Cola Crew on the Road

Gmail - Compose Mail - spiritdancin@gmail.com

2008-09-22T09:06:00.000-06:00

Gmail - Compose Mail - spiritdancin@gmail.com

The Big Loop

2006-08-08T14:15:00.000-06:00

Well the wheels have stopped rolling for awhile after 13,577 miles for me. Time to clean up, put up, and catch up. Its been quite an adventure for all of us.

Three generations of control freaks living and working together on the road for 62-65 days made for interesting dynamics. We all learned a lot. Most of all, we learned to enjoy and cherish our time together.

There are several thousand photographs and multiple composition books filled with journal entries - not to mention several hours of Monique's audio journal. We're working together to make several documents from our material. Over the next few months we'll share these from our website.

In the meantime we hope you'll do the things that move you - we sure did!

The last leg of an epic adventure

2006-08-07T13:46:00.000-06:00

After we left Redding, California, we drove south toward Yosemite. We passed through a really cool National Park none us us knew about, Lassiter Volcano Park. We were riding through snowpacks in the summer in central California! We also went by Lake Tahoe and then camped in the brownish mountains south of there. Ironically, the day after posting the tribute to my bike, it had trouble running. It got so bad that I had to get towed to Reno, Nevada. The people at Big Valley Honda were so helpful, but found nothing wrong. It just started running correctly again. ?? Anyway, I spent a couple of days by myself in Reno, tested my bike out and rode around looking at things - the famous "Biggest, Little Town" sign, a great view of Lake Tahoe from the Mt. Rose pass, and the city from afar. The next day, I drove due west and met up with Monique and Jim who came up from Yosemite. We met up at a cool little gas station/cafe in the middle of the Nevada desert and caught a breeze on the porch for a while. This afternoon ride was pretty spectaculer because of the wide expanse of space surrounded by the huge, red Sierra mountains. The road would disappear into infinity. We got to the the eastern side of Nevada and stayed in Ely.

The next day we rode into Utah and got to see more spectacular desert mountains, but also started seeing canyon rock formations. We made it to Bicknell, Utah, just outside the Capitol Reef National Park and stayed in a super nice, cheap hotel. We watched the movie Ray, which is excellent by the way, and I went on a long walk to enjoy the desert night sky.

Starting out the next morning was one of my favorite rides of the trip. We rode right down through the canyons and the morning sun was giving outstanding lighting. We basically got the see the upper part of the Grand Canyon. It continued on this way into Colorado and we stopped by Mesa Verde National Park. Then we started getting into the Colorado mountains and more green. We camped out in a National Forest Park in the San Juan mountains. Although it was at 7000 ft, unfortunately it was overcast and we didn't get to see the stars that well.

Next morning we got treated to the fir tree forest mountains of Colorado and escaped the spotty rain storms. The eastern 1/3 of Colorado flattened out and I got my last glimpse of mountains on this trip in my rear view mirror. It was scraggly brush until the Kansas border where grass started to appear. We stayed a night in Garden City and then made it to Monique's the next day. When we started out the trip, Kansas seemed boring because it was flat and green out forever. On my way back through, I really enjoyed the space and soft green compared to what we have seen on the whole trip. It was a sense of freedom. We got to Monique's and relaxed, did laundry, and had a trip toast at the local pizzaria.
Jim and I set out for our return home and just rode. We took the most direct route possible and stopped very little. We were both ready to be back and unfazed by the scenery of the south. I noticed drivers in the South are more inconsiderate to motorcyclists than anywhere else we've been. And the people do talk slower. The humidity began to pick up and we kept moving to stay as cool as possible. We arrived in Huntsville after 2 days of riding and finally got to see John safe and sound. We all caught back up on what had happened, took a swim, and had a relaxing steak dinner. I'll spend the next few days unpacking, cleaning up, and letting the weight of the trip sink in.

Toto...we're back in Kansas!

2006-08-07T10:39:00.000-06:00

Unbelievable. Back in my apartment with a cup of coffee and lots of work ahead of me, I am trying to "wrap up" the trip by adding all photos (a total of 23 films at approximately 25 pics each!) to the website, copying the mini-disc tapes (my 'journal') to regular size tapes for transcription, handing out small presents to friends, hanging my new posters, magnets, and pins, wearing my new T-shirts, giving my bike a serious cleansing with Simple Green and lots of Pledge... and receiving updates from Jim and Matt on their progress to Alabama. They've made it to Huntsville, Alabama yesterday around 3 pm and Jim should be home in Wetumpka tonight, so they'll be starting to adjust to "standing still" soon too... A strange sensation, indeed. I'm glad not to have to get up, pack and get on the bike every morning, but I already miss the constant adventure, new sceneries, and hanging out with a group of really awesome people every day. (Yeah, we had our little bouts every once in a while, but all in all we had a great time with each other).

The last part of the trip was incredibly fascinating as well. After riding through the northern part of California with wonderful twisties through the hills and big sweepers - a paradise for motorcyclists - we passed Lake Tahoe and all of its thousands of tourists with the plan to meet Ami and Byron at Yosemite Park. Unfortunately, Matt's bike was acting up. I headed out from our campsite South of Tahoe to try to get a "first come, first served" campsite at Yosemite on a Friday morning, while the guys were trying to troubleshoot the problem with Matt's bike. When I arrived at Yosemite around 9:40 am I was told that is was "very unlikely" that I would find a site. Well, I found one at "Porcupine Flats" and was super-proud of it. Then I headed out of the park again (30 miles from the campsite), left a message for the guys with the park rangers at the park entrance explaining where our campsite was and when to expect me back. I bought food for five people for two days, firewood and a sack of ice and headed back. My message for the guys was still at the park entrance. However, Jim arrived about twenty minutes later at the campsite, explaining that Matt had his bike towed to Reno and was going to spend the next nights there while we were at Yosemite. What a bummer!

Anyway, I had contacted Ami and told her about the site, so the two of them were going to try to make it to Yosemite that night, which they did! Jim and I had just let the fire go down and were nodding off in our tent, when I heard Ami's voice. What a great reunion! We spent the next day hanging out at Yosemite and admiring its amazing beauty with another swarm of tourists.
Here is Byron at Yosemite Falls, protecting himself from the sun’s rays. That night we had hot dogs, baked beans, buns, and Marshmallows over the campfire for dinner, while Ami was slowly talking me towards the realities of grad school and soon being home for some more “academic fun.”

The next day (Sunday) we met up with Matt on Highway 50, “the loneliest road in America,” and headed through Nevada. I kept taking pictures of this landscape that was so different than what we had been seeing for the last weeks. Luckily, we were always a minimum of 4,000 feet above sea level, which meant that it wasn’t nearly as hot as anticipated. Thanks to John’s suggestion over the phone a few days earlier we had also acquired some “camel backs” from our favorite store (nope, I will not advertise here…) and therefore had a constant supply of cool water, which turned out to pose only one tiny problem: We had to use the restroom quite frequently…

In Delta, Utah, I had an “American Studies-on-the-road” moment and dragged the guys to a museum that displayed a barrack and some items of the Topaz Japanese internment camp that had been situated about 15 miles up the road from Delta. The reaction of locals to our questions about the museum’s exact location and the comments of the museum’s guide were quite intriguing. Locals didn’t seem to think anyone should be interested in the museum, giving us very vague directions, and, not surprisingly, the guide tried her best to downplay the internment of Japanese and Japanese American citizens during World War II.

The next part of the trip was breathtaking. I had never before seen anything like the Capitol Reefs in Utah. After Nevada’s landscape that reminded me of images of Northern Africa, this area made me feel like I was on another planet.
The many shades of reddish brown and beige combined with the rock formations that seemed chiseled out of the stone was so impressive that I couldn’t stop taking pictures. So, if you check out our website you will see a lot of pictures of that area in the “on the road” area and my last set of pics (West Coast to Kansas).

Crossing Colorado and then entering Kansas was almost a relief after all of those intense impressions of the trip. Matt and I both felt that the spaciousness of West Kansas was a much needed contrast and enjoyed being able to see for miles with just a tree or a house interrupting the horizon every once in a while. On our last stop before Lawrence I asked the gas station attendant to take our picture – an epic trip was coming to an end – at least for me. Wow, what a tour de force! I am unbelievably grateful for having decided to make this trip, for Sigi and Jim contributing heavily by paying for gas and lodging, for Granny giving me her car, which paid for my bike and the trip, for Matt and John deciding to come along, for John having basically walked away from a very dangerous accident, for none of us having become seriously ill or being stopped by the police for any reason, and for having met so many people with similar and sometimes even “wilder” dreams than ours. It seems the universe had aligned itself for us. Yes, life is definitely good! :-)

Paradise...after everyone has moved there

2006-07-26T18:28:00.000-06:00

Coming into California met my expectations. The coast treated us to some beautiful ocean views and the people became friendlier and different. While the north isn't all that crowded, I believe it's mostly because there's so many National Parks and Forests. I can only imagine how packed southern Cali is if it's even only partly as beautiful as this. Riding through the redwood forests was a fantasy straight out of the speederbike scene in Star Wars, Return of the Jedi. We went for an hour hike through one of the forests and it felt magical being amongst the towering giants. After that, we turned east and went through some beautiful, dry, lumpy mountains with rivers threading throughout. The sun was at our back, but once we turned away from the coast, the heat became oppresive. If I opened my visor it seemed like someone was holding a blowdryer in my face.

We pulled into Redding late in the day and got a taste of the seedy side of Cally. After wandering around town some, we finally found a suitable Motel6. We've stopped for a day to catch up on laundry and computers. Next destination is Yosemite via Lake Tahoe.

Thank you!

2006-07-26T18:16:00.000-06:00

When our fourth member had his accident, there were many people who helped us.

To remind the reader, we were on the Cassiar Highway many miles over rough roads from medical help. There are no land line telephones in the area and certainly no cell phone towers. You must plan your gas stops carefully since it can easily be 100 miles between available gas pumps. There are no houses visible from the road.

When we got to John we all thought that one of us would have to ride for help – which direction and how long would it take?

We each had first aid training and Matt was carrying our main first aid kit. We did our best to assess John’s injuries while keeping his spine stabilized. We anticipated shock.

A couple headed north in a small blue car stopped and climbed down the embankment to us. The man said there was a private airstrip just beyond the rise behind us and he ran back to his car. He returned shortly with Todd who works security for the airfield. Todd had a satellite phone. He had already called for emergency transport – either ambulance or helicopter. He sent for help to protect the scene and called the RMCP for us.

There is not much traffic on the Cassiar Highway, but almost everyone stopped to offer help.

A paramedic from Vancouver stopped and took over the scene for awhile. He performed a pretty through assessment including directing us in maintaining John’s spine protection while he examined his spine. We were reassured after his exam.

A nurse, who works in the clinic in Dease Lake, north of the scene, arrived with know-how and materials. Sam quickly conducted her own assessment and placed a cervical collar on John and carefully removed his helmet.

Nola and Peter had arrived earlier. Nola later helped Sam with the spine stabilization and helmet removal. Nola and Peter offered to take John’s gear to secure storage at Peter’s maintenance shop to the south.

The chopper arrived with paramedic and pilot. We all worked together to get him on the rigid stretcher and strapped on the chopper platform. There was no room for Matt to accompany John but Sam said they would take John to the Dease Lake clinic for evaluation and then send him on to Terrace or Vancouver depending on what he needed. The paramedic and Sam said we should head south since John was sure to be sent one of the two places.

The chopper lifted off and we thanked all that we could. We loaded most of John’s gear into Peter’s truck for transport south.

To the many people who helped us or offered help, thank you from the bottom of our hearts. Thanks to Bob, Todd, Nola, Peter, and Sam for your help.
We pledge to do the same for others anytime we can.

And to John: We all miss you and look forward to being together agin soon. In the meantime, heal quickly.

Firefly

2006-07-26T18:08:00.000-06:00

I want to introduce Firefly, my bike. She has performed brilliantly and become a great friend on this trip. When we are out on the road, man and machine become one. An absolute pleasure to ride, she has taken me through an incredible amount of beauty as we've crossed the continent. I know her name because she told me as we were riding across Montana. The odometer had just turned over 22,000 miles and I congratulated her and asked what her name was. A couple of miles down the road, Firefly popped into my head out of nowhere. Wierd, but true.

I am a design enthusiast and this VFR 750 has set my standard for a well engineered machine. It has acheived a perfect balance between power and handling. It is very reliable and the styling is classic. Honda got everything right when they created her.

On the road again

2006-07-26T17:43:00.000-06:00

After John's wreck, we went to a cool little corner of the world in Hyder, AK to hole up for a couple of days and get our bearings. Hyder is the most southern town in Alaska that can be reached by road. It's so small and isolated that it doesn't even have a US customs checkpoint. All of the roads are dirt, it's surrounded by towering green mountains, and has travelers from all over. We were walking to lunch one of the days and looked up to see a full-grown black bear crossing the road 50 yards in front of us. Amazingly, a medium sized dog aggresively chased it off. We asked a watching local if it was alright to go on and he said,"Oh yeah, just stay on the road." We ate the best fish of the trip at a cafe that served out of an old school bus. We stayed at the SeaLaska Lodge and it was great. I met a group of bikers from Australia and another from Seattle. We stayed up late in the bar telling stories. The road in and out of Hyder was 40 miles of astounding mountains, glaciers, and hanging glaciers!

We continued on down through British Columbia on the most westernly route we could take and had a fantastic ride through the canyon above Whistler, BC. After Whistler, the population really picked up and it was tense traffic riding until we got out of Seattle. The coast around Vancouver looked like alot of fun. After we got new tires in Seattle, we went South through the National Parks and Forests of central Washington. It was cool to finally see Mt. Ranier and Mt St Helens. There was a really fun, twisty road up to St Helens, but the landscape is still so devastated that I felt uneasy there. We got to the very northwest corner of Oregon that night and got to catch a Pacific Ocean sunset! Very cool.

The next day we started out on Hwy 101 down the coast. We got through the top half of Oregon in a day and were pretty disappointed because the road was so crowded and only occasionally followed the coast. However, we got to camp on the coast again in a neat forest. The next day we did the bottom half of Oregon and were delighted. The road was less crowded, closer to the coast, and more scenic. It was sweet to see the ocean fade out and merge with the sky. The water was crashing into the rocks, creating a white spray and salty smell.

From Redding, CA

2006-07-26T14:59:00.000-06:00

A lot of miles have rolled by since my last entry here. My bike has rolled over 10,000 miles since leaving Alabama. We're in Redding, CA for a one day layover to wash clothes and update these pages.
All three of us have been physically tired for the last two or three days. We began to run into lots of traffic and increasing heat from Whistler, BC south through Vancouver. Motorcycle riding in heavy traffic requires lots of concentration particularly in multi lane traffic at speed.
We got tires put on at Cycle Barn in Lynnwood. We had ordered the tires a week before so Carl and Adam got us in and out Saturday morning. Thanks guys!
We "moteled" it the night before and the night after. Saturday afternoon we tried to use the public library branch in Lynnwood for Internet but their policies limited non-resident use to 15 minutes and they did not allow USB connections. So no pictures were uploaded and only a brief note was added by Monique.
By 8 am Sunday morning we were rolling south in light traffic on I 405. I don't like interstates but this was the quickest way out of the congestion of Seattle. We made our way south to Mt. Rainer National Park and from there to Mt. St. Helen.
I began thinking that this trip was a lot about big rocks: rocks with snow, rocks with trees, rocks with holes in them, and big rocks in the water.
Our goal for Sunday was to get to the coast of Oregon. We found a state park at the furtherest NW corner of Oregon and headed for it.

Sunset was near as we registered at Ft Stephens State Park. We made a dash for the beach to catch the last rays of sunset over the Pacific. We discussed whether or not we had already been at the Pacific coast when we were in Stewart, BC and Hyder, Alaska. But the Oregon coast counts as a new place for us so we shout and congratulate each other as if we discovered the new world.
We broke camp early and after a quick breakfast of yogurt, granola, fruit and hot coffee and tea, were on the road by 8am Monday morning. Down the Oregon coast we rode. Most of the time the coast was not visible from the road but we enjoyed occasional glimpses of large sand dunes, crashing waves, and massive rocks in the water. Lots of twisties, fast uphill passing lanes with long sweepers and plenty of heat made for another good but tiring day. We had hoped to make California but fatigue made us pull into a state park in late afternoon. Cape Blanco park included a working lighthouse. We took another opportunity to walk down to the seaside and watch a Pacific sunset. The winds were really strong but our campsite was among tall fir trees that provided a break. The wind howled through them all night long.
For the last couple of days as we traveled the coast line, we encountered a low hanging fog that usually dissipated by midday. It is unusual in that it was not so thick as to obscure vision nearby but made the landscape seem to be seen through a portrait filter removing all harsh lines and softening the scene.
We woke early Tuesday morning and headed for the nearest town for coffee and breakfast. We were lucky again. We stopped at a small motel that looked to be built in the 1950's. There was a cafe that advertised esspresso. I hoped that meant good coffee - IT DID! Very nice people and good food.
As we rode the last 40 or 50 miles of the Oregon coast we saw the coasline that we had been imagining. Rugged rocky coast with wind blown whitecaps and flocks of birds fishing the churning waters.

Tuesday we made California and the Redwood National Park, While on a hike at the Ladybird Johnson Grove in the park, we met Allen and Debbie both from Cleveland Ohio. We spent a couple of hours in conversation while we shared the walk through the grove of towering Redwoods.

Around the Redwood National Park and all the way to Redding we found wonderful motorcycling roads through beautiful scenery. Winding, rising and falling, running alog rivers and beside lakes, these roads are perfect and we all enjoy them.
As day slid into evening, I began to tire and lose concentration. When you lose concentration you have to slow down to avoid making mistakes, so we slowed the pace.
By the time we reached Redding it was dark and we were all ready to get off the road. Boy, did Motel 6 look good to us with A/C and a hot shower!

Hello West Coast - here we come!

2006-07-22T15:59:00.000-06:00

After a day of recuperating and regrouping in Hyder, Alaska, Jim, Matt and I headed South and crossed the border to the U.S. yesterday midday in the blazing sun. Hyder is worth a separate entry and maybe some pictures later... The strangest part about the last few days of the trip - besides not having John along with us - is the sudden change in population density. When we started seeing cows and farmed lands again it felt like we had entered another world, or rather left the one we had spent the last four weeks in. After some beautiful roads through canyons along rivers and lakes, the Vancouver and Seattle areas gave us a taste of "reality" again, but at least we now have new tires (yuhu!) and feel comfortable making the rest of the trip back home.
Tomorrow we leave for the coast, i.e., we'll be crossing trough Washington, possibly passing Mt. Rainier, then over to Oregon's coast. Hopefully it won't be too crowded on the coast road, since we are travelling during the week. Ami and Byron (two friends from Lawrence who moved to Sacramento last year) are expecting us sometime by the end of this coming week and might join us for a trip to Yosemite Park!
It's really strange to be riding on without John - we miss you, man! Ok, I have to get off now... Library restrictions... Ciao, Monique

4 Days Ago...

2006-07-20T18:41:00.000-06:00

7/16/06 - 4 days ago...a ridilicious motorcycle accident happened in northern British Columbia, Canada and now, things are looking bright back in Bama. Injury report is as follows: broken left collar bone, concussion, road rash on left side, torn ligaments in my left foot, O and a dislocated right wrist bone that happened before the trip even started. Sunday Afternoon: Riding down the Cassier highway we stopped to get a snack and some gas and we noticed a pole that had "Atlanta ~5800 miles" and we got to talking about how far that was and how far it is around the earth and if one were to finish this trip they would be traveling around half the planet. Wow, that is crazy. Keep going guys and be safe! I woke up from the daze half way down a 10ft ditch after a turkey wrap, chocolate milk, and some slow ridin. One tends to become sleepy anyways, first memory after blacking out immediately after waking up from the daze, was a off-duty EMT from vancouver checking me out. He found no broken neck or back and other major things were fine. Then he took off my helmet and then proceeded to contemplate cutting off my alpinestars jacket and I was going to take it off for him. There was no cutting my baby off. so they slipped me out of it and then cut off my shirts. Of course I had to be wearing my "The best things in life are DANGEROUS" t-shirt. Notice the pic on my bro's post. Yea earlier that day. So I got a heli ride to Dease Lake, BC. I wanted to look out but the people said no. so i had to stare at the roof. I got to the hospital and was taken off the board and O'!!! did I have to go #2. I said hurry up doc, I got to save my undies, these are all I got. SO he realized I was doing OK and he took me in a wheelchair to the washroom(as they say in Canada). I was taking a while, he got worried, and asked if i was ok. HA yea so then he made sure he couldn't find anything wrong with me so, then called in the X ray tech. dude had to drive in from who knows where. Buddy looked like he had just put down his 8th beer and cig at the local pub. anyway he took some x rays and I was right, my left collar bone was indeed broken. Then they sent me home with minimal pills and a plastic bag for my jacket and o yea no shoes. So I got to the local motel just behind the place we had eaten lunch earlier that day. People were exceptionally nice and gave me a room half off. And helped me with everything. The 40 year old female EMT that drove me to the hotel came back with a manson shirt and size 8 boots. but me feet are size ten I say don't you ahve sandals. but she said it will help the swelling. I bought into the bull, I was easy to persuade at that point. I made and received some calls and then after an attempted bath, and two perocet's just to lay down. I drifted off for an hour. Only to wake up in pain.I could only reposition slightly then back to bed for an hour. More days will come indidivually as I can find the time and strength to type. Peace for now.

To Ride or Not to Ride

2006-07-18T19:16:00.000-06:00

On Sunday, July 16th, at 4:30pm, John wrecked his motorcycle when he fell asleep while we were driving down the Cassier Highway. Thank you great spirit, he is alright. He has a broken left collarbone, suffered a mild concussion, and has a really sore body. He drove off the right side of the road, down a 10 foot embankment, and he luckily tumbled in grass and gravel. I was leading and noticed nobody behind me so I turned around and saw Jim and Monique stopped, hurrying to get to him and John unconscious down by his wrecked bike. Going down to check on John was one of the scariest moments of my life. I made sure he was breathing and then ran to get my 1st aid kit. John got himself on his back and then we all encouraged him to be still until he was checked out. Lucky again, people started stopping to help us and there was an airstrip with a satellite phone right nearby. And to set the scene, we were really in the middle of nowhere in the Canadian Pacific coastal mountains. It was 35 miles north to a gas station and 4 hours to the nearest town. We had just been driving from a break at that nearest gas station through about 20 miles of gravel. We figure John just got too relaxed on the smooth pavement after the tenseness of gravel. The 1st person to check John out was a paramedic on vacation from Vancouver. He checked everything major and we managed to safely get John's leather jacket off. John was already joking around at this point although he was in a good bit of pain. More paramedics showed up in trucks and finally the helicopter arrived. We loaded him on a board stretcher and onto the copter. There wasn't any room for me to accompany him and we were uncomfortable not being with him, but it's what had to be done. They took off for Deese Lake, 4 hours north, but told us he would be triaged there and then taken south to a bigger city with more facilities, either Terrace or Vancouver. Since we were exhausted, a little shocked, and unsure where they would finally take John, we drove to the nearest lodge, an hour south, and got a room at a heliskiing resort lodge, Bell 2. When we arrived, we called on a $5 a minute satellite phone to check on John and see were he had been taken further south. To our amazement and relief, he had already been discharged and taken to a local hotel. I called John and he was in good spirits, considering the situation. The plan was for him to get on the plane the next day from Deese Lake to Smithers, Smithers to Vancouver, Vancouver to Seattle, Seattle to Charlotte, Charlotte to Huntsville. Right now he should be getting on the plane in Vancouver.

All the people around us at the accident were so nice and helpful. It's really moving to see such compassion from people you've never met. I thank them all from the bottom of my heart for helping us out on that difficult day.

Of course, Jim, Monique, and I have been asking ourselves is there anything more we could have been doing to prevent this and the answer is no, short of not making the trip at all. I was leading and we were going 60-65 mph. We had been on the road for 250 miles this day and had been averaging 300 miles a day. We take breaks at least every hour to stretch our legs and get a drink and snack. We had just stopped 35 miles earlier. The previous night, we stayed in a cabin with beds and gotten a full night's sleep. Regardless, sometimes you get drowsy cruising down the road and I think everyone has experienced that in a car. We knew this was a issue for John and have encouraged everyone to just pull over and rest if you're getting tired. We had done so for Monique 2 days earlier when she had a slow spell. I just figure it snuck up on John before he knew what happened. A big factor in John being alright was him wearing good protective gear. We've been on the road 42 days and 8000 miles - making it that far over the roads we've been is a testament to our commitment to safety.

Other questions are should we be making this trip and should we ride motorcycles. Well, this trip is an epic, exhilarating experience. It makes life sweet and you carry it with you for the rest of your life. With the reward comes the risk and that is where opinions differ as to an acceptable level of risk. John, Jim, Monique, and I all know the risks we are taking and have made the choice to accept them. I'm sorry that it is tough on our family and friends, but you enjoy us because of who we are and this is who we are. A little bit riskier than normal, but really interesting and a lot of fun. Will I ride after this trip? I don't know. It will be a question I will ask myself many times.

Although we are sad John will not be able to make the rest of the trip with us, we are so happy he will be alright. We've decided to finish the trip as planned because we don't really have many other options and because John asked us to. We sure miss you John! We're really having a tough time getting used to you not being with us. Get well soon! We love you!

*I've also just posted some previous entries and pictures from our great time in Alaska. Check them out below.

Denali

2006-07-17T18:08:00.000-06:00

Wow. Rugged, majestic beauty. We were lucky enough to see the mountain too. Pictures can't do it justice and neither can my words. Being at Wonder Lake with perfect weather and my family was one of those lifetime moments.

The Iagullis are supreme!

2006-07-17T18:07:00.000-06:00

The Iagulli family made our time in Alaska really outstanding. First, we met Kelly at her house in Palmer, met her sister Tara and friend Jill, and then went golfing almost immediately. Golfing with Alaskan mountain views! We stayed at her house for the next 7 days and it felt like home. World Cup matches, bike maintenance, computer use, laundry, and daytrips were all made easy. Thurs, June 29, we went to the Iagulli parents' house and Jim fixed us Alaskan sized steaks. We finally got to properly thank him and Kelly for their help 5 years before. Kristen and her boyfriend Matt also showed up and it was great to see them as well. Friday, June 30, we went with all the Iagulli sisters and their friends to Seward and checked out Sealand and Exit glacier. We actually got to hike up to the glacier and touch it! Incredible! During the daytrip, Kristen invited John and me to go with them on a backpacking trip and we were overjoyed with the opportunity to go hiking in Alaska. So Sunday, July 2, we met up with James I., Kristen, and her supercool friends Amy, Amanda, and Matt. The hike was a dream for me because the people were so much fun and the scenery unbelievably beautiful. We are all pictured with Eagle River glacier in the background. When we came out of the woods, we all cleaned up and then went off to James' friend's house to enjoy a July 3rd festival with live music and midnight, daylight fireworks. The next night, we picked up my mom and aunt at the airport and headed straight over to James' place in downtown Anchorage to all meet up again and enjoy the July 4th fireworks. James has a sweet deck on the top of the building, perfect for a cookout. I took Amy for her first motorcycle ride and we got lost in Anchorage with the lazy setting sun. Amanda's son Parker was a ball of life who kept us all going with lightsaber battles. It was a memorable 4th of July.

After getting to hang out with the Iagullis for the 1st time in 17 years, it is clear why we kept in touch. While the years have changed us all, they are still the same great people from my memories in Germany. Thank you all for showing us such a wonderful time!

Wee-Wee sisters on Tour

2006-07-12T18:17:00.000-06:00

Sigi and Heidi made it to Denali and saw the "Great One" - Mt McKinley or Denali as it is known locally. Long flight, long train ride, longer bus ride - 85 miles on a dirt road at 25-30MPH then days of rain and "biblical hordes" of mosquitoes. Boy were we having fun! Then the second afternoon the sun began to break up the rain clouds and the summit was visible. The mountain was Isabel to us for the next 24 hours. This was the first time in 23 days that the mountain was to be seen. How lucky we were!
With the sun came higher spirits and soon the camper bus back to the entrance of the park. Along with that came hot showers, a real bed, and a restaurant meal. Made all that seem like such a luxury.
Thanks Sigi and Heidi from all of the rest of the Cola Crew for stickin' it out with us at Wonder Lake.
BTW Happy birthday to both the Wee-Wee sisters!

O' Denali... "The High One"

2006-07-12T18:01:00.000-06:00

So we made it. This was our destination and we all managed to make it to Denali NP safe and in good spirits. But first, the adventure from Palmer. The ride to Denali was pretty uneventful. To put in short several thousand RVs and a slow speed limit so I was trying not to fall asleep and kill my self on the way up. Especially cuz we are so close now I got to make it. On the way up we stop in at Mary Cary's Lodge. A woman who moved to the back country on the south side of Denali (Mt. Mckinley as it will be referred to as Denali the rest of this blog and forever more. I say this because this is the original name the natives gave this magnificent mountain) Anyways, we eat a great lunch right in front of the supposed best view of Denali but unfortunately it was cloudy but as we sat there and ate it began to clear up o just a little. It cleared up only enough to see a slight glimpse of the south side and I had a feeling it would be the last chance we had to gaze upon this grand mountain. We continued on to "glitter gulch" (as the locals refer to it) and stopped in for a bit of lunch as we were all a little pekkish. Glitter Gulch is the tourist area that has sprung up just outside the entrance to Denali NP. After Lunch we continued on to the Lakeview Lodge just a few minutes north in a town called Healy. Here we stayed 2 nights and got to do some fishing and had a breath-taking view of the lake w/ mountains behind it. In the middle of our stay here, my Mom and Aunt arrived from Anchorage. O it was great to see them. We were all tired so the rest of the gang hit the hay early while I jumped in the hottub. Hey how often to get to get in a hottub and especially one in Alaska next to a lake and mountains. Needless to say I was in heaven for a while. The next morning we headed to the park to catch our 8:30 bus ride to wonder lake. We waited in the rain but it was well worth it. Our bus driver couldn't have been any cooler. Chuck is a native alaskan and has climbed Denali 3 times, summiting twice. We got numerous stories and jokes from him. He made me forget about the rain the whole 5.5 hour ride until we got the weather report of rain for the next 3 days. That got us all bummed but we finally made it to wonder lake, then the shock factor hit. Rain, Biblical hoards of mosquitoes, and in the middle of the food chain. Who could ask for a better time? Well we set up camp and cooked dinner and rigged up our tents to be slightly less leaky. My bro and I had to sleep with garbage bags on our feet due to the door on the tent was no better than a sieve. But we were there and it was beginning to seem like we were going to have to spend our time in Denali NP with the rain and become part of the 70% of people who come to Denali NP and never see the mountain. Well the bad luck ran out and my feeling of seeing the mountain came true. On the second night around 9:45 it was a slow unveiling of the mountain from top to bottom. O what a site it was. The next day Mo, Matt, and I took a bus ride to a trail head and went o a little hike. There are no specific trails in Denali NP, you just walk where ever you want to go. So we did. After a few mountains and several miles with no bathroom in site we decided to head back to the road and get on the bus back to wonder lake. We spent one more night at the lake and left the following morning with clear blue skies. We got to see a wolf on the way out which was way awesome. So then we headed up to our perch overlooking glitter gulch. Uncle Spirit Dancin booked us some sweet cabins at the crow's nest and here again I stumbled upon a hot tub half way up this mountain. Wow things just couldn't be any better. But this was after we had dinner at a fine Pizza joint. Here we got to see a new friend we had met at wonder lake and he was playing standup bass while his buddy was groovin on the alto sax. We had a great time listening to them jam. The next morning we had to watch me Mum and Aunt board the train back to Anchorage and head on to Fairbanks. Denail could let up leave without one more shower. So after a few miles of rain it was smooth sailing all the way to Fairbanks. And this is where we are right now at the Fairbanks Public Library. Earlier today I had to send my bike in to get a new chain and sprockets. And the guys at Northern Power Sports were backed up for a week but somehow managed to get me in and I had my bike back by 3. Thanks NPS. I Have never met so many genuine and just plain nice people in an area. Alaskans are great people and have made me want to move here. Maybe not soon but definitely considering it. And I want to give a shout out to my cousins back in LA trying to somehow manage with the hellacious heat down there. LA means Lower Alabama just to clarify. but Thanks for reading Kevin and Kim. Please let other people know because this is the feedback we love to get. It just makes us want to write more. Well my fingers are all typed out and It is probably way to much to read but There are a few new pics at the end of my July 3rd pics update. (Some Really Sweet ones ... Yall should really check them out) . This is all and Peace.

So much to tell...So little time

2006-07-12T17:59:00.000-06:00

"So tell me, after traveling the world for over a year, have you learned anything important?", I asked the New Zealander across the plank picnik table from me. We're sitting in a hostel in Fairbanks eating a breakfast we cooked on a community stove in a community kitchen.
"Yes. The news is crap. 99.5% of all the people I've met are friendly and want to help no matter where I am. Politics are screwing the world up, but people are helpful and caring all over the world."
Wow! Is that good to hear. Since I live on a diet of CNN and a picture of disaster and mayhem everywhere, this is such a refreshing thought. I remain incredulous but more hopeful.
We talk about South America and he tells us stories of the people and the hospitality he has been show throughout Mexico, Argentina, Brazil and Chile. He says he didn't get into Columbia since the border was closed when he was there.
Outside I run ito another traveler that's riding his bicycle from the Artic Circle to Terra del Fuego (pls excuse spelling...). He reinforces the stories I've just heard. Great experiences in Mexico and further south in prior trips to that area.
We are seeing so much and there is so little time to write about it. But this was a must tell side of our trip.

Quick hello from Fairbanks!

2006-07-12T17:58:00.000-06:00

Wow - time really flies when you are having too much fun! We are having some trouble accessing the website to upload pictures at the Fairbanks library (a ton of security on these machines), so not only do I have to load pictures one at a time, but we also have time constraints. So, I’ll do what I can. Hope everyone can enjoy the pictures without labels for the time being! I have six rolls of film, but I will have to load most of them later.
As the others are probably describing in their blog entries right now (we are all super focused, hacking away at the keyboards, trying to get as much info on-line as possible! And I need to go check my bank account…), we had an amazing experience in Denali Park. I’ll leave it at that for now – hopefully the others were able to add more description. More next time!

Alaska road crew girls are hot

2006-07-12T17:51:00.000-06:00

We came into Alaska with stormy weather and 2 flat tires. Luckily, some guys from Junea helped us patch up the tires and the weather improved as we went on. The border crossing was pretty easy, mostly because the customs official didn't want to stand out in the cold rain with us. Believe it or not, we encountered the worst roads yet when we came into Alaska; hence the flat tires and the cute road crew girls. I don't understand how it works, but I am surprised again and again at the girls that are standing out in the middle of nowhere holding a stop sign. Our first night in Alaska, we stayed in a cool little cabin in Glen Allenn where John, Monique, and I slept in the loft. The next day we set out for Kelly's place in Palmer and took plenty of pics of the mountains, bikes, rainbows, and glaciers on the way.

John Collier is...Way 2 Tired (in Movie Preview voice)

2006-07-05T04:45:00.000-06:00

With absolutley no pure darkness, sleep becomes somewhat of an afterthought up here. But we have been having the time of our lives. I feel privileged to have met so many wonderful alaskans and an indianaian. People talk about southern hospitality well they need to take a trip up north to see what life really should be like. The longer I stay here the harder it is becoming to leave. O and another thing, don't be bashful or shy please feel free to leave us your comments good or bad(we make sre they are appropriate before they go up but we have a lax control board so it will be all good) Well we are heading for Denali in the morning or rather in just a few hours now it is only a handful of minutes til 3 and we are still up. suprise suprise. But something that might keep you occupied while we camp out at Wonderlake for the next few days are the 269 pics I just loaded up to the website John's Photos to July 3rd. Hopefully that link will work but if not go to the Wetumpka Iron Works link on the right side just under our main photo. I would like to give some detail but time says no at the moment so for now we shall let the pics do the talking. And I must say they do a damn good job. Peace for now.

Updates from Kelly's house in Palmer, Alaska

2006-07-04T16:17:00.000-06:00

Ok, it’s time for a recap. Currently we are in Palmer, Alaska, chillin’ at Kelly Iagulli’s house. Kelly is a childhood friend of Matt’s, whom he was “real tight” with at the tender age of eight or so…while their families were stationed in Germany! So, the two had not seen each other in quite a few years. Kelly has more or less left us her house, which she shares with her roommate Jacob. Both are constantly on the go – be it fishing trips, hiking, boating, rugby, ultimate Frisbee or golfing… The only constant inhabitant seems to be “Killer,” a very cute, six-month old kitten, whose name might be a little misleading… After some reluctance he has apparently given into his fate and accepted us as his new roomies.
We’ve been here since Wednesday, June 28 and will be moving on to Denali Park tomorrow, July 5th. Since we got here much earlier than expected, we’ve had the chance to “hang out,” i.e. watch some more World cup soccer and Wimbledon tennis (Agassi played his last match this year! Argh – my generation is retiring already!!!), wash clothes, change oil, check and fix the bikes where needed, prepare for the Denali excursion, cook some meals on a regular stove, meet Kelly’s family, take a day-trip to Seward on an overcast day with the Iagulli sisters and their respective friends, get my back cut open (yeah, I’ll spare all with the details – suffice it to say, it’s healing well and Jim is a terrific nurse) and just watch some our favorite shows… I have not even had time to crack the novel bought in anticipation of some downtime…
So, before we move to the next stage, I figured we needed some updates. I’ve had some more pictures developed, which are posted on the website. Here are just some samples:

Dawson Creek is where the Alaska Highway officially begins, Mile Zero. Jim mentioned it a few entries back. I figured the coolest thing about the town were the murals. Here is where we found out-of-this-world beer prices. A six-pack was about $17, which explained the high prices we kept encountering in restaurants. At dinner that night we had met one of the men working on building new oil rigs – an exploding business these days... The workers put in incredible hours and make extraordinary money, which seems to be another explanation for the high prices we encountered everywhere. The towns are few and far between from here on and the landscape is very gentle after those amazing Rockies. Since it is a mixed forest, the green tones vary in shade across the “waves” of the “forest ocean” which spans as far as the eye can see. As a European I always thought of the US as the land of large, open spaces with few inhabitants, but this part of Canada is even more untouched by man than anything I’ve seen in the US so far. Of course, I hadn’t seen Alaska yet…

Here’s one of the spectacular views we had following the “forest ocean.” This trip gives me such a different perspective on landscapes – now I seem to see each view in context with other places I’ve just been through. Sometimes we seem to suffer from sensory overload and can hardly remember all the beautiful landscapes we’ve seen during the day. It seems that you need the flat and less spectacular areas to appreciate all the contrasts.

Fort Nelson was one of our less exciting camping experiences. Mosquitoes were trying to eat us alive and the site was taken over by RVs mainly, who could probably handle the deep gravel leading to the sites a little better than we did on our bikes. However, it was nice to run into a couple of bikers, Tom and Sue, we had met a few times on the road – coming from Ohio they are headed towards Denali as well, so we may see them again soon!

Ok, I admit, there are plenty of pictures of Muncho lake on the blog already, but I just had to add an illustration of how we sometimes get our fresh water supply and, of course, my frequent silly grins of joy…

Watson Lake was another one of those odd towns that seem to be built just to have a stop for travelers and truckers on the way to Alaska. Hotels with restaurants attached and camp sites for the less reluctant seem to dominate the scene. However, the town tries to distinguish itself with this “sign forest” next to the visitor’s center, where I learned that the many signs from German towns and streets were due to the presumably German trait to plan trips so well that they know well in advance to steal a sign somewhere before they leave and bring it along for this part of their trip. With a bit of sarcasm the lady at the visitor’s center explained that she sometimes asks the German tourists for help when she doesn’t know what’s going on in town…

Oh, yeah, and here we are at our favorite pastime – playing Canasta after dinner with a pitcher of beer… Ahh, life is good… :-)

530 miles for dinner with a view

2006-07-04T14:34:00.000-06:00

Sunday July 2nd, we split up into two groups. Matt and John went for an overnight backpack trip into the mountains and Jim and Monique rode 265 miles south to Homer on the Kenai Bay.

Sunday we got on the road with plenty of sunshine and cool temps. Great riding weather. From Palmer there is only one highway south and that leads through Anchorage about 40 miles away. Once south of Anchorage the road returns to two-lane, winding around Cook’s Inlet with the mountains close on one side and the sea on the other.

Traffic is heavy since this is a holiday weekend and everybody who owns a set of wheels is on the road to somewhere else. Passing RVs and towed boats keeps us awake. It’s kind of a game since we pull off for breaks about every 50-60 miles. Then we get back on the ribbon of asphalt to pass some of the same people again and again. There is something exhilarating about accelerating around a huge RV from 50 to 85 (mph) and then slowly rolling back down to 70. We keep this game up most of the day and get to Homer about 17:15 local.

Here we are at a pull off overlooking a fast flowing river (creek?) somewhere in the middle of the peninsular crossing.

Coming into Homer, we watch a bald eagle flying over the sea off to our right. We stop at an overlook and I call the Crane’s Crest B&B where we have a reservation for tonight, I get directions which include 2.2 miles up a dirt road on the crest of a ridge. After a wrong turn and a second call, we arrive at Kate’s place overlooking the bay. WOW!
Here’s a view out of our bedroom window.

Kate is an avid bird watcher and wildlife fan. She shows us pictures of the Sandhill cranes that live here and then the gangly moose calves that arrive each year. As we talk with Kate it is clear that she had a vision of what she wanted for years and that she worked steadily towards its fulfillment. The land, the house, the metal igloo all have a story. All tell of her determination to be in this place.

We ask Kate about dinner and she recommends the Land’s End restaurant at the very tip of the spit of land sticking out into the bay and insists that we take two pair of her binoculars to scan the sea for wildlife. As we ride out the narrow finger of sand and rock, the sheer number of campers and RVs on either side of the road is amazing. There are wood fires burning and the smell mixed with the faint smell of the sea is perfume despite the chaos of the many people on the beaches on either side of the road. At the very end there is the Land’s End Restaurant with a long row of condos off to the right. We find a parking spot for the bikes in the gravel and decide to take our gear in rather than leave it on the bikes. This spit of land seems to have attracted a very wide assortment of humanity and all of them are intent on fishing or wandering around gawking at the mountains. I have the sense that I’m seeing a significant summer ritual of some kind her in the “Land of the Midnight Sun”.

The “Welcome to Homer” sign at the city limits includes the tag line “the halibut fishing capital of the world” and Monique goes for the Halibut on the menu. As she said, “it’s a long way to go for dinner“.

Sunshine on my shoulder

2006-06-28T22:56:00.000-06:00

I woke at 6am with sunlight streaming in between the blinds of the little log cabin. Glorious sunshine. Makes the world bright and shiny and puts a grin on my face. With hundreds of miles of rough road and construction coupled with lots of wind and rain, sunshine just wipes it out.
The little cabin has a loft and the other three slept in the loft while I opened the two little windows and put the cotton mattress on the floor and crawled into my sleeping bag. Great night sleep and a gorgeous morning. Off to the showers with plenty of hot water and then to the restaurant next door. I have to wait for them to open the door…
Around 10:30 we’re all up, clean, dressed and fed. Most of us are packed and ready to leave. Here’s Matt putting on the finishing touches for departure.
We’ve only got about 150 mile today to get to Palmer to visit Matt’s childhood friend Kelly so we’re in no hurry. Except me; I’m almost always in a hurry. Matt’s more into the Zen of the experience so we have to negotiate to keep balance. I’m workin’ on chillin’-
The snow capped mountains are wrapped in glaciers and fast flowing rivers. The water is a frothy silvery brown and the snow melt gorges the wide shallow stream beds movng tons of rock and silt as we glance at them in passing. So much power in the cycles of the seasons that it almost looks as if the earth is angry right here. But it’s hard to be angry in this great sunshine. What a beautiful day!
Along the winding back road that is a major highway, we come across a small espresso shop with flags and whirly-gigs. There is a lot of charm about this place with its art work and great coffee. We like it so much that we all buy a logo tee-shirt and take pictures. We stop several more times for photos, looking for that poster shot we’ll treasure in the years ahead. Here is one of the poster candidates:

Alaska... only 20 miles

2006-06-26T23:35:00.000-06:00

Today we made it to Beaver Creek, Yukon after 300 miles of the worst road conditions we have seen yet. But things are looking up we have a room here and we are only 20 miles from Alaska. And we heard from the girl at the desk that the road is suppose to be loads better as we head west on into AK. We left Whitehorse this morning a little later than usual but we stayed at one of the most spectacular camp grounds yet. We had a creek that was babbling (well actually roaring) all night and all the firewood we ever wanted. And the mosquitos were suprisingly not that bad. As we were leaving Whitehorse we were riding through a small canyon when out of no where a bald eagle swooped out of the trees and landed on the top of the canyon wall. That has been about the only wildlife we have seen in a few days. My thoughts are they are laid up due to the overcast and slightly rainy weather. But just after a great smoked salmon bagel and steaming soup in Haines Junction, we hit the construction. Our first stretch of offroading was 20k and of course, it had just finished raining so things were a little dirty after that but worst than the gravel and mud was the wavy roads. This is caused by the ground constantly freezing and thawing. This created some very difficult challenges for the bike as well as for us. While we were on another long stretch of gravel we began to notice that the mountain peaks around us seemed unusually white. It was actually snowing on the mountains and raining down in the valley on us. Good thing we made it this far because that kind of riding will really wear one out physically and mentally. Now for a little R and R and World Cup action. Peace for now.

Canada... We Are Expensive

2006-06-24T17:14:00.000-06:00

From Dawson Creek, we have been making a steady pace and the road is suprisingly in great condition. Great being a relative word comparing the condition of the road as I remember it from 5 years ago. Anyway, the first day out was some pretty boring riding mainly flat, long roads with a few high speed sweepers every once in a while but you couldn't go any faster that 75 or so because of the road conditions. So, we putzed along stopping for lunch at BuckingHorse, where we had some good food and met up with a couple from Cleveland whom we have been seeing regularly ever since. We made it 300 miles to Ft. Nelson with ease and some wildlife but nothing really spectacular yet. We camped on the outside of town with about 90 RV's (it felt like) and the mosquitos were in full on attack mode. And the stagnant body of water only feet from our tents did not help the matter. The next morning we broke camp early, it is super easy up here since the sun gets you up at 5 anyway and doesn't set til about 1130 or so. We set our sights on Watson Lake and head out. We stopped for lunch at a gorgeous lake fed by glaciers and snow called Muncho Lake. By now my canadian funds I had withdrawn days earlier are about to run dry. At Muncho Lake, Gas was 1.39/ L and there are 4 Liters in a gallon. You do the math and the exchange rate is pretty darn close to even with the US dollar. We press on to find some Big Horn sheep waiting around a bend. They stand their ground for a minute then all scatter like some frady cats. Soon after this we come to Laird Hot Springs and O what a stop. Probably my most favorite stop on the trip thus far, we swam in hot springs that mix with a cold spring but the water was as hot or hotter in pockets as a really hot bath. Matthew and I conquered the springs by placing a rock on the far side of the springs right where the hot water feeds in. I felt like we were going to be hard boiled when we came out of there. Luckily it was all good and we had a great time relaxing in the springs. After jumping on the motorsicle's we all had trouble staying awake but the patches of gravel help keep us on our toes. We pulled into Watson Lake at 7 or so and got a room. So here we are now and we made it to the Yukon. More travels still to come. Peace.