The Stats

Countries visited: 16
Continents: 2

North America

Central America

South America

Days taken: 298
Cost: I really don’t want to know


Mileage:
Tierra del Fuego to Prudhoe Bay: 30403km unlike the 17,848km it says on the sign at the end of Ruta 3
Total trip distance: 40161km

Bike stats:
Punctures: None (I have to include this because Mike had three)
Tyres worn out: 5 (A bit of a sore point with Mike, he went through 10)
How many times did I actually change my own tyre: None (Mike, 3 puncture repairs, 3 of his own and 2 of mine – well I’d hardly want to break a fingernail now, would I!)
Oil used: too much
Clutch changes: 1 – And this was after being explicitly advised to ‘Whatever you do, look after your clutch!’
Chain broken: 2 (Both before I bought the tool to fix it)
Chain and sprocket changes: 3 (It took me 2 to learn how to look after them better)
Break downs: Um, no comment (Damn that carburettor and chain)

Bad accidents: 1
Times I dropped my bike: Um, several
Times my bike blew over: 4 (The wind was quite strong in some places)
Times I had to pick up my bike by myself: none mostly thanks to Mike and a little to the machismo of Latin America

Road kill tally (Seen but not created by us - except for Larry the Lamb of course):

1. Dogs – hundreds



2. Cats – not so many



3. Lambs - 1



4. Llamas – 12



5. Horses – strangely, at least 9



6. People – 1



7. Unidentifiable – numerous

Best riding days:

1. Riding Ruta 39 crossing from Argentina to the Caraterra Austral, Chile.



2. Feeling like Che Guvera on the road from Uyuni to Potosi in Boliva. (Although no plans to start a revolution)



3. Riding the Dalton Highway back down from Prudhoe Bay (although this was technically at night time).

Strange how all of these were dirt roads, and I supposedly hated riding on dirt roads.

Best moments:

1. Uncrating our bikes in Buenos Aires.



2. Being served breakfast in bed or rather, in our sleeping bags in our tent, by the hostel owner in Hotel Argentino, Rio Grande. (It’s the little things)



3. Reaching the ‘road’ after two days of riding through a gravel pit that is the south west of Bolivia.



4. Reaching Deadhorse, Alaska in one piece. Job done.

Worst days:

1. Having to ride bruised and battered, on Ruta 40, in the wind, after my accident.



2. Waiting 4 weeks for a god damn boat from Colombia to Panama, only to spend the first two days very seasick.



3. Saying goodbye to Mike in Vancouver.



4. Leaving my bike at the warehouse in Vancouver.

Lessons learnt:

1. In the thinking of Karl Bushby, (The Goliath Expedition http://blog.goliath.mail2web.com/ ) ‘For every one person that will do their best to disrupt your day, there are thousands of complete strangers that will go out of their way to make it better.’



2. Nothing is ever as difficult as you’d imagined it to be.



3. Never take no for an answer – Unless of course that’s what you want the answer to be! i.e. Do you think it will rain today?

And on a final note:
NO, the inspiration for this trip was NOT ‘The Long Way Round’ or ‘The Motorcycle Diaries’ but rather my own lust for travel and ‘Jupiter’s Travels’ by Ted Simon.

Home

Arriving into Prince Rupert, we were back to the reality of the bikes. Shopping around for a new front tyre had become a priority for me - vibrating down the road on an oddly worn front tyre had lost its appeal. And having become accustomed to the ‘proper bed’ lifestyle onboard the ferry, when we got drowned in the evening summer rain, we lost our hardcore status and opted for a hotel. The joys of bad TV were also included in the price. So with all this going on, and the fact that it is really a bloody long way, it took us three days to ride to Vancouver Island.

Whistler over run with mountain bikers!

We had wanted to stop in at Whistler but being a long weekend, the place was packed and out of our price league. So onto Gill and Collin’s place in Victoria. You probably don’t remember, but Gill and Collin were the couple we met backpacking around South America. We’d met them in Valpariso, Chile, just before Christmas. And although they wouldn’t be home for a few days, they’d left their keys at the neighbour and left some beer in the fridge for us. A godsend!

Piglet takes over the sofa at Collin and Gill's!

The bikes got a good wash and yet more maintenance. Then it was time to organise the rest of our lives. Mike managed to sort out shipping his bike to Europe and booked his flight to follow, relatively quickly. I, on the other hand, was at a bit more of a loss as to what to do with my bike. I tried to sell her, only to find out that she couldn’t be imported into Canada. The other option was to scrap her, which I just couldn’t bear. So, as you read, I am still in the process of stupidly trying to import her into Australia. Fingers crossed.

With the BMW delivered to the airport and wrapped in plastic, Mike flying out on Thursday and me with still no idea of when or what I was doing, the reality of the end of the adventure was starting to hit home. To take our minds off our impending separation, finally, after 9 months of saying ‘We really must do some trekking’, we picked a doozie. The Grouse Grind! 2 hours of a seriously uphill slog. The view of Vancouver from the top was worth it though and finally we got to see some grizzly bears, albeit in The Grizzly Bear Park.

The view from the top of Grouse Grind.

Finally I received an agreeable price for shipping the bike to Australia, an email to say that they might just let me import my bike into Australia (Apparently I was an unusual case, what’s new!) and I was able to book my flight to Australia.

The rojo beast at the warehouse, ready to be crated.

After a very tearful farewell at the airport, it was ‘hasta luego’ Mike. I loitered around the Departure Gate for a while (Well what did you expect after being together 24/7 for nearly 10 months!) but then it was time to head back to Dan and Maya’s place and pack up my own bike, ready for my last ride to the shipping warehouse. And to get a nap in before my 35 hour transit via San Francisco (The twelve hour stop-over made much better by catching up with Cat, a friend from London) and Auckland, home.

Cinnamon Rolls on the Inside Passage

Desperate to get off the bikes for a bit, we hightailed it to Skagway, home of cruise liner tat. It was a beautiful ride down through the mountains, scenery like what you see in the brochures. Unfortunately Skagway itself was marred by an infinite number of jewellery shops, I mean, what is with cruise liners and jewellery shops anyway? I’ve never understood that one.

Mike getting in on some snow train action - the only thing that doesn't invlove a jewellery store in Skagway!

Finally it was time to put our feet up and rest, for a few hours at least. The earliest ferry we could catch was one that went from Skagway to Juneau, capital of Alaska and home of the Alaskan Brewing Company.

The hostel in Juneau was definitely unique in one respect; it was the cheapest IYH I’d seen. To keep the cost down there was a ‘shoes off at the door’ policy and all guests were issued with a chore. I thought she was joking about the chore to start with but when I got told I’d be wiping down the kitchen bench, I realized she wasn’t. No probs though, I would have wiped down the kitchen bench before using it anyways. Mike had to vacuum the spare 2m2 in his dorm room. It’s a hard life being on the road and having to do domestic chores.

Juneau wasn’t too bad a capital city, and of course we had to visit the brewery, where we were minor celebrities. Tara and her hubby (We'd been on the Prudhoe Bay Oil tour with them, and then again on the ferry to Juneau) had visited earlier and told the guys working there about us, so when we turned up on the bikes, there was the usual battering of questions. The only problem of turning up to a brewery on bikes though is the issue of free samples. At this brewery they were very generous with their samples. You get a glass before you head in (you can duck out for a top-up during the spiel if you’ve downed the first glass before you’ve finished learning about how beer is flavoured) and then they try to ply you with as much of the stuff as they can before you leave. We just had to be content with buying some for the road.

It's all about the flavour at the Alaskan Brewing company

From Juneau to Prince Rupert we took the slow ferry, stopping at numerous ports. Good fortune shone upon us again when, queuing up to board the ferry, we got talking to Larry and Willy, two old pro-racers taking life a little slower these days and just mooching around Alaska. On the overnight ferries you have the option of paying extra for a cabin or pitching your tent (Duck tape instead of pegs) on the top deck. Or you can just roll out your sleeping bag on the sun loungers. Mike and I were quite looking forward to this, waking up in the morning to the beautiful view, probably at 5am due to the early sunrise. However, having told Larry and Willie our intentions, they proceeded to sneak off and pay for us to have our own cabin for the two nights we were on board. Cool, a real bed and our own bathroom. I know I’ve said it before, but the generosity of people still astounds me. So not being able to get on the ferry that we’d originally wanted had its benefits.

Willie and Larry getting their bikes ready.

Although we didn’t see any bears, we did see a lot of other wild life as we sailed down through the fjords, including Orcas, porpoises and whales. We also saw some truly unique Alaskans, reiterating the adage for a woman in Alaska, ‘The odds are good, but the goods are odd!’ Sitka, the former Russian capital of Alaska, takes the cake for this as we spent an evening drinking with Bo and Christina, a young couple with their tent pitched on the ferry.

The Vikings have arrived in Petersburg.

You know when you eat something that is so delicious, you’d seriously consider travelling from the other side of the world, just to eat there again. Well, we discovered the best cinnamon rolls in the world. Petersburg, or Little Norway as it is locally known, was the town. I can’t remember the name of the bakery but if you fancy a taste, it’s just along the road a bit, on the left, as you’re heading into town from the ferry terminal. You can smell it long before you’ve reached it and I doubt you’d be able to resist the temptation. Sailing down the inside passage was definitely a highlight of our trip for me. Maybe that’s because I could just sit inside out of the cool breeze, watching the world float by. Or maybe it is because it is spectacularly beautiful.

You couldn't fault the scenery!

Tok, we just can't escape.

Just one night of listening to Ken, the owner of the Sourdough RV park in Tok, we had to escape. Hearing about how much he enjoyed 'camping' was driving me to distraction. C’mon, let’s be honest now, being set up in your ½ million dollar luxury RV is hardly camping guys. Camping is when you need to do yoga just to untangle yourself from your sleeping bag and the hard ground in the morning, not to mention having no shame when you get up in the middle of the night to make a dash to the toilet wearing fluffy socks, your saggiest thermal underwear and not forgetting the motorcycle boots with laces trailing in the dirt. But let’s face it, no one is up to see you at that time of night anyway.
The only thing to say for Ken was his way of dealing with children. The sign read ‘Any unattended children will be given an espresso and a new puppy’.

Angie, Bob and Mike in a hurry to leave Tok!

After riding through the vastness that is Alaska, the Yukon and BC, we had agreed that we deserved a break, to put our feet up and let someone else do the steering. Our plan was to take a ferry on the Alaskan Marine Highway through the Inside Passage instead of retracing the paved highway. But once again the RVs were organised and we weren’t. No room on the direct ferry for us. I’m sure these things happen for a reason though and we made the most of our delayed departure from Alaska by taking a side trip down to Valdez which included a scenic, off road, detour with a river crossing and a few tricky bits, complete with fresh bear scat just to keep us amused.

Mike looks for the old Valdez!

Is Mike taking the scenic detour, or is he running away from the bears!

Brian and Vanessa own another camping ground in Tok, (We just couldn’t stay away, that, and Tok is the junction of all road routes in and out of Alaska). This camping ground was more our style, no RVs, just motorbikes and a sauna. What else could you ask for!
Mike had been wanting to get some flying in, be it just a one off flight or lessons. Where better than in Alaska where people flying planes is as commonplace as if they were driving their cars! We liked Brian, Vanessa and the sauna so much that we opted for a day off while Mike tried to sort out something with the planes. Funny, although he could have been ready to sit his license in 3 weeks, the US, for some strange reason has a 3 month security check on any applications for learning to fly. A bit like closing the gate after the horse has bolted, me thinks.

Top of the world highway

With that it was time to ride the Top-of-the-world Highway to the peculiar gold rush town of Dawson City and home of Diamond Tooth Gerties. One night was enough to savour the delights and for Mike to find a new girlfriend. No need to worry though, Diamond Tooth Gertie was flirting with all the boys. Mike may tell you different but I wasn’t too worried, after all, it was me who he went home with.

That's Diamond Tooth Gertie on the left. At least Mike didn't have to get busy with his teeth on her.