alaska from here.  I met several other bikers today, including a 68-year-old guy named Howard from Richmond, VA.  He's returning from Alaska now on his beat up Harley.  He gave me one of his maps for Alaska.  I didn't ask, but Howard appeared to have only one functioning eyeball.  He also mentioned that he had skin cancer on his head.  I suppose if he can make the journey, then I should have no problems from here.

Now here are some unrelated videos for your entertainment:
http://vimeo.com/39821073
http://vimeo.com/14074949

Thunderstorms

Monday was a bit crazy. 

I departed Edmonton around 1pm and headed for Grande Prairie, Alberta.  Sometime around 3pm it started to rain lightly.  I continued to ride, but eventually the rain became heavy enough that I decided to stop.  So I parked the bike and stood inside a gas station in Sangudo, Alberta.  I stood there for at least 45 minutes, waiting for the rain to stop.  The rain didn't stop.

At some point I decided that I had to get back on the bike.  There was no point in waiting all night long.  So I got on the bike again.  1 minute later, the rain turned into a downpour.  The wind started gusting sideways.  I could no longer keep my bike from crossing into the adjacent traffic lane.  When the wind blew, my bike just moved sideways, despite the fact that I was leaning as hard as I could into the wind.  This was kind of scary.  I was worried that a truck would try to pass me in the left lane, and suddenly the wind would smash me into said truck.  This would be a bad thing.

Then the lightning strikes started.  There was lightning very close to me.  Obviously I didn't get hit by lightning, but it was close enough to scare the shit out of me.  Very close.  I looked for the first place to turn my bike around on the highway.  I was only 2 kilometers from the gas station where I had taken shelter before.

I turned around.  I started riding back to the gas station.  The wind intensified.  I swear I thought the bike was going to be blown over.  The wind was bad.  The rain was so hard I couldn't hear anything.  Not even the bike engine.  Everything got really intense really fast.  I expected the bike would slide out at any moment.  I just held on to the bike.

2 minutes later, I arrived at the gas station.  I could barely see where I was going; the rain was still very heavy.  I parked the bike and ran inside.  The power was out at the gas station and in all of Sangudo.  The lightning had destroyed a nearby transformer.

In any case, I decided to stay in Sangudo for the evening.  Smart decision.  The lady at the gas station gave me free hot dogs and coffee.  I lived to ride another day.

memories

Came across some old pictures today.  This is the bike I rode around Japan in 2008:

Exciting times.

https://picasaweb.google.com/shogun90/JAPANRIDETOTHEFARNORTH

Edmonton

Today I'm in Edmonton.  I woke up this morning feeling like a train wreck.  Ugghh.  My back and shoulder muscles are aching.  Maybe I'm not in shape for riding the bike all day long.

Here's the latest map of my progress across Canada:

I've ridden three days from Winnipeg to Edmonton.  It went something like this:

Day 1:  Winnipeg to Virden, Manitoba

180 miles

I didn't get to depart Winnipeg until late in the afternoon.  (I was waiting for my bike to get serviced.)  So I rode until the sun was setting directly in front of me and I was almost blind and couldn't see the road anymore.  My eyes were hurting by the time I stopped in Virden.  Bad decision.  I'll try not to do that again.

Day 2:  Virden to Davidson, Saskatchewan

269 miles

I passed through Regina and Moose Jaw.  I didn't see anything exciting.  Although Moose Jaw does have a few interesting murals...  Moose Jaw was apparently the headquarters for Al Capone's bootlegging operations in the early 1900's.  Working out of Canada enabled him to avoid US law enforcement to some extent...  The murals reminded me of a scene out of the Great Gatsby:

On the same day, I also rode through the Qu'Appelle Valley in Saskatchewan.  My translation abilities are not perfect, but I think Qu'Appelle means the "What's-it-Called" Valley.  But I could be wrong...  The valley is the only non-flat geographic feature I saw in all of Saskatchewan.  It's a gorge dug deep out of the plains with a giant lake inside.  And because the whole province is so flat, it's almost impossible to see the gorge until you're descending into it.  Here's a picture which I stole off the internets:

Day 3:  Davidson to Edmonton, Alberta

396 miles

This day was a beast.  I think I rode for about 9 hours (with breaks).  My whole body is feeling it today.  I need a massage therapist.

I crossed from Saskatchewan to Alberta, turning the clock back another hour.  I'm in the mountain time zone now.  Saskatchewan is almost 100% flat and covered with yellow flowers.  This is what I saw the entire distance across the province...  Yellow flowers for hours and hours of riding:

And of course there are trains everywhere in Saskatchewan:

I also had a pleasant conversation on Friday morning with the Saskatchewan police.  Apparently I rode through the city of Saskatoon (Friday, July 20th) on the same day that Saskatoon was hosting the All-Canada Hell's Angels rally.  (Which explains why I've seen Hell's Angels bikers pretty much the whole way since Thunder Bay).

http://www.vancouversun.com/news/Police+ready+Hells+Angels+converge+Saskatoon+national+rally/6967651/story.html

So the police had set up checkpoints on some of the major roads leading into the city, and they stopped everyone on motorcycles, including yours truly.  We had a brief conversation, I said I was riding to Edmonton, and the police checked out my paperwork, and that was it.  A couple of the police mentioned how they wished the government would buy them 1200gs's to use as police bikes.  And then I was back on my way to Edmonton.

-------------------------
In the past couple days, I have realized that riding to Alaska is going to be far more challenging than I originally imagined.  I'm not quite two weeks into this bike trip, and I'm already hurting.  I'm only halfway to Prudhoe Bay.  And I'm not just riding to Prudhoe Bay; I'm trying to tour Alaska--  Denali, Anchorage, Kodiak, Haines, and a bunch of other places.  This is going to take a lot more time than I planned.  I'm thinking now that I should reach Alaska by August 1st, and I'll remain in Alaska until September 10th, give or take a few days.  I'm hoping that's adequate time.

"That which we obtain too easily, we esteem too lightly."
--Thomas Paine

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERmo8TmDYCI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tEMmKyR11yM

Reading

This morning I've been sitting in a Starbucks in Winnepeg while my bike gets an oil change and service.  I'm reading Seven Summits by Dick Bass:

http://www.amazon.com/Seven-Summits-Dick-Bass/dp/0446385166/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1342625472&sr=8-1&keywords=seven+summits+dick+bass

And in the book, I came across this passage, a poem by Robert Service.  Apparently, back in the 1980's, before every human being owned an iPod, people would memorize poetry (!) to entertain themselves on long journeys.  How quaint!  But it's a cool poem anyways:

"There's a race of men that don't fit in,
 A race that can't stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
 And they roam the world at will.
They range the field and they rove the flood,
 And they climb the mountain's crest;
Theirs is the curse of the gypsy blood,
 And they don't know how to rest."

Western Ontario

Day 3: 

Espanola to White River

342 miles

Along the north shore of Lake Superior:

Day 4: 

White River to Thunder Bay

240 miles

Bears enjoy a snack at the Thunder Bay garbage dump:

And by the way, I met up with my friend Tom Trist in Thunder Bay.  He made this video of the two of us in Nepal last November.  WARNING: This video is insanely cool, and it may cause seizures in viewers who suffer from epilepsy.  Yes, the video is that filled with AWESOME:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VigJrx9YXBI

Day 5: 

Thunder Bay to Dryden

217 miles

Somewhere in western Ontario, I crossed the line that separates the Eastern and Central time zones.  You cannot imagine how exciting this moment was:

Day 6: 

Dryden, ON to Winnipeg, Manitoba

219 miles

And finally, after what seemed like months in the Ontario wilderness, I reached Manitoba and the city of Winnipeg, something fairly close to an actual civilization.  I was amazed at how flat and straight the highway was leading into Winnipeg -- straight all the way to the horizon.  For more than an hour.  Nothing but straightness for as far as the eye can see.  Here's Winnipeg:

That's it for tonight, people.  3 blog posts, lots of photos, and now I'm tired.

I'll try to keep updating this blog at least once a week, maybe more often if I'm in a good mood.

Goodnight from Winnipeg!

Across Ontario

Here's the route I've followed to this point:

Day 1: 

Lancaster, PA to Brampton, Ontario

440 miles

Brampton is an interesting suburb of Toronto.  It's a neighborhood filled with new condos and lots of recent immigrants to Canada.  Most of these immigrants are Indians.  In fact, there are enough Indians in Brampton that they decided to build multiple Hindu temples in the area.  Not to mention multiple authentic Indian restaurants.  Scenic Brampton:

One Brampton family (Chileans in this case) decided to tag my bike.  They hung their flag on my windshield:

Day 2: 

Brampton to Espanola

281 miles

Scenic Coldwater, Ontario, where I stopped to eat lunch:

And so it begins.

So welcome to my new blog...  This is where I will document the greatest motorcycle adventure ever attempted by a human being.  Sort of.

My plan is to ride my motorcycle, a 2008 BMW 1200gs, from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, then south through Mexico, to Panama, to Colombia (crossing the Darien Gap by ship), through Peru and Bolivia, and finally through Argentina to Ushuaia, at the southern tip of Patagonia.  I expect this whole journey to take approximately one and a half years...  So I'll arrive in Ushuaia sometime around December 2013.  Once that's done, I'll take the bike back north to Brazil and hang out until the 2014 World Cup begins.  Yes, I am serious.

Today I am writing from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  I have been on the road for a little over one week.  Allow me to recap what's happened so far...

I departed from home in Lancaster, PA on Sunday, July 8th, 2012.  Here is the bike loaded up, sitting in my dad's driveway:

Here is my sweet new Arai helmet:

Here's me on the bike, ready to roll out:

And here's my dad on his Harley, giving me an escort as far as Harrisburg, PA (which was awesome):