A FEW PICTURES

Better but not Hawaii

This is the map of todays ride - about 450 miles and very little moisture  - or sun.  Once again very few pictures because I had to wear rain gloves.  If I was in a car there would have been some great photos because the clouds were hugging the mountains and it was very picturesque.

Same day Different Map

This map is from one of the guys I am riding with that didn't lose his tracking transmiter.  I am going to try to link it to my blog that same as I did with mine since we are traveling together you can still see where we are.

The only thing I should have packed that I forgot was an underwater camera.  That's all for today.  Riding in 50 degree rain all day takes it out of us old people.

Another day in the rain

Another Day of riding in the rain - hence no pictures.  The map above shows where the tracking device fell off of my bike in the rain going around 70 MPH and being hit/run over by who knows how many cars.

I am actually in Hope, British Columbia and the sun actually poked out for about 5 minutes but I think we are in for another wet day tomorrow.

Day 2

Above ---This is heading North on I - 5 and it gives you an idea of the weather we are about to hit.  We rode 595 miles today and about 400 miles were in the rain - remind me, why do I like this motorcycling?

The picture below is Joe DeRyke.  Yesterday Joe was riding his bike and he had his visor up and got hit by a bee at around 60 MPH.  Needless to say he only saw 1/2 of what I saw today.  Hopefully it starts getting

 less swollen tomorrow.

Map of day 2

Leaving Las Vegas

Another friend (Brad) that lives in Vegas decided to join us and we were on the road a little after 6:00 AM It wasn't long before the temperature dropped to the low 40's - great way to start. Oh did I forget to mention we hade about a 30 MPH headwind. We wer in the middle of nowhere on the way to San Jose, CA and we were surroundrd by oil pumps - I would just like to own a few of them.

A little ways down the road we were surrounded by miles and miles of fruit trees, all lined up in very neat rows.  By this time the wind had settled down and it was almost 60 degrees.

If you have never been to Gilroy,CA you have missed the Garlic Capital of the world.  By the time you ride through it you can almost speak fluent Italian. 

Just a few more days.

I bought this bike about a year ago specifically for this Alaska trip and for the trip to South America that I will start in Jan 2011. It has taken this much time to add all of the accessories to the bike. I had just installed new tires plus I changed the oil and filter so I was ready to start packing when I received a factory recall to fix a vent hose last Monday. The dealer said they could get me in and out in about 30 minutes so I rode out to the BMW dealer on Tuesday and got the repair done.

On the way home I stopped to fill the bike with gas so I would be ready to leave early Monday the 24th. After filling my bike it wouldn't start. Long story short I push started the bike, did as much trouble shooting as I could on this computer on 2 wheels and called the dealer. I push started the bike on Wednesday and rode it to the BMW shop - they had never seen anything like my problem on any bike. The Alaska trip wasn't looking so good all of a sudden. Their computer said nothing was wrong with my bike and of course computers don't lie. After over 2 hours of old fashion trouble shooting they finally figured out a way that I can start my bike even though they didn't actually solve the real problem.


I am back on track for a Monday departure. Here are a few photos.

The bottom picture is how it looks from the seat.  The thing on the left is the CB radio so I can talk with Joe.  The orange thing is the sending unit that sends signals to the tracking system so you can see where I am and the thing on the right is my GPS - it is alot easier to use a GPS than unfolding a road map going down the road on a bike - Ha.

In case you are wondering, the "IBA" on my license plate stands for "Iron Butt Association"  I hope I have enough iron in mine for this trip.  More to come once I am on the road.