Alaska 2012
 
 

Day 19

July 23

 
  
 
 
 This is the second day that I have been dreading and looking forward to at the same time. We are fixin to hit some very hot and humid weather which I don't like. I tell folks not to come to Tennessee in July and August to ride unless they want to sweat buckets. But by the end of the day if no drama occurs, I'll be back in my beloved Holler. My leftovers from supper warm up nicely in the microwave in the room and I have me a little feast before we hit the road.  
  
 We get the beasts loaded - one more time for me - and ease our way out of the parking lot. 
  
 As we make our way south through Wisconsin, we see many homestead places like this one. They are usually pretty white houses surrounded by fields that stretch on and on. 
  
 And every now and then we another type of 'crop' - energy generating windmills that looks a bit like strange mushrooms sprouting up in massive profusion. 
  
 In one place, it looks as if we will run straight through the middle of them, but the road veers before we get there. 
  
 Once again because of the heat, we make more frequent stops to replenish and cool off. I see a fighter plane sitting on props and wonder of there's a VFW nearby. 
  
 At the same stop, there's a truck hauling part of the 'stalk' for a wind turbine. 
  
 We are in and out of construction zones it seems all day. What you don't want to happen is to get stuck in one in this heat where you inch along for miles. Fortunately we miss that experience and for that I am very thankful. 
  
 When I see this familiar sign near Champaign, I know we only have one more Interstate and we'll be on the home stretch. 
  
 But just to keep it interesting, we hit yet another construction zone ... 
  
 and another construction zone. I'm beginning to think we're back in Alaska except for the heat. 
  
 Finally we just have to pull over at rest stop and take a break from the heat and humidity.  
  
 When I see this sign for I24, I really get happy cause we are less than two hundred miles from the Holler. From here I could probably ride with my eyes shut and make it just fine. 
  
 And once again I pass the home of Superman - Metropolis of course. 
  
 Soon we are in Kentucky which means just one more state to go. 
  
 But the heat is really getting tough to deal with, so we take another brake to rehydrate and cool off. Hopefully from here we can wing on in to the Holler. 
  
 We do the multiple river crossings in short order and I know it won't be much longer. 
  
 

When we pull into the Holler, LadyBug says

"Hey Dad, glad you finally drug it on back home. I've been missing you."

Or at least that's what I think she said.

 
  
 

Once we get into the house and cool off a little bit, I tell Alain -

"I know this real deal BBQ place we can go for supper. After that I'll give you the nickel tour of Nashville."

I take him to Jacks on the northeast side of town for some real southern BBQ. Then as I promised, we drive around downtown Nashville a bit to see a few of the well known sights. I feel bad about not mentioning for him to take his camera, as one of the stops is to see the Parthenon. It is one of the most visually arresting sites in all of Nashville and seldom mentioned anymore in the tourist rags. We also stop by the Union Station, the old restored train station, which has this fascinating staircase that catches a lot of photographers' fancy. But tomorrow it's back to work for me and back on the road for Alain so we come back to the Holler. It's been one of the most enjoyable trips I have taken in a long time. And I have to say a lot of it has to do with the fine company that I had most of the way.

 
  
 
THE END
 
  
 

Some Finishing Odds And Ends -

I sent the XD card off to a recovery service that does that sort of stuff for the White House, IBM, etc. but they were not able to recover the thousand or so pictures of the heart of the trip. I owe Alain a thousand thank yous for letting me use his pictures to fill in where I had none. I have learned a very valuable and painful lesson - backup your pictures on a daily basis!

Observations about riding in Alaska -

1. If you are scared of riding in gravel and grated bridges on a motorcycle, you'd best stay at the house. There were some pretty long stretches of several miles, some pretty nasty. If you can get over the fear, it is not too bad but you do have to be careful.

2. Things are quite expensive once you cross over into Canada. Gas ran from $4.50 to $5.00+ a gallon. Food was a lot more expensive and lodging was crazy expensive for the quality that you got. I suggest you'd better budget $200 a day if you plan on making the trip and staying in motels. And that number only works if you can split a room like Alain and I did.

3. I bought the Mileposts Magazine and never pulled it out of the saddlebag. We knew where we were going and what we wanted to see before we left the house.

4. The mosquitoes can be quite nasty, so be sure to get some max strength deet - unless you just like being mosquito bait.

5. If your vehicle has a 200 mile range, you should be fine on gas. Both our bikes did, and we never had any trouble. If your bike is short of that range, I would recommend you bring along a gas can for safety.

6. Wildlife is abundant and it is just that - wild life. Bears can cover short distances in seconds so don't think you are dealing with Yogi. Moose and buffalo are extremely large, cantankerous animals who are of the belief that they own the highway and act accordingly. You will not win a dustup with either one of them.

7. Unless you just go to say you went, Denali Park does not give you the best view of Denali and I found it rather 'uninteresting'. It's big draw is wildlife, but we saw way more on the roads than we did in the park.