Sharing the journey

One of the most valuable parts of any journey is the ability to meet new folks along the way. We live in a world full of beautiful people, and it's always an enriching experience to encounter new paradigms and the breadth of lifestyles and modes of living.

To connect better with those we meet along the way, I made some personal contact cards that I can hand out. Included the blog URL, email contact (used for Facebook as well), and personal phone number (used for text and WhatsApp as well). And, as a reminder of how they met me, a couple graphics on each card. On the side with the contact info: a juggling club/motorcycle graphic. On the opposite side: one of a series of full-color photos from previous motorcycle adventures. Collect them all! I opted for a smaller size than the traditional business card so as to better fit them in my wallet. :)

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A bag for the bags

One of the challenges...well, minor annoyances...I've found in the past has been lugging all my gear from the bike to the night's lodgings, whether it be a campsite, hotel, or house. I enjoy the durability of my Jesse panniers (and just had a great exchange with them about some fresh parts for the 'bags), but they are somewhat of a challenge to get off the bike, and even a greater challenge to try to carry somewhere when full. So I was left corralling an armload of disparate bags and sundries.

An idea occurred to me a couple weeks ago, though: a lightweight bag that would roll tightly, consuming little room in the panniers, but big enough when opened up to carry most, if not all, of my luggage. I know...not a world-changing epiphany, but then I came across my military sea bag, which fit the bill perfectly.

Tried it out on the trip to Emporia this weekend to celebrate my birthday with family. I like it. The sea bag rolls up tightly enough to fit into the lid of the pannier and was plenty spacious to easily load everything I brought on this trip with room to spare for at least a fair chunk of what I expect to have on the Pan-American Highway.

The weather right now

Nick just texted and we pondered the weather right now in Deadhorse. Cold. Frigid, really. Just downright bitter.

Here's a look at temps along the northern extreme at this moment:

...and along the southern extreme:

Fortunately, Weather Underground claims that Deadhorse will be up to 8°F above zero by next weekend. Hopefully, the overall tend will continue in that direction.

(NOTE: looking at lows here, which is what we'll need to be ready to endure in our tents overnight)

A debt of gratitude

One of the first questions that seems to come up after I say I'll be driving from Alaska to Argentina is, "how long are you going to be gone?", followed in rapid succession with, "your job lets you take that much time off?"

Indeed, I owe a huge thanks to my colleagues and team at the Springdale District for helping to make this trip possible. Not only to my boss and the team at the district office, but also to my team of colleague EIAOs spread across KS, MO, and AR. Although I've striven to be extra useful in these days leading up to the trip, I know there is nothing I can do to lighten the workload during the three months that I'll be gone.

It's not every day that a trip like this is possible -- in fact, this years marks my 10th as an EIAO and with the USDA, and this is my special thing to commemorate the occasion. My deep gratitude to all of you who hold down the fort and pick up my slack in the meantime!

The USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service is good people, man.

In four weeks, the bikes ship

That's right...prep time is dwindling and the bikes and the gear that will ship with them need to be ready in four weeks. We've got a shipper coming by KC between 20 and 30 April, which is now less than a month away.

Thinking over the bike:

• straighten panniers: both panniers (saddlebags) have taken a beating over the past couple of years. They're functional as-is; however, the one on the right still doesn't sit in the mounts right and requires an extra ratchet strap to be secure. I want to spend some time seeing if I can beat the mounts back into the right shape. The locks, too, need replaced.

• finalize aux light mount: I mounted the auxiliary lights using the bolt hole for the front fender. Seems to work really well, but I just used the bolt that came with the lights, which is a little short. I'd like to replace it with something longer. Also, the light mount is designed with a couple bumps to prevent them to twist around the bolt head. For my purposes, this only seems to get in the way of making fine adjustments to their angle. I'm thinking I'll remove that bump and add a locking washer.
• fuel cans: The last stretch of the Dalton Highway in AK runs 240 miles with no fuel stops. I get about 175 miles/tank. Going to need a few extra gallons of fuel. The Peg Packer seems like a decent solution, but pricey. I'd like to rig up my own solution.

Thinking over the gear:

• I've started piling things for the trip in the guest bedroom. I need to figure out how I want to organize it all and do a trial run of packing it into the containers I intend to mount on the bike. Most of it will ship with the bike to AK, but some will need to wait and ride with me on the plane.

Thinking over other stuff:

• bears/wildlife: I enjoyed camping south of Anchorage a few years ago. Met a few bears. We'll be in the remote North this time. I'd like to refresh my reading on bears a bit. While it would be awesome to see a grizzly, I'm not real keen on sharing my tent with one.
• music playlists: my playlists are rather limited presently. We'll have many miles on the road, so variety would be nice. With the new phone (replacement should be here tomorrow), I've got a lot more space than my old phone, so I'd like to update my playlists on the computer, re-share them with Google, and download them for offline usage on my phone.

Survival!

In the spirit of adventure, and in preparation for this trip, a couple of weekends ago Nadine and I attended a survival class in Ozark, MO.  While the class Ryan and I did the week before covered wilderness first aid, this class was focused on surviving. 

It was cold and rainy, probably the best weather for practicing these skills because it would be harder than ideal conditions.

We learned how to build a shelter, catch rodents and fish, start a fire and forage.  Class consisted of a morning classroom presentation in Springfield by an accomplished mountaineer (can't remember his name or company) and then an afternoon in the Busiek State Forest where we could practice our practicals with experienced supervision...

 Looking for dry wood... like a badass:

Starting a fire using a fero rod.  I broke the one we brought enough times that it was unusable.  One of the local guides let me use his and gave us some better techniques to use to great success.  

Then we used bandannas and things we found around the site to filter water:

And built a Paiute Deadfall.  Look out, rodents!

Took the dogs on a nice walk in the park:

 Naturally, losing Bruno for a while in the process:

And, finally, what is a trip to the Ozarks without a stop at Lambert's Cafe:

And my order of pork jowl, which turned out to be about two pounds of bacon on a plate:

Cycling in the snow

It was a day of odd weather here on the KS/MO border. Started out sunny and chilly, enticing me to take the bike to work. By mid-morning, there were snow flurries: at times big, fluffy flakes, and at times barely visible. For the rest of the day, though, frozen H₂O was finding its way to earth.

The corner of the windshield was the only surface that was cold enough to gather snow.

The roads were fine, though, so the bike took me to work, ClaroKC, and Le Fou Frog to dine with Sarah. Oddly, the only other time I've tested out the heated gear was also on a Tuesday...with the same serious of engagements...exactly 3 weeks ago...

Anyway...today was a great chance to test out the heated gear and the auxiliary lights. It ranged from about 35˚F or so for the ride to work to 40˚F for much excursion at lunch to right around freezing at 32˚F for the ride down Hwy 71 to get home after dark. The pant liners did well underneath my work pants throughout the day, both keeping me moderately warm on the road as well as not overly-warm at work. If it were any colder or the ride much longer, I'd want to be wearing the riding pants so as to fend off the wind. For really cold situations (Alaska and Patagonia come to mind), I'm probably going to want another layer of insulation, too.

I'm also going to want to find a better way to manage the controller for the heated gear. I draped it over the front of the seat today, but I'd like it to be someplace easily-accessible and visible. I'd also like to be able to stand on the pegs without disconnecting it from the bike. Currently thinking of a thigh strap, which would place it in a pretty ideal spot, with plenty of room for movement. They sell a holder for the controller, but I'm thinking I may be able to rig something up. We shall see.

With all gear on and auxiliary lights running, it's looking like I'm still good on power, which is great to see. The volt meter has dropped below 14V when idling at a stop, but when cruising even at 2500 RPM, it has no problem maintaining 14.5V. Still well above 12V, which is where I'd start to worry.

One other note for myself is that I'll want something to protect my neck. I'm getting a small amount of abrasion, which I think is due to the collar of the heated gear causing the neck of my riding jacket to fit just a bit too tight. When I turn my head -- particularly to the left -- it's causing some discomfort.