I think ALCAN, I think ALCAN - 47 Days & 16,300 Miles

With the stars aligned and the kitchen passes in place, let the adventure begin. Since I have good high speed access at this point, I will jump right into the report. The back story and other information will be added...

First leg is Starkville, MS to San Diego, CA. I have a conference there and it's basically on the way, sort of

Day One rolls around with the bike mostly reassembled and me mostly ready to go Found that I had forgotten to put the tankbag straps back on the bike

Got that fixed...


and here is our intrepid adventurer about to head off into the <STRIKE>sunset</STRIKE> Mississippi summer at noon...

rolling bags make great wheelie bars

The first day's goal is Dallas, TX and the home of Trip. The start was about 2 hours later than I wanted it to be, but what's a couple hours in the grand scheme of things....

Here is the new cockpit layout...


and here is the starting odometer reading, just for the record.


Let's go find Trip... Dallas HO!


Everyone always finds interesting things to see and beautiful landscapes to capture. This really adds to the ride reports. I found some cool stuff as well...

These are pine trees Saw a lot of them at the start of the ride.


I ran across Mississippi on Hwy 82. There is a pretty cool part of that road when you drop down out of the hills onto the delta. Maybe 100ft change in altitude, no much but pretty dramatic. You go from rolling hills to board flat in about a half mile...


Once on the Delta, you see lots of cotton...


and catfish ponds. Eat Mississippi Catfish


Waited for a train and thought of GasPipe


mobile art, an added feature of today's modern railroads...


The Mississippi Delta is rich with history. Much of the history of the blues has its roots here. There are blues tours, clubs, and museums throughout the Delta. The home of one such legend is Leland, MS. Many of you know him, he was a pretty well known banjo player.


Ol' Kermit hangs in this crib


The museum has a big collection of Muppet collectibles and photographs. Jim Henson was born here...


I tried to talk Kermit into going on the road with me, but he refused to ride the KLR... Later dude...


Next up, the mighty Mississippi... they are getting started on a new bridge.


a tow headed up river...


Welcome to Arkansas


A lot of times on the road, I see military vehicles parked out by a VFW. This VFW had a tank you could actually get close to without driving on their lawn...


They saw everything is bigger in Texas, well these folks were in Texarkana, Arkansas. This was a BIG grill. It was about 25-30ft long and had 10-15 openings on the other side :eek1


Welcome to Texas squint, squint


Making my way across Texas.


Texas Sunset...


I forgot my reservation confirmation for HotelTrip, so I got a little bribe for the doorman Perfect mounting spot


So, I arrive at CasaTrip around 11pm.

Day one 558 miles 10hrs 36min...

Before my Grandparents died a few years ago, I used to visit them in southern Arkansas three times a year, by way of Hwy 82 as you've just described.

I've seen those sights many a time, but not lately (no reason to go there anymore).

Thanks.

Hey DD......Have a safe trip and tell Mostro Snady sez hi when you see him.

You boys have fun!

...will feel right at home up there. GSs and KLRs abound. I guy up in Alaska told me the KLRs are like cockroaches you just can't kill 'em. Have fun!

Ride Safe

"Hey, ya'll, watch 'is!"



This is gonna be good.

See ya friday!!

Later,

Yo Jay, it was great havin ya drop by. Sorry I wasn't a better host. Work nights suck. Glad you made it to Sandy Eggo. Wave at my daughters in Oceanside when you ride by.


I'm sure there will be a few other KLR's on the Alcan. I doubt many will have been ridden there. I'm SURE none will have been ridden as far as you will travel to get there.

You da man !!!! Crazy, ADV man.

. GO DADDY! GO DADDY!

Are those 30mm ammo cans?

bedliner spray can...

I heard this thread would pop up....

bet you're involved somehow too...

Yeup, me too.

Waiting for that popping sound, as this thread exceeds "Toxic Britney"!
Go get 'em DD.

Q~

looking forward to reading this one!

have a great ride!!

What Norton said--Too bad it doesn't pop in front of his in the great Norton tradition.

Good to meetya Jay.

Jurgen

Here is some back story, while I load up pictures....

Read G-Dog's "Dragon Insurance" thread and am getting lots of help with my own current troubles...

So, I figured that I would share...

Many months ago as I finished my MSF course (Mar 05) and pondered my first motorcycle (purchased Apr 05), I dreamed of riding off the ferry into Cordova, AK to visit my friends. The dream didn't include any details about how I got there, but it was just a dream after all

Because of circumstances, fortune, understanding wife, understanding employer, and some configuration of stars, I am getting the opportunity to achieve that "moto" dream of mine.

Yes, this guy


is doing the ALCAN 5000


This trip includes a loop through San Diego and maybe CroMags if I can make it No truck or trailer, just me and the KLR The trip details will be documented here.


anyway, here's the hook

My ride is all paid for and I wanna give something back, so I am making my ALCAN a charity ride.

I am raising money for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Copper River Watershed Project. Funds raised will be split equally between the groups. More information is available at my Alcan page (see link below). I would like to raise at least $2,000 (goal reached, let's keep going).

I have circulated this to my family and friends and figured I'd run it here with my friends and internet family

I have met a number of you and look forward to meeting more as this trip progresses and time marches on Thanks for the ear

If you wanna help CLICK HERE
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So, since I was going to do this big trip, it was time to do some maintenance on the KLR and some upgrades.

The bike was purchased new in Apr 2005. It had 18,600 something miles on it.

For the trip I made a bunch of changes.

Progressive Springs
Gold Tech Valves
Over-sized Front Brake Rotor
Rear Works Performance Shock
New foot pegs (larger)
Stainless, braided brake hoses front and rear
Radiator Protector
New sealed battery
re-wire battery connections and fuse box (remove all glass fuses from the bike)

Did some maintenance

Oil change
Air filter
Fork seals
New brake pads
New brake fluid
Check Valves
Check oil screen

Here is the operating room


the patient


without legs


Draining the forks...


all new legs


then I put this on...


it's bigger than the original disk


In the final stages of prepping the bike for the ALCAN, and found something a little disturbing... It was hidden under some wires...

I found it right here.


Close up, it looks like this...






Crack looks like it's a third of the way around the tube... Maybe this is why Kawasaki designed the sub frame bolts to shear, to protect the sub frame

I pulled the sub-frame to get welded.






ALCAN departure in 5 days :huh well at least it was easy to put my new rear shock on


this shock


installed


the oil screen with a bit of trash :huh


torn down as far as she would go...


the weld and paint... once the sub-frame is covered in black it will be time to replace it


starting to look like a motorcycle again...


One or two more days of work and the bike was ready to go.

ALCAN, HO!
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Well done on finding that when you did. No dragonslayer wants to find his steed has gone lame right in the heat of the battle.