Tewster's Traveling Circus Alaska 2017

Tewsters Traveling Circus is on the road!
Alaska 2017!


(photo taken the day before we left)
(Spotwalla link to follow along)​

Our little group of one Princess and three clowns are heading to Alaska. Our goal...make a U-turn at Deadhorse while enjoying each other's insanity and odd bodily noises along the way.

We have few rules...travel as slow as we can and not get run over...stop every 8 minutes to pee...obey ALL of the Princesses orders …. only camp when conditions are perfect …. find the cheapest motels …. make sure each link on our chains are detailed at the end of each day …. make sure to ALWAYS use our turn signals (after all, three of us are riding BMW’s)…. stand next to Anthony when he dialogs a girl with his Welsh accent (he gets all the girls) …. NEVER make any jokes about boobs, farting or Anthony's Africa Twin …. and always try to get the head clowns shingles to flair up by poking him in the chest.

You can see we are an above average bunch of idiots. For those of you that have followed my other adventures …. Coffee and New Friends ....Tiny Bike to Alaska 2016 …. you can expect a certain irreverence to be extended to anyone, everyone, and everything!

Yes! Was following the build thread. Have a great trip!

Kaye: The Princess

​

I had never been on a motorbike till I was 58!

In 2012 we were traveling around outback Australia for 4 months with a 4WD & Kedron caravan. The folks touring on bikes were catching my attention and coincidently, while we were free camping, in rode Simon & Lisa Thomas (2RidetheWorld...just arrived in Australia) They were on their way to give inspirational talks in Brisbane. After chats, coffee, and Turkish delights, they’d just given the best one yet and I was going home to get a motorcycle license!

Hypothetically, Gary and I decided to make a ‘Bucket List’. Forget the Skydiving and cruising the Mekong, mine was to learn how to ride a motorbike, maybe obtain a license, pick and eat an apple off a tree, and somewhere in-between, try and run 2kms. I’ve achieved the first two ….. but not too good at jogging!

Ironically, making the ‘Bucket List’ became a reality! In 2013 I'd just ordered BMW G650 GS and all the cool gear :) and...1 week later, I was diagnosed with an aggressive skull based tumor and Thyroid cancer which wasn’t looking promising

The bike sat in the shed for 12 months and then eventually the only way I felt normal was having a helmet on my head and enjoying the freedom of a ride in my beautiful country. Later I went for my open license, upgraded to the F700 GS, which I ride today ….. and the rest is history!

A bit about my history includes a royal :) Australian education followed by my teachers degree and setting myself up as an artist / potter with my own workshops and gallery. Many years later after my alternative ambitions wavered I settled into ‘pay me wages’ retail …… and met Gary :)

Traveling was what we wanted to do …….and after more Aussie trips (that were now on the ‘Bucket List’) we met the Head Clown! He took us on, especially me, ‘warts & all’, for a guided tour of the states. This was a life changer for me. At that time I don’t think Tim fully realized that he was helping me save my life. When the opportunity arose to ride with Tim to Alaska, I didn’t hesitate and both of us were ‘in’.

Good friends, and especially great ones, don’t come around too often. Life can be precarious. I’m not in remission yet, but with this journey and our plans for the future, I try not to think about it too much or have regrets. At the end of the day I want to say, ‘Remember Tewsters Traveling Circus riding to Dead Horse...the Princess was one of them!’

Anthony: Taff

​

Lets do this !!! LOL

So at the end of 2014 I started watching some motorcycle adventure videos on Youtube. After watching a few different ones, I discovered this guy Tewster2 and watched a trip called 2014 Fall Motorbike Adventure...I was hooked. I noticed that he mentioned that for part of the year he lived not too far from me, so I though maybe I should reach out.

After a few emails we agreed to meet so we could have chat. I wanted to ask him some questions about a trip I was planning out to Utah and Colorado.

At our meeting in the the cracker barrel (The Head Clowns favorite eatery),

he offered to come with me and show me around (I thought how cool is this)...and with that the video series (Coffee and New Friends) was born.

The trip for me was life changing and I'm sure this trip is going to be even more incredible.

Thanks in advance to all the people who have followed the planning thread and offered their homes, gardens, and garages to help us on our way...it means a lot.

As for me, I'm 48 years old and from South Wales in the U.K. I moved to Florida in 1995 and owned a travel agency, a bar, and a nightclub. After twenty years of that ( I could write a book ), I decided to cash in, take some time for myself, and think about where I'd like to go with my life. I won’t say I'm retired, but taking my time in finding my next career...who knows maybe I’ll join the circus ;-) If you see me on the trip and want to say hi I'm the one with the endomorph body type (AKA not the skinny one) LOL

Although Gary and Kaye and I have only talked via Skype, I feel like I know them already, and cant wait for the adventure to begin !!

And me: Tim (tewster), The Head Clown

​

I'm a 65 year old ex-Sheriff's Deputy and professional photographer. All I do now is ride my motorbikes, lie to lots of folks about the Grand Prix races I've won, supermodels I've dated, and make corny videos of my travels. The mountains of Western North Carolina is where my patch of Heaven is.

I owned and operated a commercial photo studio in Orlando Florida for decades. Was the first one to go all digital in 1995. Worked producing actor headshots and product images for companies like Hawaiian Tropic and Nautilus Corporation.

Raced a little Yamaha FZR-400 in the CCS roadracing series in the late 80's and early 90's. Was lucky, or treacherous enough, to win the Southeast Lightweight SuperSport Championship in 1990. My win at Daytona that year was my favorite. I have no fears of using my front brake on any surface haha.

Sold my studio in 2004...always wanted to be a Sheriff's Deputy...went to a military style Law Enforcement Academy at age 50...started as a road Deputy in 2006, and retired in 2014. I had a great time putting people who deserved to be separated from society in jail, got shot in the face, and learned the art of Muhammed Ali's "rope a dope" fighting meth heads. My favorite thing to do was turning dirtbags into hip-hop dancers with a Taser :)

That's it, nothing more, sorry.



We've set up a SPOTWALLA page if anyone or Law Enforcement, wants to follow along with reference to any outstanding warrants or to just make sure you're not home if we try to stop by. The page will be active soon.

We are riding three matching 2017 F700GS's and one brand new Africa Twin. Tim's 700 has about 6k miles on it so far, but the Princess’s and Gary's 700s are starting the journey with less than 700 miles each. Anthony's Africa Twin has less than 800 miles on it.

Gary and Kaye (the Princess) live in the hinterland of the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia and ride Beemers over there. They have become dear friends and when we decided to all ride together on many future journeys here in the Northern Hemisphere, they sent me a wad of money and said "get us some bikes". Nice huh?

Anyway, for the way we ride, three matching 700's were procured. I had to order them directly from the factory in Berlin to get just what we wanted. NO complicated electrics other then ABS and FI. We all have some bit of sense, have traction control built into our right wrist, fluid in our ears for stability control, and know how to check our own tyre pressures. Easy!

Kudos to Eurosport BMW of Asheville for hooking us up with the bikes.

I spent the winter months here at my patch in the mountains of Western NC getting them set up and ready to go. Here is a link to the planning and set up thread I started here on ADV Rider:

http://advrider.com/index.php?threads/a-little-bigger-bike-to-alaska-2017-prep-and-planning.1191739/

We are trailering the bikes out to Great Fall Montana. Will leave the trucks at my good friend's Pat and Tom's castle and continue on from there for the next 6 weeks until our return.

Each of the Circus members will try to do daily updates to the ride report. We will use different colors of type to make it easier for you to skip over the three clowns ramblings and only pay attention to the Princess.

You know we're in...good luck, ride well, have fun!

Tim, have been anxiously awaiting your departure. Have thoroughly enjoyed your prep reports over past few months. Safe travels and hope the circus has an epic adventure. Will be along for the ride!
Bill

Wow... I'm amazed you could order the Beemers without the electronic stuff.
Looking forward to following your adventure.

Them's some purty-lookin' motorcycles. Meantime, Mine is still stuck at the shop, wasting primer riding weather. But I'm not bitter...

Seriously, ride safe. We'll be following your adventure with much envy.

Thats fantastic can't wait for the ride report enjoy and drive and ride safe



Regards to all the team from Bahrain can't wait for 2018

Bon Voyage - you have my jealousy, er, umm, best wishes! Just keep thinking you need a red F700 to balance the white ones . Enjoy!

Another Epic ride report by Tim. looking forward to this one, ride safe and have Fun..

Wishing you guys fair weather and safe travels! Definitely will be following along.
Jeff

I'll be a few days behind and look forward to enjoying your intelligence reports. Safe travels, y'all!

Mike

Whooah! Looking forward to the updates as the weeks fly by. Really looking forward to Taff's AT comments. (Did he bring a towrope to 'assist' others?)
Hunter
Ketchikan, AK

Yup i'm in !...j.f.

whooo hooo - the Circuls is underway! Great write up from each of you. Have fun and safe ride - look forward to your reports.
Your plan for the UCC in 2018 got me thinking to do the same. I was planning on riding to AK, maybe even Prudhoe Bay in 2018, why not make it an IBR as well

Wow! The day is finally here! Been anxiously waiting to see who Tim was talking about!
I only knew names and now I can put them names to faces.
What a great looking circus for sure!
Hope you guys are safe and Godspeed to you all. I love the 700's and how Tim you set them up.
As for the Africa I think that will be my second bike just cause.
Will be following you guys closing and looking forward to all of you writing something and getting a different perspective on your ride.
I can wait to do my ride next year hopefully I will and can meet you guys some time crossing paths.
Big thumbs up to all of you!

Jorge


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

How exciting! I wish you the best time and will be following your posts!

Congrats on the start of the Circus ride. Gotta give Kaye, the Princess, a lot of credit for her willingness to put up with you three clowns.

Or...she she the real ringleader

Have a GREAT and Memorable journey.

We've set up a SPOTWALLA page if anyone or Law Enforcement, wants to follow along with reference to any outstanding warrants or to just make sure you're not home if we try to stop by. Here is the link

https://spotwalla.com/tripViewer.php?id=13d0f58ea2f8dd8111

The page will be active tomorrow.