Month: June 2016

One week beyond my trip and finally found time to sit down and collect some closing thoughts about my adventure and fundraiser in wild Alaska.

First and foremost is to always give thanks to God for good health before and during a trip, whatever happens after is of no consequence.  Could you imagine gaining a very bad cold or flu prior to going into an adventure and forcing you to go into that event weakened?  Even imagine one of those times you lay on a couch for two days with a fever waiting for an antibiotic to kick in and you could then halfway function at best…what if that had happened for instance in Fairbanks, or Coldfoot, Deadhorse, etc.  So in all my adventures, prayer both during preparation , all the way up to the event is paramount, including during the actual event.  I think on every Grand Canyon Rim to Rim hike, I’ve said prayers at 2:00am on the second night since by then, someone has had an issue with heat, injury, etc. and the prayer is seeking God’s intervention to bring them out successfully….ie. – a plan is asked for, and no surprise to me, God has always answered.  I’ve now led 5 Rim to Rim hikes, and happy to report our hiking parties have endured temperatures over 125 degrees on the Canyon floor and hiked out and upward over 6000 feet to the top of the North Rim, without need for a Park Service rescue, or much worse…death.  Many do not gain that fortune.  So, I’m always thankful for God’s provision.

Secondly, thankful to Gina, my wife, who not only allows me to adventure, she encourages it!  If not for her, I would be that classic male who talks a big talk about what I’m going to do, then gets unmotivated for a myriad of reasons and never does a darn thing.  Yet Gina came from fine adventurer lineage herself, she is the granddaughter of Myrl Burdick.  Myrl bravely ventured down to Florida every year back in the 1940s, 1950s with his wife, 3 daughters and 1 son from Pennsylvania in a car he converted into a camper.  They would travel via old route one.  That was ultimate and brave adventure for sure.  So the success I gain for any accomplishment in adventure is shared equal with Gina.

Third, I’m thankful to be part of Bite Me Cancer Organization, and to our very own Team Bite Me Cancer for all of their generous donations, helping us raise over $6,500.00 to support children and teens battle back in their fights with cancer.  I noticed a few days beyond when I arrived back home a Facebook pic and post from Nikki and Sharon Ferraro that a third grant totaling $57,500.00 had been appropriated to an Institution for research that is sure to lead to better treatments, a cure, and support care for teens during hospital stays.  Who’d a thought freezing and slogging through, rain, mud, and snow in Alaska could help contribute funds to a cause so needed and important, but it did.  It was also very rewarding to have the opportunity on this ride to stop by as an ambassador for Bite Me Cancer and visit Providence Hospital’s Cancer Center for Children to deliver support bags to Teens being treated for cancer in Anchorage, Alaska.  One of Nikki’s goals, something she has great passion for, is to have BMC (Bite Me Cancer) support care bags for teens in every state of America, hence Alaska is now #30 on her quest.

I’m thankful as well for our media coverage for our event.  Our local newspaper, the Capital, and journalist Melissa Krol, a Cancer survivor herself, wrote a story featuring Madeleine, the Bite Me Cancer Organization, and my fundraising ride.  Equal in thanks to our local government, for featuring our ride on weekly cable TV broadcast of “This Week in Review.” Dave Abrams and Kristin Lagana were wonderful to include our story in their programming to rally awareness and support.  And finally, thankful to my adventure blog parallels my personality…i.e. random and scattered.  Thankful and fortunate as well to have April, my executive assistant, handle all of the advertisements and publicity from beginning to end for my ride.  The pressure was on for me since April has done publicity for bands such as Peter Frampton and Cheap Trick back in the day.  I needed to feed her information to feed back to you via the blog.  Yet what I did not foresee was how limited cell phone and wifi service would be as I traveled north, I was out of range for days sometimes.  When I did receive service, I would shoot back some info and pictures, yet even time was limited as we would arrive late some evenings from the ride.  Then the next day, get up early, eat, and ride.  I remember getting  a bad sinus headache the night we were in Deadhorse, and was up at 2:00am, in a bad sweat, downing mucho Tylenol, miserable and unable to sleep…yet did have limited wifi!  It had been 3 days since any wifi service and since I could not sleep that night I stayed up and sent back what I could to April.  She did a marvelous job with what was sent to her of figuring out the timeline of photos, days, etc.  Below is the actual timeline of events, and my Day 1 is not the actual Day 1 of ride, since I was there a day earlier visiting a hospital.

 

Day:                                Highlights

1. Thursday            Visit Pediatric / Teen Cancer Center Providence Hospital and deliver BMC Support Care Bags
2. Friday                  Toured Iditirod Headquarters, took Husky Dog Sled ride, pm – MotoQuest riders meeting / dinner
3. Saturday              Anchorage to Fairbanks, longest day on ride, all pavement, raining most of way, saw Pipeline for first time, ran out of gas and coasted 1 mile downhill until support truck brought fuel.  Gas station was only another 1/2 mile and still think I could have rolled all the way and gained a more dramatic story / conclusion!
4. Sunday                 Fairbanks to Coldfoot, beginning of dirt / Dalton Highway, (aka Haul Road).  Heavy rain and road 3 inches of dirty muck / mud.  First glimpse of southbound truck and the equipment he was hauling unrecognizable, brown from mud!  Mosquitos so bad, left helmet on when we stopped for breaks.
5. Monday                Coldfoot to Deadhorse – 40 miles from start entered Atigen Pass, beautiful, snow-covered, cold, 23 degrees at summit, 50 mph winds, windchill on a motorcycle is at least 40 below zero ride at 60 miles an hour.  We stopped to take pictures at Summit, realized how cold we were and had “Oh sh-t moment.” that said get going…rode another 30 miles to an airfield to have lunch and warm up…no facilities, air temps at 32 degrees, snow on the ground.  Surprisingly, warmed up enough to gain feeling back in toes and fingers. Rode on roads slick and wet, sun came out and dried roads later in day.  Spent 1/2 hour in conversation listening to stories of campers being eaten by grizzlies.
6. Tuesday               Toured oil fields (beginning of Alaska Pipeline) and Prudhoe Bay in the morning, plunged into Arctic Ocean…froze hiney off in the process!  Rode back to Coldfoot and had lunch at Happy Valley.  Happy Valley to be renamed to Grumpy Valley, or Nasty Valley, as we were chased out by screaming man since facility is private and he was tired of people coming to him for rescue.  We stopped here on way up and no issues.  We parked over on opposite side of big area, huddled together behind an old dilapidated building to break 50 mph winds and air temps at freezing, good clip of snow coming down.  Everyone frozen and trying to warm up for ride to Atigen Pass, unsure if pass was passable due to snow.  Moons aligned, God was good, and southern wind blowing on Atigen and no snow, only dry fast roads all the way back to Coldfoot.
7. Wednesday Coldfoot to Chatanika – Dry on ride down, had great lunch beside Yukon River.  Dark clouds and rain ahead, yet rain waited until we were off the Dalton highway and back on asphalt.  Stayed at Chatanika Inn, old roadhouse, Christmas themed with Santas, mucho Christmas lights, etc.  30 miles from North Pole, Alaska, must be reason for the theme.  Great steak potatoes dinner at Night.
8. Thursday              Chatanika to Tanglewood – Great ride, stopped at North Pole Alaska, pictures with Santa.  All asphalt today, in and out of rain.  Tangle Wood Inn beside a beautiful lake for float planes to land on.  Owner of Inn, Naidine Johnson, has a mountain named after her an is a legend in providing assistance to injured war Veterans.  She is retiring soon and will be traveling U.S. in a Winnebago, and visiting George Bush in Texas, they are friends.  Special night, we all indulged in a roast beef with gravy dinner.
9. Friday                    Tanglewood to Cantwell (Denali National Park) all dirt ride, no rain finally!!!…dry fast roads, definitely felt like some baja action.  Toured Denali in afternoon, yet Mt. Mckinley Denali clouded in and no view.  Saw big momma moose with one calf.
10. Saturday                 Cantwell to Anchorage – All good things come to an end.  Rode in rain much of the way, all Asphalt.  Had farewell dinner with the group, fabulous fresh scallops for me, and a toast to life, we all made it back safely and in one piece.

Entire group I rode with were super, and all fast and good in varying elements we ran into, from wet roads, to muddy slop, to fog or freezing temperatures.  All true adventurers who realize the risk, yet do not let it shake them in the least.  The group composed of 2 Navy Seals, Purple Heart Recipients, Marcus and Dano.  They were very close friends and do a lot with fundraising for wounded Vets.  Dan, an 82 Airborne Vet, and retired Reno Policeman, was going on to Key West, Florida on his motorcycle when leaving us.  He will then turn around in Key West, and go due North to Maine…on his motorcycle, passing close to our house.  He is stopping by our house in the afternoon in August on way to Maine as I baited him with a promise of Gina, my Italian wife’s spaghetti  and meatball meal specialty…hard for anyone to refuse that.  Will be great to see him again.  Mike and Miles, a father and son team from Arizona we were all fond of.  In this day and age, you do not see too much of the kids still interested in doing things like this with their Dads, or vice versa, so we all applauded their great fortune of being so close.  Both were experienced riders and Miles the wizard of electronics who kept both a video and written journal of this trip.  Of course, my Brazilian roommate, Arnaldo, a great companion on the trip.  He was also known as the Red Flash since if you put him on a 1200 cc motorcycle….he is incredibly fast!  The two MotoQuest fellas who were responsible for leading the trip, John and Rick, fabulous.  John, an experienced desert racer, enjoys leading these trips and gives professional riding tips to those who want to improve their game in adventure riding.  Rick, who drove “Jethro”, the support truck equipped with fuel and tools,  was a very capable mechanic.  Yet far better than that, he had a personality so sincere and laid back, if everyone in this world was just like him, there would be that long sought after goal….world peace.

Great times, Great people, Great challenges. Thankful.

Til my next adventure….thinking Isle of Man TT!!

Onward…

 

We arrived back in Anchorage yesterday, ride is over. 😦  We rode in both rain and sunny skies, from Denali, aka “The high one” to Anchorage.  Our night capped off by farewell dinner with all the riders and our guides.

All were asked to share “oh darn (paraphrase), I’m in Alaska” moment…mine was Happy Valley moment when we were all frozen and stopped to eat lunch, huddled behind some old dilapidated small shack trying to block wind and a driving snow.  Your mind wanders to that place that says, hypothermia possible.  Back home or a ski slope, you can find a warming hut, heated building, etc. and all is well.  Yet in Alaska, and on this day, we were in stretch of 240 miles of nothing…no fuel stops, no little restaurant with electricity produced from a generator, etc.  The temperatures hovering in 32 to 33 degrees, therefore the windchill on a motorcycle at 60 mph is -8 degrees with clouds and fog blocking out the sun, hands, feet numb.  In this moment you only have the option to soldier on and wonder how it will all turn out.

I remembered Nicole Ferraro’s quote from the recent Cancerversary dinner we attended, which was “You never know how strong you are until being strong is the only choice you have.”  My “oh darn I’m in Alaska Moment” had worry and concern for the outcome.

Fortunately, we were all able to warm up enough to ride the next 40 miles, including the high elevation of Antigen pass to a welcoming warmer southern wind when we needed it most.  We celebrated a toast to success, everyone’s hope from the very beginning when our engines roared to life.

 

 

My Alaska Adventure to raise funds for Bite Me Cancer is winding down and has been a tremendous, rewarding, and “Alaska Wild” success.  Thank you to all Bite Me Cancer Team Members who have made it so.  Together we have added over $6,300.00 thus far to help children and teens battle in their fight with cancer!  The campaign is not over until we achieve $10,000.00, and I am confident we will!!  Sometimes the best made plans go asunder, hence our efforts to post daily reports of ride thwarted by no cell or WiFi.  The areas we rode and work camps where we stayed so remote, I was inaccessible over 80% of the ride.

May God Bless each and every dollar raised to gain a cure for all.

Southbound to Anchorage and civilization!

Our group just arrived in Cantwell, beautiful cabins beside a fast running river.

At the North Pole, Alaska…. Wow, Santa is real!!!

Sir Edmund Hillary the first explorer to conquer Mt. Everest stated “Anyone can climb this mountain, the hard job is getting back down.”  Hence, days 4 and 5…Stayed the night in Chantanika, now on to Paxton as we drop further down on way back.  It is raining of course.  Good news is we are on pavement today and not mud…happy happy joy joy!!

Navy Seals…Dano on the left pulled Marcus (on right) out of jungle of Vietnam after being shot twice.  Friends for life.

We helped a fella who fell and couldn’t ride motorcycle…his bike will be shipped back home to Vermont, he is being shipped to Fairbanks hospital.

Doin’ it for the Team….Bite Me Cancer!  Attitude is everything!

Prudhoe Bay, Alaska – Arctic Ocean (Frozen so limited plunging today)

STILL ALIVE!! The places I’m at are so remote there is no cell or WiFi service.  I’ve been keeping a written blog so I may have to fill you in with more details a bit later but wanted to share some pictures while I have a connection.

We have had very long days with heavy rain and even snow today!  23 degrees on Antigen pass today with high winds, 0 degree wind chill!  Great adventure and super challenging!!  Made it to Deadhorse this evening.  Our tour leader had a little run in with an Alaskan State Trooper, yet was let off with a warning.  We then spent the next 1/2 hour having great fun talking with him, hearing stories of recounts of calls where people were eaten by bears…WILD in ALASKA!!

 

We had a meet and greet with the riders last night.  Arnaldo  Tonnini (from Rio de Janeiro) is my bunkmate for the week.  We did a little pre-gaming before the meeting….so much so, we lost track of time and the crew came looking for us.  I felt like I was back in high school and in trouble with the teacher!!  There are 7 other riders, all with interesting stories, all experienced Adventure (ADV) Riders.  Had a great discussion with Marcus, a war Vet from Vietnam era centered around his goal of doing ADV ride in Vietnam/Laos next year which is said to be beautiful.  He mentioned he had visited without his motorcycle and gained healing from the not so good memories.  I’m sure we will hear each other’s stories in life over the next 9 days and that will be an adventure in itself.  

Bunkmate  Arnaldo has two daughters like me, they are 23 and 25 years of age like mine…he has bad hearing from all of his years working on oil platforms down in South America, mine from chainsaws, or for me…was it the loudness of an Italian wife? Just kidding!  In our cabin, we sound like an old couple talking loud to each other, even further exacerbated by his accent.  He has some back issues so I even have to put this strip of medicine on his spine, I’m sorta like a nurse in that moment, my daughter Hannah would be proud…Nurse Richard Ratchett (One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest)

No radar and come to think of it, I don’t remember seeing any speed limit signs.  I didn’t ever think I would ever experience the craziness of motorcycling in Italy, yet welcome to America…it is found in wild Alaska!

Arnaldo just let me know it’s snowing this morning in Deadhorse, we will be there tomorrow, lovely!!!

Time to saddle my steed and ride, Fairbanks or bust today!

Took a 5 minute ride at Iditirod National headquarters this morning still has me laughing…..MUSH!!! This may very well be the highlight of my day!!

The crew at lunchtime today

Our last bastion of civilization, today we ride the gravelly and dirty Dalton Highway, aka Haul Road.  Enjoying a cup of coffee in the lodge before suiting up for today’s ride.  Dark clouds in the horizon show what we already knew, rain on the ride out, and clearing as we go north…that is the hope anyway…hope always makes anything better!

I thought the dogs were a highlight….hit rain at 100 miles from Denali but there were blue skies ahead!  Saw my first moose, (that was on my bucket list!!!) now I’m just hoping for a bear next!!