the Canadian Ninjas
It’s been a little while since my last post. I’m sitting in Cache Creek, BC getting ready to head out on another day. We have had so many adventures on the trip. We’ve seen wild life, multiple ferry rides, met amazing people from all over the world. We’ve rode on some crazy roads, seen ghost towns, massive glaciers, and the mountains…..I don’t think you ever get tired of seeing the mountains especially on two wheels.
We met a guy “Indiana” who sold everything he owns, bought a biycycle and is on a 10+ year ride around the world. Everything he needs is on his bike. That sounds fun in a strange way. He has water filters so he gets all of his water rivers and streams. He just lives day to day and rides to wherever he gets to. Probably would be a good weight loss plan.
But last night we are looking at all the close calls we’re having lol. The Alcan highway washed away closing it down. A huge rockslide closed the Klondike highway last night. There was a bad hail storm just north of us two days ago, and the WILDFIRES! they are everywhere. We are changing our route yet again trying to avoid these stupid things. There is a large one just south of us (Cache Creek) we thought for sure we may get evacuated overnight, but here we are slipping out of this city like a the ninjas we are lol. getting back to U.S. on Saturday will be so nice!
Starting Day 12
We’ve made it Fairbanks, it’s been a long road getting here. We made some new friends the “Canadians”…Eh, We met up with them many days before and as you ride up here you all meet up at the same stops since there aren’t many. We partied with them in Dawson City. Took in a show at Diamond tooth Gertie’s and had some drinks late into the night. Most of us joined the sourtoe club, you take a shot with an actual human toe in the glass, it’s a right of passage in Dawson City.
Leaving there at 1230am it was crazy to walk outside into daylight. and now we’re faced with a rainy start to on our trek to Prudhoe Bay. Yesterday was a tease of what we get to deal with today. The Top of the world highway was a slippery mess most of the morning. The views were amazing despite the clouds and weather. We did see a big moose and her baby. After riding the twisty gravel road over 100 miles we crossed the border back into the good old United States and ended up in Chicken, AK where we enjoyed a good meal and some treats. Did a little looking around and we were on our way as we still had 190 miles to go until Fairbanks. We took our picture by the end of the Alcan highway sign, and then we found the Northpole and took our picture by that sign too.
We are surprised how little wildlife we’ve seen, haven’t even seen a grizzly yet. This morning we’re getting ready to head out and make our way to Coldfoot, AK the halfway point to Prudhoe Bay. It’s raining and looks like it will be all day, but then rest of the week looks ok, it will be only be a high of 42 in Prudhoe Bay, but at least we have our heated gear.Speaking of that I need to go get mine out and ready to go, 255 miles to Coldfoot today, I’m guessing at speeds around 45mph, these roads tend to be pretty slippery when wet. I’ll check back in when I get internet service again, even with the day being nasty I’m still going to go out make memories, might be cold and wet ones, but someday I’ll look back and say I did it, Ride on!!!
Day 7 Is over
Thursday was filled with little excitement, lots of scenic miles but not much to do but ride. We left Dawson Creek around 9am and headed west on 97 the Alcan highway. We ran into our first road work delay, it was only 5 mins this time. Perfect weather day, sunny and 75-80 degrees of pure enjoyment. We talked with some other bikers on their way to Dawson City from Calgary, they told us about a drink there you have to take as a right of passage. It has a mummified human toe in it, (yes it’s a real toe) and they put it in a shot glass, Brandon has volunteered to do it and take one for the team. Let’s Go Brandon!!!
When we got to Fort Nelson, we checked in at the hotel and unloaded our bags and went exploring. We found some trails down by the river. I dropped my bike twice so Brandon and are tied for dropping our bikes now (it would be nice to keep it that way) then we headed into town and checked out the Alaska highway mueseum, pretty interesting. lots of cool stuff from early years of building and living on the Alcan highway.
We then headed to fuel our bikes and give them a quick wash, only because there are so many bugs on the front and the radiators are starting to get clogged with them.We decided to eat at the hotel a lot of people raved about their food, I wasn’t impressed, really expensive and they were chinsy on the portions, but oh well life goes on. Not much to do here now, and this is why I’m here boring you with our uneventful day lol, so get our there and make some memories, Ride on!!!
Starting Day 7
We’ve made it to day 7. Today we start our trip on the famous Alaska highway. The weather is supposed to be 75 and sunny all day, that will be so nice after the days of rain we’ve had to ride through. so far we’ve covered 3 Province’s we will enter the Yukon Territory tomorrow. Our bikes have been running good.
We are in Dawson Creek today, leaving out this morning for Fort Nelson. So apparently this town is pretty dangerous, lots of gang and drug activity, who would’ve thought…. I guess when the first person we talk to on the streets is on a mobility scooter trying to sell us “new” goods by the Alaska Highway sign that should’ve been our first indicator. There isn’t much to do here, but it’s an iconic part of our journey and I’m glad we’ll be out of here, I had to go check and see if our bikes were still here.
We spent some time in Banff and Jasper, stunning views and the photos absolutely don’t do any justice to what it looks like in person. We went up the skytram in Jasper, that was really cool. There is a cafe at the top and it was almost empty we got the best seats in the house and honestly the prices were not that bad considering where you are eating.
We are starting to see a lot more wildlife on the roads, still haven’t seen a bear yet, we are both excited to see our first one, we just missed a mama grizzly and her cubs yesterday, some other travelers showed us some pics, we must of been about 20 mins to late.
At this point we have a pretty good system of unloading and loading our bikes everyday. It goes pretty fast, you kind’ve get a rhythm going and it goes together like clockwork.
So far here are the stats of problems we’ve had with our bikes, Brandons has tipped over twice, once on accident the other the wind literally blew it over while sitting in the parking lot, it broke his mirror and clutch lever, my bike got a nail in the rear tire the other night but only went into one of the tread knobs sideways and I was able to pull it out with two fingers so damage done. we’ve been pretty lucky. I think we now have our gear where we want it on the bikes, I had to rearrange my luggage and move stuff around to shift the weight. We decided to start filling our fuel cans now, we’ve had to many close calls on running out of fuel, so with that added weight of 3 gallons on my rear end I moved my top bag onto my duffle on the rear seat. The bike handles great, we hit some big twisties and I rode it hard even scraping a foot peg. Well thats it for now, get out there and make some memories, you don’t want to be old and decrepit and have only dreams of what you could’ve done…..Ride on!
2 Day Recap
Our first day went perfect. We said good bye to our lovely wives mine soon to be, Nicolle brought us some healthy banana bars for breakfast. luckily the rain went through early before we left. We had to stop after 50 miles so Brandon could take off his undies. He bought some undies that have pads in them, they were not feeling to good on the bike so off they came. we had our first breakdown right after that, my first aid bag unsnapped and almost went down the highway. I think I accidental half unbuttoned it when loading my crash bar bag then the wind did the rest. it’s been good ever since. We stopped at a few Harley dealerships for poker chips on our way to Minot, ND. We finally rode into the rain, the last hour of our ride was rain, and lots of wind, but we arrived safely to end our first day. We went to the Starving Rooster for dinner, had a couple of beers, pizza and called it a day, 503 miles and we were spent.
Day 2 was kind’ve boring, the scenery was ok. We headed out of MInot to the west. Thank God for all the birds dive bombing us it gave us some kind’ve entertainment I hit at least two, Brandon got one right to the radiator. And then there are the prairie dogs, not the ones you get in your butt either, they are everywhere. They run a cross the road and stop, not sure how many of those we got, not to mention all the dead ones already on the road we had to dodge. We crossed the border into Saskatchewan, the border agent was a jerk, he was rude and asked tons of questions, but we got through ok. We Stopped in Caddilac, Saskatchewan at local tavern, talked with a couple of local adventure riders, they were cool, gave us some good advice on the area, It was a cool little bar, great food and people.
We made our way to Swift Current, checked in at our hotel and hit the hot tub, it was nice to relax but the pool was full of crotch goblins and it was loud you couldn’t carry on a conversation, but it is what it is. I headed back to the room, I was exhausted and my left ankle had a flare up, so I took some Aleeve to get under control, Brandon hit the casino to go spread the love of Jesus to the locals. Woke up this morning and the flare up is gone, getting ready to head out for the day, I can’t wait to see what today brings. each day we’re getting closer to Prudhoe Bay, AK, this isn’t easy, starting our 3rd day and it’s a lot of work,missing our girls, but I wouldn’t trade this for anthing……get out make those memories, however you do it, you don’t want to die someday with just dreams of what you could’ve done…..Ride on!
Leaving out Friday!
The day is almost here, I feel like we’re ready to hit the road, going over last minute things on the bike. I decided to change the rear final drive oil and put new spark plugs in so I’m starting the trip with fresh new everything lol. Bike is on the lift, I’m going over it top to bottom checking every bolt and screw, I’d rather find it now than in the middle of nowhere.
Looks like we’ll have rain on and off friday so we’ll be leaving out in full gear. I’m not planning on wearing my gear everyday unless theres a sure chance of rain. Once we get to Alaska I probably will wear it everyday for the added protection.
I’ve updated all my stuff (GPS, Drone, Cameras, etc, etc, it’s overwhelming all the updates this crap requires. Next step is to see if I can download my entire library of spotify and a bunch of podcasts for those days with no service.
This will be last post until we are on the road, I’m packing the laptop up today, until then remember it’s better to Die with memories than dreams of what you could’ve done, life is to short…..Ride on!
Strike Averted….2 new tires and oil change tomorrow
Well good news! they came to a tentative agreement and the dodge the strike. That’s a huge weight off our shoulders. Tomorrow is the big day new shoes for the Bougie Beemer and fresh oil. Unfortunately it’s going to be raining, ugh……BUT it’ll be a good chance to try out my gear and see if I need anything else to stay dry on the trip, I’d rather find out before we leave than on the trip. I’m pretty sure we will spend a lot of time in rain and colder temps while in Alaska but it’ wouldn’t be an adventure if it wasn’t. lot’s of last minute stuff to do, I have to go haul propane for my last two weeks before leaving so I have almost no time finish getting ready, luckily my bags are packed, bike is almost ready to go, counting down the days to get this started. until next time, die with memories, not dreams…..Ride on!
Canadian Border agents going on strike?
Well here we are, 17 days out from our trip to Alaska. We have a new thing to keep an eye on besides any forest fires that may decide to start up. I think the one in Ft.Nelson is over for now, people have been allowed to return home. But now the Canadian border agents are on the verge of going on strike. This Friday June.14th at 4pm is the deadline. We’re not sure how this will impact our crossing into the land of Maple Syrup and cardboard straws, but it I don’t think it will be pleasant.
The agents are required to still go to work, with that being said they can make life a living hell on people crossing into Canada. They will impose a work-to-rule. The way I understand this, now mind you I haven’t stayed at a Holiday Express in some time so I’m no expert on Canadian policy, but this means since they still have to report to work they will have to do other things to get their point across to the Canadian Govt. that they are fed up. From what I’m reading they have been out of contract for over two years so I guess this is long over due.
Work-to-rule means they will go BY THE BOOK on every vehicle and person crossing. This means they may do thorough searches on every car, truck, RV, Motorcyle etc. They will move slowly and the lines will get very long. They Said you could expect over 10 hours of waiting to cross the border. We are crossing at smaller crossings in the middle of nowhere so that may help, or it could be bad because other people will have the same idea.
Being on motorcycles, this is going to SUCK. The crossings we are hitting already have limited hours, So I can’t imagine how it will work if there are lines and then they close. One of our crossings is in the middle of no where with nothing available, literally in BFE, does this mean if we don’t cross before they close we have to sit out in the forest over night with the bears? I’m not sure…..I guess all we can do at this point is continue to monitor the news and hope they work this out, When we are coming back to the US we could always take a play out of the Mexican play book and ride our bikes across a river, or hitch a ride under a truck, Brandon and I could change our names to Juan and Juamal and say we are twins, If you’ve seen Juan you’ve Juamal….Until next time…remember its better to die with memories, not dreams……Ride on!
26 Days to departure
It’s hard to believe we are at 26 days until we head off for the last frontier….Alaska! I’ll be honest this trip is going to be hard, Ashley and I did a trial run up to Canada last weekend. We put almost a 1k miles in 3 days. That wasn’t the hard part, riding was easy at least for me lol. The hard part is and will be the constant loading and unloading the bike every day. I asked Ashley what she thought about the amount of work it is to strip the bike down every night and load it back it back up for a month straight, she said, “Yeah thanks I’ll pass, you can have it” Lol.
It is going to be tough, but I’m so looking forward to it, just me and my machine for 6 weeks, and my buddy Brandon. We already have family counseling setup in Fairbanks, Anchorage, and Prudhoe Bay to help us through, I requested the foam bats so we can beat each other with them. Brandon is a night guy, and I’m an early riser, we’ll just have to meet in the middle, Honestly I think it will work out fine. There will be nights there is nothing to do or see and we’ll get some extra sleep, then there will be nights we are in cities with lots to see and do, definitely looking forward to visiting the North Pole.
Check out my video and how much my bike weighed, the link is at the bottom to my channel. I took a bunch of. stuff off of, it was WAY over weight, the bike handled fine, but I was worried about too much stress on the drive components and tires, especially if it gets hot. I went through and took lots of things out I just don’t need, the bike is much lighter now.
In two weeks I head over to BMW in Richfield, MN for my oil change and new tires, I just hit 5k miles today on the bike, I’m putting a new set on for the trip, Dunlop Trail Max Missions, they should easily last the whole trip, as long as I don’t have any tire emergencies.
well in until next time, We are monitoring a new potential problem, the Canadian border patrol may be going on strike, When we know more, I’ll share what we know. Until then, remember to Die with memories, not dreams…..Ride on!!
60 Days until we are off…
it’s hard to believe in 60 days we are heading out. Riding to Alaska has been a dream of mine for many years. Riding to the “last frontier” just me and my machine. Over the last few years my dad got really interested in my trip and was as excited or even more than I was. He loved tracking me on Life360 as I’m a trucker. He couldn’t wait to track me on this trip.
He watched every show he could about Alaska. He always wanted to go there and see the this great State. I started to realize I need to make this trip happen sooner than later, he was in a nursing home and going down hill. So I decided over a year ago that I must do this trip this coming summer (2024) because it would be the last chance to do this while my dad was still with me.
Sadly he didn’t make it, I lost him November 13th 2023. Some of the most important people in my life came and met with my dad a week before his passing. He was so relieved to know Brandon was joining me on this trip, as he was worried about me doing it alone. We were able to talk a lot about what was happening and we was ready to go. That last week while he was on hospice we talked about my trip and how he wished he could be here to witness it and support me. I told him even better I’ll take you with! He lit up and was so excited, I told him I would take some of his remains bring them up to the Arctic Ocean.
Come to find out Ashley’s dad love Alaska too and had similar dreams. So he’s coming along as well. The day I make it the Arctic Ocean is going to be a day I’ll remember the rest of my life, and bringing our dads with and leaving a part of them there will be a truly momentous occasion. so enough with this sappy post, now onto fun!!!! Remember it’s better to die with memories rather than just dreams, Ride on……
82 DAYS LEFT
We are down to 82 days until we head out. My bike is ready to go, Brandons is just about ready. I’ve been going out and laying some miles down trying to work out any bugs and make any small adjustments now. We have a few short weekend trips planned before we leave, I just installed my sergeant seat, honestly its about as comfortable as my stock seat, except for the fact it’s a little wider and sits more level on the bike. The one thing I hated about my stock seat was it leaned me into the tank to much, but I put on 2600 miles on it and it wasn’t that bad.
I’m still researching tires, I think I’m going with the Dunlop trail max missions, my other choice was the Mitas E07 Plus. I guess I’m still on the fence but leaning more towards the Dunlops. I have the tracker all setup and figured out, all the settings are where we need them. It’ll send a location update every 2 minutes, and the battery life is amazing. I ran it all last week, never turned it off and it still had 51% left still.
All of our routes are done and loaded into our GPS’s. We are running Garmin XT2’s, paired up with the Garmin tread app they work really well. You can plan your routes, they automatically sync to the GPS when they are turned on. This will be very handy when we make on the fly adjustments to our daily routes. We are expecting to get tips and advice while traveling, must see roads and attractions etc, etc…so we are prepared to deviate from our planned routes.
We have two ferry rides during the trip. The first one is Whittier to Valdez, AK it’s a 7 hour trip. The second one is Haines to Skagway, AK, only a 2 hour ride that time. We originally planned to take the ferry from Haines to Bellingham, WA but we decided to ride the Cassier highway back. It added 1500 miles to the trip. We figured the boat ride would get old after a few hours, it was going to take a week to get back on the ferry. I think we will have more fun riding the Cassier and see a lot more of Alaska and Canada, I mean it is a motorcycle trip so it only makes sense to ride it…..and it saved us about $1100 each, until next time……Ride On!
Going to Try this blogging thing…
Well it has to start somewhere….
Don’t be surprised if this blog is full of typo’s and bad grammar but I’m going to give it a shot lol. I will try and keep this updated while on the trip. There will be extensive YouTube content after we get back but we will be to busy while on the road to get much done. Stay tuned here for updates and daily info on things happening while on our journey. honestly I don’t even know if this will post or not, I have no idea what I’m doing lol.