Back on the (Alaskan) road again

The latest post on my blog dates back from September 2007. The title then was 'This is the end, but not really'. The forecast seemed right. In 2008, my Tiger was taken out to Washington & Oregon States for a magnificent ride along the coastline and Olympic National Park. Last year, it was time for a 3000 mile trip through beautiful British Columbia, Yukon to end up in Anchorage, Alaska. One day, when I am not sitting on a motorcycle during my spare time, I will write about that great adventure, accompanied with some stunning pictures.
Aftertomorrow, June 19 2010, it's time for another trip in Alaska, not on my own this time but in company of my father and my buddy Peter. The three of us will do an Alaska trip for 10 days, going up North to Fairbanks and getting back to the beautiful sounds south of Anchorage. Whenever we have online connection, we will try to keep you up to speed on our adventures.

This is the end, but not really

After San Jose I had another 5 days to get to Seattle, enough time to cover two more national parks en route. Redwood National Park is not really a park like the other ones where you have to show a pass or pay an entrance fee: you just pass through the enormous forests with red woods. Just to give you a sense of the size of these humongous trees, I made a couple of pictures that put things in perspective. The little creature that you see in the right hand picture is me...

The woods were amazing but they also kept you alert. On Friday morning I was cruising on one of the nicely curved roads in the forest when my bike all of a sudden started to slip and make my front wheel shake from left to right. Apparently I had hit some sand on the road which wasn't visible because of the shadows on the road. Luckily I was able to keep the approximately 700 pounds under control and it was only a serious wakeup call.

Once I was out of the redwood forests, I entered the state of Oregon. High on my list was Crater Lake National Park. Crater Lake, at 1,943 feet (592 meters) deep, is the seventh deepest lake in the world and the deepest in the United States. Crater Lake lies inside a caldera, or volcanic basin. Huge amounts of winter snow and rain supply the lake with water. There are no inlets or outlets to the lake.

No place else on earth I have seen the combination of a deep, pure lake, so blue in color; amazing surrounding cliffs, almost two thousand feet high and two picturesque islands.

Too bad I was so short in time because I could have spent a week in this park and in the other national forest of Oregon. On Saturday evening I arrived in Portland where I was warmly welcomed by my former Washington DC colleague, Jeremy who moved there with his wife Lindsey to enjoy a life with more quality. And after a great tour (Jeremy, you would do great as a tour guide) I can see why one would move to Portland. Great weather, relaxed atmosphere, wonderful neighborhoods with cosy restaurants and bars and not to forget: coffee bars. I even had a real coffee tasting on Sunday morning. It was almost the same exercise as wine tasting: you take a little bit of coffee on a tea spoon (I know), slurp it, taste and then you spit it out in a cup. Pretty interesting to flavour all the different tastes of coffee that way.

And then I was feeling a little sad because I came to the end of my almost 7 week trip. On Sunday I covered the last 130 miles to Seattle which was my end destination, 7,789 miles or 12,462 kilometers away from basecamp. This had been a great trip and definitely fulfilled my desire to see more of America and its beautiful nature. It was actually to be good to be true that I did not run into any major problems during my ride.

But that changed on Tuesday, when I got a little bit stressed out when the Triumph dealership I 90 motorsports in Seattle decided they did not want to store or showcase my bike. So much for promises. There I stood, 24 hours before I had to catch my plane to NY without a storage place for my Tiger.

Luckily the other dealership Lynnwood Cycle Barn (http://www.lynnwood-cyclebarn.com/default.asp?sid=triumph) about 30 miles away was much more bikerfriendly and decided to give my bike a roof until its next trip, probably Alaska, somewhere in June/July next year. Thanks guys, much appreciated!

Now I'm back in NJ. On Saturday I'm flying to Belgium to visit family and friends for 10 days and then I am off to my next destination: Africa.

I will start my trip in South Africa and from there I will tour in Southern and East Africa. I have not prepared a detailed plan yet but countries like Kenya, Tanzania and Malawi will definitely be in the mix. Unfortunately, I won't be able to carry a laptop in my backpack and I am not relying too much on internet access in these countries so a blog will not be an option. I will keep record of my stories and will obviously take tonnes of pictures so I am thinking of a nice way to publish my adventures in Africa once I am back.

So, I guess this is the end of this blog. I hope you've enjoyed the stories and I have been able to convince you to visit some of these amazing places. Thanks for all the comments and recommendations. I'll keep this blog live so feel free to add more comments. If you're interested in seeing more pictures of this trip, let me know and I will send you a link to a condensed photo library.

See ya and don't forget: CARPE DIEM!

From coast to coast

The main focus of my trip other than crossing the US continent was visiting a number of National Parks. So far, I have visited six of them (Glacier, Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Great Basin, Zion and Bryce Canyon) and one National Monument (Craters of the Moon). Sometimes people ask me which one I liked most. That's a difficult question because each park is so different. They each have their own highlights. But if I had to choose one, it would probably be Bryce Canyon, the last one we visited. Perhaps nowhere are the forces of natural erosion more tangible than at Bryce Canyon. It's amazing how water has carved Bryce's rugged landscape for millions of years.

Another great aspect to this park is its abundance of wildlife. Maybe it's a matter of luck but on an evening ride through the park we spotted a fox, turkeys, elk, deer and all sorts of birds.

That evening we also discovered that there are few better places on planet Earth for astronomy! The night sky at Bryce is so dark you can see 7,500 stars on a moonless night! That night it was half moon so the amount diminished but it was still impressive. Jupiter is actually that big that you can see it without a telescope. The park rangers picked up on the success of their sky (they now call it part of Bryce Canyon park) and they decided to have a multimedia show twice a week followed by sky viewing with telescopes. And that's what we did that night, looking to the craters of the moon, gazing at Jupiter with 4 stars in its proximity. Very impressive. This is a picture taken after the show, of our typical tipi tent. You can see the moon and Jupiter on it.

On Saturday I dropped off Lut at the airport of Vegas, after being stopped by a police officer. He asked me why I was going straight where I had to turn right and why I ignored a red light on the Strip. Good questions and I guess I wanted to get out of the scorching heat (again 107 degr F) but I obviously didn't tell him that. Just being polite and apologetic did the job again. His last question was: "Is that a Tiger?". I acknowlegded and he replied: "great bike" and he jumped on his Harley Davidson. I like these kind of cops ;-)

So the best way to get out of this unbearable heat was to go to the west coast, my next destination. Over there temperatures were much milder. On Sunday I staid at a wonderful campground near the beach, about 150 miles from San Jose.

On Monday I did the Big Sur, a road winding through the mountains all along the coastline. Unfortunately half of the trip was covered by low clouds and fog but I still got some great vistas of the Pacific and saw some elephant seals!

Yesterday, my Tiger got a well-deserved service in the Triumph dealership in San Jose after about 6,700 miles (10,700km). The bike as well as the rider were treated as kings by Maya, the hospitable shop manager. She owns about 10 bikes herself (including some vintage Nortons and Triumphs) and some really great cars from the sixties and seventies.

So now I have another week to get to my end destination of this trip: Seattle. That's where I am going to have my bike stored at a local Triumph dealership (http://www.i-90motorsports.com/aboutus.asp). They will showcase it as the ultimate bike that crossed the US twice (the first time my buddy Willem took it all the way from South Florida to North Alaska). The reason why I have it stored in Seattle is because it's closer to Alaska. Yes indeed, I am already thinking of my next trip ;-)

Freaking hot!

After Idaho came Nevada, the state of deserts but also slot machines. Every restaurant, bar, hotel or even gas station you enter, you're prompted to pass through the area of slot machines, eating coins of all sorts. I haven't seen anybody jumping through the air because (s)he became a millionnaire as they like to advertise.

Typical for Nevada is that temperatures tend to be higher than other states at this time of the year. On Saturday when I picked up my (travel) buddy, Lut, in Las Vegas, the temperature outside rised to 106 degrees F or 41 degrees C. She came from 60 degrees F or 15 degrees C in Belgium. What a warm welcome ;-)

So now I have a passenger on the back of my bike for one week which led to storing some of my stuff in a Greyhound station in Las Vegas. Not a problem actually because most of that stuff I had not been using anyway the last 4 weeks. It's amazing how little you really need when you travel.

On Sunday we visited Zion National Park (Utah) and luckily some clouds were giving us a little break from the high temperatures. Here are some pictures. Today we're visiting Bryce Canyon National Park.

The real stuff

I have been 3 weeks on the road now, 4,300 miles away from New Jersey. "Time flies when you're having fun" is actually very accurate in this case. It's also hard to keep up with the blog because national parks obviously don't have internet access capabilities. So I will summarize two weeks of exciting visits in this posting.

Once I left Mackinac Island, I covered about 1,700 miles passing through the northern states of Michigan, Wisconsin, Minnesota, North Dakota and Montana to arrive in Glacier National Park . The last three states were actually not that exciting. Lots of straight roads (even though I tried to avoid the Interstates) through fields of corn, wheat and grass or just nothing but dust and stones. The picture below summarizes most of that 5 day trip.

But then finally, I reached the mountain range of Glacier National Park on Saturday August 4. Unfortunately most of the mountains were barely visible because heavy winds were blowing the smoke of wildfires up north. That evening I met two fellow Belgians, Weking and Liesbeth, on the campground, travelling with a 1993 BMW from Alaska to Argentina! This is their 6 month honeymoon travel. That's the way to do it! As true Belgians, we ended the day with lots of beer until our neighbors asked us to lower our voices so they could get some sleep ;-) For the Dutch speaking readers: if you want to follow their adventures, here's their blog: http://viaje-america.blogspot.com/


Luckily the next morning the winds had disappeared, the sun was rising and the sky was clear again. Excellent conditions to ride through the park, although the ride went very slowly. Every 5 to 10 minutes I had to stop so I could admire the breathtaking views on the glacier and the mountains.










The next destination was Yellowstone, the world's first national park established in 1872, about 5oo miles south of Glacier NP. I had read that more than half of the 3 million annual visitors come in July and August and that became painfully obvious when I entered the park. This was like a theme park... I decided to visit the less crowded sites during the day and then in the evening some hotspots (in the true sense of the word) like Mammoth Springs.













That seemed to be the right approach and as an extra, the sunset light gave some spectacular reflections on the dozens of colorful steaming terraces.

The second day I went to see the Old Faithful geyser. The visitor center publishes the predicted eruption times and those estimates seemed to be pretty accurate. Amazing how nature can be predicted.

In the afternoon I had enough of all the crowds. On my way out of the park, I was stopped by a grizzly bear and her two cubs, travelling to the other side of the forest.









Just south of Yellowstone, the next national park presented itself: Grand Teton. The amount of traffic significantly decreased and just a couple of miles into the park, the peaks of the Teton Range rised through steep forest. A string of jewel-like lakes were set tightly against the steep foot of the mountains. Wow, this looked very promising.

This park was so phenomenal and relaxing that I decided to stay an extra day.

On Friday I left the park and entered the state of Idaho. This was a tough part. Heavy winds were blowing from the northwest and I almost had to hang on the side of my motorcycle to balance it against the wind. The wind got even stronger when I crawled up one of the lava hills in the National Monument, Craters of the Moon. You could push yourself forward, leaning against the wind.









And then yesterday, I arrived at Boise, the capital of Idaho, where I was welcomed by my former colleague, Kristen, her husband Justin, their adorable baby Grace, and her sister Adrienne who was visiting. Their offer to stay over was greatly appreciated after 5 days of camping in the national parks.

Back in time

Once in Michigan, I had to go north or south first in order to then move more towards the west. A number of people had already advised me to go to Mackinac (read Mackinaw) Island (http://www.mackinac.com/) so that sunny Sunday afternoon, I hit the road north in the direction of Upper Peninsula.

Usually a motorcycle gets you everywhere, but not to this island. I had to leave it behind at Mackinaw City (yes, this time it is written like it sounds...) and catch a ferry for about 20 minutes. Already in 1898 cars were banned from the island to encourage tourism. Today all travel on the island is by horses or bicycles; even the police use bikes to patrol the town. That wasn't totally strange to me because in Ghent, part of the police are doing the same in the historic district.

It was so relaxing not to hear any vehicle noises (including my own two wheeler ;-) so I decided to make it a lazy Monday with lunch at Grand Hotel, some walking and strolling on the island and before taking the ferry back to the mainland, eating a delicious ice cream with pieces of the famous fudge.

As pictures say more than a 1,000 words, here you go:

From Hudson to Holland

After my visit to Fallingwater, I drove to Pittsburgh, an industrial city that conjures up stark images of steel and coal factories but is now getting a revival. The Andy Warhol museum was the only place that drew my attention in this city. A Pittsburgh native, Warhol became famous for his pop art, avant-garde movies and Velvet Underground spectaculars. The exhibits give a nice overview of Warhol's career, including his classic Campbell's soup cans (apparently, for over 20 years he drank the soup every day...), celebrity portraits (Marilyn Monroe, Mick Jagger) and frequent film screenings. There was even a photograph exhibition "New York" of Lou Reed. This was certainly worthwile a visit.

On my way West, I was suggested by my hometown friend Gretel to say hello to her friends Rod and Lisa who live in Hudson, Ohio (near Cleveland). I am happy I did. They treated me like a royal guest and it felt like we had been knowing each other for ages. And so we talked and laughed for hours with a serious amount of beers. I am still not sure if Rod tried to prove that Americans can drink more than Belgians (he surely beat me this time) or if he wanted to show that he hadn't forgotten about the drinking courses he got in Belgium about 15 years ago when he visited with Up With People... One of the cultural differences that became apparent was the definition of my time off. I explained it as a sabbatical, Rod called it a midlife crisis. I wouldn't be opposed to that definition but I feel like I want to live a bit longer than that, if at all possible... Rod and Lisa's invitations to stay longer were tempting but unfortunately the National Parks in the West were calling me.

After Ohio comes Indiana. I had heard nice things about Indianapolis but the lyric words of a former colleague, Nikki, about the northern state Michigan lingered in my head. Her two page e-mail with recommendations confirmed it: I had to stop at least at a couple of places in Michigan.

Holland would be the first halt (http://www.holland.org/), a town that draws about two and a half million visitors every year with its Victorian-styled downtown, an annual Tulip Festival in May with about 6 million tulips and a beautiful oasis, Windmill Island featuring a 240 year old working Dutch windmill "De Zwaan" (meaning graceful bird).

Waiting for the traditional "klompen" (wooden shoes) dances, I started talking with Alisa, the maiden miller (when she heard I was Belgian, she introduced herself as "de vrouwelijke molenaar"). After the official guided tour, I got a personal tour up to the top of the mill. Incredible how this mill, moved from The Netherlands in 1964 and more than 200 years old, is still in such good shape and functioning. Alisa was totally enthusiastic about her mill and proudly announced that she had passed the first test in the Netherlands to become a certified miller. Now she was preparing for the final exam (in Dutch!!!) on September 19 in European Holland. After the tour we're getting into historic downtown and as a closer, Alisa guided me to the beach on Lake Michigan where we saw a magnificent sunset and an almost full moon coming up.

A lot of other people got attracted to Holland as well because all the hotels and campgrounds were fully booked that night. So there was only one solution, getting out of Holland to look for a place to sleep. And then, Alisa offered her guest room in her 19th century house in the historic district. The next morning I am even treated with homebaked Scottish scones and rooibos tea. This was too good to be true. Thanks again, Alisa!