Alaska on a BMW K1600 GTL

[ClifNotes]

Originally Posted by judgebill

You don't mention it but are you riding from Encino? You will put about 4000 miles on your tires by the time you get to Fairbanks/Anchorage. Suggest as soon as possible you order and pay for new tires to be installed up there. The roads in Yukon Territory and in northern British Columbia are hell on tires. You won't need off-road tires on the trip unless you make a point of running on dirt roads. If you're camping be sure to take a mosquito net. Plenty of camping places along the entire trip. If you want specific suggestions email Clif or me for further information. Tires, however are important. And if you want additional service it's a good idea to schedule it now so you won't have a problem when you arrive up north.
Take lots of pictures so people will believe you are on the trip...sort of.
Enjoy and ride safe.
Bill

Bill's right.

Tire problems at worst can cause a fatal blowout because the long stretches of straight highways beg the rider to ride at 110, 120 mph... some guys do over 160mph (google news it - canada and usa are looking for one of those)...

and even without the worst case scenario, you'll find yourself stuck in some place that doesn't have motorcycle service for hundreds of miles. when i was in fort nelson, even the large tire places that had the best equipment did NOT have the confidence nor insurance to handle a motorcycle. then, you'll be faced with trying to beg a dealership hundreds of miles away that you're not a Nigerian scam to have them ship away tires, waiting for greyhound to deliver them (and trust me, "Jesus" that you'll be transferred to in the Greyhound shipping customer service will NOT find your tracking number.)

anyway... you get my point. Even if you still have some life left on the tires by the time you reach the dealership, it's not worth the risk. And if you're a motorcycle parts hoarder like me (sorry cindy!), you can always fedex it back home.

[judgebill]

Hi Y'all. Miss the riding, miss the companionship of Clif and Cindy and mostly miss all our reader friends who have been so encouraging. I'm with Clif in that this blog will continue to receive postings about our riding and other experiences. We have too much emotional investment in this to simply let it drop.
The flight down south was in three legs and I've always had trouble sleeping on planes...so it has taken me a couple days to recuperate from the experience. Much prefer riding 10 or 12 hours to flying in a cramped seat for 6 or 7 hours. No scenery in a plane, just constant low-level noise and discomfort. Lucked out and got an upgrade for the middle leg....which meant free booze and a nicer meal.
Weather down here has been bitterly cold (a damp cold, incidentally) but clear and with only a bit of wind. Haven't climbed on my F800GS yet but will do so in a couple days. Have a job teaching a law school class at the U. of Montevideo in a couple weeks so that will be fun. And the students are always impressed when the old fart teacher shows up on a motorcycle. Trying to figure out how I can work into a Legal Writing Class the story of my trip to Alaska. It'll get in there some way.
The only thing we can control in our lives is how we choose to react. So I'm working hard on reacting well to being away from my riding partners and re-learning to live in Uruguay, with the language challenges, climate differences and a completely different dynamic. Riding on a vacation calls for a mind-set that is admittedly different from the attitude one brings to day-to-day living. A good vacation lets you separate yourself from one reality and involves you in another reality. Both are equally valid but the vacation reality, though completely fulfilling in itself, carries the undercurrent of realization that it is but a portion, a segment of your life and not your complete life. If the vacation is particularly enthralling, as this one was for me, then the move back to the alternate reality is more difficult. So now I am struggling with the emotional adjustment of living my "regular" life while holding close my memories of the road, of Clif almost hitting a moose, of Cindy roaring down the highway on her HD, of tall mountains and green hills, running streams and beautiful lakes. Walking down a city street in Montevideo has its own charm but is very different from riding along the Alaska Highway with the purring sound of a BMW in my ears and the feeling excitement and adventure running in my veins. I just spent an entire month, one-twelfth of a year doing something that fully involved me and now I am living the daily life I have been living for years, dealing with bills, house maintenance, shopping, cooking, dog care and the hundreds of other little things we all face in our daily lives. A vacation is supposed to give you a chance to "re-charge" the batteries of life. A vacation has its own reality which is not the reality of the rest of the year. §my batteries were re-charged quite nicely and I am supposed to be re-invigorated for what I am now living. I am looking forward to teaching my class, to continuing to post on this site and to maintaining contact with my riding partners.
I am happy to see that some of you are following your dreams as well. Don't hesitate to do so, don't let the nay-sayers dissuade you from realizing your dreams. Follow Clif's example of taking the bit in your teeth and striking out on your own in a new direction. Expand your horizons and live the life you really want to lead. The choice is yours.
Bill

[harley1550]

Whoa, Clif! That last post is something! I'm often told my mind is always working but if I was to have to come up with a quick contrast I'd say: me - practical, every day things, from different angles and perspectives, etc. Clif, esoteric, practical, impractical, DEEP, seemingly crazy, etc.! That is a compliment, Clif. You have an ACTIVE mind my friend! Very cool and interesting!

[ClifNotes]

Originally Posted by judgebill

Hi Y'all. Miss the riding, miss the companionship of Clif and Cindy and mostly miss all our reader friends who have been so encouraging. I'm with Clif in that this blog will continue to receive postings about our riding and other experiences. We have too much emotional investment in this to simply let it drop.
The flight down south was in three legs and I've always had trouble sleeping on planes...so it has taken me a couple days to recuperate from the experience. Much prefer riding 10 or 12 hours to flying in a cramped seat for 6 or 7 hours. No scenery in a plane, just constant low-level noise and discomfort. Lucked out and got an upgrade for the middle leg....which meant free booze and a nicer meal.
Weather down here has been bitterly cold (a damp cold, incidentally) but clear and with only a bit of wind. Haven't climbed on my F800GS yet but will do so in a couple days. Have a job teaching a law school class at the U. of Montevideo in a couple weeks so that will be fun. And the students are always impressed when the old fart teacher shows up on a motorcycle. Trying to figure out how I can work into a Legal Writing Class the story of my trip to Alaska. It'll get in there some way.
The only thing we can control in our lives is how we choose to react. So I'm working hard on reacting well to being away from my riding partners and re-learning to live in Uruguay, with the language challenges, climate differences and a completely different dynamic. Riding on a vacation calls for a mind-set that is admittedly different from the attitude one brings to day-to-day living. A good vacation lets you separate yourself from one reality and involves you in another reality. Both are equally valid but the vacation reality, though completely fulfilling in itself, carries the undercurrent of realization that it is but a portion, a segment of your life and not your complete life. If the vacation is particularly enthralling, as this one was for me, then the move back to the alternate reality is more difficult. So now I am struggling with the emotional adjustment of living my "regular" life while holding close my memories of the road, of Clif almost hitting a moose, of Cindy roaring down the highway on her HD, of tall mountains and green hills, running streams and beautiful lakes. Walking down a city street in Montevideo has its own charm but is very different from riding along the Alaska Highway with the purring sound of a BMW in my ears and the feeling excitement and adventure running in my veins. I just spent an entire month, one-twelfth of a year doing something that fully involved me and now I am living the daily life I have been living for years, dealing with bills, house maintenance, shopping, cooking, dog care and the hundreds of other little things we all face in our daily lives. A vacation is supposed to give you a chance to "re-charge" the batteries of life. A vacation has its own reality which is not the reality of the rest of the year. §my batteries were re-charged quite nicely and I am supposed to be re-invigorated for what I am now living. I am looking forward to teaching my class, to continuing to post on this site and to maintaining contact with my riding partners.
I am happy to see that some of you are following your dreams as well. Don't hesitate to do so, don't let the nay-sayers dissuade you from realizing your dreams. Follow Clif's example of taking the bit in your teeth and striking out on your own in a new direction. Expand your horizons and live the life you really want to lead. The choice is yours.
Bill

Bill!

"dealing with bills, house maintenance, shopping, cooking, dog care and the hundreds of other little things we all face in our daily lives"... I can do all that EXCEPT cooking (unless ya wanna die! Remember that cooking show, chinese guy CHAN CAN COOK? Well, Clif CAN'T cook!) I'll take care of the "daily shit.... eh-hem! daily lives stuff and you take care of riding and packaging our story.

So why don't you REACT to your feelings and just come back! And who said you have to teach Law in Law School? When I was Law School, every professor said the practice of law has nothing to do with what they teach. And when I worked with attorneys, they also said the same thing!

So if you're gonna stay in the cold wet place, then copy and paste on a website what the Law Students need to learn... and spend the rest of the time showing videos, pictures, and blogs from the tour! You know what a DEPRESSED ATTORNEY is? A DEPRESSED ATTORNEY! You have to teach the students how to have fun, so in their stress laden lives, they can have an outlet... and even inlet that comes with touring.

We're in Bass Lake now. Birds chirping outside. The doggies are stamping around the house. Beautiful... just beautiful.

You can separate vacation life from real life IF YOU CHOOSE TO! Bill - I haven't even been home yet! I'm still on tour!

What's the worst that can happen? Cindy and I aren't gonna let Beamer Dad go hungry or be without juicy awesome made magaritas!

Make a list of everything you love in Uruguay. I'll come down with a large sidecar and ride everything (or everyoneS) back up!

Love you Bill. Miss you...

[harley1550]

It is good to hear from you, Bill. Glad all went well getting home. I'm right with you on plane travel. I enjoyed your post and your 'take' on life. In fact, I've enjoyed all of your 'takes' on life, what it is, who controls it, etc. and your consistent message. Good stuff. Okay, now back atcha'! :) You wrote: quote "my batteries were re-charged quite nicely and I am supposed to be re-invigorated for what I am now living" Unquote The word that surprised me there, Bill, was 'supposed'. Are you re-invigorated because you are 'supposed' to be? Are you still 'wondering' if you are re-invigorated? Or, are you re-invigorated because you've 'chosen' to be, 'are', etc? I'm just picking on a word and kidding, Bill, of course, and it just dawned on me that doing that with a lawyer can be risky!

Hey, glad you're home safe and back with us my friend! :)

[ClifNotes]

Originally Posted by harley1550

Whoa, Clif! That last post is something! I'm often told my mind is always working but if I was to have to come up with a quick contrast I'd say: me - practical, every day things, from different angles and perspectives, etc. Clif, esoteric, practical, impractical, DEEP, seemingly crazy, etc.! That is a compliment, Clif. You have an ACTIVE mind my friend! Very cool and interesting!

Thank you. I'm so happy to see your post - especially I thought you'd be on tour soon. Love it! Thanks!!

[ClifNotes]

Originally Posted by harley1550

It is good to hear from you, Bill. Glad all went well getting home. I'm right with you on plane travel. I enjoyed your post and your 'take' on life. In fact, I've enjoyed all of your 'takes' on life, what it is, who controls it, etc. and your consistent message. Good stuff. Okay, now back atcha'! :) You wrote: quote "my batteries were re-charged quite nicely and I am supposed to be re-invigorated for what I am now living" Unquote The word that surprised me there, Bill, was 'supposed'. Are you re-invigorated because you are 'supposed' to be? Are you still 'wondering' if you are re-invigorated? Or, are you re-invigorated because you've 'chosen' to be, 'are', etc? I'm just picking on a word and kidding, Bill, of course, and it just dawned on me that doing that with a lawyer can be risky!

Hey, glad you're home safe and back with us my friend! :)

RECHARGE YOUR BATTERIES !!! ??

Good thing H1550 brought this up.

In Uruguay, there are often electrical outtages. And hey! In LA, we don't recharge anything. We plug ourselves in the AC and in this city, we're on FULL THROTTLE all year!
(no batteries in LA! it's summer all year! SOLAR POWER!!)

Huhh???? goooooood analogy???

come back!!

I'll setup an amazing never-before-seen video conferencing system. Uruguay will have its first law course taught over the internet from LA !

[ClifNotes]

2012 jul 28 1205 bass lake

ironically, the first person (harley mom) that taught & warned me about using sport bike - is about to introduce me to my first.

i'm scared but i know i have to try it!!

[judgebill]

Now that life has been defined by my riding partners and H1550 I'm re-adjusted and more composed. Thanks for the wake-up call.
Teaching is fun for me and I am looking forward to discussing legal analysis and writing with eager young minds. All these students are potential riders who can spread our religion around the world...so for me I'm on a sort of mission to "spread the word".
Clif, if you can come up with a program that will allow people to video conference from their home computers in a better fashion than Skype, you should make enough money to support all of us in the fashion to which we would like to become accustomed. I'll simply move my entire household back to Los Angeles and we can continue riding.
In the meantime, riding for a living sounds more and more like work. When riding for pleasure, for personal pleasure and personal satisfaction the feeling is different. It's the so-called busman's holiday. Nice but when you get down to it, the change of pace is what makes a holiday, not the same old routine. Even if the routine is enjoyable.
Bill

[ClifNotes]

Originally Posted by judgebill

Now that life has been defined by my riding partners and H1550 I'm re-adjusted and more composed. Thanks for the wake-up call.
Teaching is fun for me and I am looking forward to discussing legal analysis and writing with eager young minds. All these students are potential riders who can spread our religion around the world...so for me I'm on a sort of mission to "spread the word".
Clif, if you can come up with a program that will allow people to video conference from their home computers in a better fashion than Skype, you should make enough money to support all of us in the fashion to which we would like to become accustomed. I'll simply move my entire household back to Los Angeles and we can continue riding.
In the meantime, riding for a living sounds more and more like work. When riding for pleasure, for personal pleasure and personal satisfaction the feeling is different. It's the so-called busman's holiday. Nice but when you get down to it, the change of pace is what makes a holiday, not the same old routine. Even if the routine is enjoyable.
Bill

2012 Jul 28 1447 bass lake

Bill, you'll never "sort of" be on a mission to spread the word. You are a talented speaker and I've seen you hypnotize so many people on the trip. (I'm one of them!)

Video conferencing is a great idea. I feel the software available is pretty saturated - so it would be difficult to achieve critical mass without a large amount of startup capital to produce the software and market it.

I think the BIGGER market and potential is the different "lessons" (ref Bobbi) that can come from our ongoing tour. The interactive aspect is important as well...

A lot of people don't video conference because they don't have people they really want to video conference with. CINDY AND I WOULD LOVE TO VID CONFERENCE WITH YOU NOW THOUGH!

* * *

I was at the auto parts store parking lot with Cindy. She was fixing the idle adjustments on her two Buells.

"I love the Buells!" I kept repeating to Cindy.

"Wow. The advriders are going to complain I put you on a Harley."

"What people?" I asked. Cindy's comment didn't even make sense. I thought (a dangerous pastime) on her comment. "You mean my motorcycle's a Harley?" I threw the question out there. It's not a Harley! It says BUELL on it.

"Yeah, they're BOTH Harleys."

"They're HARLEYS???" I felt like I had somehow been tricked.

It took me a couple hours to digest the fact I had ridden a Harley. And loved it before I knew it was a Harley!

I respect Harley riders and I always thought they're shiny. But I never wanted to ride a Harley. I thought I'd never ride one.

Here Cindy schemed to put me on a "Buell" which I instantly fell in love with. And only after I fall, SHE TELLS ME IT'S A HARLEY?

See? Hang around with "vamps" long enough and you'll wake up one someday!

* * *

The thunderbolt was a nice ride. I liked how easy it turned and I have not yet tested its acceleration potential, though once I rolled it back too far and it jumped.

The idle (I learned what that is from Cindy today) is set too low so the engine cuts a lot. At first, I had to roll to a stop holding the clutch, shift to Neutral, restart (and it wouldn't), pull out the choke more, restart, shift to 1st, then get going again.

My next stage was learning from Cindy to just pull on the throttle a bit when i restarted it - what a good lesson! That made restarting faster when the engine cut.

Then finally, I got to the point where I didn't even have to stop to restart! I'd be rolling, engine would cut, keep the clutch, I'd pull the throttle, restart, let out the clutch and keep going!

So... today I rode my first sports bike, Buell, AND HARLEY DAVIDSON!

* * *

Cindy said, "Thanks for helping me condition the engines."

"Thanks?" I was shaking my head. "You canNOT have anyone else condition or help fix your motorcycles!"

I finally found an internship I really enjoy!

[ClifNotes]

This is me smiling (and hiding my fear) before riding the white Buell Thundersport for the first time.

Up to this point, I had ridden 2 250cc BRC MSF motorycle course motorcycles. The k16gtl bmw, and the loaner f650gs bmw.



With the absence of "Beamer Dad," Harley mom is taking full advantage of the time alone to convert me into HDs!

[ClifNotes]

Harley Mom on her Buell.

She had still CONVENIENTLY at this point forgotten to mention that she's actually sitting on a Harley!

SOMEONE THROW ME A BONE HERE! (austin powers, dr evil)

[ClifNotes]

Originally Posted by ClifNotes

see? i'm wearing gloves again, after advrider friends said i must!

Yesterday coming to Bass Lake from Studio City, Cindy and I remembered this intersection!

[ClifNotes]

beautiful pic taken by deb and gary...

[ClifNotes]

a link i was looking into...

http://www.ca-msp.org/Experienced.aspx