It’s my birthday tomorrow so I have added a bit of whimsy. This is a poem my friend wrote me.

Sunflower Smile
Golden Aura
Shadows Shine
Stems Steer Skywards
Among The Daisies
Of Daytime
You Nod
In The Gust
You Must
Grow On
by Julia Miller-Surridge

Also a friend once said that this poem reminded him of me.

The Lion and the Blue By Robert Vavra

My lonely roars echoed far, in a jungle that was old to me, a lion in the winter of his years, whose hear had never known spring.

Until that afternoon when in the darkness of silent thoughts my yellow eyes were dazzled, blue.
Suddenly blossoms lit this dull stare when you, brilliant beautiful, Brazilian butterfly drifted into my life.

Blue became… Blue was my love, my life, my all around.

Happiness was a spring and summer that seemed could never turn to fall. Though you told me, ‘Someday, Lion, the time will come when I will have to leave you. In search of the flower of the sun.’

Those thoughts made me want to shut my ears or roar away a destiny which threatened our happy voyage across the sea of love.

The other butterflies clustered round my head, and off somewhere I heard a lioness call.

But in my world, my sky, there was only you my Bella Blue.

Though my open eyes seldom left your wings, One night you left me, Blue. In search of your golden destiny.

There was no world for me. Endless years I awaited your return.

But out boat drifted past as empty as my heart. And so my quest began. I sailed to places far away.

In search of you I wandered far, and all the while I thought, ‘Why could we not have met when the time was right, when youth had lit my stars.’

‘But yesterday is over’, whispered the far-seeing Giraffe, ‘As tomorrow is yet to come.’

‘The only time that is ever right,’rumbled the wise Elephant, ‘Is now, so make haste, this journey of yours is a only way trip eternally.’

As I climbed the grass towards the clouds, a yellow blossom appeared. Could it be your destiny? Would you be there, Oh Blue?

‘The flower is the Leopard’s’ came the Cheetahs voice, It’s sprang from the garden of his soul. You won’t find the love of which you speak until your roots have grown strong grown deep.’

In the dark of night or in the flame of morning sky often hope would awaken in my heart with the flashing of blue wings but feathers covered them and not your brilliance.

Then one day on the plains edge, where the wind blows fast and clean, a Wort Hog came trotting by, a daisy in his mouth, and as he passed I heard these words, ‘Lion you have proven your love, now let the humble daisies set you free.’

White and straight stood a daisy proudly at the fields edge. ‘Come among us’, beckoned the simple flower and as I strode through that meadow of honey and snow. Then, not the tawny lioness’s purrr or the tides of oceans could take me from my course.

But no blossom of the sun was there. ‘The brilliant flower you seek’, lulled the daisies, ‘Is springing now from your lion’s heart.’ And as rich pollen covered me, golden petals crowned my head.

Centuries, years, days … How may passed I don’t know. But born again was I when in the evening sky a dot of blue appeared against the moon.

And as the sky oranged with break of day, I saw you … Blue. But to me why come when your search had been for that golden blossom who by now your heart had surely won?

At last your voice I heard, ‘Lion, Lion! Dreams do come true, you dared, you hoped, you believed, and for doing so look what you have become. My golden maned flower hero of the sun!’

And now … Blue! Blue! Brilliant, Bella, Brazilian Butterfly. Again my life, My all around, Is you.

When I travelled up and down New Zealand I managed to leave something at every place that I stayed. Which wasn’t too bad as I was going the other way and picked it all up on the way back through.

I was congratulating myself in San Francisco that so far I was doing all right and then it started. I left my Spot messenger in San Francisco. I left my ipod in LA and I left my side panels at the Corbin Factory.

When I phoned the Corbin Factory they said that my friends had taken them. If you are my friends and have taken them can you please let me know as it turns out it is going to cost $200 to get new ones

When I was sorting out my bike I tried to order a Corbin seat but unfortunately there wasn’t enough time to have one made before I flew to Anchorage. Then when I was staying in Port Angeles Greg said that he had stopped at the Corbin and loved his Corbin seat so I couldn’t resist the temptation to stop and get a seat made.

It was pretty impressive as the whole seat is tailored to your bottom. It took the entire day and I didn’t leave the factory until four in the afternoon and then headed down Highway 1. Not long after leaving the factory I realised that the seat was pretty uncomfortable which was a bit upsetting. It took me until Big Sur to realise that I should go back to the factory and get it redone.

Also I realised what they meant by the fog rolling in. I couldn’t see the water due to the fog which was strange as the other side of the road was bright blue sky.

I was welcomed with homemade pizza and beer by Allyndreth (sister of friends in the UK) and David when I arrived in San Francisco.

I caught the ferry into San Francisco for a day of sightseeing passing San Quentin the big prison on the way (there were actually prisoners in the yard the first time I passed) and a faint view of the Golden Gate (red) bridge.

Walking everywhere I had chowder at Fisherman’s Wharf, viewed the sea lions at Pier 39 and marvelled at the flocks of pelicans wheeling over the cargo ships. I also took a free tour of the Maritime National Park on Hyde Street Pier. (August 27)

After passing through Oregon into the state of California you go through tracts of giant redwoods. Instead of taking the 101 you can take the old 101 called the Avenue of the Giants. The redwoods were so big that you felt as though you were riding through the land of the Ents (the tree herders in the Lord of the Rings). (August 26).

The Oregon coast is dotted with tiny little towns, waves, surf, rocks, strong winds that cause trees to lean and sunsets. (August 26)

I was lucky enough to stay with Greg and his family in Port Angeles who treated me to smoked salmon, roasted marshmallows, archery lessons and an introduction to the new Harry Potter replacement series by Stephenie Meyer series based in Forks 60 miles from Port Angeles.

Greg also let me have his bead cushion for my bike which to begin with was wonderful if a little cold with the air blowing under my wet from the day before trousers. But after a few hours just began to feel like I was sitting on some hard wooden beads.

After a bit of early morning maintenance in my PJ bottoms I headed down the Olympic Peninsula with its wonderful scenery. It is also the start of the 101 highway going to LA.

Also being in the state of Washington that also produced Starbucks coffee, even though I only saw one Starbucks through my travels through Washington there was a lot of these little drive-through coffee huts. They obviously take their coffee seriously. (August 25)

On Sunday morning I rode through the rest of the Cascades past shacks with 5-10 cars in various states of decay but the most gorgeous backdrop of mountains. I also passed a couple of Indian reservations, one that was a bunch of houses with a Smoke Shop outside and the other a casino.

It was a bit of a shock to hit the I5 just outside of Settle with its 5 lanes of traffic going each way with everyone doing 80 miles an hour on cracked concrete and a sliver of space between vehicles.

Skipping Seattle I crossed over on the ferry to the notorious rainy Olympic Peninsula on my way to Port Angeles. It was a slow ride in the pouring rain with a six mile backup to the site of a three vehicle accident as there is no filtering in most of the US. (August 24)

Crossing the border back into the US I had been told that highway 20 through North Cascades National Park was a great scenic ride. On the way I passed through Winthrop a town full of old wild west building facades, motorbikes and people. I decided to push on, got lost and rode through most of the Cascades at dusk and had the road and view points to myself. I was a bit nervous about finding a place to stay but eventually found a campground with a couple of spaces free. (August 24)

The next day I got up early to find something for breakfast other than the cherries I had with me and found this deserted quaint little town and a friendly cafe.

Because my park pass ran out before I made it down to Banff from Lake Louise I decided to head west on the TransCanada highway and drive through the Okanagan Valley instead. I must admit that I was getting a bit over mountains.

The Okanagan Valley is BC and Alberta’s summer holiday destination where my family spent every summer holiday when I was a kid growing up in Canada. The area around Okanagan Lake is full of fruit stalls, wine vineyards and no accommodation during the summer. I finally found a hotel in Vernon and met a bloke at the pizza stall across the road and shared a few ales.

The next day I spent most of the day driving through concrete built up areas along the length of the 135km south running lake. As this was my last day in Canada I decided to take a photo of the Canadian money to show you. I could do the same with American money but it pretty much looks all the same and more widely shown in the media. (August 23)

And so ends part one. Stay tuned as I will update the last fun-filled, dangerous (have you driven on California roads?) week of my solo adventure through Canada and North America. But for now it is back to earn my last three months of dosh, take my forth Spanish class (no, I still can not speak it) and prepare for coming back in December to start part two of the odyssey tour. This time with no time limits!

Just a quick post as I think I will have to write up the rest of part 1 later as now I have to ride from Port Angeles to Los Angeles (about 1,600 miles).

I got lost in the Cascade Mountains as I ended up taking a service highway that I thought was route 20. To be fair at the start of it there was two lanes but once I had done about 15 miles on a single lane I finally asked some mountain bikers and found out I was on a road to the national park service points.

But it made me think that when I post I might also include where I am going to go as I don’t know how many people knew that I was planning to ride the route 20 through the North Cascades National Park.

So over the next three or four days I am planning to follow the number 101 down the Washington, Oregon and California coast until I get to the number 1 highway to LA.

Meanwhile if you want to read about more about the Dalton Highway trip to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay). AdvRider Jack’s Trip Report.

Also there was a write up in the Grande Prairie’s Daily Herald Tribune. Pants photo though.

After leaving my mother and sister with my packed lunch I rode through the Columbia Ice Field is a basin of snow between a circle of eight mountains between Banff and Jasper National Parks (325 square kilometres).

I had to miss Lake Louise as my pass (you have to pay $10Can per day just to be in the National Park) was just about to run out so I got to the parking lot, looked at the time and left.

Dead Trees: One thing that I noticed where a lot of the trees driving out of Jasper seemed to be dead. First it was the odd one and then it was whole slopes of them.

Mileage: Driving south I decided to stick to 100 kms/hr (60 miles) as the speed limit was 90km/hr. My petrol consumption has gone up to 15 miles/litre (60 miles per gallon). But I was passed 8 times on double yellow lines.

Today I stood under a glacier! It was so cool, literally. I spent the day sightseeing with my mother and sister and then we went to the hot pools again in the evening. The next day I headed off and a bear ran out into the road. Unfortunately I couldn’t stop as there was a car right behind me and one trying to pass both of us.

Wildlife Note: when trying to take photos of wild life there is a good chance they are eating as they are standing still and you will only have a picture of their bottoms.

After a blistering hot day and a dinner with the relations I set off from Grande Prairie in the pouring rain (riding a fully laden motorbike in the rain is a good way for your family or anyone to think you are nuts and/or adventurous).

I had an uneventful ride to Jasper other than being cold but luckily missing a huge hailstorm. I was meeting my mother and sister at Miette Hot Springs. Even though they were waiting for me to arrive on a motorbike when they saw me they thought that I looked too scary.

I had wanted to get some picture of the prairies but due to the weather wasn’t able too. But it turns out my cousin J to the O to the H to the N has given an overview in his music video. If you can’t see it you can do a search in You Tube on John Macklin.

My grandfather was one of the first pioneers in Grande Prairie. He owned a diary farm on the edge of the town and was the first school teacher. When he started selling sections of his land to people who couldn’t afford to live in Grande Prairie a new mini town sprouted up called Macklinville (present day Hillside).

He was also quite into local politics and was the justice of the peace for a short while. Now there is a school called I.V. Macklin school.

Grande (big) Prairie (vast stretches of flat land), Alberta (second province inwards from Canadian west coast) was once a glacier valley (when Canada consisted of two huge ice fields) after it had been a subtropical marsh land full of dinosaurs (largest ever cache of dinosaur bones was found in Alberta) and now it is a economic booming town supported by oil and farming servicing the Peace River area with a population of 175,000. Most people appear to drive pick up trucks and own motor homes.

Other than visiting with my grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins I have visited the two museums and ridden around seeing my old schools and the Dairy Queen where we used to go for an ice cream treat. Also there is a picture of the ’steep’ hill I used to have to bicycle up and the wild tiger lilies I used to love as a kid.

After an hour of aimlessly riding around Grande Prairie in the rain I thought that I should head back to my grandmothers as my cousin’s condo keeper had already asked me if my bike was wanted by the bailiffs which is a little bit funny. But not as funny as when I talked to my grandmother in Bay of Islands, New Zealand and she said she had received a letter from a concerned Auckland resident saying that she had been seen perusing an area of prostitution in her car and that she would be reported to the relevant authorities (they should have checked the registration number) .

I have been getting mileage between 32-40 miles to the gallon US (or 8-10 miles to the litre UK or 13-16 kms to the litre NZ) which I don’t think is that good for a motorbike. Still it is better than the RV (recreational vehicle) owners that I met who are getting 8 miles per gallon though a lot of them are also pulling cars.

Petrol (gas) has ranged from $4.30 US per gallon (Anchorage) to $5.00 US per gallon (Haul Road) to $1.90 Can per litre (Yukon) to $1.35 per litre.

When I hit Grande Prairie I had done 4,000 miles and my bike needed a service as well as a new back tyre. Jeremy one of the AdvRiders offered to help me do the service so that I could learn where everything is on my new bike. We changed the oil, checked the spark plugs, brake fluid, the play on the clutch and put on a new metzler tourance tyre on which was a bit stiff as it is also a tubeless tyre.

Oh Canada, our home and native land. True patriot love in all our sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise the true north strong and free. From far and wide Oh, Canada we stand on guard for thee (national anthem). Pop 33 million and second largest country in the world. GDP in US dollars 38,000 (US 45,000 , UK 35,000, NZ 26,000, Aus 36,000) as per Wiki.

I was born and raised in New Zealand but lived in Grande Prairie, Alberta where my mother is from between the age of 5 and 12. Then my parents sold their house and bought a motor home and spent a year taking their four young daughters (I am the oldest) around the US for a year. So now you know where I get it from.

I am quite excited to be going back for the first time in almost twenty years and see the place.

Whitehorse (capital of the Yukon): Saw my first Starbucks. So far the service hasn’t been all that great in Canada but maybe it is because I am going to places that have this ‘Motorcycle Friendly’ sign on them.

Liard Hot Springs: Had the springs to myself in the evening until a bunch of drunk kids showed up. Tented for the first time and realised that I left the two end poles and instructions in the UK.

Couple of notes about the highway.

Beautiful scenery : Once you are out of Alaska it is spruce covered mountains and the road follows a series of lakes and rivers. A lot of times you have the road and the views to yourself.

Frequency of gas: The high petrol prices must be effecting the areas tourism as I was told that I would be able to get gas every 50 miles but every second roadhouse/hotel/gas station was closed with rocks or logs across the entrance.

Trucks: There are a lot of big trucks doing 80-90 miles an hour. I didn’t see one doing under 70 even going up hill which was impressive but scary.

Steel Bridges: Along the Alaskan highway are these steel grated bridges that are pretty exciting to cross over.

Thursday – Copper Centre to Haines Junction 450 miles

Friday – Haines Junction to Liard Hot Springs 500 miles

Saturday – Liard Hot Springs to Grande Prairie 600 miles. I almost became road kill myself when a deer ran straight out in front of me just as I got into GP after a long day of riding but managed to break in time.

When we stopped to look at the Muskoxen on the Dalton Highway I had been told that the animals think that the noise of a single cylinder bike is a threatening growl. Riding from Haines Junction to Liard Hot Springs I hadn’t seen any animals even though I had been told by Jack to constantly scan the road as they can appear from no where.

I had just about given up hope on seeing anything thinking they had been scared away by my thumper when it all started happening. I saw two Bison which I stopped to jump off my bike and chase down the road. Turns out I shouldn’t have bothered as I then rode past two more herds on the road.

I then had a black bear run in front of the bike in the distance and saw another bear just before the springs. In the morning I saw a couple of herds of mountain goats and what I think what was a young moose running to one side of the road, then running along beside me and then cutting back in front of me.

The best part was when a huge bird of prey swooped down in front of my bike to pick up some road kill of the small variety as I also saw two dead bison and one dead moose on the side of the road. Which doesn’t surprise me as I had double trailer trucks passing me at 90 miles an hour plus.

It was sad to leave Alaska today as I have had such a great time there. My entry into Canada wasn’t the greatest as it had been sunny in Alaska and with the crossing of the border it started to rain and the first 200 miles so far has been incredibly windy and it is hard to keep the bike on my side of the road.

I would like to thank the Alaskan members of AdvRider, Patrick, Mark, Kevin, John, Dick and especially Jack for making my trip so far.

Alaska has had spectacular scenery, warm people and hard core bikers. Good bye Alaska.

Hello Canada!

The drive down to Valdez was spectacular. Once I got there I decided to go out on a glacier tour as apparently there is a pod of killer whales that you can see but unfortunately I didn’t get to see them but we did have a humpback whale pass under the boat which was hard to get on camera.

We weren’t able to get up to the glacier due to all the icebergs around it which was pretty cool in it’s self. Also saw more sea lions and puffins.

On the way back I stopped near the salmon hatchery and saw all the salmon trying to get up a stream and a bear feeding on them. Glad I got to see my first bear before leaving Alaska.

Tomorrow I am off to take the Alaska Canadian (Alcan) Highway and hopefully make it to Whitehorse. Apparently the road gets heaves (huge humps caused by permafrost) and traffic has a bad habit of leaping onto the other side of the road and a few motorcyclists have been killed that way this year.

It has been so great to get a good sleep (which I think I needed to help digest all the huge burger meals I have been eating ;-)) that I am going to take it easy today - pop the 100 miles down to Valdez and then back to stay another night in Copper Creek before getting an early start to cross the border to Canada and into Whitehorse.

If you want to know where I am you can check out my location on Find Me Spot.

Also if you want to see a different perspective to my trip you can check out some photos of me on the AdvRider site

2 points to note: thanks to Mark for putting up the photos and when you see me in my riding gear I am not a natural hunch back (even if my father said I would become one if I didn’t stand up straight) I have a water bladder and back protector on.

Didn’t make it to Valdez as meet up with Jack (riding companion from Dalton Highway) as he lives along the way and he recommended that I stop and rest as I seemed pretty tired. I didn’t take much convincing. So I have phoned my grandmother in NZ through Skype (it is great for making phone calls to land lines) and caught up on my blog and now it is off to sleep for me.

Another amazing day of mountains to get here.

Btw – they take their hunting pretty seriously here. I have passed as many hunters as RVs so far and this house in Copper Creek has horns or bones on every post around their house which is quite a common decoration.

250 miles (2200 so far)

Well I am packed, tyres checked and chain oiled ready to go. Today I am going to go 500 miles out of my way to see Valdez which someone told me is more beautiful than New Zealand. So I have taken it as a personal challenge and I will let you know.

So the write up of the daring dash to Deadhorse will have to wait but I will write it up retrospectively so check the back postings. Till then I have left a taster photo of things to come.

Thanks to a recommendation of a fellow ADVrider we stayed at the Alaskan University student accommodation which included free laundry facilities and a big tub with scrub brush. Most of Monday morning was spent trying to get the mud of my bike and riding gear. It seems that no matter how many times I scrub it off it is still there. Amazing.

In the afternoon I went on a Riverboat tour which included a dog sled show, native dress making, small plane display and reindeer display.

The boat held 900 people and there were more than 10 tour buses parked outside the docking building. Amongst all those people I felt the loneliest I had been on the trip. But not for long as I met up with some more advriders for dinner and had a near naked water skiing display. Alaskans make the most of the summer.

I have been really lucky so far to meet up with people to travel with. Going up the Dalton Highway I rode with four others. Russell a Texan on a GS, Estefan, a US/Hungarian on a GS, Craig a Florida(n) on a Goldwing (btw it is a picture of him getting a speeding ticket in the next post) and Jack a local on a KLR. I would like to thank them as they made my the trip up the road a great experience as well as I know that they were all looking out for me. That is not to say it was all joy and laughter.

Quite a bit of the way was muddy and very slippery, particularly where they put down something on the road to grade it. We reckoned they were using oil.

There was also a pass that is regularly covered in snow to go over and then the worse section for me, 250 miles with no petrol stops, toilets, shelter and freezing cold. I ran out of fuel which I knew was going to happen. Had to stop on the side of the road and dance to warm up. It was a long four hours.

On the way back we did from Prudhoe Bay back to Fairbanks, leaving at 7am and getting to the accommodation after midnight as we also had to stop to wash down the bikes. Along the way I was thinking that I was disappointed I hadn’t seen a bear but watching a rainbow and missed seeing the bear on the side of the road.

I also got a riding lesson on the way back. I had been trying to do the bends correctly, leaning in, looking ahead and counter steering. Only to find out that I was turning in too early and needed to keep my head upright. I realised that I was totally over turning which made it much easier.