The time draws near....

For those of you following my journey, my estimated time of departure is Wednesday, June 20th. This may be delayed for one day to the 21st depending upon how fast I can pack when I return from grading AP Biology exams in Louisville, KY. If you just want to read about my trip, skip ahead to those days now....

THE PLAN: I'm going to ride my motorcycle (Suzuki DL650) from my home in Hudson, Massachusetts to Alaska. My wife is flying to Alaska to meet me in Anchorage and we're renting a motorcycle (Kawasaki KLR650) for her from Alaska Rider Tours. She and I are making a loop ride from Anchorage up to Denali where we'll do a flightseeing tour (landing on Ruth Glacier) and then continue up to Fairbanks. If the weather cooperates, we'll continue to above the arctic circle to Coldfoot. We're then riding back to Fairbanks and to Valdez (site of the infamous oil spill) and raking a ferry (with the motorcycles) across Prince William Sound. We land in the port of Whittier on the Kenai Peninsula and will ride over to Homer. We're taking a flight here across to Katmai National Park and seeing grizzly bears eating salmon as they jump up a waterfall.

THE TIMING; Basically, all summer. I leave on June 20 (or 21st) and pick up Ruth in Anchorage on July 5th. Because I'm taking the lllllloooooonnnnnnnggggggg way home, I'll return about August 21st or so.

CERTIFICATIONS/RALLIES; Well, there are a few of these that I'm shooting for along the way. I think tops on my list is the Ironbutt Association's Master Traveler Gold certificate which requires me to visit at least 50 National Parks within 25 different states including AK, CA, FL and ME.

Secondly, I'm going to combine this with an Ultimate Cross Country ride. This is another Ironbutt certificate in which you ride from Prudhoe Bay, AK to Key West, FL within 28 days.

Another certification is the Southern California Motorcycle Association's 4-Corners tour. This involves exactly what the name implies, traveling to the 4 corners of the US; Blaine, WA, San Ysidro, CA, Key West, FL and Madawaska, ME within 21 days.

Finally, I'm also going to take some photos along the way for the American Motorcyclist Association's GrandTours which are year long scavenger hunts on the motorcycle.