Day 37 - What starts off bad....finishes off GOOD!

This morning will probably go down as one if not the most 'not good' riding experiences we have ever had. We left Nipigon at 7:30am hoping to make good time. The clouds looked heavy with rain. Little did we know what awaited us! We were faced with almost 2hours of heavy dense FOG and drizzling rain. We could hardly see one motorcycle lenght in front of us. Give us heavy rains over fog any day. Once we got done with the fog....we did get heavy rains. However the worst part was the cold.....it just went right through us.

Once we got to Sault Ste Marie.... the sun started teasing us. About an hour later it came out..Alleluia!!!! We made it to Sudbury....almost 900kms. we have now ridden just over 16,000kms. Looking forward to making it home tomorrow.

Will blog tomorrow night once we have safely arrived! We are smiling big time on this wonderful adventure.

Day 36 -Cold and cloudy....

And some light rain. We have not been lucky with the weather the last 2 days. We are spending the night in Nipigon, Ontario where the main restaurant in town is in the Esso gas station...good food but what a small town. It was so cold today...colder than when we were in Alaska. We are hoping to make it to Sudbury for tomorrow night which would bring us home midday on Thursday. Looking foward to our own bed :)

Day 35 - Tada!

We rode 1006 kms today. We just about made it to Kenora, Ontario. Had about one hour of strong rain in Manitoba...otherwise weather good.
We are a little homesick but no worries....riding safe. Roberto says he is ready to get home and relax. His hands have started cramping for the last 2 weeks and he is tired. We have ridden 14,752 kms so far.

The rest of group have made it to Vancouver and are spending time with Walter. He continues to improve.

Day 33 - Lorenzoni Family Reunion & Lazy Riding

Had a good visit with Roberto's brother Paolo and his family in Calgary. We left there at 1:00pm today under grey skies. Once out of the city....sun came out and some good lazy riding to Swift Current, Saskatchewan. After riding through mountains and wilderness for close to a month....today was a shock to the system. Highway 1 is one long, flat straight road with no trees or wild animals to worry about..just field after field for close to 500kms. After a while we would see the odd black birds sitting on a fence post....and they would almost be waving at us they were so bored! Leaving very early tomorrow and weather permitting we hope to get into Ontario.

Not all pics went thru for Day 31... trying again

Day 32 - Rocky Mountain High!

We feel rejuvenated! A great night sleep and a fantastic riding day. Although we have been through Jasper and Banff National Parks before.... we have never done it on motorcycles. What awesome views. Even got a great shot a caribou grazing near the road. See pics below.

We made it to Calgary and the rest of our group are halfway to Vancouver. So all is good.

Day 31 - Emotional goodbye!!

I am losing track of days. Should of labelled this morning's blog Day 29,30,31.

Roberto and I left the group today and it was very emotional. These friends have made a dream come through for us and that will never be forgotten. We will be checking in with each other every day and they promised to send us a photo with Walter and Heather once they get to Vancouver.

Roberto and I had great riding weather today and we are just outside Jasper. Tomorrow we will head to Calgary and meet up with his brother Paolo and his wife Daniella. we have ridden 12,618 kms so far so we will exceed 16,000kms by the time we get home. once we are home we will send off final blog the next day with lots of photos and results of fundraising efforts.

Keep sending us positive vibes. You are with us in spirit!!!!!

Days 29/30 - Some trouble in paradise

Hi Everyone....We had some trouble on Day 29. We were on Highway 37 going towards Dease Lake, British Columbia following a bout of rain. We hit a stretch of road that once again had many potholes. Walter saw Roberto take a nasty pothole so he veered his wheel to avoid it and unfortunately hit an even bigger pothole that caught his wheel and threw him off the bike. He is ok however he was airlifted to Vancouver General Hospital. He has several broken bones but no life-threatening injuries... thank God!!! We were very very lucky in that we had been out for several days in complete wilderness and when this happened we were 12 kms from a small regional hospital. Ambulance was quick to get there! It could of been so much worse had we been in the middle of nowhere. No other bikes went down and we are all fine.

We are now in Prince George and Heather, Walter's wife, is flying out to Vancouver this morning. Some good friends of ours who live in Vancouver are lending support at that end. Thank you Simon & Bella!!

Originally the whole group was going to ride with us to Calgary... and then we were going to split up and they were going to head to Vancouver, then down to Seattle. Given current circumstances... Roberto and I are leaving on our own from Prince George this afternoon and heading back home.... planning to spend the night in Jasper tonite and Calgary the next day. The rest of the group are going to head to Vancouver tomorrow.

We will be getting daily updates on Walter .... as of this morning he was in good spirits and he's got that Kiwi determination to get well quickly.

We will continue to keep you posted on this last leg of Roberto's fundraiser. The group is still smiling... just sad on what happened to Walter.

Day 28 - Alaska to Yukon to Continental Divide in BC, Canada

Wow... what a sendoff we had from Dyea.... as we were leaving our lodge ... the humpback whales were in the bay... we saw them upfront and personal.... all before 9:00am. Great riding today ... pictures speak for themselves. We are staying at the only building/accommodations at the Continental Divide and as you can see we have taken over the bar. Lovely folks and great meal we are having right now. We expect to clock in 500 kms tomorrow.

Before leaving Chilkoot Trail Lodge this morning....

Taken over the bar at the Continental Divide!!

Day 27 - Johnny Cash Seranading Dolly x 3

We had a wonderful day off the bikes at  Chilkoot Trail Lodge. Excellent accommodations... so beautiful and peaceful. Wonderful owners. The boys were trying to keep themselves busy... take a look below.

Roberto and Dolly

Dave and Dolly

Walter and Dolly

Day 26 - The road from Whitehorse to Skagway.....WOWEEE

It is well known that the road from Whitehorse to Skagway is great motorcycling. Although we did it all in the rain.... it was still spectacular. The topography changes continually from deep forested mountains, to lots of rocks with little vegetation.... lots of crystal clear blue lakes and a beautiful aqua green lake. The  road was so impressive because of the vastness of this great wilderness. Not a house to be seen for 2 hours... we hardly met any other vehicles.... just pure beauty and tranquility. It seems that we are all so insignificant when we look at the natural beauty around us which has been here forever. We are heading back on the same road on Tuesday and the weather forecast looks good so we will have some photos to share.

We arrived safe and sound at the Chilkoot Trail Outpost Lodge in Dyea.... an 8 mile very winding dirt road to get to it ... what a beautiful spot... here for two days.

We took a trip into Skagway in the afternoon... quaint little Alaskan town. See Roberto below at a Skagway typical business.

For motorcycle riders

... just wanted to clarify that the really bad stretch of road with potholes yesterday was from Beavercreek to Destruction Bay.... aptly named as our bikes did look destroyed... full of mud ... even in the exhaust pipes... So around 160kms of bad road.... Destruction Bay to Whitehorse was good.

Day 25 - OMG.... I was mistaken...

Folks... today is one for the record books. We left Beavercreek in the rain and all we can say is that we never saw so many potholes in one road for the better half of the day. It was raining so hard that we could not actually see the potholes as they were full of water. Add to that the crevices in the road ... and if you got your tire in there....it took you wherever it wanted to. It actually felt like riding a horse ...cause when you hit a pothole you had to hang on for dear life. Rain, rain and more rain in the morning... a few sneak peaks of sun in the afternoon and more rain arriving into Whitehorse. Phew... we made it here safe and sound and are all smiling.

Peggy and Heather had a great photo opportunity while driving... see Mamma Bear with Baby Bear... how awesome is that.....

The rainbow in our day.... we have hit just over 10,458 kms. All bikes have done the mileage ... no breakdowns and no more running out of gas :)

 This dirt road looks good compared to what we actually went through...  Waiting for Pilot Vehicle to bring us through....

Day 24 - Pea Soup!

What a ride today.... as much as yesterday was postcard moments every time you turned a corner.... we left Valdez this morning in rain and FOG. Now the fog was so dense you literally could not see more than a car length ahead of you.... very eerie experience.

Made it to Beavercreek .... arriving in drizzly weather. Group shot of us at dinner. Off tomorrow to head back to Whitehorse continuing on the Alaska highway.

Including a photo of a few days ago... Moose on the road...

Fog taken from the car.... it got worse as we went along....

Group at dinner.....

Day 23 - Postcard kinda Day!

We had such a pleasant surprise today. We never imagined that the road from Delta Junction to Valdez was so spectacular. General group consensus is that it was one of the best riding experiences for all. Looks at pics below that tell the story.

Also... we got to see the above ground Alaska pipeline that runs from Prudoe Bay to Valdez. Quite incredible the work that went into that.

Still cold though.... but today was pure sunshine.

Worthington Glacier which you can see right from the road.....

Roberto

Dave, and Walther and Heather

Jesse and Peggy

Day 22 - Roads, Bugs, North Pole and a surprise!

Thought for all the motorcycle riders reading this blog we should tell you how surprised we are on the roads in Yukon and Alaska.  Contrary to what we heard before leaving, the roads are really good. Yes... some potholes but nothing major. Road construction repair is well marked and there often are pilot vehicles leading the way. The only really bad road so far was that 15 miles of dirt road after Customs on the Top of World Highway.

Now they say everything is bigger in Texas... NOT TRUE. Everything is much bigger in Alaska because of all the extra daylight. The hanging flower baskets are gigantic...someone told us at a local fair last year.. the record pumpkin weighed 2000 lbs... and the dragon flies are so big you can almost put a saddle on them and ride them! Mosquitoes... now that is a total different story... tons of them and they love tourists not locals. That we can all vouch for!!! Ouch!

We stopped in at the North Pole.. see some pics below.

Also... Roberto and I got a lovely surprise tonight. Our group bought us a beautiful motorcycle wine decanter they purchased in Dawson City for us... and a cute sign for our home office. We know exactly where it will go in our new house. We are blessed to have such great friends in our life and have this wonderful adventure with them.

Off to Valdez tomorrow... short distance... good sightseeing along the way...

For the folks in Romallo (Roberto's home village)... the Moose Lodge in Alaska is like the Alpini Club in Romallo.....Jesse, Dave, Walter and Roberto in front of the Moose Lodge in North Pole, Alaska!!

As you can see... Roberto has a thing for 'chairs'... while Santa was on his coffee break.. he snuck in there for a photo opportunity!

Day 21 - A dayoff in Denali Park...

Lazy day... rest and laundry, and local sightseeing. Getting charged up for tomorrow. Heading towards Delta Junction and stopping at the North Pole along the way.... and YES... it really is a town in Alaska.

Roberto and I with 6 week old Huskie puppies which will be trained for dog sledding.

Day 20 Trumps All!

We've had spectacular days but Day 20 was magical! We finally got our flight in for aerial few of the famous Mount McKinley and Denali Mountain Range.

We had to split up the group in two and Dave, Roberto and I ended up on a little red Buddy Holly plane...Cessna 185. Gotta tell you I had my reservations before going up... but our pilot was definitely experienced and very knowledgeable. The pics below tell the story. Riding high above the clouds with mountain peaks reaching out to us. We landed on a glacier and there really are no words to describe the 'feeling'. A day we will never forget. Speechless when we got back on the ground. We are living the dream!!

Roberto, Jok the Pilot and Dave

Roberto doing a snow angel on the glacier.... how awesome is that!!!

To make you smile - A special B&B Experience

Hi.... thought you would enjoy this story even if it is after the fact. We stayed at a 'different' type of Bed & Breakfast in Willow. Simply put... the owner was an avid hunter. He and his wife really enjoyed a special kind of interior decorating. Now for those folks who have been in the Lorenzoni house and have expressed your dislike for our carved wolf heads... take a look at pics below.... this is the décor in the living room. Luckily no stuffed animals in the bedrooms... however Heather and Walter did have a stuffed fish and a whale bone in their room.

Let us just say we were glad to get out of there in the morning!!! 

Day 19 - Lucky us!

A little behind in the blog as we are having trouble getting internet service in the remote areas we are in. When we left Seward this morning, we had to put on our rain suits as it looked really overcast... lucky us the sun came out in the afternoon. Had an easy riding day up to Willow... still in Chugach National Park. That is the park that I mentioned is considered a rainforest due to all the rain and snow it gets. Looks a pics below....  they tell the story of what it is like to get that much snow.

Also... lots of woodworkers in this part of the country as you see from the giant chair Roberto is sitting on.

Heading back into Denali Park tomorrow.

Coffee hut in Whittier in the Summer

 Same Coffee Hut in Whittier in winter of 2011/2012... now you know why only 300 people live there year round!

 Roberto the King of Alaska ....

Roberto enjoying yet another Alaskan King Crab Dinner.....

Day 18 - So much to tell you all!!

Between yesterday and today... I could write a couple of pages on everything that we saw and did. Will try and keep it short.

Yesterday while on the cruise.... they told us we were extremely lucky as the weather was picture perfect to see the glaciers.... temperature was high 70 degrees.. sunny and warm... and it truly was an experience we will always remember. They said they only get a couple of days like that per season. See photo of Roberto from yesterday... just had to add that in today. What I didn't mention yesterday is that Chugach National Park that we were in (and still are today) is over 5.1 million acres... yes that is correct. It is also considered a rain forest because it gets up to 15 feet of rain/yr and 20 feet of snow. Only 300 people live in Whittier year-round... now we know why.

When we got up this morning the weather was gray and overcast (typical for Whittier). We saw the train come through the very same tunnel that we then had to go through again to get on the other side of the mountain. We must of done something good in our life... because once we came out on the other side.... sun, sun, sun! Beautiful views... see pics below.

Once we reached our destination of Seward, Alaska... we went to see the Exit Glacier. We decided to try and walk up to the base of the glacier. If you can believe it... determined as ever.... Roberto walked 1 mile to the glacier and 1 mile back on some pretty rugged terrain. See pics below.

Tomorrow we retrace our steps and go back to towards Denali Park. If the weather is good we will attempt to rent a plane to see the Denali Mountain range....

Roberto on the cruise yesterday. Says the beard keeps him warm....

 Roberto on his bike.... great stretch of road!

This is part of the path we had to walk through to get to face of Exit Glacier

Roberto, Jesse, Walter and Heather in front of the glacier

Roberto being Roberto had to go past the "Do Not Enter Sign" and went one level higher to take photos of the glacier.... questo e mio uomo!!!!

Day 17 - A picture is worth a thousand words!

Just look at these.... absolutely AWESOME DAY.... highlight of our trip so far....26 glacier tour of Chugach National Park.

Coming out of the train tunnel .... where we rode in the middle of actual train tracks for 2.5 miles. The tunnel is shared by both vehicles and an actual train on a fixed schedule.... scary but awesome experience.

Here is the Big Guy... Dave Lusk ... the man from Down Under...always smiling.

 
 
The Inn at Whittier... great hotel we are staying at with phenomenal views. Heading out tomorrow to Seward. Goodnight all!!!