D2D Day 23 Roseburg, OR to Santa Clarita, CA 754 Miles

Greetings friends, family and other interested onlookers,

Today concludes our Dust to Dawson (D2D) trip and final blog page for this particular adventure. After three weeks on the road, we are headed home. Before leaving we decided to trailer the bikes between Santa Clarita, CA and Olympia, WA, as we find no pleasure in riding Interstate 5 for a 1,000 miles. It's one of those been there done that kind of thing. As the temperatures increased to 95 degrees with a stiff cross wind we concluded that we made the right decision enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of my Ford F-150 Pick up truck.

We departed Roseburg around 7:30 and motored south through Grants Pass, across the California border, the bridge over Lake Shasta and stopped at Russell (Day-Long Motorcycle Seats) in Shasta Lake.  They make one of the reportedly most comfortable motorcycle seats in the industry, also one of the least attractive and certainly one of the most expensive, but the most comfortable with a patented internal suspension system. Lane and I are both riding on Sergeant motorcycle seats. The stock KLR seat is good for about 15 minutes of uninterrupted riding before you just want to tear it off and throw it away or burn it. It's that bad.

Around lunchtime we pulled into Willows, CA, and had lunch at Kathy's Airport Cafe, just off the freeway. Kathy's is the apparently the locals favorite eating spot and we could see why. It was very friendly and warm and one can still buy a hamburger plate there for less than $5.00, and most importantly, the food was good. I'd eat there again.

After twelve hours on the road, and 25 miles north of the Grapevine just south of Bakersfield,  traffic came to a screeching halt. Cal Tans has one of the two lane of Interstate 5 closed for several miles for resurfacing. It's a three month project and a three month headache for drivers. After a 30 minute delay we going again and pulled into Santa Clarita about 8:30 pm, after 13 hours on the road.

Here are a few stats and reflections on the trip:

We rode the motorcycles 5,551 miles, a little over a 1,000 miles of it on dirt and gravel roads.
We put approximately 245 gallons of gas in the two motorcycles, averaging about 45 MPG.
We paid between $1.17 and $1.84 per liter of gasoline. One liter is equal to approximately 0.2642 gallons, or slightly less than 1/4 gallon.
Food in Canada is expensive, approximately half again what you would expect to pay in the US.
We purchased twenty one hotel rooms (We carried full camping gear but only for emergencies).
We rode on Hiedenau Explorer DOT approved dual-sport tires that went the entire 5,551 miles and still have a some rubber left on them. Most dual-sport tires are only good for about 3,000 to 4,000 miles of this type of riding. So, we didn't have to change tires.
Our new Italian Gaerne waterproof dual-sport boots that we love are not entirely waterproof.

We thank all of you who have tuned in and followed along. We hope you enjoyed our babble and sampling of photos. And, we hope you will join us again for our next adventure. Remember, it's all right here in the diaries, mostly true, most of the time.

Sincerely,

John Vander Horck and Lane Greenberg
Horck Adventures
jevander@sbcglobal.net

Not many photos today just a lot of driving.

D2D Day 22 Kamloops, BC to Olympia, WA 634 Miles

Greetings to those of you who are still hanging with us. We appreciate your interest.

Today is our last day on the motorcycles since departing Olympia, WA, three weeks ago. It has been a great, albeit somewhat arduous adventure, especially for mature gentlemen such as ourselves. But, we are thankful for the opportunity to be able to do it, and pretty much loved every minute of it.

We left Kamloops this morning under clear skies with temperatures in the low sixties and only a slight breeze, perfect for motorcycle riding. To make it even better, today is July 1st, Canada Day, a national holiday. We have the six lane freeway departing Kamloops toward Vancouver, BC, all to ourselves. It is the best road that we have ridden on thus far in Canada or Alaska. Adding to our security is an eight foot fence for miles along both sides of the highway to prevent errant deer, elk and other of nature's critters from running out of the bush into your path in an apparent attempt to end their life and ruin yours.

The scenery is nothing short of spectacular with its rich green forests, glacier cut mountains and valleys and fast-flowing rivers cutting ever deeper into the landscape. Regrettably, there are no pull-outs to stop and take photos. I guess you'll just have to take my word for it. In other words, you should have been there.

There is one blight on the land however, several forests have been decimated my the notorious Pine Bark Beetle. They will infest a pine tree and eat it until the tree is dead. There are thousands of acres of dead pine trees as a result. Lumber companies are attempting to harvest some of the dead lumber, but the damage is extensive and widespread. We made similar observations in British Columbia during our 2008 journey to Fairbanks, AK , from Los Angeles. There doesn't seem to be a solution for the problem. It looks like it's going to be up to Mother Nature to resolve this.

The mountain passes are not very high, maybe 4,000 feet or so. But, every time we crested a pass the temperature would drop to the low fifties and we would occasionally be poking our heads into the lowering cloud deck. At times, it was difficult to determine whether we had more fog on the inside of our face shields or the outside. Breathing in the cold mountain air would tend to fog up the inside of our face shields, requiring us to open them to defrost occasionally. Eventually, the clouds turned to our favorite mountain riding condition--rain. Not!

After about 150 miles of riding in the cold rain and fog we rolled into Abbotsford, BC, and followed my GPS to the Sumas, WA, and the US border crossing. How did we ever find anything before GPS? Oh yeah, that's right, we had maps. I still carry them; call me old fashioned.

The US Customs agent recognized our bikes as Kawasaki KLRs and seemed more interested in how and why we lowered our moto-cross type front fenders than our citizenship status. We explained that the purpose was to keep mud out of the radiators. Then he wanted to know who made the fenders and the fork braces. After that, it was, "Are you carrying any fruit or plants? Nope? Have a nice ride." It's always a good feeling to get back on American soil.

Then, it was south through Seattle and on to Olympia, arriving about 3:00 pm after about 354 miles. We loaded the bikes on the trailer, said good bye to Terry and thanked him for storing the truck and trailer. As it was still pretty early, we elected to drive for a while before settling down for the night. Two hundred and eighty miles later we finally gave up in Roseburg, Oregon, at about 9:00 pm, where we had supper and a nice bottle of Oregon wine at the only restaurant in town that was still open.

Tomorrow we're going to try to make a Banzai run home to Santa Clarita, CA, some 754 miles to the south.

The photo of me holding holding a yellow rag is purely symbolic. That rag was given to us at our first overnight stop in Cache Creek, BC, by the motel owner to wipe down our motorcycles. We carried it on the entire trip using it to clean windshields, helmets, glasses, wash the motorcycles, stem the flow of blood from skinned knuckles and just about anything else one could possibly use a rag for. It got washed with  our clothes several times. It affectionately became known as the "Cache Creek Rag." Kind of sounds like a catchy tune from the 1930's doesn't it?

Here are a few pictures from today's travels:

D2D Day 21 Hinton AB to Kamloops, BC 310 Miles

Greetings all,

Today your weary travelers departed Hinton, AB, about 8:00 am headed for Jasper National Park, approximately 50 west of Hinton. The weather was good, about 65 degrees with mostly sunny skies. The traffic into the park was fairly heavy. This is a long weekend in Canada. Tomorrow, July 1st is Canada Day.

Approaching the park, we were confronted with a gate keeper collecting fees and a long single line of traffic. A few minutes later, a female employee came running down the line speaking to travelers. When she approached us she inquired as to our destination. I replied, "Kamloops." She directed us to a closed right lane and said to proceed, straight through, no fee collected. Cool!

Upon entering the park the scenery is awesome, beautiful blue/green lakes and majestic snowcapped mountains. Although the sky was beginning to cloud over it could not diminish the beauty and grandeur of Jasper National Park.

We had not been in the park for more than ten minutes before traffic stopped, which usually means someone has seen a wild animal. Today was no exception. We saw a lone Ram standing right next to the roadway. We stopped for some quick pictures. Just a few miles farther down the road we saw an adult male Elk grazing right next to the highway. We, along with several other tourists, stopped for more pictures.

A few minutes later we pulled into the village of Jasper proper. Jasper is a quaint little village with many original shops and a few everyday standards, including Subway. But, I have to tell you, as beautiful as Jasper is, I'm a little disappointed. In comparison to nearby Lake Louise and Banff, it just doesn't measure up. It’s very nice, but not uniquely spectacular.

As we departed the park the partially cloudy sky turned to low clouds and rain, the temperature dropped to about 54 degrees and it rained steadily for the next 150 miles to Kamloops, BC.


For the first time in four years of riding in rain wearing my Tourmaster Transition II waterproof textile jacket it let me down. I thought I must have left my left sleeve air vent open from a previous warm day and stopped to close it. However, I found that the vent was closed but my entire left arm was soaked. It's still a mystery.

After enduring the foul weather for the past three hours, the rain finally subsided as we rolled into our destination for the evening, Kamloops, BC. We checked into our hotel and walked to the local pub for supper.

We're going to try to get an early start tomorrow for Olympia, Washington, where we'll load the bikes on the trailer and drive home to Santa Clarita, CA, concluding our Alaska and Canada riding adventure. Upon pulling into Kamloops, we put our 5,000th mile on the motorcycles since leaving Olympia three weeks ago. As good as it is to get home, it's always a little sad to conclude a great riding adventure.

Here are a few photos, as much as the rain would allow:

D2D Day 20 Dawson Creek, BC to Hinton, AB 278 Miles

Greetings Friends,

We're getting down to the last few days of our adventure ride to Canada and Alaska. We rewarded ourselves with a late wake up this morning, that is to say we slept in, as we had less than 300 miles to Hinton, Alberta, Canada, about 45 miles east of Jasper. Hotels in Jasper start at about $250 per night with two-night minimum. Hinton we'll just say is considerably less expensive.

Departing Dawson City and heading south, the terrain is very similar to Minnesota, green rolling hills with farms, lakes and trees. It brought back fond childhood memories of spending many summers at my grandparent's farm and lake home in Minnesota.

After leaving Dawson Creek we crossed the British Columbia border and entered the province of Alberta, we also lost an hour on the clock.

Eighty two miles to the southeast of Dawson Creek we pulled into Grande Prairie for gas and a morning comfort break, good bye coffee, and then headed south on Alberta 40 for Grande Cache, some 119 miles to the south. The scenery slowly changed from rolling prairie and farms to thick forest.  

Western Alberta seems to be rich in natural resources. The route was strewn with natural gas wells and piping. Furthermore, the area is a logging haven with evidence of acres of clear-cut harvesting. We also passed a coal mine where huge powered shovels are devouring the entire side of a mountain.

The Later in the afternoon, we arrived in Grande Cache where we gassed up and had lunch at Milos, a Greek and Italian restaurant.

The next eighty eight miles between Grande Cache and Hinton is a game preserve with a warning sign, "Caution, wild animals on the highway." Before getting too far we saw two dead deer on the highway. A short time later we saw a flat-bed tow truck picking up a car with front end damage and a dead deer lying on the side of the highway. The chances of surviving a large animal hit on a motorcycle are dismal. Constant vigilance and reasonable speed are the rules for survival.

Not all of the animals we saw today were dead. We saw a Red Fox, no relation to the late comedian, one lonely Black Bear, a few individual deer and a young buck deer with the fuzz still on his antlers and his young doe bride, very cute.

The weather was pretty good today, temperature between 68 and 72 degrees under partly cloudy skies, some wind but not too bad. All in all it was a nice day for riding.

We pulled into Hinton about 4:30 pm and checked into a new Holiday Inn Express hotel. Thirty minutes later we were using the Jacuzzi and pool, the first ones we have encountered since leaving Olympia, Washington.

Tomorrow, we're off the Jasper, AB and Kamloops, BC.

As usual, here are a few photos from today's ride:

D2D Day 19 Fort Nelson, BC to Dawson Creek, BC 278 Miles

Greetings from Dawson Creek, British Columbia, faithful blog followers,

Today, we were up early and anxious to get to Dawson Creek, the official beginning (Mile 0), or as I have stated before, the official end of the Alaska Highway, for us. After an included buffet breakfast at the hotel, we loaded up our bikes along with a group of riders from Michigan. They had just successfully completed a ride up the dirt Dalton Highway (AKA the Haul Road) from Fairbanks, AK to Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean and were on their way back home.

One of the Michigan riders was lamenting the fact that they had successfully negotiated the Dalton without mishap; however, yesterday one of their riders dumped his BMW 1200 GS in the loose gravel on some road construction on the Alaska Highway. He was alright but had some bruises, not to mention his male ego. I was a little dicey for us as well, but we managed to keep the shiny side up.

The weather and road conditions were perfect for riding today, as you can probably see from a couple of the attached photos. We just rode today, no sightseeing, hence not many photos, sorry. It was really an easy, low-mileage jaunt. We stopped for lunch in Fort Saint John, BC, at A&W Root Beer, which are very prevalent in Canada. Papa burgers all around please.

I think we have also shopped just about every Wal Mart in British Columbia, Yukon and Northwest Territories buying motorcycle oil for the KLRs. Aside from the radiator problem we had with Lane's bike in Chicken, AK, the little bikes have performed flawlessly with one exception. Stock KLRs are known for high oil consumption, especially at freeway speeds. We're using a quart of oil every 1,000 to 1,500 miles on average. I don't think it's burning the oil, it seems to just blow it out past the rings at higher speeds. Kawasaki knows about it but they haven't fixed it. There is a retro-fit aftermarket 685 cc big-bore kit available to resolve that problem. I think I'm going to look into it upon my return home.

We pulled into Dawson Creek in the early afternoon and made the obligatory stop for photos at the Start of the Alaska Highway sign and visitor center/museum, the brown grain elevator building. The family photo is not my new instant Canadian family; it's just a local family who has never visited the museum before. They were kind enough to take our picture. The little girl with the bonnet wanted to see the motorcycle, so I sat her on it and they wanted a photo. Nice folks.

We left the visitor center and checked into a brand new Holiday Inn Express Hotel. Later, we enjoyed a very nice supper with wine at the new FIXX Urban Grill.  It was excellent; we recommend it.

Please stay tuned. Over the next two days we'll be in Jasper, Alberta, and Kamloops, BC, before returning to the US. 

Here are a few photos. That little dot between Lane's silver helmet and his orange camera strap is me.