Back Home Again In Indiana

D: We arrived home early this afternoon. It was a nice ride through fertile farm fields along US-136, IL-119, IN-28, and US-52. It was another beautiful day, with a little cloud cover to keep the temperature down. Our total distance for the trip was 8828 miles.
We appreciate the interest of everyone who followed our journey and especially the prayers for safe and enjoyable travel.
It really has been a great trip. Therese was a wonderful traveling companion, patient and supportive, and we will enjoy recalling our many experiences for years to come.
T: I'm so glad I went along with David on his Alaska expedition. I had a lot of anxieties about the trip, but we had smooth sailing for the most part. David is a great tour planner! His skills as a champion obstacle course rider really came in handy on all the construction areas we traveled, too.

Be sure to view all of the photos and photo galleries at http://eclips.smugmug.com/
The photos have been rearranged for chronological order within each gallery.
Also, be sure to use the "slide show" viewing feature for each gallery!

Illinois

D: We had perfect weather to travel across half of Iowa via US-34 and half of Illinois via IL-116, IL-97, and IL-9. There is a lot of beautiful farm land along our route and the crops seem to be healthy and growing well. We are spending our last night on the road in Bloomington, Illinois.
T: Hard to believe we'll be home tomorrow. It's been a wonderful trip.

Iowa

T: We had a good ride through eastern Nebraska and western Iowa. Iowa looks cozy compared to places further west - pretty farms, attractive towns, lots of wildflowers blooming here too. It was a pleasant summer day and we're expecting more good weather tomorrow.

Badlands to Nebraska

D: We left Rapid City, South Dakota, this morning via State Route 44 which took us east through part of the Badlands National Park (without having to pay an entry fee). We enjoyed viewing the various colored earth formations and the blooming yellow prairie flowers nearby. There were various smaller "badland" type formations along our route east and south. Eventually, we headed south on US-83 to Nebraska, where we followed US-20 east to O'Neill, Nebraska, where we are staying tonight. We are now in the Central Time Zone.
T: We thought we would get an early start this morning but spent a lot of time at breakfast talking to some motorcyclists from Wisconsin. Today was not so warm and we had a nice route across South Dakota and Nebraska.

Little Bighorn Battlefield Nat'l Monument

D: We rode from Billings, Montana, to Rapid City, South Dakota, via a southeasterly route that goes across the NE corner of Wyoming on US-212. Along the way, we toured the Little Bighorn Battlefield National Monument, where Custer made his last stand. It has been difficult adjusting to temperatures in the 80's after the cool weather riding that we have experienced. For one thing, we are both wearing riding pants for cooler weather and there is nowhere to "stow" them on the bike, so they need to be worn. Ditto for the jackets, but we can stow the jacket liners and wear lighter clothing under the riding suits.
We continue to enjoy the open range landscape and have begun to see extensive areas of sagebrush. Today we saw some pronghorns and Therese spotted quite a few deer.
I am having trouble uploading photos lately. I think it is related to the hotel server "cutting me off", even though the photos have all been resized for efficiency. Maybe I'll have better luck tomorrow.
T: I really enjoyed visiting Little Bighorn and riding in such interesting open country. David is right, it was pretty warm today with all our riding gear.

Montana Cattle, Sheep, and Horses Grazing

D: We continued our ride to the south and east from Great Falls, Montana, to Billings. We left early to avoid the heat and arrived here in the early afternoon. It was a beautiful day to ride through extensive areas of pastures, with cattle, sheep, and horses grazing in various places. The sky was completely cloudless for our entire trip, with some haziness around the horizon. I was surprised to see mountains with snow fields in the distance for most or our trip. Our route passed through a stream channel north of Billings with interesting water eroded rock formations along the roadway. Near Billings, we were riding along an escarpment that is high above the city with a great view of the urban area.
T: The weather is getting warm and we still had some wind today but we had a pleasant ride here.

Leaving the Rockies - Glacier National Park

T: We're back in the US in Great Falls, Montana. It took 45 minutes or so to get through customs but it was a nice morning and we could see the mountains in Glacier National Park. We rode back to Many Glaciers Lodge in Glacier, and after a brief stop at the visitor's center, rode here to Great Falls. It was my favorite kind of ride - rolling, open country, not much traffic. Lots of fun.
D: We really enjoyed the open range land along US-89 as we came southeast today.
Arriving in Great Falls was like returning to "civilization". We have seen very few franchise food or motel outlets in our recent travels, but Great Falls seems to have one of every franchise. Therese found a good, local "family" restaurant for dinner tonight and you can tell from the menu prices that there is competition here. unlike the "outback" resort areas we have visited, where there is frequently only one place to eat.

Alberta Cattle Country

D: Today we traveled east, then south from Banff to Cardston, Alberta. Our route took us west of Calgary, through broad expanses of cattle country, with views of the Rocky Mountains to the west. "In the middle of nowhere" a place along AB22 with "no services" for 100km, we were in a long line of vehicles, traveling along at about 70mph. Some would pass their way up to the front and leave the line of traffic, but for the most part everyone just stayed in place and moved along. There were very high winds in places, but the day was mostly sunny and we really enjoyed the scenery. The beautiful green landscape changes color tone as the shadows from the clouds move around.
T: We had a great ride today - the scenery was great and and the ride wasn't too long. We looked around Banff a little before we left this morning - it has a ski resort feel - a great many inns,motels, hotels, shops and restaurants and lots of young people from all over the world. Tonight we are in a completely different place. We're near Montana in ranch country in a small town with a large Morman temple.

Ice Fields Parkway, Banff National Park

D: We left Grande Cache this morning under sunny skies and cool temperatures and traveled south on AB40 to Trans-Canada Highway 16, that took us into the National Park to Jasper, Alberta. We rode south on AB93 to Banff, with many stops along the way. By the time we got to Jasper, serious rain seemed to be threatening, but it ended up being scattered showers, with some sunshine in between for the rest of the day. We saw lots of mountain sheep up north and crossed paths with a bear in the road later in the day.
T: We saw two bears today, hopefully the pictures David took will show one of them. The scenery is spectacular here and we revisited places we saw on our honeymoon including Athabasca and Sunwapta Falls and the Columbis Icefield. We also went to see Chateau Lake Louise briefly - the lake was frozen when we stayed there but today it was a beautiful blue in spite of the rain.

South, beyond Milepost 0

T: We had an interesting day today - we rode to mile 0 of the Alaska Highway, were interviewed for the Dawson Creek newspaper when we went to the Alaska Highway museum, went through a Royal Canadian Mounted Police roadblock after we entered Alberta, then rode through the mountains to Grande Cache, Alberta.
D: We ended the retracing of our northbound route at Grand Prairie, Alberta, when we went south on AB40 to Grande Cache. It is about 112 miles with "no services" and goes through extensive areas of commercial forest land. We did not see a logging truck during the entire distance, but there were plenty of trucks transporting oil and gas service equipment. Grande Cache is in a very picturesque setting, with mountains all around and rivers flowing together in the area. There are apparently significant coal deposits north of town and a coal fired power plant is around the bend, on the other side of the mountain. We saw a few deer on the way south and avoided one on the road.

Continued Wildlife Sightings

T: We're in the town of Fort St. John tonight - first time since Anchorage that we've stayed in a town of any size. I think I may have forgotten to mention the 2 moose we saw swimming around behind our motel last night. I saw 2 more today, a female and her calf waiting to cross the highway. We saw at least 3 more black bears today and a beautiful wolf by the road this morning.
D: This was our longest distance day so far (by a few miles) at 368 miles. We should be done with construction areas at this point (at least on the Alaska Highway). The traffic volume on the highway has increased significantly, but most of it is northbound, and consists primarily of RV's and motorcycles. We have seen so many bears in the last two days, that we are thinking about where we stop, in order to avoid them.

Lots of Bears

T: We had a cold rainy start to our ride this morning after a good breakfast at the Continental Divide. I don't know how they come up with such fresh produce in the middle of nowhere but they do and the cook bakes everything herself. We saw lots of animals along the road today - about twenty bison: 6 black bears, including a mother and two small cubs, one black and one kind of brown; three moose and a beaver and a ground hog. We are staying in a nice, kind of remote place at Toad River tonight.
D: After today's travels, I am hopeful that the worst of the gravel "construction" areas are behind us. We are past the really bad ones from the northbound trip. The two worst have been compacted and consolidated in the last couple weeks and were not very bad. The recent rain seems to have helped also. There were still forest fires near Coal River, British Columbia, despite the rain. We went 300 miles today and are at milepost 422 in British Columbia.

Summer Solstice to the Continental Divide

D: During a brief awakening last night,. we observed that the night sky was a deep blue color for the summer solstice. As sunset approaches, the sun follows a small angle path toward the northwestern horizon and sets far to the north. It presumably rises in a similar pattern, but by then we had gone back to sleep.
Today, we traveled the Alaska Highway from Haines Junction to a tourist services outpost called the Great Continental Divide. This is what I would call a "typical" Alaska Highway services "outpost". They have an RV park, laundromat, gss station, small convenience store, restaurant, and some motel rooms. We are staying in a motel room in a new, winter insulated and heated "triple wide" trailer that is specifically designed to serve as a motel. Our room has its own bathroom with shower, queen size bed, and a television set. We are at Milepost 721 (miles from Dawson Creek start of the Alaska Highway). It is very near the continental divide, with spectacular views of snow covered mountains, although the divide itself in this area is basically a gently sloping ridge.
Most of the day was sunny, but cool, with little wind, and we enjoyed the southbound views over the route that we traveled a couple weeks ago. There seems to be a lot more traffic now -- lots of motorcycles and RV's headed north. Near Johnson's Crossing, Yukon, this afternoon, we suddenly were traveling under cloud cover and by the time we arrived at our destination for the day, it was sprinkling rain.

Sunny Day and Gravel to Start Southbound Trip

D: It rained again early this morning, before we got up, and then the day was sunny with plenty of blue skies. We traveled from Tok, Alaska, to Haines Junction, Yukon Territory today. We knew from our northbound trip that today would involve traversing many gravel "construction areas". Therese counted seven gravel areas today. It is a stressful process -- following the wheel ruts from previous traffic and looking out for passers and for oncoming traffic. If they just used a decent, well graded, road base material, it would be fine, but for some reason they use a lot of aggregate that is about a half inch in diameter. This stuff rolls around like marbles, deflects your front wheel, and causes you to lose quite a bit of directional stability on a motorcycle. With a few prayers, we made it ok, so we can count our blessings.
Therese spotted a bear on the road and we got a good look at him when we went by, after he left the roadway. It was a black bear.
We went through some really beautiful mountain areas and the water in the south end of Kluane Lake was very beautiful, but there were not good pull off areas for photos and some of the areas had us preoccupied traveling through gravel. Haines Junction, however, has lots of beautiful mountains all around and we are taking pictures this evening. Don't expect any "sunset" photos, as this is the summer solstice and we need our sleep.
T: The black bear was big and really healthy looking, and we saw a trumpeter swan on a nest soon after we entered Yukon. Kluane Lake is one of the most beautiful places I've ever seen. The lake is miles long but we saw very few people. We've had a pleasant evening in Haines Junction and there are still many hours of daylight left.

Return to Tok, Alaska

D: Today we rode through more sprinkles and cool weather to Tok, Alaska, where we will begin traveling toward home on the Alaska Highway. The Tok Cutoff / Glenn Highway is very scenic, with landscape variations between boreal forests and mountain passes. There were some periods of sunshine, but it was cold enough for us to plug in our heated jackets. We only traveled about 127 miles today, as planned, because we hoped to have some good views of the mountains and volcanos in the Wrangell - St. Elias National Park. Unfortunately, there were no long range views, but the weather was clear enough for us to enjoy the mountains we were passing through as we approached Tok. This evening, there were thunderstorms and lots of rain, so we were glad to be resting inside a motel.

Riding Through Hail

T: We're staying tonight at an old (1904) lodge on the Gakona River. It's very nice and we had a good dinner at the restaurant. The drive up was interesting - we saw glaciers, got hailed on and visited Wrangell - St. Elias National Park.
D: The Glenn Highway from Anchorage to the Richardson Highway is a beautiful route, with trees close to the road and curved mountain roads along the first part, then boreal forest stretching out for miles as you approach Glennallen, Alaska. We bought "groceries" in Palmer, Alaska, and went through some rain and a brief hail storm later in the day.

Anchorage Maintenance Day

D: We spent the day in Anchorage, while the motorcycle was being serviced, and will spend our second night here this evening. We have come a total of 4,356 miles since we left home, and the motorcycle needed fresh lubricants and filters, a valve adjustment, and computer analysis.
Therese did the laundry at our motel. We packed up some "extras" that aren't needed and shipped them home to mother. This evening, we had a delicious seafood dinner at a nearby restaurant. Afterward, we rode out to Point Woronzof Park where there is a nice view of the city, Cook Inlet, and (on a clear day) Mount McKinley. It was very windy (15 mph plus), so we didn't spend a lot of time there. Check out the photos at http://eclips.smugmug.com/ and be sure to view the galleries in "slide show" mode.

Moose on the way to Anchorage

D: It was sunny when we left Denali Park this morning, and we hoped that there would be clear views of Mount McKinley as we traveled south on the Parks Highway. The road goes through the mountains east of Denali Park, then through a wide river valley with mountains to both sides. Eventually the mountains fade off into the distance until you enter the area just north of Anchorage.
After about 100 miles, we arrived at the south McKinley Overlook and were disappointed to find the mountain shrouded in billowing clouds.
We stopped for pictures at a couple areas along the Parks Highway. At one stop, a motorcycle rider came by to say "hello". He was returning to Homer, Alaska, after riding all the way north to the Artic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay via "the haul road" (Dalton Highway). This is a very challenging route, with over 85% gravel, sand, and mud. He was riding a Kawasaki KLR650, which is a good "dual purpose" (road/dirt) bike for those type of riding conditions. We saw him again at a gas stop later in the day.
We ate lunch at an Arby's in Wasilla, Alaska, because we were short on lunch supplies. We proceeded toward Anchorage on Alaska Route 1. On the divided highway heading south, we entered an area marked with moose warning signs, looked off to the right, and there was a large female moose and her calf galloping toward us! Since we were going 65 mph, the moose did not reach the roadway before we were past. It wasn't even a close call, but left us surprised and amused.

Wild Tour in Denali National Park

T: What a day! We got up very early to take a bus tour into Denali National Park that started at 6:15. We were lucky and saw lots of wildlife and especially fortunate to see Mt. McKinley without too many clouds. This is a beautiful, amazing place - just enormous, there's so much of everything.
D: Our shuttle bus trip started with gloomy skies and cold temperatures, but as we traveled into the park the skies became partly cloudy and by the time we got to the interior visitors center, the sky was clear enough that we could see the north and south peaks of McKinley emerge from the clouds and other parts of the mountain were visible as the clouds moved around. It was surprising how much wildlife was spotted during our bus trip and we got some pretty good pictures with our point and shoot camera. After traveling so far, I really felt blessed, and relieved, to see the mountain.

Parks Highway to Denali National Park

D: We left Fairbanks this morning and passed through alternating rain showers and sunshine. Despite the rain, there were beautiful views of the Chena River as we climbed out of the river valley. There was a brief shower at we approached the entrance to Denali National Park, but after that the day was mostly sunny with plenty of clouds.
Even if the weather did cooperate, you can't see Mt. McKinley from the entrance area to Denali Park. We claimed our prepaid tickets for the shuttle bus service to Wonder Lake tomorrow. Then, we explored the entrance visitor center and hiked around some of the nearby trails.
We are scheduled for the 6:15 am shuttle departure, so will be up early. Our hotel is only a couple miles from the park entrance, so it shouldn't be a problem. The sun will be up hours before our departure and we are in the time zone one hour beyond Pacific. Adjusting to time zone changes hasn't been a problem and we seem to be doing pretty well with daylight that is nearly around the clock.
We are praying for clear weather at the right time tomorrow, so that we can see Mount McKinley. It is an 81 mile trip by bus to Wonder Lake and the round trip takes about eleven hours.

Fairbanks

T: We took a break from traveling to stay an extra day at the Princess Hotel - very nice - and to visit Museum of the North at the University of Alaska Fairbanks. The museum had good historical, cultural and art exhibits about Alaska. Sometimes you can see Mt. McKinley from the museum but it was too cloudy to see it today. We just trailed through the elegant lobby of the hotel in our exercise clothes with our trash bag of laundry - we only had room for one set of street clothes. Luckily, there is a computer station next to the laundry room so we have something to do while we wait.

Last Day North-Bound on Alaska Highway

D: It rained last night at Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, and was still raining this morning. We conceded our status as "captive customers" (no other restaurants within walking distance) and had a real, but expensive breakfast. Packed the bike, in the rain, suited up and were on our way. The road north goes around the Canadian Customs Building at Beaver Creek, then north for about twenty miles to the U.S. border crossing and Customs Station. Five miles of this distance was a chip gravel road, slow going in the rain, but o.k. Some guy from N.Y. with a big motorhome (and car towed behind) "had to" pass me on the gravel, even though I was going the speed limit of 50km/hr (30 mph).
Customs was a breeze. Get off the bike, take off our helmets, hand them our passports. "No firearms, No packages from someone else, Snack crackers with cheeze in wrapped packages are ok" and we were on our way, after a brief conversation about the forest fires and how the road closing did 't affect us.
During a let up in the rain, we stopped at a paved pull-off and took our first pictures in Alaska. The landscape in this area is low mountains with broad valleys, lots of lakes and bogs, and thousands of pine trees.
We rode through more rain to Tok, where we stopped for premium gas and ate lunch in a restaurant. After lunch, we hooked up our heated jacket liners and turned them on. There was more cold rain, but we were comfortable.
Eventually, we traveled passed the rain. The sun came out and there were lots of "real" mountains, with snow fields up high. There were lots of short "gravel breaks" in the roadway. They were marked ahead, but on a motorcycle you have to slow to 35 mph from 70 mph.
We arrived at the end of the Alaska Highway, at Delta Junction, Alaska, in the early afternoon. Unpacked our tripod and took plenty of photos, looked at the visitor center exhibits, packed up our jacket liners and were on our way to Fairbanks.
We saw lots of very large river drainage systems on our way north to Fairbanks. This is the Richardson Highway, which runs from Valdez to Fairbanks. We saw the oil pipeline river crossing north of Delta Junction, but didn't stop.
By the time we got to the Air Force Base south of Fairbanks, there were very dark, threatening rain clouds just ahead. We went through some sprinkles, but made it to our hotel in Fairbanks without getting drenched.
Today, June 12, 2009, Sunrise was at 3:04 am, Sunset is at 12:38 am (tomorrow).
T: I'm so excited to be here. We saw two moose today but talking to the other tourists here it sounds like people haven't seen a lot of wildlife, especially bears. The wildflowers are almost as spectacular as they are in the Texas Hill Country.

Rough Road to Breaver Creek, YT

T: I enjoyed today - we had a lot of difficult riding with miles of gravel construction areas, rain, and frost-heaved bumpy roads. On the other hand, we passed a lot of beautiful scenery including Kluane Lake which was enormous and hundreds of colors of blue and green, surrounded by so many wildflowers we could smell them and huge mountains all around - I didn't know where to look.
D: We started the day with a bit of drizzle leaving Whitehorse, Yukon. It is odd to be traveling through a semi-arid climate that hasn't had rain in a month, until we arrived. The middle of the day was sunny, but cool enough for us to keep on our jacket liners. Much beautiful scenery and real mountains, especially around Haines Junction and heading north west. This afternoon, it rained again, at several points, which didn't help our outlook on the road construction areas. We have experienced most of the stereotyped "images" of the Alaska Highway - gravel, mud, and frost buckled pavement. Today's mileage was 294, our second shortest distance-wise to date.

Alaska Highway to Whitehorse, Yukon

T: We had an interesting day of travel through Yukon today - two difficult road construction areas and more smoke from forest fires which we also saw yesterday. We're now in Whitehorse, Yukon which is the provincial capitol. It's a nice town and we're staying in a pleasant bread and breakfast close to downtown.
D: We are starting to look like Alaska Highway travelers, thanks to rain showers and two long sections of gravel road between Watson Lake and Whitehorse. There is a thin coat of mud on many areas of the bike. Today was our tenth day on the road, and the shortest distance, at 286 miles. Our total trip mileage to date is 3,287 miles.

Alaska Highway to Watson Lake

T: We had a great day, with nice weather, pretty good roads and impressive scenery. We saw a moose, a big horned sheep, several bison and a black bear today. We didn't stop for photos - it doesn't seem like a good idea when they can bite you, kick you or knock you over. We're in Watson Lake, Yukon Territory tonight.
D: We went through our first road construction area today, so it really felt like we were on the Alaska Highway. Mud and gravel to cross an old bridge while a replacement is being constructed.
Our route today crossed the Rocky Mountains and we saw some beautiful scenery, including a couple pristine lakes.

Monday, June 8, 2009

Traveled from Beaverlodge, Alberta, to Fort Nelson, British Columbia, on the Alaska Highway. Temperatures were warmer and it turned out to be a beautiful day. This part of the route is mostly through open, hilly country. The road is quite good. There are some interesting river crossings. We went 351 miles. There were internet connection problems at the motel in Fort Nelson. We only got a few photos posted.

Through the Rain

D: It was very cool again today, as we traveled Rt 43 from west of Edmonton, Alberta, to a small town named Beaverlodge, Alberta, where we are spending the night. We went through several rain showers and saw others in the distance. By this afternoon, the clouds were breaking up and the sun was shining most of the time. It is slightly warmer and we are hopeful that we will now experience a warming trend, without further rain. We went through some extensive areas of real hills, bogs, lodgepole pines and birch or aspen trees, with lots of warning signs about Moose. Eventually, our route returned us to the northern prairies. We went 319 miles today and are only 58 miles from Dawson Creek, where the Alaska Highway begins.
Check out the latest pictures at http://eclips.smugmug.com/
T: I was so delighted to see the enormous beaver on the parking lot at our motel, the Beaverlodge Motor Inn. We have passed up several similar photo opportunities on the way, including the world's largest turkey in North Dakota and a very, very large buffalo and a twenty foot high moose in Saskatchewan. Look at our photos at smugmug to see this giant beaver. We're in a nice motel with a kind of northern outpost look on the outside with nice, newly decorated rooms (with flat screen TV) and a good restaurant.

Using Heat for our Second Cool Day

D: We left Saskatoon this morning after a large breakfast. It was still overcast with the temperature at 8 degrees C (46 degrees F). After an hour and 81 miles, we stopped to take some pictures and hooked up our electric jacket liners. What a nice change. We checked out the welcome to Alberta tourist center (in Lloydminster, Saskatchewan), got a new map, ate a snack, filled up with gas ($1.12 per Liter for Shell Premium), and were on our way.
The landscape changed after we crossed into eastern Alberta, with low hills, more trees, and mostly cattle grazing or hay fields. We stopped at a thermally active lake overlook near Innisfree, AB. Very nice overlook parking area in the middle of nowhere, but no explanatory signage.
Outside Edmonton, we stopped at a National Park for a rest and met two guys from Saskatoon (on motorcycles) headed for Fairbanks. One of them commented that we didn't seem to be hauling much baggage for two people. The Park has buffalo, but we weren't willing to pay for admission to see them, so we resumed our journey to Edmonton. We are staying at a motel that is part of a truck stop complex on the west side of Edmonton. We used the coin laundry to replenish our supply of clean clothes.
We traveled the Trans-Canadian Highway (Rt 16) all day today, for a total of 343 miles.
T: Our electric coats are really great - today was fun because I wasn't cold like yesterday. We met lots of nice people. We heard again how unusual the weather is this year - someone told us spring is a month late. He said that they have four months of good weather so that's a lot of warm weather to lose. This could explain why people seem so depressed about the cold temperatures.

Cool Day in Saskatchewan

D: We traveled under overcast skies across the wide open expanses of Saskatchewan. A lot of flat land with vistas that seem to extend forever. Two lane roads with shoulder areas on Rt 39 to Moose Jaw and then north on Rt 2, then divided roadway for Rt 11 to Saskatoon. We came through a couple interesting areas with low hills. Short grass and a few cattle grazing. Many flat areas seem to have wheat that is just emerging.
There wasn't much wind, but it was cold all the way -- 7 degrees to 12 degrees C (high around 53 degrees F). We both wore our insulated jacket liners, but didn't plug in the heating coils.
No photos today. Limited stops and anxious to move on. The photos you usually see of Saskatchewan are accurate. Even the smallest towns have a grain elevator and storage bins along a railroad track. The big towns have more than one.
No satellite signals today either -- too overcast. We traveled a total of 310 miles, our shortest day yet, and are spending the night in Saskatoon.
T: Today was pretty cold. We saw lots of wide open spaces and some domesticated buffalo. We encountered lots of old looking people going to the Fleetwood Mac concert here tonight, then I realized they're our age.

Windy Day in North Dakota

D: We left Jamestown, North Dakota, this morning with a full tank of gas and were quickly out of the James River "valley" and traveling across the flat open spaces of the plains. The wind was strong all day long -- 15 to 20 mph according to the weather forecast, with gusts to 30 mph.
We stopped at a grocery in Carrington for lunch supplies, which we carry inside a thermal pack inside one of the saddlebags.
There are many places where you really have to "scan" the horizon for signs of human structures. It is interesting to see how many people have created an oasis around their home and outbuildings -- with multiple windbreaks of trees and scrubs, some going out a mile or so from the homestead. There were some hedgerows lilac bushes that are now in bloom. It looks like it is still Spring in parts of North Dakota.
We stopped for lunch at a town park in Drake, ND. They had a nice pavilion with tables and a building nearby with basic, but clean restrooms.
At Minot, ND, we filled up with gas. Later stopped at the town square in Kenmare, ND and saw a windmill that they used to mill grain in the early 20th century and moved / restored to the town square in 1959. Called my mother by cell phone before moving on to the border crossing at Portal, ND.
There was a visitor center at the border crossing where we obtained a map of Saskatchewan and got advice on finding our hotel in Estevan (37 miles away).
Estevan is a boom town of sorts. Lots of new construction and many young people. There is a large coal mine nearby, plus oil & gas.
We traveled 309 miles today.
T: This was an interesting day. I was surprised at how much we were questioned at the border. Canada definitely seems like a foreign country.

Nice Day on the Prairie

T: We're in Jamestown ND tonight. This is definitely the west (prairie). We saw a prairie dog at a rest stop and lots of interesting birds along the way, including some big white ones that I thought were swans but turned out to be pelicans. Tomorrow we'll be in Canada.
D: Travel today was mostly along divided roadways, but there were plenty of pleasant vistas. US-10 from Monticello, MN to near the state line, then I-94 to Jamestown. We traveled more interstate today than we have in years (by motorcycle), but there was little choice. US-52 is part of I-94 along here, and the local roads are still being reconstructed from this Spring's flooding.

Across the Mississippi

D: The day started with some rain, crossing the Mississippi river into Dubuque, Iowa, and it was significantly cooler than yesterday. The rain diminished fairly quickly and most of the day was partly cloudy with temperatures in the mid-60's. Today's travel took us through the rolling hills of NE Iowa and Minnesota. We ended up riding through the heart of downtown Minneapolis on I-35W and I-94. The buildings are impressive, but the extent of the road construction is staggering. Someone should go to jail for the extensive, rough grooved pavement milling that we survived at 65 to 70 mph in rush hour traffic! Tonight we are at Monticello, MN after traveling 332 miles.
T: We had a very pleasant ride today - lots of fun. I've not spent much time in Minnesota before. The people here are helpful and friendly. A man at McDonald's was asking us about our trip and when David told him where we're headed he said "Why would you go there?" I was laughing about that one way down the road.

Monday, June 1, 2009

D: We got a late start this morning, with many tasks still to complete before departure. Left just before noon and traveled to Galena, Illinois -- arriving after nine hours and 362 miles. There were scattered rain showers, but we missed any real rain.
One of the interesting sites along the way were windmills along US-52 near Fowler, Indiana. Check out the photos at http://elips.smugmug.com/. By the time we got to Savanna, Illinois, the sun was shining through the clouds, the weather was cooler, and we enjoyed a beaufiful ride north on IL-84 along the Mississippi River. It was a welcome change after a day of riding through heat and humidity with clothing more suitable for northern climates.
Pray for safe and healthy travels.

Introduction

This web posting site will be used to provide a narrative of our 2009 trip from Indianapolis to Alaska via motorcycle.

D: We started planning for this trip about two years ago. I wanted to go to Alaska on a fly/tour trip in 1993, but gave up after calculating the monetary cost for our whole family to make the trip in a two week vacation period. I have always dreamed of traveling the Alaskan Highway and finally decided that if we didn't go soon it might be too late, as my vision isn't getting better with age and stiff joints are more common.

From an original trip concept with more than one motorcycle, camping along the way, we are now set to ride "two up" on one motorcycle, staying overnight in motels. This should enable us to carry everything we need without overloading and give us a better chance of quickly recovering from bad weather days.

Pictures will be posted at http://eclips.smugmug.com