St Louis

Left North Little Rock at 5:45 in light rain and fog wearing my heavy weight riding jacket and overalls rain pants. This was first time to use the Shoei modular helmet in fogging conditions and it is great. It does actually prevent fogging and I could see even during the fog and rain. Rain stopped at mile 88 and sun broke out at mile 102. As I was getting off the 4 lane at Newport, AR I noticed a dog on the road. As I got closer I realized it was a coyote and he was not intimidated by me at all. I passed within 20 feet of him as I got on the 2 lane. My first critter and not even out of Arkansas yet.

When I got to the MO border the rain was over and it started getting a lot warmer. I changed into my light weight ridding jacket and packed up the heavy weight gear. Jim hooked up with me at a Harley Dealer just south of St Louis. We rode the last 35 miles in tight formation through St Louis traffic. This was the most nerve racking part of the trip so far. We actually tried out the CB radios and they work pretty well. We can communicate and this helps a lot when changing lanes in heavy traffic.

We ran into Cardinal baseball traffic as we got into town but managed to reach the condominium without much problem.

After changing to shorts we walked to the stadium to catch the Cardinals/San Francisco game. It rained several times delaying the game and we finally ran through the rain to a local establishment for another refreshment and then then back to Jim's. Going to dinner tonight with some friends and tomorrow will be a relaxing day getting ready for the big push on Monday.

Summary of the trip to St Louis.

The radio works great but the mic switch on the left handle bar grip sucks. I finally moved it to the base of the left mirror. It just did not feel right where I had it. I will work on that tomorrow.

The Shoei Helmet is great but I still leave the visor open for air flow most of the time.

Bike ran great but I need to add some kind of foot peg up front or long distance days may suffer.

Will post again Monday after we are on the road.

Arrived St Louis

Made it to St Louis OK. Rain out of LR then cloudy for a while the hot around MO border. Met Jim about 35 miles out from St Louis and he guided me into downtown to his Condominium. Will post pics and more details later.

30 May 2014 – Launch tomorrow

 

The day has finally arrived. All the months of planning and preparing the bike are over and the adventure starts again (in the rain, just like AK1). I plan on leaving at 6 a.m. on Saturday for the 375 mile ride up to St Louis. The early departure is so I get there in time to attend a Cardinals baseball game that starts at 1:15 p.m. Jim is within walking distance of the stadium so we figured we needed to go to the game for some cold refreshments and a few dogs prior to the hard run to Washington state. Sunday will be used to consolidate the gear we are carrying (eliminate duplication as much as possible) and to work out any bugs on the CB radio communication between bikes. The CB radio hook-up really made the difference on AK1. It provides some boredom relief but also makes comparing routes and coordinating stops much easier. It is also good to be able to point out the scenery and critters (buffalo, bears, etc) next to the road (happened several times on AK1). I usually follow Jim so anytime I hear “All Sh__” on the radio I know to slow down. Works every time.

On Monday 2 June we will depart before sunrise and try for the 1000 mile in 24 hours Iron Butt. We have to start with a time stamp fuel receipt (with site location identified) and end within 24 hours with another time stamp fuel receipt (with site location). I will also take photos of my GPS position at the start and stop as another back up verification that we made it in the required time. Possible impacts will be going through large cities (traffic) and weather. Since we are heading up through Kansas City to hit the interstate through Nebraska we do have potential delays there. Once on the interstate heading west it will be all out between gas stops. Somewhere around Cheyenne WY we will reach 1000 miles. If we average 70 mph that is 14+ hours. It is more likely to be 60 mph average which is 16+ hours. Leaving at 6 am would make it 8 pm or 10 pm. Either way it is getting dark or is already dark by the time we get to the end. Riding at night is not fun in areas where deer are present and will definitely reduce our speeds. Food stops and just getting off the bike to stretch both cut into this average. I’m making no promises that we can make it but this is really our best shot since we will be fresh and it is the flattest part of the trip. On the return trip we just are not as willing to put this amount of effort into a real long day’s ride.

Thanks for all your comments and interest. See you at the end of June, hopefully with an Alaska sticker on my saddle bags and some mud from the Arctic Circle on the bike.

4 days to go - 26 May 2014

Time is flying now. Spent yesterday spreading out all the items on my checklist on a tarp in the garage. I then packed them based on when/if I may need them; i.e. tools at the bottom and rain gear at the top. I then packed my clothes in the waterproof bag I will tie on back. I was very surprised that I got everything packed and even have some spare room. The side bags on the Tenere are much larger than the Harley bags which helps. I can even take a light riding jacket and only wear my heavy stuff as we reach the mountains. I’ve gone over my checklist a dozen times and it is all packed but I have a bad feeling I’m not thinking of something. Guess I will find out what it is on the road.

My riding partner Jim has also started a blog and will also be using a SPOT tracker. His blog and SPOT address are at the bottom of this post. We talk most every day going over the planning and ensuring we have the reservations set for some of our stops. We are staying at a college dorm in Fairbanks while we stage the Arctic Circle dash. I want to leave everything in the room but the bare essentials when we hit the Dalton Highway. There are lots of trip reports for the Dalton and some riders are lucky with an easy run while others hit weather and bad roads. We will be ready for either but would like the easy run if given the choice.

I’ve included a pic of the loaded bike. I had planned on using several bags on back but looks like I can get by with the single large bag. I want to keep it light as possible and keep the weight close to the CG to make the bike easier to handle in gravel and mud. So far looks like I’ve succeeded. While moving the bike around in the garage I can tell it is heavier and the CG is now higher due to the bag on the back. Highway speeds should be no difference but slow speed maneuvering is definitely impacted.

My oldest son gave me a flask and a bottle of special whisky on my 65^th birthday in 2012. I’m taking the flask filled with the whisky to celebrate reaching the Arctic Circle this time.

 Jim’s Blog address

http://jimwoodak2014.blogspot.com/

 

 

11 Days! 19 May 2014

Getting short now. I was out of town on business all last week so now have to focus on getting gear together for a 31 May 14 launch. Leaving a day earlier than planned so I can spend a day with Jim and his wife in St Louis to test out our radio connection. If my CB doesn't have the required range I will add a longer antenna on the bike somewhere. While I was out of town last week I left bike with the local Yamaha dealer for a full service and checkout. To change oil on this bike the skid plate has to come off so I did that prior to dropping off since it is a pain to take off and get back on.

I didn't get much done this past week-end because Liz and I were rafting/kayaking the Big Piney with a bunch of our friends. Best count was around 10 oar rafts, 4 canoes and 6 kayaks (40 people). Lots of fun and some carnage. We had to rescue two different paddle rafts full of inexperienced paddlers but no one was hurt (one pinned against a tree in the big Surfing Rapid). One canoe was rapped around one of the three sisters rocks below Little Mother Rapid but Cooper got it off, of course.

Next week-end is dedicated to packing. Day one of AK1 was in heavy rain so I'm hoping for a bright sunny ride up to St Louis this time.

-24 days to launch

This will be the Blog documenting my 2014 motorcycle trip from Arkansas to Alaska and on up to the Arctic Circle (and beyond maybe). I call it AK2 because I attempted the same trip in 2012 (AK1) but was stopped by massive road wash outs in the Yukon Territory, Canada. I have a separate Blog with the trip report from AK1 on my web page if you want details about that trip.

I will be riding with a good friend from St Louis (Jim) who was also my riding partner on AK1. Although last time we were both riding Harley Davidson motorcycles, this time I’m on a 2013 Yamaha Super Tenere adventure bike (XT1200Z)while Jim is still on his 2012 HD. It will be interesting to see how the two bikes compare after +8000 miles (some through mud and gravel especially).

Included in this first AK2 post is a map with our planned route. We will ride direct to Bellingham, WA where we catch a ferry to Anchorage, AK. That is our only must-make date since we had to make ferry reservations 6 months in advance. Once we reach AK, we will ride to Fairbanks and wait for a good 24 hour weather window to go North to the Arctic Circle and back. After that we head down the ALCAN and back home with side trips as necessary to see what we missed last trip. This route is reverse what we attempted in AK1 so hope it works out to our advantage this time.

I will try to post to this Blog an update every evening (available wifi being the limiting factor) to include pictures and maybe some video. Our trip starts on 1 June and will continue until we are home again sometime in late June. To see a map of our progress you will have to go to another link provided below (SpotWalla).

This will be the link to track my AR to AK (AK2) progress from 31 May to 30 June 2014.

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=9a14536a6a46356e7

If you go to the SpotWalla map page using the link above and all you see is a blue screen then the fix is described below.

There is a hidden tool bar in Explorer and the only way to see the tool bar is to hit the "Alt" key. The tool bar will then pop up and you will find the "Compatibility View setting" in that menu. Here is the complete process:

1. Go to SpotWalla using link above

2. Hit "Alt" key

3. Select "Tools"

4. Select "Compatibility View settings"

5. Select "Add" - it should have the SpotWalla address shown

6. Select "Close"

This worked on my two computers.

I will post more as we get closer to launch.