A round Lake Superrior

We are back in the US in Michigan and finally on Eastern Day Light time. The trip around Lake Superior was cool. When the wind blows off of the 40 degree water, the temperature drops at least 25 degrees. The Mackinaw Bridge over the split from lake Michigan and Lake Heron is longest we have been on this trip. We are going to try and make Buffalo tomorrow which will put me back in Boston late Thursday night.

North Dakota

We made it across North Dakota today into Minnesota. The west of the state is dry with rolling grass lands that support primarily wheat. As one proceeds east out of the shadow of the rocky mountains, the lands become flat with more water supporting corn and sunflowers. As one crosses the border into Minnesota, the forest of deciduous trees return. We finally called it a day after 542 miles at the in Bemidji, MN.

On the Lewis and Clarke Trail

We followed the Missouri River today along route 2 today and ended up in Williston, ND. This town is probably the biggest we have been in since Whitehorse, YT. It was very hot (102) and dry today, not much fun on an air cooled motorcycle. There is not much to seen in this part of the country except small towns, crops, and live stock. The transition from the Rocky Mountains is quite dramatic. We traveled 442 miles today. It would have taken Lewis and Clarke about 2 weeks to travel that far and they didn't have an air conditioned room and restaurant to look forward to. We are going to see get off rt 2 and travel rt 38 and 200 west.

Back in the USA

We are back from the big white north eh. We had a great time in Yukon, British Columbia, and Alberta Canadian provinces. Jasper, Banff, and Waterson national parks were spectacular, but we are glad to be back where cell phones work and loonies are not something you pay a bill with. We are going to Milont, North Dakota tomorrow and Duluth the day after. I will post some more pictures soon.

Jasper or Bust

It has been a long day, but we did make up for some lost time. We traveled 575 miles from Watson Lake, YT to Fort St John, BC through some amazing country. Muncho Lake and Stone Mountain Provincial Parks are some of the best roads and vistas we have traveled through. Along the way we saw numerous packs of Bison, Caribou, and Sheep.



The crossing from Alaska back to British Columbia was a hoot. The officer asked me where I was from and I replied, "Boston". He then asked why I had an Alaska plate on my motorcycle. The look I got from him when I explained the trip was priceless.

We traveled quite a bit south today. It is the first time it has been "dark" in 10 days. The midnight sun is all it is cracked up to be and I will miss it.

We are going to travel to Jasper NP and hopefully camp for the first time this trip so I will not update this tomorrow night. I will leave you with a one for the road.

Down the Alcan

The road after Haines Junction is much better than the previous sections. The speed limit is now 100 KPH and making time is easier. We did make it to Skagway, AK on Saturday. However, the ferrys do not run on Saturday so we didn't make it to Haines. Even though it rained on and off on the way down the drive was spectacular! Skagway was one of the ports created to get to the gold in the Klondike (1898). It is now a village controlled by the Alaska cruising industry. I can't believe how big these operations are. The people must have suffered hauling 2000lbs of gear, the government requirement, over this pass. the trail is now a Canadian and American national park. It is still possible to hike the old trail. However, with my current track record of picking hikes it might take a bit to convince Tony and Stick to try this one with me.

We are going to try and make up for some lost time and try for Dawson City (600 miles) tomorrow. So, I will only upload a few pictures. The first picture is for Lidia. The second is a very cool rainbow we saw while Lou and Dan changed into rain get. I must say, the Aerostich suit is very good in that respect. I don't miss changing into rubber!I hope to update tomorrow from Dawson City.

Finally a good internet conection!

A good internet connection has been hard to find in a convenient location in Alaska. Most small towns are connected. However, with the midnight sun we have been riding until around 11:30 at night. So, it has been difficult to get time to update things. The sun has amazing powers. It seems that even with only a few hours of sleep, if the sun is shining brightly you seem ready to go! Too bad that didn't work in college.

After a week of good weather the rain came this afternoon. So, we decided to knock off early and get a hotel room in Haines Junction, YT. So, let me recap some of the things that have happened.
We started on Monday in Anchorage and headed toward Denali NP. After a beautiful afternoon, we first saw the mountain in Willow on route 3. What a sight! Dawson, the owner of a True Value which this picture was taken, told us it was the first he had seen the mountain in a few weeks.


People that climb Mt McKinley typically start in a very small town on the Susitna River south of the park called Talkeetna. In earlier days, supplies would be brought by barge or rail road to this port and flown to base camp on one of the glacier. This town was on my short list to visit. The down town area has a few shops and the historic Fairview hotel.


Legendary bush pilot Cliff Hudson started Hudson Aviation in the 1950's. We were fortunate enough to book a flight around Mt McKinley and land on the pica glacier. Hudson Aviation had bought back a group of 8 climbers from Mt McKinley the morning before our flight. They were sorting equipment in the hanger when we arrived. They had spent 21 days on the mountain with 18 days of snow. Avalanche conditions we too severe for a summit attempt. From the snow coming off of the top we could see why.
After a memorable flight, we headed to Elk Ridge Cablins via rt 3. The "ridge" in the title should have been a clue as to where the cabins were located. The 1.2 mile dirt rode to the cabin had numerous switch backs and gained about 1000 ft of elevation. John Spillane was right, we should have gotten BWM GS's instead of the Harley's. After getting to the top, the cabins had great view. The only fear we had was going down! Unfortunately, we don't have a good picture of the road because no one wanted to stop and take it.
The bus ride though Denali NP was long, but good. We saw many animals including bears, caribou, tarapin, moose, and a wolf.






The next morning we went down the goat trail and headed off to Fairbanks to pickup our Alaska license plates. Due to some technical difficulties we were not able to pick them up in Anchorage. After a side trip to see the Alaska oil pipe line we finally got the plates.We briefly flirted withing making a run to the Arctic Circle, but decided not to go. Doug, the sales manager, told us that they had lost 10 bikes on the haul road this season already and we wanted no part of the carnage.

We headed off on route 2 south towards Tok after a brief stop at the North Pole to see Santa and send some post cards. We stayed at the "Off the road" bed and breakfast in Tok, AK. It was owned by a wonderful German woman named Helga. It too had a 1 mile dirt road for a drive way, but this one was flat.

The Alcan highway starts in Delta Junction, AK. Most of the highway is paved, but the section from Tok to Haines Junction is by far the worst. Between the gravel, frost heaves, and RVs, it can be tricky going. The section around Destruction Bay was particularly bad, but incredibly beautiful. We finally ended the day in Haines Junction, YT in the Raven hotel.

We have changed planes slightly. We are going to make a run to the cost on rt 3 into Haines and take the ferry to Skagway. This should put us in Whitehorse, YT tomorrow night.

Team Spada Hits Alaska

Team Spada is well under way with their Alaska adventure. They have been busy this week motoring around from Anchorage to Denali, Fairbanks, and Tok. Today they embarked on an adventure that should land them by night fall in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory - approximately 400 mile ride from Tok. The crew have been fortunate with good weather, good company, and fantastic bikes for the epic journey. Rumor has it that they had a beautiful viewing of Mount McKinley (first day in weeks that the top was visible), went for an airplane tour of the Denali area that landed them on a glacier for some additional close up action (can't you just imagine Lou and Eric fighting over the airplane controls!), stopped by the Alaska Pipeline to see some really big pipes, and a quick visit to "the North Pole".

Stay tuned for more details direct from Eric and Dan when they get back into a location with data coverage.

~ Team Spada Assistant - Annemarie

The Trip to Homer

Let me step back a bit and begin when Eric and I arrived in Anchorage. He came in first and made his way to the Spenard International Hostel. Then I arrived at around 10:30 p.m. AT. Not a bad place. We bunked with four other guys. Sheets were clean as was the bathroom. Met some great bicyclists in the morning at breakfast. One fellow was a retiree from Boeing having lived in Wash St. for over 30 years. He was originally from Fayetteville/Manlius. His father had a Ph.D. from SU and his son graduated from ESF in the late 90's. There was this biking team of 3 on a tour around AK. One of them was from Banff and it was good to chat about second home development and what it has done to his small village.

Saturday, July 14, morning Eric and I went to the House of Harley to do the paper work for the bikes. We were blown away with their beauty and we literally drooled over anticipating taking them out on our trip. The dealership was very accomodating. We went through a very poor orientation regarding the operation of the bikes, picked out some t-shirts, listened to biker war stories from the Sales Manager, Bob, and took off mid afternoon. By that time the sprinkling rain had given way to dull overcast. We made our way to Lou's buddy, Jon Tone's shop. Jon sells Hunter equpment and Mohawk and Rotary lifts like Total Tool and let us use his car, his shop and all his tools to get our new rides ready for the trip. We installed integrated brake/signal ligths, luggage racks, and a protective vinyl coating to the paint. Lou pulled in at mid-afternoon and after going out for a quick bite we continued working on the bikes until 1:00a.m. Sunday morning. Unfinished we gave up and decided to start again at 8 in the morning. We finished up and got on the road to Homer around 10 a.m.

Sunday morning was overcast in Anchorage was overcast and we started out with rainsuits. Two miles out of town riding along Turnagain Arm the sun broke out and we run in very good weather ever since. The road was well paved although there were acouple of sections of constructing. The bikes pulled like tractors and were very comfortable. We ran along the Kenai River. It's water is a milky, opaque turquoise blue and flows into Kenai Lake that also has the same color and opacity. The road runs right along the river and lake and was startling to see patches and glimpses of the pale blue down below us through the deep green of the forest vegetation. I felt right at home with the broad-leaved trees dominated by balsam poplar. There is paper birch and white spruce. The odor of the poplar was incredible as we road through mile after mile of its groves. The road gained elevation from sea level and went through some amazing twistys at the bottom of slopes so steep that we were amazed that vegetation could cloth them. There was much evidence of avalanches and landslides, with whole swaths of forest vegetation replaced by low growing sucessional species. We saw a cow moose at roadside and magpies and ravens.

We decided to stay in Soldotna so our ride back to Anch. on Monday wouldn't be so long as we had to be back to the dealer by 10 for the 1000 mile service. We got a motel in Soldotna and headed out for Homer. What a ride. About halfway be tween Soldatna and Homer we ran into dense fog blowing in from the coast on our right. Picture bright sun blasting through dense fog so that when you're in the fog it's not dark but incredibly light. It's what you might think heaven would look like. We broke out of the fog just before Homer and we stopped at a roadside viewing station overlooking the bay. ALthough it was clear above where we were the water was totally obscured by the fog. Across the bay were jagged, very high moutains with hanging glaciers in the valleys. We went down into Homer and drove out on the Spit where we watched folks fish for flounder and had dinner. We saw another moose on the way back to Soldotna. We really have to start controlling our urge to stay up as long as it is light out. I'm typing this outside on the porch of our cabin in Talkeetna by the ambient light at midnight. Very dangerous if you want to ride safely. I'm going in now. I'll try to catch up on today's activities tomorrow.

Dan

We stayed at a Travel Lodge in Anchorage last night. Fairly seedy, although the sheets were extremely clean and starched. No curlies. Anchorage is flat except for the McMansions beginning to climb up and dot the hillsides surrounding the city. It looks like the terrain is quite steep because although clothed with dense coniferous vegetation, the houses stand out starkly on the hillsides. Of course if you can look past the gray, humdrum, anonymity of suburban Anchorage that looks like any other suburban area of the U.S. but with more billboards with fish and bear on them, you see the incredible mountain peaks arcing to the east. Stark contrast is the name as the weather switches momentarily from bright, crisp sun to gray overcast and back. We head toward Homer in a few minutes. Talk to you soon.

Dan

Off to Homer

We are a little behind schedule, but all and all we are in good shape. After putting on the vinyl protector on all 3 bikes we are fully packed. As usual, we are sending back a box of stuff we don't need or more correctly won't fit on the bikes. Of course, we needed to make some minor modification of the bikes. I wish Harley Davidson could make these bike correctly! The weather is not the best. I will test out the Aerostich suit this morning.
We don't have any data coverage in Alaska so I am not sure when the next update will be.

In Anchorage

We picked up all three bikes today. They have much more power than our old ones. It has been a long day. Pictures tomorrow.

At Denver

Tony dropped me off at Logan Airport for my flight to Anchorage via Denver. The big question is: "Did he stop at Mike's on the way back to Dover"?







Wandering around waiting for my flight I came across Mile High Harley Davidson kiosks and bought my first dealer pin for the trip. I can't believe how good a job Timmy is doing blogging from his Q. Motorola should do a commercial based on his trip.

The sinking feeling

The girls are driving me to work. My good friend Tony is going to drop me off at the airport this afternoon. I am finding that is difficult to explain to a 3 year old what I am doing. I told her it is a long trip. She responded "Can you bring me back a moon rock?". I will have to find one on the way.

I'm On the Blog

Thanks Eric for setting this up. No photos now and quite rushed as we leave Tupper Lake in 10 minutes to catch the flight out of Albany. Hopefully more tonight from Anchorage. Stay tuned.

T'was the night before Chritsmas

Finalizing plans always takes longer than you think. I repacked tonight and removed a bunch of clothes. This should make fitting everything on the bike easier. The proposed route is to the left. However, these trips never go as planned. I like it that way!

I am packed!

All of the gear is packed into two bags. I will have to check these on the flight. The black bag fit well in the tour pack of my '96 Electraglide. I hope it fits in the new one! Annemarie purchased the gray duffel bag at Marshall's. This will be donated to someone in Alaska. The sleeping bag, riding jacket and boots take up a lot of bulk in the gray bag. I will carry the helmet and radios on the flight. We will be using Autocomm bike-to-bike communications with Kenwood FRS radios. These worked exceptionally well on the last trip.

Stupid map tricks

Well, I finally figured out how to add maps to this blog. I am using a service called mapdaze. It is wrapper around the Google Maps API. If I had a little more time, it would be easier to write to API directly using JavaScript. Now, to tackle mapping GPS tracks. I have found a program called GPSbabble that will convert GPX format to KML. KML is used by Google Earth as the native format. More on this later

Tools of the Trade

This is my first post. I had a few discussions with my friend Timmy on the best was to post a trip report on my way from Anchorage, Alaska back home to Groton, Ma. He is on is way on a real bike from Seattle to Cairo, NY. Check out his blog at http://fishericross.blogspot.com Unfortunately, I found no easy way to mash-up with Google maps. So, I will post comments here with links to Google maps. This is the second time I have motorcycled across country. This first time was in 2003. My dad and I went from Santa Cruz, CA to Groton, MA in 2003 to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Harley Davidson. When we did this last time, we were riding 10 year old motocycles. This time we are riding brand new iron. One would think that we wouldn't need to bring tools. Better safe than sorry.