Alaska ride travel log

7/10/2014

Okay Matt today is the 10th yesterday the ninth we rode starting in Dillon Montana up to west glacier to Kalispell it was a gorgeous ride on the east side of Flathead Lake there were number of beautiful lakes and mountains we rode through one was a swan Lake great just a great ride I did have one bit of excitement in that but after I passed an RV and going down the road at the speed limit about I'd say 100 yards will not even hundred yards in this deer came jumping out pranced across the road naturally I hit the brakes slow down and missed the deer it wasn't that close but it could've been if I had been maybe 2 to 3 seconds further down the road the time that might've been afan Kalispell Montana got there about 330 they were able to take the bike in and get into what's called the Cal Ling COWN L ING he had like somehow had become unplugged and therefore wouldn't work so the plug it back in but the Calvin back on wished me a good day and away I went. Other events that lunch place called Congdon COM DOM talking with Eric Robison learned more about his experience in the Marine Corps and some of the life some of the life changing events and defined interventions that shaped his life and perhaps saved his life very interesting I don't think I need to go into the details but at any rate it was it was good to know more about Eric anyway now it's about 7 AM little bit cool we are going to go up into glacier national Park and today when I called the highway to the sun it'll be colder there's a visitors center will stop at andagi get out and walk around and actually walk on a glacier I have a feeling this recording is going to be all jumbled and out of sequence but I'm going to push done and email it and also copy myself might be two or three days worth and I'll try to give you a call later on reason the headlight would not turn on and headlight is always on there is no manual way to turn off the headlight on a motorcycle bylaw at any rate there was a Harley Davidson dealership in

7/11/2014

We are now in Calgary Canada. Just for some background I was up here last year on a TRA ride and then had severe century floods literally one half of the main highways and connectors were flooded the stadium in downtown Calgary the first 15 to 20 rows from the ground up or underwater high River about 20 miles from Calgary over half the homes and businesses were flooded everywhere we went we met people who were displaced from high River that this was last year so anyway we will do a session tomorrow morning at the Calgary temple which is beautiful temple by the way and then we'll try to work session in Edmonton later in the afternoon. The drive from Kalispell through glacier national Park was a stunningly beautiful and in fact the road has only been opened up this this year for only about two weeks and oddly enough at the very summit we saw a snowplow clearing off some snow from the from the highway so it was but it was just gorgeous and then back down the other side into Babb Montana and then sure the border up into Canada I think I mentioned to you that but I had a conversation with Eric our team leader and ride planner about his background in the US Marine Corps when he was in Vietnam and how he related there was divine intervention in his career that either saved his life physically and or emotionally very strong testimony and story about that I mentioned to you on these rides there is a lot of planning a lot of excitement sleepless nights packing before we leave I totaled enjoyment on the road and and making sure your motorcycles are completely capable of of a 7000 mile ride which means things like new tires complete oil change and service and a few other things that we can think of that we have to have the cost a lot of money for the for the trip but everyone is well prepared out it's a very inclusive group we care for each other we stop we help without being asked and that we would never ever leave someone behind if there's a mechanical failure or illness or whatever so it's very positive and inspirational group to be with will will talk motorcycles in one minute and then the next talking about special experiences in our lives are in her in the temple even at lunch or whenever waiting around so can't think of anything else special right now I will try to record it if I do and get it down to you thanks for your interest go by the way I sent the email with the entire itinerary for your review you should get that before you get this that's it Brett catch you later bye

7/12/2014

Just a few thoughts on the travel. Besides being extremely beautiful and big, this area is booming economically oil and gas exploration production and exporting. It seems like everywhere we looked riding through if it wasn't the canola field the big green forest there were trucks when holes and all kinds of equipment everywhere. Reading the local newspapers this evening confirm.

7/14/2013

well we had a wonderful Sunday/Sabbath day. Attended the Fort St. John Ward and was pleased to see how strong it is.

The weather was very hot riding the rest of Alberta and through British Columbia. However it was gorgeous. We noticed for several hundred miles the skies were very hazy or smoky. We think there must have been a forest fire somewhere. None of the news reports indicated he fires of significance. We had several exciting things happen on the ride. One is that we saw we saw a large black hair wandering down the side of a hill by the freeway. One of the people we have in the group is that is driving their van. So they stopped and took pictures. I did not stop because I didn't think it would be safe enough to own to only have a motor cycle between me and a large wild animal. Prior to the bear sighting Eric cs, our lead rider, motorcycle had its tailpipe fall off. We were able to retrieve it and this morning in Watson Lake he is at a muffler shop seeing if they can six. His bike is real loud without the tail pipe. Parents Rath after that while passing a trailer Alan and Sue's trailer hitch came undone and was only held on to the bike by the sheen. Somehow the trailer hitch came on this can unscrew. Fortunately Bert and Diana's sand had a trailer hitch. We were able to Jerry rig Allen's trailer to the van and they towed it successfully in two Watson Lake. Keith and I looked for the missing bolt and ball but not able to find it.

We arrived in Watson Lake at about 830. Interestingly enough the odometer on my bike turned exactly PT thousand miles when I pulled in to the motel.

This morning Alan was able to find an auto parts store that had the missing size molt and ball and he replaced his trailer hitch and is now ready to go.

Meanwhile Eric is across the street at a muffler shop seeing if they can fix his tail pipe. Big news on TV this morning is that Germany won the world cup.

Had a wonderful talk on the phone with Joan last night. I sure appreciate her support love and prayers making it possible for me to enjoy these rides with my friends.

I'm sitting here with an interesting experiment in Fort St. John's PC at the Walmart give me have a McDonald's and a dinner chicken wrap anyway people or four days Skinni average size with the how does that work tried by the square inch or by the job by news them question interesting looking out over the cash registers and see all these people coming and going Mynning their stuff and Isah working community model lavers I'm sure a lot of good people but my question is looking this over the interesting I'm wondering if the tattoo artist charge more for the big heavy set way overweight

7/15/2013

Like a bunch of boys playing in the dirt we pulled into Watson W a TSON Lake at about 730 in the evening dusty and dirty from having gone through three or four major construction sites on the Alcan highway. At times the dust was so sick that I could not see where I was going worse than being in a fog because the dust gets over it ever everything and there are no wind shield wipers. However we also saw several dozen bears including some bear cubs we saw a wolf as well and move a lot of Buffalo. The scenery in this does are impossible to describe there must be several hundred trillion trees as far as the eye while riding through British Colombia I listen to my iPod a lot. I also listen to the satellite radio on my GPS. It's amazing how much technology helps make such a rock Wong ride possible. While listening yesterday I heard a BYU devolution all that I had four gotten was on my iPod. It turned out to be a talk by Elder L Tom Perry many years ago. It was the same talk that our daughters Rosemary and Catherine had been on the program with Elder Perry. I thought how amazing it was to be riding through British Colombia today should be a short day, however short days seem to take as much time and energy as the long days. Short meaning fewer miles to ride. We are scheduled to go to Whitehorse Yukon territory today. There is a place called the I do need to take more pictures while I'm writing or during our stops. However many others of the group have been taking a lot of pictures. When I get copies of those pictures I will try to include them in one of these dictated posting one thing I'm trying to do during this three week ride is to not shave. However I noticed yesterday that on my cheeks the motorcycle helmet is starting to be irritated or uncomfortable. I may have to shave except for my job or my chin we met a man at toad TLAB River yesterday who is bicycling around the world. He looked like he was in his 50s long hair very skinny and his bicycle was only minimally laden with equipment. Please planned trip after I'm still amazed and Kim crest at the strength of the oil and gas industries here in the north west. Every thing, I need everything, is directly or as a support function to this industry. The amount of equipment trucks engineering companies, mechanical repair and