Conclusion??????

[Cue Arlo Guthrie's "Motorcycle Song." Click here to listen.]

I apologize for the lack of updates, fast and free internet in northern Alaska eluded me even in Fairbanks.  Hell, in Fairbanks I had a tough time getting a reliable cell phone signal half the time.  I'm in Anchorage now and the flop house I'm staying at seems to have a decent internet connection, so more photos and detailed trip reports are forthcoming.

For those of you who aren't following me on Facebook, I didn't make it all the way to Deadhorse.  On August 19th, I turned around on Dalton Highway near mile marker 230, which is less than 200 miles from my intended destination.  It had snowed the night before and the surface of the haul road resembled wet clay. After slipping and sliding for over an hour at a speed of 15 miles an hour in light rain, I made the decision to turn around since it seemed pretty likely that I wasn't going to make it to Deadhorse before midnight.  A close friend made me swear "not to die" on my trip and since I was over 300 miles away from the nearest hospital in one of the most remote places in North America, turning around seemed like the only sensible thing to do.

Here are my key stats as of yesterday (8/22) at midnight:

• Days elapsed since I left Seattle: 26
• Total miles traveled: 4169
• Wildlife observed while riding:
• Grizzly Bears: 1
• Brown Bears: 1
• Reindeer: 4
• Foxes: 1
• Caribou: 3
• Moose: 2
• Number of collisions with moose: 1

I wish I wasn't kidding about the last statistic, I'm lucky to be alive.  I was riding back into Fairbanks after aborting my mission to Deadhorse, it was really late - around 11pm.  I was on the Elliot Highway (state route 2) and I was a mile or two from Hilltop Truck Stop where I was hoping to have a hot meal after 300+ miles of incredibly difficult riding, much of it over mud covered hills. (Aside: a bonafide Ice Road Trucker effectively called me a crazy SOB for wanting to ride up to Deadhorse at the Hilltop a few days earlier.)  Since it was dark and I was tired, I was only traveling around 35 miles per hour.  It all happened really fast, the moose came out of nowhere. All I really remember is seeing the moose approach from the right side of the road, hearing hooves as they made contact with the pavement, and a blur of fur and antlers on my immediate right. To be honest, I'm not sure if there were one or two moose - I think there were two.  I lifted my right foot of the peg without even thinking, I might have been trying kick/push them away - my foot did make contact with a moose torso before my saddlebag knocked the poor thing on its ass.

I was really lucky to ride away with minor bruises and the moose ran off so I presume it/they survived. My saddlebag probably absorbed most of the energy of the impact, I have soft luggage (Wolfman bags for the win!) and most of the narrow nylon straps that held the bag onto the panniers either detached or snapped, although I did drag my bag for a bit.

So I am done with my trip?  I honestly don't know.  I blogged earlier that I'd do this until I was either broke or bored.  I'm not broke and I'm definitely not bored, but I am pretty exhausted and I've been fighting off a cold for about a week now, so a change to a warmer clime would be most welcome.

So my plan is to rest for a few days here in Anchorage and mull my options over.  If I want to ride back to the lower 48, I'll need to do it relatively soon.  I was chatting with a guy yesterday at an ice cream shop just outside of Willow, and in his estimation the mountain passes in the Yukon will be covered in snow in the next couple of weeks.  This seems somewhat credible since the leaves are starting to change here in Anchorage.

So stay tuned! It ain't over yet!

Lots of photos to come and I don't think I'm done riding - although I don't know for sure.

Holy Shitballs! I'm in Fairbanks, AK!

[cue "The Final Countdown" by Europe. Click here to listen.]

Sorry Greg, no photos this update.

Greetings from Fairbanks Alaska!  This is an unplanned pit stop for me, when I crossed the border at Poker Creek, AK, the border agent pointed out that I could use a new set of tires after he heard I was headed for Deadhorse (the haul road is notoriously hard on tires when it is wet.)  At the time I really didn't want to consider getting a new set of tires because that would likely mean a relatively major delay but fortunately I was able to find a local motorcycle dealer who had some tires in stock that will work (I'm not picky and options up here are few), so the shop will mount the new tires eon my bike tomorrow.

I can't believe that I've ridden over 2500 miles to get here from Seattle.  And yet it is roughly another 500 miles to Deadhorse.

Fairbanks is the last place resembling a "big city" before crossing over the border of the Arctic Circle.
Keep in mind the population of metro Fairbanks is roughly 1/3 the size of Green Bay according to Wikipedia.

Here are some of my observations after spending 28 hours here:

• When I stayed in Delta Junction, the bartender at the humble establishment that I stayed at confessed a desire to come up to Fairbanks for the many job opportunities, so my expectations were over inflated regarding how much is going on here. Keep in mind that Delta Junction has at most 4 or 5 different gas stations where one can refuel, and many of the gas stations don't offer 'premium' unleaded gasoline - your choices are unleaded or diesel.
• Reindeer sausage tastes just like kielbasa.
• I visited 3 pubs in downtown Fairbanks last night and didn't want to stay in any of them for very long.  I know it was Tuesday night, but there was more going on within a 1 block radius of my old apartment in Belltown on any given Tuesday.  Man was I spoiled being able to walk to the back bar of the Crocodile late at night (on any night) for pizza.
• Similar to Dawson City, things seem to close super early here, where early is around 9 or 10pm.  Another similarity with Dawson is that it only gets really dark this time of year when it is overcast.  I learned that there are three different levels of twilight before night (when it is super dark) and I'm too far north for full darkness this time of year. 
• I'm staying at the Fairmark Hotel which has a robust business hosting senior citizens on Alaskan cruise/bus tours.  They must have several full time bellman delivering bags all day - you can see them stacked on multiple carts. The lobby is a zoo in the morning as they all are waiting to jump on to multiple motor coaches. 
• I'm pretty wiped out from riding so my interest in doing touristy stuff is super low.

So this is a time for me to recharge, and catch up on some sleep before attacking the Dalton Highway, most likely on Friday. Weather forecasts are favorable (no snow warnings in the mountain passes, hooray!) and the Dalton is currently rated as 'fair' according to the state's 511/highway conditions website, which is probably as good as it gets.

Photos and additional trip reports are forthcoming, the Top of the World highway in between Dawson YT and the Alaskan border was amazing.

That's all for now.  Thanks for reading.

Thoughts on Dawson City and Day 3 pix

Greetings again from Dawson City! Yes, I've staying another night for a few very good reasons:

• I no longer take modern conveniences like hot showers and tap water that doesn't need to be boiled to be safe to drink for granted.
• It is really nice not to be on a schedule and just take things day to day.
• Dawson is fun in bizarre and strange ways.  Where else can you get a sourtoe cocktail?  When is the last time you saw functional wooden sidewalks?
• 2500 miles in the saddle in less than two weeks is a lot.
• The poker at Diamond Tooth Gertie's Gambling Hall is pretty spectacular. I even played some No Limit Omaha.  Aside: I think the reason why they spread NL Omaha (instead of Pot Limit) is that the dealers who are capable of figuring out what a pot sized bet is actually want to play in the game.  It was clear that it was the first day "in the box" for many of the dealers, and some of the dealers would only rake $5 once the pot was huge.
• The next leg of my trip means crossing the "Top of the World Highway" which is a lot of gravel, where "a lot" is somewhere in the neighborhood of 100 miles or so.

This is probably a good time to talk about my first experience on gravel roads on day 3 of my trip.

Day 3 - 7/30/2017.  Lake Country, BC to Isobel Lake and back to Kamloops, BC

So planning on this leg of the trip was driven by three primary factors: I wanted to camp, didn't want to ride a long distance, and I also wanted to avoid forest fires.  I found the Isobel Lake listing on one of the BC government websites and the price was right: totally free.  So I typed in the coordinates in my phone's nav program, disregarded the warning that said "portions of the route are unpaved" and got a late afternoon start after socializing with cousins at Laura's place.

I probably should have done a little more due diligence with respect to 'portions unpaved' thing since portions meant the last 20 miles to Isobel Lake were on gravel roads and I had no previous experience on gravel.  It was manageable but not a tremendous amount of fun (read: sucked big time), I was very hot and tired after riding through the desert, I took things slow and kept my bike in second gear.  After an hour or so of eating dust, I took at break at McQueen Lake, BC:

After I finally made it to Isobel Lake, I decided to turn back after searching for the campsites for a while - mosquitoes were living large and I wasn't sure where I had packed my bug dope.

While I was disappointed to bail on my first night of camping, the view on the ride back to Kamloops at twilight was extraordinary.

I ended up getting a room at Thompson Hotel and Conference Center in Kamloops.  It wasn't anything special but I was super tired, it was pretty late (around 10pm) so I was happy to check into a motel.

Day 9 - Stewart-Cassiar highway part 2

Greetings from Dawson City, YT!  I'm still catching up on trip reports, there are a little more time consuming that expected.  I am having an amazing time, although it is a little isolating being away from friends and family.

Day 9 on 8/6 took me from Kinaskan Lake to Rancheria, Yukon Territory. I logged 299 miles this leg of the trip.  This was probably some of the best scenery to date, but to be honest, it is just amazing up here in the Yukon as well.


The campsites at Kinaskan Lake Park are right on the shores of the south side of the lake.

 It was a beautiful day for a ride. Here are a few shots from Eddontenajon Lake:

Some photos from Upper Gnat Lake:

A little later in the day, I stopped at Simmons Lake:

Just a few miles east of Centreville, where I spotted three Caribou.

Two of the buggers headed off to the woods before I got my phone out to take a picture.

Here's a close up, you can just make him/her out in the middle of the road:

I was able to pull up a little closer and found another tourist taking photos of the deer.

Here's a close up if you are no good at playing "Where's Waldo?":

I also saw a bear in the middle of the road a little earlier that day.  Unfortunately I wasn't able to get a picture.  Originally I thought the bear was a blown out tire, so I slowed down.  I noticed that an oncoming car steered way off to my left as it passed the 'tire' and the tire then lumbered off into the woods.

The next shot was just south of the BC/Yukon border.  I took this before I got stuck in some rain.

The rain didn't last too long, around 30 minutes or so. Things cleared up once I got up into the Yukon:

I eventually arrived in Rancheria where I was able to have an omelette before I camped for the night.

That's all for now.

Stats from first 10 days and photos from day #8

Greetings from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory!

I took the day of from riding so it is time to update the blog with some stats and pictures.  I miss high speed internet - upload speeds from the local Starbucks is a limiting factor (500kb/sec) which makes uploading photos seem like life during the AOL era.

Here are some interesting stats from my first 10 days:

• Total miles ridden: 2528
• Number of bears seen: 1
• Number of caribou seen: 3
• Number of bear and caribou crossing signs seen: eleventy bazillion
• Nights camped: 4
• Number of times I got caught in the rain while riding: 2
• Number of times I thought "I should stop to take a picture of this but there is no good place to pull over": too many to count

Over the past few days, I've noticed that it is gorgeous just about everywhere you look.

Here's a summary of day #8:

August 4th, 2007 a.k.a. Day #8: Smithers, BC to Kinaskan Lake Park via BC Route 37/The Stewart-Cassiar Highway 

I logged 314 miles according to my odometer on day 8.

This leg is interesting because Smithers (population 5400) was the last 'city' for 3 days of the ride and there was no cellular service or public Wifi to be found. Wikipedia describes the Stewart/Cassiar highway as passing through the 'most isolated' parts of British Columbia.

It is about an hour's drive from Smithers to Rt 37.  I took this shot from a rest stop off of Rt 16:

I wanted to fuel up before embarking along the route and on the way to the gas station I assumed that it would be time for me to purchase a spare fuel tank since the maps app on my phone was aware of only once gas station along Rt 37 and this single gas station was too close to comfort to my bike's 400km/250mi range.  When I arrived at the gas station I was greeted by this sign:

Fortunately right next to it was this table explaining that there were indeed more that one fueling station so I could safely postpone purchasing the spare tank for the time being.

Lunch was a 'Dirty Biker Burger' at Cafe 37 - a Harley biker themed bar/restaurant near the southern end of Rt 37 in Kitwanga. It was damn good.

Here are some shots taken along Rt 37.  The views were breathtaking just about the entire time.

I got to the campground after dark so no photos of camp from that night. I'll upload those later.

No phone or internet for a few days was a bit unsettling.  I've become too reliant on tech to get around.

That's all for now.

Day 1 and Day 2

I took yesterday off from riding, so it's time to catch up on daily reports.

Day 1, 7/28/2017, Belltown to Wenatchee via US 2/Stevens Pass

Day 1 wasn't notable with the exception that I left super late during rush hour on a Friday evening, made a failed attempt to book an Airbnb in Skykomish when it got dark, and didn't arrive in Wenatchee until after midnight.  It was super windy through the pass.

I stayed at the Holiday Inn Express in Wenatchee.  That's all I'm gonna say about that.

I logged 177 miles according to my odometer on day 1.

Day 2, 7/29/2017, Wenatchee to Lake Country, British Columbia



I logged 268 miles according to my odometer on Day 2. This route is super fun since there are many twists and turns as you weave around the many lakes connected to the Okanogan river.

Made a quick stop near Chelan and saw this guy:

Here are some shots from another pit stop near Skaha Lake in BC:

I was super glad to arrive at my cousin Laura's for our annual summer reunion - even though I was a day late.  I had a great time catching up with everyone.  Here's the view of Lake Okanagan from Laura's at sunset:

Well that's all for now.  More updates to follow.

Update: I suck at blogging

Greetings from Lake George, British Columbia!

I can't believe it has been over a month since I've posted an update.  I originally planned on publishing a daily update but the daily routine of living out of saddlebags has been more work than I originally thought.   I'm writing this from a Starbucks and this will be a quick summary of the first 5 days of my journey.

By the numbers:

• Days traveled: 5
• Miles driven: 941 which means I'm averaging 188.2 miles per day.
• Tanks of gasoline purchased: 5
• Nights spent in hotels: 2
• Nights spent in Airbnb: 1
• Nights paid for at Airbnb which I didn't use: 2
• Nights spent at cousin Laura's house: 1 (a big THANK YOU to Laura for accommodating my brother Dave and myself when we were too tired/inebriated to make it back to the Airbnb safely.) 
• Nights spent camping: 1
• Failed camping attempts: 1
• Number of monumental screw ups: 0
• Number of minor mishaps: countless
• Nights of poker played: 1
• Number of times that I should have stopped to take photos but didn't: countless
• Number of times I've been mauled by bears, moose, caribou, and other wildlife: 0
• Number of mosquito bites: a bunch 
• Number of times a bag has fallen of the bike: 2

Highlights:

• Riding is a hell of a lot of fun.
• All my stuff is in storage. Hooray!
• Cousin camping was a lot of fun and I wished I hadn't missed the first day but I'm so glad I went.
• The scenery has been amazing.
• I managed to circumnavigate all the forest fires in southern British Columbia.  Air quality was pretty bad and reminded me of earlier business trips to China, the moon was orange once, and even the interior hallways of one hotel smelled like a campfire.
• Temperatures are much cooler up here in the Caribou region of BC and the weather has been downright pleasant. 
• I am learning something new every day.
• Gravel roads are no longer scary.

Lowlights:

• Camping is more work than anticipated. The logistics of unloading gear/setting up tent/sleeping/packing/loading up gear is making me ponder a two night minimum on camping assuming I don't get an order of magnitude faster at setting up/breaking down camp.
• Bike maintenance is a chore. I'm just doing the minimum which means keeping my chain lubed and basic TCLOCKs checks.
• I am pretty fatigued.  Might be time for a day off soon.

Future plans:

• Try to get to updating the blog once a day and post the few photos that I've taken so far.  On day 2, I spent an hour trying to get Google maps to publish a route but it was too friggin nice of a day so I bailed on the effort.  If you know of an easy-to-use map route generator, please drop me a line.
• I've been making a point of posting to Facebook once per day so peeps won't worry. Friend me on FB if you'd like to see my Facebook updates.
• Since I'm on the edge of civilization (the Hotels Tonight app says "nothing to see here"), I'll need to wire a USB charger to my bike which will be a bit of a challenge on the road.
• I need to figure out how to transport food.  

That's all for now - thanks for reading and please provide feedback.  Photos and daily turn by turn accounts forthcoming.

My Itinerary

Here is the 35,000 foot view of my itinerary:

• My last day in the office was yesterday.  I’m still on the books as a Microsoft employee for a few days but I’ll consume my remaining vacation time until I’m officially unemployed.
• Last night I flew down to Las Vegas for a vacation. This was a break that I planned before I decided to walk away from my career.  Coming down to the meadows during WSOP season has been a semi-regular tradition where I meet up with my brother Greg to play poker and seek out the best off-strip eateries. We won’t be playing in any bracelet events but the cash games on the Strip are consistently spectacular this time of year.
• I’ll eventually come back to Seattle (not sure when – this is my first Vegas trip were it genuinely feels like I have total flexibility on my return date), acquire camping supplies and motorcycle gear, and put some additional thought into planning – which is sorely needed.
• The movers come to pack and empty out my apartment in Belltown on Monday 7/24.  I’m not sure how much daylight will be left after the movers wrap everything up, so my trip likely will begin in earnest on the following day.
• My first waypoint will be Kelowna, British Columbia for my “Cousin Camping” family reunion weekend which is a bit of a misnomer since many of my cousins will be staying at an Airbnb like myself. I expect to log 300+ miles during the first leg of the trip.
• After catching up with loved ones, I’ll resume my trek to Deadhorse which is a tad over 2500 miles from Kelowna according to Google Maps.

When I initially pieced together this timetable, I had a minor panic attack while researching historical climate data since camping in below freezing temperatures isn’t one of my personal aspirations.  I even debated the merits of putting off the trip until the following spring for a short while.

A close friend reminded me of stories where attempts to climb Mount Everest ended within a few meters of the peak to avoid death or loss of body parts.  I understand that my journey isn’t remotely as dangerous as climbing Everest but there are similarities – instead of spare canister of oxygen I'll need a spare can of gasoline for parts of the trip where refueling stations are in inadequate supply.

While I hope to make it to Deadhorse this year, I’m giving myself permission to turn back at any time. The real motivation for the trip is to take an extended break from my daily routine and embark on a motorcycle trip to see how I feel.  I achieved that goal yesterday when I strapped on my helmet inside a parking garage at One Microsoft Way, saddled up, and rode off for the last time as an employee.

You might be wondering – So how does it feel? Click here to find out.

Introduction

Hi! My name is Matt. Welcome to my blog.

So why am I doing this? I was informing some of my coworkers that I came to the decision to quit my job as a software engineer and as I was sharing my "life plan" for what comes next, it became clear there was interest in a blog so people could track my progress, so here I am.

The short term plan is to ride my motorcycle from Seattle to Deadhorse Alaska just to see how I feel once I get there.

I'll eventually move on to another destination since I despise cold winters with a passion. This process of choosing a fresh set of coordinates on a map after I've reached the old ones will repeat until I get bored or run out of cash. That is the entire long term plan.

To be brutally honest, I'm not 100% sure that giving up my creature comforts will make me happy or if this scheme even fits my personal definition of a good life plan.  I won't know for sure until I give it a go. I'm actively trying to put in as little thought as possible as to what I will do professionally going forward so I can fully savor the experience.

So why Deadhorse? And why now?  Here are a few reasons:

• Deadhorse is north of the Arctic Circle. It amuses me greatly to think I could stand on the shores of the Arctic Ocean at 3am in broad daylight and listen to Prince's "Lets Go Crazy."
• Alaska is arguably the closest thing to a totally wild frontier in the United States which will make for an experience that should be vastly different than everything I've done so far. 
• There is a seductive element of danger.  There are many perils along this path that I've chosen for myself which are very real. The final hurdle on the journey to Deadhorse is the Dalton Highway which is "Ice Road Truckers" territory. 
• It's proximity to Seattle is a minor factor. I'll want to head south before winter. Did I mention that I hate the cold?
• There will be lots to explore and discover along the way and I expect to make some new friends who share the some of the same goofy ideals.
• Bottom line is that I've spent the last 20 years gainfully employed with no extended breaks and it is high time to completely switch gears and do something self indulgent.  

I've chosen to try to live moment by moment in present time via an extended tour on a motorized two wheeler.  I also consider this to be a social experiment to see what I learn about myself after I've been away from my typical daily routine for an extended period.

My vision for the blog is that it will help me to stay connected with friends and loved ones. I hope this will be an interactive exchange where I do the bulk of the talking and you the reader get to influence the outcome via suggestions for things to do and see along the way. I suffer from tunnel vision at times and I am entering totally unfamiliar territory, so please share your ideas even if they seem intuitively obvious.

I encourage feedback both positive and negative. Please pull no punches when providing the latter: barbs to the effect of "you = batshit crazy" or "TL/DR and I want the last 10 minutes of my life back" are fair game.  I only have a vague sense of what you might find interesting so feel free to suggest topics that you'd like me to weigh in on.

I've got a boatload of things to do to get ready and I can't wait to start my ride.  My next update will contain my high level plans and schedule.

-Matt