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.....