The Preparation: Working out the Details

June 20/2010:Fueled by my candied ginger scones Maria and I dove into more research for the trip.

Sunscreen, toilet paper, ziploc bags, allen key kit....We're trying to pack light.

Do you think we can see Russia from Wasilla Alaska? Only one way to find out!

Welcome to Bear Country. Eep!

After reading about bears, moose and other ferocious creatures we got a little freaked. So we turned to Craigslist for advice.

The first injury of the trip! Poor Maria stubs her toe! Nothing a cold beer won't fix.

The Preparation: Bike Maintenance

June 15/2010: Hailey and I become budding mechanics. Our first lesson with Yanick.

 How to fix a tubeless tire.

 And when all else fails there's green slime.

The Preparation: Learning from the Pros

June 12/2010: Hailey and Paul "The Iceman" Mondor--who rides his Dakar across Canada in the winter. We asked him out and peppered him with questions on how best to travel the 8,000 km trip to Alaska without killing ourselves. He gave us lots of advice, and then told us that you can clean just about anything with lemon pledge.

The pledge guy in action. Apparently my new bike has blue sparkles in the paint job. Cool.

We should plug Paul's website www.paulmondor.com

The Preparation: Rider Training

Maria and I figured some extra rider training wouldn't be such a bad idea. Our new bikes were a lot taller than our old ones, which was taking some getting used to, and we could also brush up on some road trip specific skills.

 June 12/2010: We need to know how to pick up our bikes before we go. Here we are trying our technique on a 250 Rebel.

 Apparently, our technique needs work.

Instructor Richard does it like the pro he is.

The Bikes

Maria and I had been talking about Alaska for a couple months, but it only started to feel real once I had bought my new bike with Alaska in mind. I had previously been riding a 1988 Yamaha FZR 250, more of a race bike then a touring bike. I'm not so sure my new bike would be called a touring bike either, but it's a step closer in that direction. Say hello to my 2005 Honda 919. I named her Sparkle.

Hailey's bike, Sparkle

Maria followed suit. Purchasing a real touring bike. The proper bike to go to Alaska on. Trading in her electric blue Suzuki GSF500, Maria is now the owner of a 2009 VStrom 650  She's finding her new bike challenging (current score bike:3 Maria:0) because of the high centre of gravity and the fact that it's a heavy bike. She has therefore named the V-Strom "Bitchy Linda."

Maria's bike, Bitchy Linda