My Raider is Rolling Higher into British Columbia

 With 1700+ miles of this Alaskan Highway Motorcycle Ride having rolled under my tires...

The days on this Alaska ride are starting to fall into a routine... at least until I can't find a camp and have to surrender to another motel room! ;o) It turns out that southern British Columbia is one of the main playgrounds for Canadians... hmmm... imagine that!

I've made the mistake of pushing to long into the day... and having campgrounds fill up... Something to keep in mind... and quit doin' it! :o)

A problem I've had is finding WiFi... I've never needed it before and apparently need to grow some skills at finding it. My aircard and cell seem to work up here... the problem is Verizon doesn't have what I consider an affordable "Plan"... so I'm avoiding what I believe to be a .49 cents a minute roaming charge! ... which is why my posting may be 'spotty' as I roll through to the Alaskan border...

I should be able to go back on Verizon... where I can get signal... once I get back to U.S. Territory...

One other... little issue... is judging distance... making the conversion from kilometers to miles... so a fella has a better grip on how far he's goin' today... well... duh! right?o)

Otherwise... the roads in up here, from Western Montana to Kamloops up  in British Columbia, Canada... how are they when you're thinkin' 'bout Motorcycle Roads?

One word from my viewpoint... Suh-wheet! Lookie here... even over in that bit of Alberta I ran through, running up to Cardston, north of Glacier and Waterton National Parks... where you get out on the rolling plains, it's gorgeous.

Now, I know that some will complain that straight roads on a Motorcycle  are boring... I say... if they're running through beautiful lands... with visions in every direction... I'll take 'em.

But, if you're needing twisties and mountains that hurt your neck tilting it back far enough to see the tops... British Columbia should suit you!

Be watchful though... this pair jumped up over the concrete on the left... just as I came rolling up at about 70 mph... with a string of cagers pushin' me!

...and like others have said... a month to make this Alaskan Highway Motorcycle Tour is pushing pretty hard, considering the distances... you have to keep on rolling when you'd really like to stop and look a lil' more... but... you take what you have and do the best with it right?

A problem I have is staying on the bike... I have this constant... "There's a picture... Damn! and over there! ... and another!"... running through my head... If you stopped for every picture you see... you'd run all day long and get 4 miles...

Some of 'em just have to be recorded in your memory. :o)

I've many miles to roll in the morning... still something like 1800 miles to get to Tok... so it's time for bed!...

I'll talk to you... the next WiFi I find...

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Bound for Alaska, my Ride Continues Through Montana

After a painfully slow day trying to get across Yellowstone... bad choice of routes! :o) I got camp set up... before the rain started and closed out the evening cookin' supper, sippin' a cool one...Fat Tire to be exact, and scribbling in an Old Fashioned Paper journal...

 ... actually... when the rain started shortly after cleaning up that really good can of stew :o) ... I spent a lil while working on my last post... hopefully my last melancholy scribbling for a bit... this day seemed to turn a corner maybe... we'll see...

Most of the night I listened to the rain rattle on the roof of the tent... that's usually a pleasant sound... even thinking about packing up wet gear in the morning. :o)

Luckily, I got up to fairly clear skies in the morning... at least for a while...

Rolling up the highway through the morning was actually, in contrast to the previous couple days... a nice ride. Fly fishermen dotted the river... both standing in the water and in drift boats... the air was fresh from the nights rain... and my mood had lightened.

Runnin' up that highway, I came around a bend and spotted a strange looking tree... towering above all the surrounding pines... Huh?... is that a Redwood? in Montana?...

Nah... That's just likely, the biggest artificial... uh... christmas tree, you'll ever find!... actually... that pup is a Cell tower! The trunk is steel... and the limbs are all fake... and all intended to camouflage the cellular antennas near the top... Kinda clever... don't you think? Talk about "environmentally Conscious"!

A ways north of that tree is the lil' town of Ennis Montana...

I'd developed a hunger for a hot cup of coffee by the time I rolled in and fueled up, so I went inside and got me a cup of that fine... gas station coffee! :o)... and a muffin!

I was standing outside, sippin' joe and munchin' on muffin when a movement caught my eye... across the lot Ol' Glory was snappin' in a strong breeze... not just any Ol' Glory... this was one of those big, maybe 12' flags...

... and she was flyin' over a Veterans memorial...

I walked over and found something that truly grabbed me... A Cowboy holding his hat over his heart... his old helmet in the other hand... lookin' up at Glory...

A Bronze Sculpture of a cowboy soldier kinda strikes close to home! :o) it's a truly wonderful Veterans Memorial they've built in Ennis... and was appropriate to this trip of mine...

... got something in my eye, walking back to that Yamaha Raider waitin' on me...

Well... got my eyes fixed and went rumblin' on up the road... to find Rain!... Rain at Butte... Heavier rain at Deer Lodge... Rain all the Way to Missoula and beyond a bit...

But a cool thing happened in spite of the weather... I had lunch with Bob Seeger!

I did too! ... 'course this'un goes by the name of Rob Seeger... He'd stopped on his big Honda, to see that all was right, when I pulled to the side of the road to climb into my rain gear... One of the great things you find...bein' a biker...

How many times have people just pulled over to your car... to see if you were ok? Not many I'll warrant... but on this trip alone, I've been sitting on the side twice... and had guys roll up to make sure all was OK... pretty awesome...

We rolled along for quite a few miles till we decided to share a lunch table in Deer Lodge... At Missoula he went west... and I turned north... and found...

A pedestrian bridge for critters! That's right... this thing ain't paved... it ain't a road... it's all grass on top... so Elk and Deer and such can cross over without becoming hood ornaments! Kinda cool!

The only real mistake of the day was once again, going to far...  by the time I got up around Kalispell and Glacier... there wasn't a campsite to be found... so I settled on a fleabag motel... 'cause I was beat...

The thing is... Western Montana is country made for Motorcycles... good weather or bad... some guys only want to ride twisties... most claim to not like anything straight at all... I say... If it's running through a gorgeous, open, Free land... with no shortage of Soul filling vistas to bless you along every mile... who cares if it's straight or twistie?

Hell... even the chunk of interstate I ran between Bozeman and Missoula... was flat gorgeous... and I usually dislike the super slab... and this time it was raining to boot!

Today... I go over Goin' to the sun road through Glacier Park... and cross into Canada... if the weather co-operates... I'll pass by if it's raining... I prefer it in the Sun! :o)

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Melancholy Miles

It's been a tough couple of days.

The motivation for this long ride on the Alaskan Highway is to fulfill a promise made by a young runt... too long ago.

While the details will remain private... just know that it's not the pursuit of joy, but simply a hope to  find some peace...

The difficulty of the trip is compounded by great faults in a mans character.

How can a man, who can so easily, and clearly, see the mistakes made by others, and their solutions; fail so miserably at recognizing even greater failures in his own life?

It's confounding... and wearying... even for a grumpy, stubborn Ol' fool like me.

I have Treasured friends... a wonderful Daughter and son in law... a Grandaughter that is a joy... and a wife I'm unworthy of...

So... I sit in my tent... alone... typing on this lil' Acer mini laptop... as the sky darkens into the evening. My supper is cooked and ate... gear stowed for the night...


... and I lean back in my Hippie chair... carving the words of a post... which will get uploaded when I run across some WiFi... or enough signal for my air card.

I rolled 428 miles yesterday, after leaving Fort Collins so late... got up early and could only manage 250 miles today in the same time... between road construction and Buffalo Jams... I chose the wrong route to make any time...

... but giving me no shortage of time to chew over the years... the miles... and the heartaches... missing the family and friends behind me... waiting to share my future at home... and the friends gone forever... but missed no less... and wondering, "What is it I'm looking for? How will I recognize it if it comes along?"

... so... in the morning I'll pack my Beaver Creek camp and depart this spot north of West Yellowstone... rolling North, seeking sunny slopes... Greater Understanding...

and the Mythical "Healing Power of the Open Road

Wandering the Great and Glorious West
Brian


***posted from a rest area along the river North of West Yellowstone***

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Riding to Alaska - Day One

Not a good way to start a long ride... actually... the worst way I think... nothing to do with the bike... just family things I'll leave private... thing is... it started the day off in a "Storm"...

Life... some days are good... some days just rip and tear...

Didn't get away until hours after I'd planned... but that big Red Bike picks 'em up and puts 'em down... so I still made a bit over 300 miles, and rolled into Thermopolis Wyoming just before 9 last night... feeling like dirt...

I'd rolled past a nice state campground at Boysen state park in the Wind River Canyon... but rolled on by, 'cause unfortunately, I needed to get to cell service to communicate a bit... so I rolled on to town and got a room for my first night on the road...

Even this lil' camp in the canyon didn't lift my spirits much... and the Canyon of the Wind River usually can do that pretty fine.

That Star Raider... loaded up, and rolling 80+ is 'bout the only thing working well.... that sucker was still breaking 50 mpg in windy Wyoming to boot...

Maybe today will look better. The sky is clear and I'll be rolling soon... A loose goal for today is Seeley Lake... NE of Missoula...

We'll see... I guess it's gonna take more than a day to lighten my heart... Not how I intended to start this journey... life in the west I guess...

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Why take off for a weeks long ride, on a Motorcycle...?

...with little  money, not much prep, and a lot of stuff that really needs to get done... at home?

It just sounds kinda crazy... don't it?

But... Why not? What are ya gonna do? Draft my wore out kiester and send me to... Afganistan?

What's gonna change if I just keep on keepin' on as things have been? What's gonna "Get Better" if I just participate in perpetuatin' the same Ol' same Ol'? How do I capture my dreams... if I let 'em keep on outrunning me?

At some point... a fella has to straddle the saddle, twist the throttle, and ride off into the wind!... or nothing... not one damn thing... is gonna happen... other than a few more wrinkles... a deeper sense of frustration... and an ever blacker brooding.

How about; 'Cause if I don't, my soul is gonna shrivel up and die. How about; because without the restoration
of some Freedom, injected back into my life... my life won't be worth an once of anti-monkey butt powder... thrown into the wind!

As a Mustang requires open range to run on, to feed the needs of its' spirit... I require that Ribbon of Highway, stretching out in front of me.

The system Demands; "Feed me... Take care of me... Sacrifice your life on a mindless, endless, cancerous treadmill... where only, I the system,... benefit!... You are the expendable FEED for my consumption!"

My reply to the "system"?... Pack up your crap and get out of my face... or I'll leave Metzler 210 tire burns on your backside!

This trip is to Alaska... Hell, it might as well be to Toledo... The Destination really should have little to do with it... It's the Soul feeding Joy a man gains, rolling two wheels down an Open Road that is my goal... The destination always, only, turns out to be the end of a trip... I'd just as soon never reach that end!

For me the trip is the goal... getting there... is melancholy.

But, this time, the Destination does have purpose. It's to, belatedly, fulfill a promise made to each other... by a bunch of guys too many years ago... what we were gonna do, when we got home.

I'm the only one that can make the ride... the only one who came home.

So... I ride... one damn way or another... too many years surrendering to the betrayal of a carnverous system. Too many years feeding bits of my soul to a Beast that couldn't care less about any of us.

Too many years of waiting for "things" to get better...

You know what happens when you wait?... You get Older...

... otherwise little, if anything, happens. You want "things" to change... You gotta go out... grab that Beast by the Ears and shake the bastard till his eyes cross and his teeth go rattlin' down the street like chicklets!

Well, his ears are sore... his lips are all sunk into a face missin' its' teeth! ... and one Crazy Ol' Biker Cowboy is rollin' a big Red RoadStar Raider Motorcycle down his never ending Ribbon of Highway... Laughin'!

Haaaaaa ha ha ha ha.... Haaaaaaaa heee heee heee Ha Ha!

It is By God! Good To be ALIVE!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Final Prep for Departure of the Great Alaskan Raider!

Picked up what I Think is the last of the bits and pieces of my gear last night... I'll write about what I'm taking... and how it's working, along the way on this ride.

Installed what is really a Temporary power plug yesterday, so I have cell phone, camera battery, Ipod charging etc... oh yeah, and my lil' Mini Acer laptop charging... It's a lil' inverter... far more than the bike can actually produce... but the items that'll be plugged in, One at a time, will draw Way less than what the inverter can produce... so just a lil' common sense should be all that's required...

... so... on second thought... I may be in trouble! :o)

But... if this proves out... I'll figure out a more permanent setup...
(this one will only be able to be used in dry weather) an inverter, no matter how small, needs ventilation... but has to stay dry! and what I have is exposed... so... charging only when it's NOT raining! :o)

Going out this morning for a test ride of my "packing" and power plug... collect some Cash... and a few other errands in prep for a Mid Morning? departure Tomorrow.

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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Last Minute Scrambing Before I leave On the Great Alaskan Raider!

Got back yesterday from our Ouray circle...

First thing to do was pick up a new ACER Mini Laptop for the trip. My Dell has quit charging... and I've no time to deal with it... 'course... a button puncher like me... getting "Important" things moved over is probably as much difficulty... like remembering the passwords I've had the computer remembering...

... so I can access accounts from the new Lil' Roadie! :o) Oh Lordy... I think I just named a laptop... senility is advancing rapidly... hopefully... 30 days +- on two wheels will turn that clock back a touch!

Today is to work out my packing arrangement and wire in a small charger for cell/camera/laptop... a little tricky... but I'm thinkin' I can do it without any fires or sparks...

Current plan is to leave sometime Sunday... and start shovin' it North! Hooya!

I'll keep ya'll up to date!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

Sometimes You Need to Leave Your Cruiser Behind...

... To know let yourself know... Just how much you'd miss her... if she was gone!

I feel kind of guilty... not having the truck and rig set up to take our bikes on this first circle of our new future... but... I'll get over it...

All the folks out Motorcycle Touring that I've seen, streaming past on this trip, doesn't do anything to make me feel better either! :o) ...

I've never seen so many Motorcycles on the road before... Not sure how Harley Davidson could be in financial distress... considering what % of the Bikes I see, are Harleys! ... those corporate executives runnin' that show there... must have my ability at managing money! :o)

If I have a dollar... I put it in the fuel tank and RIDE!

The roads 'cross central Colorado are mostly made for Motorcycles I think. Especially 133 coming south from Carbondale, through Redstone. Turn southeast at Hotchkiss on 92, toward the Black Canyon of the Gunnison National Park... Hope for little traffic... and try and not wreck your bike as you lean through the twisties... 'cause you're gawkin' off at the gorgeous country you're riding through... Awesome! ...

There's a lil' cafe on the right, at the sharp bend in Crawford... good place for a break... I'd tell you the name... if I could remember it! :o)

I'll be comin' back here... and spending a few weeks... riding the rubber off some tires!

This trip is doin' one thing good for sure... It's pushin' me to work out a new rig... that's smaller... easier hauling... and leaves more of those tank fillin' dollars... to keep my Knees in the Wind! :o) ...

Always schemin' ... always calculatin' :o) ... and now... with a growing hunger to get back to my Raider... and roll her down that Ribbon of Highway...

Things are thin... when you look in my pocket... but if the past few days are an omen... the income from my sites may just continue to improve... and go a long way toward keeping us on the Road...

So... though things could be better... they could be a lot worse!... and considering the Freedom I'm living in right now... and the Shining Times that threaten my Future...

My advice to anyone in anything like the same situation as me is...

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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The Leaving! ... and the Approach to Freedom Road!

Hittin' a few bumps and potholes here at the end of that last chunk of road... and gettin' ready for the next leg of this Journey.

a couple of 'equipment' issues with the rig... but I think we've got 'em locked down now...

We're pullin' out later, this day... hopefully 'fore it's too far gone... headin' west with the rig... for a rendezvous in Ouray Colorado... in about a week.

The bikes, both the V Star an' the Raider... are stayin' here in Nunn till we get back from that circle...

Then, on the about the 22nd of July, we'll circle back here... I'll climb on the Raider... and split the wind north... Headed for Homer! :o)

It's been a rocky road the last few years, to fight our way to this point... and not real sure how long it'll last... but by God... for a bit anyhoo... We are livin' on Freedom Road! Hoo! Ya! :o)

Now... my real job is, now that I've stepped off on Freedom Road... I just have to find the way to keep myself on it!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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My Star Raider Finally Has All Its' Custom Motorcycle Seats and Saddlebags!

Picked up the Raider at Bitchn Stitchn in Lakewood yesterday morning... and Installed the Raider Saddlebags this morning...

Now anyone who has a Roadstar Raider knows... that nobody is apparently making Saddlebag Mounts or Saddlebags for Raiders... at least if you want hard mount bags... and are using, and liking, for the most part, a Yamaha Raider Backrest.

Well... No Problem! Just fabricate your own Raider Mods... ie. solid, Raider Saddlebag mounts... and then there are plenty of Saddlebags that are gonna fit on a Raider...even if... like me... You are one of the few who LIKE the Stock Yamaha Exhaust pipes! :o)

I'll be building a page on the site in the next few days with pictures from a lot of angles... and some "noise" 'bout how I mounted 'em... etc. but for now... I think those bags... and the two custom seats (Pillion and Drivers seat) are Lookin' Good!

Both seats have a gel insert, with fake ostrich Vinyl and some fancy stitchin'... They added some material to the drivers seat, that moves me about an inch and a half or so, forward... eliminating, for me, I think, the need to replace the handlebars for a better position... right now... I'm happy... so I'll ride it a few thousand miles and make a final decision, some time into the deep dark future.

So... now I'm 'bout to go make a test ride... to see how it all works together... and of course... just because the sun is shining... the road is calling... and there's fuel in the tank!

Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian

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