Sandy Beaches to Frozen Tundra KW to AK to KW 2011

Well I am now 5 days out from departure for my long awaited trip from Key West to Prudhoe Bay and back to Key West!!!

This is me, Andy, at one of my favorite photo spots on US 441 just south of the Florida Border.


I plan to make this a live time report, but the ride will come first. I learned my lesson last year when we toured the Blue Ridge Mountains. I spent too many frustrated nights screwing with internet connections, uploads and posts, when I should have been either enjoying where we were staying or sleeping for the next days ride!! So this time I am going to have some help. The fiance' Angie, ArtChicaOTB, is going to help the process along. I am hoping to do the uploads to smugmug, send her an email with a brief write up and let her put the pictures into here, along with my dialogue. I am gonna try to a FaceBook page also.

Everybody say Hi to Angie!!


Angie will be helping with updates, shipping stuff if I need it and managing any issues with credit cards and other finance stuff. She is my support team, eat your hearts out Charlie and Ewan!!!!

The plan is to actually depart towards the northland on Friday July 1st. From there the basic route is a diagonal from south FLA to Chattanooga, then to the Quad Cities IA/IL area to grab I-80, onto Rawlins, WY.

First three days will be fast miles on the slabs. I know, I know, slow down and enjoy the ride! Well truth is, this is about touring way up north, I can make it back to places in the US on a shorter vacation, so I plan to haul ass to the Rockies and then slow down.!!

Coming out of Rawlins I plan to cut up through Grant Tetons and Yellowstone and then over to Missoula MT. From Missoula up to Sandpoint, ID and cross into Canada from ID on SR 1 and run a route up along Lake Kootenay, Slocan Lake and the Columbia River. Then I catch BC 1 over to Golden, then run south to Radium Hot Springs. I know thats a big back track, but hey, I have worked in nuclear power my entire adult life, I have to go through a that is called Radium Hot Springs.

From there its up through Banff, Jasper, the Ice Fields and onto Prince George. Prince George to the Cassier, visiting Hyder of course, then onto the AlCan and up to Fairbanks. That should be around July 10th. Take a day to swap tires, do some maintenance and rest a bit in Fairbanks. Then off to Prudhoe, spend the night and then back to Fairbanks. From there I plan to run the Denali Highway, then head towards Wasilla. Wassilla to Valdez, hopefully hooking up with ALCAN Rider and following him down some roads less travel to and from Valdez. Next its Tok, the Top of the World Highway, Dawson then Eagle Plains. Hang out the night in Eagle Plains then and up and back to Inuvik. From Eagle Plains its down to Carmacks and the Campbell Highway. I plan to do a down and up on South Canol Road and stay overnight in the Ross River area. From there is just start running south and back towards the US, pretty much just following the main routes. I plan to enter the US east of Glacier National Park and do the Going to the Sun Road from east to west, making my way to Kallispell and then Darby MT. Hopefully I will be in Darby in time for West Fest!!!

Keep going south through the US Rockies and at Arco, ID backtrack east and north into Yellowstone and run Beartooth Pass over to Red Lodge. By the time I hit Red Lodge time will be running short, so its super slabs back to Homestead, and then on down to Key West to trip and complete the IBA Ultimate Coast to Coast to Coast Challenge.

I hope we get some cool days so you don't dehydrate your way out of FL.
Subscribed!

John

Andy, have a wonderful trip! Enjoy first, post later. Oh, and please say hi to your muy bonita Angie!

I'm in norcal now.

I'm in!!
Shiny side up, my friend!

I hear ya......ride to KW this weekend was a bit warm, so glad for the camelbak!!

She says hello back!!! Hope your trip is going good!! Maybe this winter you can come down for a day or two and we can swap lies about our adventures this year!!! IF you see we are close by as I travel let me know and we can have a beer somewhere!!

haha....thats what my text message from spot says, 'Still riding, shiny side up!!'

Four days to go now! and go figure I have brake issues. Did the trip down to Key West this weekend (pics to follow this evening) and at the No Name Pub on No Name Key, we go to leave and I get a failure light and ABS failure!! Then I see that I have no odometer, no speedometer and the brake light is locked in!! Seriously, no problems at all for 16k miles since I bought the thing in January of 2010 and right before I leave it gives me fits!!

Oh well, off to the dealer this afternoon, hoping its something mostly simple!!:eek1

You know, Andy!
Thank you for such a sweet intro, mi amor!

To Marty: Helllloooo!

I'm looking forward to helping FlaRider with this report...hard to do because he does a great job on his own!

If any one has any ideas of how to help Andy from home, share them, please. While he is on the road, I want him to concentrate on his other girl: GSA.

As for GSA and her going to the dealership, she wants a last minute bike spa visit. Lol positive thinking it is a small deal....

Later!

Hi Angie. I'm in the SF bay area till 6 aug. so not anywhere near Andy's track.
I'll be ready for stonies in january!

I plan to camp close to about half of the nights for the trip. I am not much on not having comfort so........I went a bit extreme on the gear. I have the Big Agnes four person tent to have a gear explosion inside, plus to sleep on I have the Luxury Lite Ultra light cot along with a Thermarest Z-fold pad. I have already used it and it sleeps very well!! I also have a kermit chair. I will be comfy when I camp!!! I figure I got the big pig for a bike I might as well load her down!!!

Here is me practicting the tent set up. Actuall was pretty quick, 30 minutes from out of the bag and up, to down and back in the bag.


I have packed and unpacked about a hundred times. All the gear is down to the minimum plus some "I just want" stuff. All fits in the Jesse side and top cases and 3 dry bags.

Finished up brakes last Tuesday night and the poor thing got a bath. It have been awhile, she likes being muddy!!!


Pretty basic on the Farkles. Stebel horn, Maier rear fender extension, exhaust pipe extension and case support for the Jesse left side case heat issue, CENTECH switched fuse terminal, BMW big bash plate, Touratech handlebar risers and hand guard extensions, Headlight protector, oil cooler protector and run a Zumo 550 with the XM antenna.

On Friday June 24th we had a visitor that is on his way for a four corner, 49 state ride. Daniel is only 26 but a very mature young man. It was our pleasure to host him for a couple of nights while he was in the area. He has dedicated his trip to the Alzhiemers Foundation and Project Rescue. He recently lost his grandfather to Alzhiemers, so he is traveling to raise money for the two foundations, he has some public events and those can be found on the Project Rescue website. Here is the link to Daniels Ride Report. Links to the two foundations are in the RR along with a link to his blog and spot. If this young man comes near your area please offer to help him out, he is a good kid, riding for a good cause.
http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=696125

Here is Daniel unloading his bike.

Bright and mostly early on Saturday morning we took off along with Daniel to Key West. Daniel needed to hit there for the four corners and I needed to document the start of my IBA UCCCC ride.

It was a good day for riding, but typically hot for summer in south FLA!! I never had a camelbak before when riding and after having one on this ride I find myself thinking, 'WTF was I waiting on?'


Shadow Rider was not being very cooperative this particular morning!!


Earlier he had been right there!!


We headed down Card Sound road from Homestead. This route has a lot less traffic, is a little more scenic, and actually has a couple of curves on that add some fun to the ride.




Daniel behind us on Card Sound Bridge


We did a cruz down through the Keys at a fair pace for a Saturday morning. Traffic can get bad and it can happen in an instant on The Overseas Highway. Destination was the No Name Pub on No Name Key for lunch, we had a ways to go!

Just some random shots through the Keys










Well thats enough for today.......I will catch up through the weekend tomorrow and then be ready to update after departure on Friday!!!

Keep us posted on how much stuff you mail back home before you leave Alaska. Or maybe before you even get to Alaska.

Now... go give that GS a stern talking-to, I'm looking forward to leading you astray on the way to Valdez.

PS: Hi Angie

You guys rock!
Looking forward to more!
There a quite a few ADV riders leaving the Southeast for AK about the same time. If you see my friend Cody and his grandfather, wave him down and say hi, good peoples.


Ride Safe Andy!

Took the bike to the shop yesterday, was really bad news at first. They couldnt get the ECU to talk the analyzer!! Finally the figured out that the ABS pump/control circuit was shorted out and that also would cause the communication failure. They found they had the parts in stock and replaced this morning. Everything is working and all the codes are clear!!! Heading to pick it up this afternoon. Sucks that this will be expensive, but glad it happened at home vice in the middle of nowhere!!!

Little note to everyone. The dealer does claim that the after market brake pads, such as EBC, are thicker than the OEM and the master mechanic that teachs their classes, tells them that can mess with the ABS modulation control. They originally thought that might have been part of my problem. Not sure if its BS or not, but just something to note.

Anyway, looks like Friday will be a go for departure and there is potential I can roll Thursday morning. I am hoping that happens for two reason, break up the 3 long days I have at the start of the ride, and I am just ready to go!!!!!!!!

Glad that's sorted/hope it's the only problem for the entire trip. I'll be watching from norcal.

understand the anxiousness. git er done! subscribed...

Hello, Jack!!!

Thanks for helping out an inmate with his adventure!

I will be keeping you and all inmates posted on how much gets shipped in and out to Andy. I'm sure there will be a couple needed. I am staying home to help and support!

GiSA is ready to roll, Andy is packing her up right now...and I've all the tools to keep his stuff greased from here.

My only concern? :eek1 How much I'm going to miss him! Funny thing, I know I'm super busy because he is going to keep me on my toes!