This post started out as a draft that I made back on may 3rd 2020 to announce what I thought was my up coming trip to Alaska that July…..o how naive!
That was my birthday and I was happily enjoying the previous 2 months off paid while spending time with my family during lockdown. The next day I was asked to come to work for the first time since march 16th. I was ready to get back to work! I thought I was going in to do work….instead I was told my position was being eliminated due to COVID. What followed can only be described as 2 years of utter chaos. In that time I have started 3 businesses (2 of which are still operating), came alarmingly close to moving to California, spent a summer working wildfires in California, spent 6 months driving back and forth from Utah to California every couple weeks to work for my cousin, walked 16 miles a day for 2 months to disinfect a multimillion square foot medical supply warehouse, gotten a taste for self employment with my motorcycle repair business, finished the building of the new SomeSortofRoadtrip headquarters, bought a small camper to live in while working wildfires, got COVID while at a fire and had to quarantine alone in the trailer for 2 weeks, started an RV rental business with my cousin, finished the KLR650 build, spent a boring winter back in the ski industry (NEVER AGAIN), did some really cool custom motorcycle work, DECIDED TO SELL MY HOUSE, did some projects (in two weeks) that we wanted to do the whole time we owned the house to get it ready to sell, sold the house in 1 day for 60,000 over asking price, packed up all my shit, couldn’t get a Uhaul cause everyone else in the country was also moving so I had to buy an enclosed trailer and do it myself in as many trips as it took, blew up my poor avalanche on the first trip, bought a new truck and immediately put 10,000 miles on it in 1 month to get all my stuff moved, successfully moved my family 1000 miles from home to North Idaho with no job and no house of our own yet, spent the summer living in my dads basement while participating in the worst buyers market imaginable, started a company making motorcycle parts, FINALLY found the right place last November, got moved AGAIN, had to do it all while navigating the complications that coronavirus put the whole world though, and now, after 3 months, enough of the dust has settled to be able to pay attention again to the things I’m passionate about. Its been a hell of a ride.
I wish I had kept up on the blog through it all cause it was a whole lot of fun. It was stressful and scary and I wasn’t always sure how the next week was going to look let alone the next month. I’ve spent the last 2 years focused on the right here and now….I haven’t thought about the future much at all and its honestly been kind of liberating. I’ve never spent so much time with my family and we’ve never been closer. I made a few trips along the way and took some amazing pictures that I’ll get posted and more importantly I made some pretty amazing memories. I know that this time has been incredibly hard for so many people and I recognize their pain and struggles. But for me and my family it was not so bad…..its certainly NOT what I imagined 2020 and 2021 were going to look like…..but we made it….and I think we’re in a much better place because of it.
SO! With that out of the way, whats next? Well…..lots! First, I want to get back to the things I’m passionate about. I miss this dumb blog and my YouTube. But I am also going to be integrating my business here too. Most likely this blog will be moving to my business website as a page there. YouTube will start seeing some technical videos and some of my products, not just product reviews. I am SO close to monetization on YouTube and I really want to get there this year. My company is Tourmoto Design. The goal is to become the source for motorcycle travel equipment. If I had a tagline or slogan or whatever it would be ”tools for travel”. As time goes on I’ll figure out how the blog will integrate with the company website but right now I see it being mostly the same as it already is with the occasional look at product development or a how-to.
As for the Alaska trip, well that’s still on the calendar. Right now it’s looking like mid June to mid July. But I’m only 80% sure I’ll be able to go. My goal is to finish development on a couple products and bring them with me….we’ll see how that goes. The plan for the trip is exactly the same so the original post still applies…..so I’m just gonna leave it below.
But first!!!!! check out my logo!
———ORIGINAL POST—————–
With all the craziness going on with the corona virus I still don’t know if I’ll be able to take this trip. As of today (may 3rd) the Canadian border is still closed with no indication of when it will reopen and its pretty hard to ride to Alaska if you can’t go through Canada. I wanted to get this written and ready to post incase I have a last minute notification that I can go. So I REALLY HOPE YOU GET TO READ THIS!
I have been planning this trip since January 2018….it takes a while to make something like this happen. Saving money, rounding up some people to go with you, planning the route, getting the bike ready, acquiring the necessary gear and supplies, realizing that no one is going to ACTUALLY go with you, building up the courage to just go alone……its pretty time consuming.
The official plan is to take 31 days off work and get to Prudhoe Bay. When Enrique and I rode to Alaska in 2014 we didn’t have the right equipment to get to Prudhoe Bay and it wasn’t even on our radar anyway. I am determined to get up there this time and hopefully not have to ride back up there again for a long time….I need to get some good long trips in elsewhere too.
I plan to do more camping than when Enrique and I went and hopefully save some money. I’ve learned a lot about motorcycle camping since then. I am much better at it now and I have picked up some very nice gear along the way which helps a lot. BUT I know how much it rains and how sucky it is to ride in the rain all day and then set up camp in the rain and then wake up in the rain….so I am bringing enough money to stay in a hotel every night if necessary.
I have significantly stepped up my camera game since last time so I hope to bring home some great pictures and video. I have the ability to record my voice while riding now and I want to do a morning motovlog every day and hopefully grab some random commentary while riding too. I’ve been experimenting with a camera on my helmet the last couple seasons and I have it pretty well figured out now so I can get great shots while riding. I also came up with a way to get different camera angles on the bike and can get some variety now. I am bringing my Lumix G7 to get some good shots off the bike and my iPhone takes amazing pictures as well. I want to try to talk to the camera more this time too, especially since I will be alone, to hopefully create more of a story and not just a jumble of pictures.
The only other change since last time is the bike. If you’ve read any of my posts over the last couple years you’ve already seen my current bike but I just wanted to mention it because it is lightyears ahead of the Versys I rode last time. More comfortable, LOTS more power, more off-road oriented, and very nice luggage. I loved the Versys but it was not well suited to trips like this and I wanted to step it up.
The planned route will likely change along the way because I have it designed that way. I have options along the way to take different routes or skip things if desired. Below is the full route that includes everything I want to do.
home to dads house (in the truck. yeah yeah yeah! I know…ive heard it all. but this is my trip and I choose to skip Utah, Wyoming, and Idaho cause it saves 2 days if I drive)Don’t need to do that one….I live up here now!Dads houseHome to Golden BC 240 miles (could go straight to Jasper and gain a day)- Golden to Jasper AB 193 miles
- Day off in Jasper
- Jasper to Dawson Creek 324 miles
- Dawson Creek to Fort Nelson 282 miles (could go straight to Watson lake and gain a day. 600 miles tho)
- Fort Nelson to Watson Lake 319 miles
- Watson Lake to Whitehorse 271 miles (get off-road tires installed)
- Whitehorse to Dawson City 329 miles (dirt roads)
- Dawson City to Tok 185 miles (dirt roads)
- Tok to Fairbanks 204 miles
- Fairbanks to Coldfoot 253 miles (dirt roads)
- Coldfoot to Prudhoe Bay 247 miles (dirt roads)
- Prudhoe bay to Coldfoot 247 miles (dirt roads)
- Coldfoot to Cantwell 394 miles (half day of dirt roads)
- Day off in Denali (staying at a friends cabin and getting a helicopter tour of Denali!)
- Cantwell to Anchorage 222 miles
- Anchorage to homer and back 448 miles (might stay in Homer for the night and lose a day)
- Day off in Anchorage
- Anchorage to Tok 315 miles
- Tok to Whitehorse 387 miles (swap back to street tires)
- Whitehorse to Watson Lake 271 miles
- Watson Lake to New Hazelton 489 miles
- New Hazelton to Jasper 504 miles (longest day)
- Jasper to Lake Louise 141 miles (shortest day)
- Day off in Banff
- Lake Louise to home
Dads house 254 miles Dads house to home
4 extra days for emergencies, different routes, or extra days off
1 extra day for emergency only so I can return home on Saturday and have Sunday to relax before going back to work.
So that’s the plan. I know it seems like a lot of riding (because it is) with only a few days off. I have only got 4 preplanned/definite days off and 2 extras to use on a trip that’s 31 days long. This time around I tried to keep the days around 300 miles which is easily done well before dinner (assuming everything goes well) and I will have time each day to relax after reaching my destination and hopefully explore a bit. I also gave my self the ability to skip certain things and gain days back if needed. If I just go straight to Prudhoe bay and back I could have 10 extra days……the point is to get out, on the bike, and see the world. So I plan to use every single second of my vacation time even if it means I will be riding for 24 of the 30 days.
I know this trip is going be as much of a challenge as a vacation and I will definitely have hard days but I look forward to it. Adventure is about welcoming challenge and embracing the unexpected.
Just like last time, I will have a satellite messaging device with me. It will be posting my location to a map along the way and will allow you to message me even if I don’t have cell service. Please check out the map and send me a message of encouragement….I’m sure I’ll need it at some point.