It is Finished

It has been awhile since I posted, so I will try to catch things up a bit.

I finished the motorcycle trip to Alaska. 13,000 miles and 44 days. It was a trip of a lifetime. I went from Key West to Deadhorse Alaska, and then back to Key West. I left May 24th and arrived in Deadhorse on June 13th. It was the most difficult ride I have done, but it was also one of the most enjoyable. I saw bears, goats, elk, bison, deer, and hundreds of rabbits. All in close proximity to the road. I went through a herd of probably two hundred bison. Half on each side of the road. That was a little scary, especially when the car in front of me stopped to take a look. The only close call I had with animals on the road was in Montana when two stupid deer ran across the road in front of me.

It was some of the most beautiful scenery I have road through. Riding across the frozen tundra of Alaska was amazing. I kept thinking to myself about how people traveled this area by sled or walking. The road to Deadhorse is a mostly dirt road called the Dalton Highway. It is a haul road built for truckers to haul supplies to the oil fields on the Arctic ocean. 90% of the traffic is semi trucks. In the winter the northern third of the road is turned into an ice road. It was a very challenging road for a Goldwing motorcycle. Even in June I rode through snow and ice. I would not have made it without electric heated clothing.

The weather was the toughest part of the trip. Amazingly to me of all the travel days on the trip I only had about four days that it did not rain or snow. Some days it may have only been 15 minutes of rain but there was still rain and you were still wet. Temperatures for the trip ranged from the 90s in the lower 48 to the 20s in northern Alaska and everything in between.

As far north as a dirt road will take you.

Fulfillment of a long time dream. I have now been in all 50 states.

The beginning of the Dalton Highway.

Part of the Dalton Highway.

Part of the Dalton Highway.

End of the Dalton Highway.

Beginning of the Alaskan Highway.

Stopped at a road camp to wait form the pass to be cleared so I could continue. 6" of snow the night before.

Part of the Alaskan pipeline.

This is what the bike looked like when I got to Deadhorse.

Hit a pot hole and bent the front rim. Had to get a new rim shipped up to Fairbanks before I could continue.

Stopped at a few places on the way back.

Bridge in Alaska.

It Has Begun

I rode to Key West today and got my witness forms signed at the police dept. and got my first gas receipt, that starts the clock on the trip. According to the Iron Butt Association rules I now have 30 days to make it to Prudhoe Bay Alaska to qualify for their Certification of the "Ultimate coast to coast ride". If the weather does not permit me to make it all the way (the last 500 miles is a gravel haul road) then it will just be a fun ride to Alaska. Alaska is the only state I have not been in and I am so looking forward to it.

I checked the weather this morning in Prudhoe Bay. It was 27 degrees. Glad I packed my electric heated clothes. That I think is the toughest part of this trip. I will be going from 85 degrees with 90% humidity to 27 degrees and I will be coming back through west Texas in late June. I have to pack for a wide variety of conditions. No matter it will be a good time.

I will try to update the blog as much as I can while on the road.

North to Alaska

Well it has been awhile since I have posted anything. I am sure I could come up with at least two or three really impressive excuses that would totally exonerate me of any blame, but to be honest it was just pure laziness. I worked quite abit after hurricane Irma, then I had grand kids to play with. After that the laziness kicked in. I am simi-retired. I work at a real job about 3-4 months a year. The amazing thing is I really do not know where the time goes. I don't know how I ever had time for a real job. I am busy all the time, but when I look back I can't see that I have accomplished anything big. One guy who lived on a boat was asked by a land lubber "What do you do all day?". I will never forget his answer "I don't know but it takes me all day". That is exactly how I feel.

We moved aboard on October 31rst 2010. Coming up on 8 years and I still love it. A boat change is in our future though. We are going back to a trawler. The power boat thing isn't working for us.

North to Alaska.
No we are not taking the boat to Alaska. I finally get to take a motorcycle trip up there. I have dreamed of riding to Alaska for many many years and now is the time. The ride will be from Key West to Prudhoe Bay Alaska and (hopefully) back. I plan on leaving on Friday May 25th and return on July 1st. 12,200 miles and 37 days. I know it will be a hard trip but hopefully it will be as fun as it is hard. I have been working on the bike for a month now getting it ready. I feel it and I are up to it. Time will tell. I have ridden over 250,000 miles in my life. The longest trip to date was 8,000 miles in two weeks. So this will definitely be the longest trip so far both time wise and miles.

I have a spot tracker attached to the link at the top of the page that will track where I am once I leave.

Packed and ready to go.

Packed and ready to go.

Hurricane Irma

Hurricane Irma was a direct hit for the Keys. It is amazing to look around at the damage left behind. I go all over the country to work storms. This is totally different.  The storm got my home town this time. It feels strange. I drive around and look at places that I love to go to and they are torn up. Lots of places not open and won't be for a long time. I was working claims in Texas when Irma hit so Sharon had to get the boat ready.  She took all the sentimental stuff off Sleepy Dragon. We really felt with a direct hit from a cat 4 that she would not survive. God was good to us and she not only survived but came out without a scratch. It has been a job putting all the canvas back up and getting the boat back into living condition verses hurricane ready but we are getting there.

Ir was a very hard time after Irma for the first 4 or 5 days not knowing if we still had a home. The government would not let anybody back into the keys and the news kept showing the same three pics of the damage in the keys. Finally we were able to get a satellite photo showing that Sleep was still on her mooring . We could not tell if she was damaged but at least \we knew she was floating We could also see Grace but could not tell if she was damaged either.

Our little boat "Amazing Grace" did not fare so well. I had her anchored with two 100 lb. anchors. The lines did not chafe through where they attach to the boat, but instead broke between the boat and the anchors. I speculate that another boat crashed into her and the keel chafed the line into. Only God knows. We found her on the other side of the bay up in the mangroves between two other boats. The bow both sides and the transom were all smashed. She had a hard ride to the mangroves. She is a total loss.

Satellite pic of Grace in the mangrove between two other boats.

Before Irma

She was a beautiful boat.

New Name and a Look Back

When we bought this boat she had the name Harthrob. The previous owner's name was Hart, so I am sure they thought it was cute. I have not liked the name from the beginning and knew I would change it. I did not realize just how hard it was going to be to decide on a name. The last two boats that I named were pretty easy. I don't know why this one has been so difficult. I almost decided on "Unsinkable 2". But it just didn't feel right. I probably ran 30 names past Sharon and got the same response every time "I don't care". One day I was laying in my beanbag on the bow thinking and thought of the name Sleepy Dragon. Somehow I liked it. It just fit. I thought about it for about a month and nothing new came to mind and so Sleepy Dragon it is. If you want to know why you will have to ask someone else because I don't have a clue. Maybe it's because sometimes I feel like a mean old dragon that is just too tired to raise any cane anymore.


We left Indiana almost seven years ago and have transitioned from a 25' sailboat to a 38' power boat. I thought it might be fun to look at the journey so far.

"Morgan" a 1970 Coronado 25 sailboat.

Morgan's interior.

         

Morgan's interior.

"Walkabout" a 1978 Marine Trader 36.

Walkabout's interior.

Walkabout's interior.

"Amazing Grace" a 1985 Wellcraft 2900 express cruiser.

Grace's interior.

Grace's interior.

"Sleepy Dragon" a 1989 SeaRay 380 aft cabin.

Sleepy's interior.

Sleepy's interior.

Funny

Saw this and thought it was too funny.

Love my Weber

A few years ago we bought a Weber Q2000 grill We had it on Walkabout until we sold her. We took the grill with us and used it while we were motorhoming it and while on Amazing Grace. I made a mount for it on this boat just off the aft deck. I do most all of our cooking on it.I don't like cooking in the boat as it makes is so hot inside so this has worked out perfectly.

One thing I like about this grill is that it has a low setting that is actually low. Most grills don't go low enough to cook thicker meats without burning them. You can easily slow cook ribs. I also use it for breakfast and place an iron skillet on it to cook chorizo and eggs. Makes heating up the tortillas a snap as well.

I also figured out a way to use it as an oven. I use an air bake cookie sheet to bake biscuits in it and they come out perfect. I have not tried cookies yet but they are on my to do list. I also take the disposable aluminum pans and put one inside another sorta creating a dutch oven effect and make roasts or meatloaf. We do at least 90% of our cooking on it.

Weber Q2000 grill.

Gotta love bacon.

Gotta have toast if you want BLTs.

I like it.

And finish off with some fresh Key Lime pie. Life doesn't get much better than this.