May 31, 2022 - Dawson Creek, British Columbia, Canada - 370 miles

Today was a beautiful day beginning with mid 40s temperatures and by the end of the day electric gear was off and lighter gear on. It was full sun and no wind - a glorious day. 

The day was spent riding, listening to a few podcasts and enjoying the remote scenery of northern Alberta. It may sound boring to some people but I was hooked in. 

I pegged the cruise control at the 110 speed limit and chugged along. That's 110 kph which is 68 mph.  Gas mileage increased by almost 10 mpg due to the lack of wind which is amazing. 

I met a really nice retired couple from Wisconsin at one of the few rustic rest areas. The woman taught school for 35 years and appreciated the GNV4ALL Family Learning Center. Of course I gave them a couple of cards so they could learn more and maybe contribute. 

Alberta

Alberta 

Morning temperature

May 30, 2022 - Edmonton, Alberta - 450 miles

Springtime in Canada. Temps were in the mid 50s to low 60s with strong winds. I put on my heated electric vest, used rain pants as a windbreaker, turned up the heated grips and wore heavy gloves. It all worked well and kept me warm. I use ear plugs to protect against the wind noise which also help.

The ride was pretty uneventful which is good. Although I think I saw a pronghorn and a real bison. No pictures because I was holding on for dear life in the wind.

This morning 

Today's route 

About 3 hours more daylight than Gainesville 

May 29, 2022 - Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada - 300 miles

I feel like our trip was officially christened today. Temp got down to 58 during a solid rainstorm, it felt like gale force winds all day, I crossed the border into Canada, I missed a turn and had to ride 2 miles on a wet, muddy, slippery dirt road and I almost ran out of gas. And I can honestly say it was a good day.

I had a fun and long conversation with an official Canadian Geezer in a Burger King while drinking coffee. He confirmed that the Canadian restaurant chain Tim Horton's has the best coffee.  He asked me if there were Burger King's in the States and I let him know that they are Miami-based. 

I visited the town where they filmed the sitcom Corner Gas. It's a fun show and they were showing reruns in my hotel room.

Gas in Canada is over $8 a gallon! It cost me about $35 U.S. to fill up the bike and an extra one gallon container I carry. 

One liter of gas costs $2.12 Canadian which works out to be about $8 a gallon U.S.

Corner Gas (Did you notice the mud on the bike?)

Saskatchewan 

One bar reading on the gas gauge with 14 mile range left. That's too close for comfort.

May 28, 2022 - Minot, ND - 230 miles

Change of plans. I decided to pick up another Tour of Honor site, visit the Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center and then overnight in Minot.  It ended up being along day, not so much in mileage but in time. The weather was beautiful all day and windy again. I guess it's going to be windy most of the time. The worst effect of the wind is the noise so I wear ear plugs which help a lot.

Agriculture report - miles and miles of fields being worked or with last year's corn stubble. I think it is all corn. I saw 3 huge corn ethanol plants which is of course used as a gasoline additive.  FYI - corn ethanol is basically moonshine which is not for the weak of mind or body.

The L&C Center and Fort Mandan was okay but nothing special.  There are several Centers in other states which might be more interesting but this one was all re-created objects including the fort.

Not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow. I'm tired so I don't think I will ride for hundreds of miles but I would like to cross into Canada which isn't very far from here. 

I think this is a dogwood. The flowers look like snow when they fall off

One of several continental divides I crossed in North Dakota. Not exactly sure how that works.

Kind of ironic that I have seen more gas stations selling ethanol free gas in the land of corn ethanol than I have seen in Florida.

Fort Mandan 

Lewis and Clark Interpretive Center 

Inside the L&C Center 

Mid-sized corn elevators.  Some are much bigger.

North Dakota 

May 27, 2022 - Fargo, ND - 400 miles

What a difference a day makes. Temp this morning was 55 so I put on warm gloves and a jacket liner. I have an electric heated vest but I didn't use it and I was fine. By afternoon the temp was 82, windy and sunny. The terrain was pretty flat until I got to western Minnesota where it became hilly.

Agriculture report - lot of tilled land and maybe planted but no crops to see. Lots of tractor work going on in the fields and the tractors use tracks like a tank instead of wheels - I've never seen that before.

I gave up counting dead deer on the side of the road there were so many.  But I did see a live deer in an open field, he was watching me very suspiciously. 

This morning at the hotel I had a nice conversation with a father and his son.  The live in a small town of 1,000 people in Nebraska and were taking a vacation in the Wisconsin Dells. They thought about going to Disney in Florida but decided it was too expensive. His son at breakfast was his biological son. He and his wife have a total of 6 kids, 4 of whom are adopted. I was really impressed with he and his wife. Of course I gave him and his son a GNV4ALL Goes to Alaska cards to learn about it and follow us.

I'm not sure what I'm going to do tomorrow.  The Plains Art Museum is here in Fargo but it doesn't open until 11am.  I'll probably go to the museum and have a short day riding.  It's about 350 miles to the Canadian border so I will cross into Saskatchewan on Sunday. 

Be sure to check out the photo below with the buffalo.

There was once a nesting area with 136 million carrier pigeons in Wisconsin!  Who knew?  Look at that blue sky!

An impressive Vietnam War memorial in St. Cloud, Minnesota 

I was not expecting to be able to get this close to a buffalo in Minnesota! 

May 26, 2022 - Wisconsin Dells - 422 miles

It was pretty much all highways today, with less traffic and less construction than yesterday. The weather was cool, warm and then cool averaging in the 70s which was nice. Once again the wind picked up in the afternoon.

Combined over the last 2 days I have seen 11 dead deer on the side of the road, several looked to be dead no more than a day or so. There are a lot of deer around these parts and I do not want to encounter one on the bike which is a big reason why I don't like to ride at dusk or night. 

The agriculture report for today - mostly unplanted fields due to a very wet spring or just emerging corn and soybeans. I saw some cattle but no big herds.

I saw a lot of wind farms in Wisconsin. The clerk where I got gas said most of them came in during the last year or so. 

This morning I had a nice conversation with a couple around my age who were traveling around visiting family. They got married 3 years ago after meeting online and they seemed very happy. This was the third conversation I have had over just the last 3 days during which people were surprised I could ride to Alaska because they thought it is an island - I kid you not.  We really need to teach kids more geography. 

I have my sights on staying in Fargo, North Dakota tomorrow night. We shall see.

Today's route

I have ridden about 1,300 milrs over the last 3 days but I still have a long way to go

I visited a veterans memorial site in Janesville, WI for the Tour of Honor rally

Janesville memorial 

May 25, 2022 - Mt. Vernon, IL - 457 miles

Overall, a good day. Weather started out in the upper 60's and very muggy. As I headed north the temp warmed to 80 and it got very windy. The wind combined with lots of trucks and road construction kept me on my toes.  In fact, when I crossed the Tennessee and Ohio rivers I leaned forward to get completely behind the windshield with my helmet nearly touching the gas tank and my arms tucked in to reduce wind resistance and exposure. It sounds more radical than it is and it really works.

Fun fact, gas mileage on the bike is reduced by 5-7 mpg when heading into the wind.

I don't have Suzie, my riding partner (and wife 🙂), with me which means I don't have a lot of action photos taken of the scenery while riding - she does an amazing job taking pictures from the back seat.

Today I saw lots of cows, some goats, fields of wheat, soybeans and corn. There were also a surprising number of vineyards and wineries. I wasn't expecting that.

Today's route

Nothing like an espresso for the afternoon doldrums 

I'm participating in a fundraiser for first responders and military veterans which has participants visit various sites and take a picture of your bike and flag to get points.  This is a WWI Memorial in a cemetery in Hopkinsville, Kentucky 

I used the visit to the cemetery to take a break 

May 24, 2022 - Rome, GA - 426 miles

It was a nice uneventful first day of the trip. I got rolling around 8:30am already sweating in what felt like 100% humidity. Once I got moving I was comfortable even though my glasses were fogging up at times.  

The only real traffic I had was when I headed west off I-75 because I wanted to avoid Atlanta traffic but it didn't work. I got jammed up on 2-laned roads and slow traffic but still got to my hotel in Rome before 5pm. 

I had a nice conversation at dinner with a guy also named Terry who said I could tell all my friends in Florida that "a Georgia redneck talked my ears off."  A good guy, former motorcyclist and fellow traveler.

Official odometer mileage at start of trip - 39,714

A big shout out and thanks to Bolay restaurants for contributing a penny per mile to Gainesville for All (GNV4ALL)!  Our son Max is a manager at the Gainesville Bolay restaurant and provided the nice shirts.

Today's route

May 23, 2022 - Gainesville, FL

 I will be leaving for Anchorage tomorrow May 24, 2022 instead of May 25.  That will give me a little extra breathing room plus I am going stir crazy and Susie told me I was driving her nuts.  

The map below shows my route for going to Anchorage with some waypoints along the way.  Susie will be flying to Anchorage and meeting me on June 7, 2022.  We will then ride around Alaska for a week or so and then start heading south to Portland, OR for our niece's wedding July 9, 2022.  The only room reservation I have heading north is tomorrow night and then in Anchorage.  I'm going to play it by ear on the way up and make hotel reservations day-to-day depending on how I feel and what I see.  

We found hotels in AK were getting full so we made reservations in AK and on our way to Portland. We'll then travel on a day-to-day basis on where we will be staying on the way back to Gainesville.

Below is the link to our GPS tracker so you can follow us in real time to see where we are.

Tracker Link:

https://new.spotwalla.com/trip/9d99-1be6109d-a985/view 

Planned route north and south

This is the dry bag for all of Susie's riding gear that I will be carrying with me to Alaska next to our dog Bandit.  It's a big bag but doesn't weigh too much.  Bandit will be staying in Gainesville with our son Max.

GNV4ALL Goes to Alaska!

 

GNV4ALL Goes to Alaska!

A Fund Raising and Awareness Campaign for the Gainesville for All, Gainesville Empowerment Zone Family Learning Center

Who We Are

My name is Terry Clark and my wife Susie and I are traveling by motorcycle roundtrip from Gainesville, FL to Alaska during May-July, 2022.  We have partnered with Gainesville for All (GNV4ALL) to raise awareness and funds for their local project entitled The Gainesville Empowerment Zone Family Learning Center (GEZ-FLC).  The title of the campaign is GNV4ALL Goes to Alaska! 

A satellite tracking device will be mounted on the motorcycle so you can find out in real time where we are located.  Terry will also be writing a daily blog providing trip updates and photos.  

Our goal is to raise $10,000 for the GEZ-FLC project and to spread the word about this important organization and project.

The GNV4ALL Gainesville Empowerment Zone Family Learning Center

In 2015, only 28% of Black third-graders in Gainesville read at or above the third-grade level compared to 74% of white third-graders (University of Florida, Bureau of Economic and Business Research, 2018). This is unacceptable and the GNV4ALL GEZ-FLC is designed to raise the reading levels of Black children in Gainesville.  For more information about the project please visit gnv4all.org/gez-flc. 

How to Contribute

There are two ways you can contribute:

1. Contribute on a per-mile basis.  For example, if you agree to contribute one cent per mile and Terry and Susie ride a total of 10,000 miles you would contribute a total of $100.00 at the end of their trip.  If you agree to contribute one-half cent per mile and Terry and Susie ride a total of 12,000 miles you would contribute a total of $60.00 at the end of their trip.  The amount you contribute is dependent on how many miles Terry and Susie travel and is paid at the completion of their trip. Or,
2. Contribute a lump sum.  This is a simple lump sum contribution regardless of how many miles Terry and Susie travel.

You will be provided links to the GNV4ALL Goes to Alaska! tracker and blog once you commit to contributing funds.  

To commit to contributing funds please send an email to Terry at terryandrewclark@gmail.com and James F. Lawrence, Director of GNV4ALL, at gnv4all@gmail.com indicating:

• You are participating in the GNV4ALL Goes to Alaska! campaign, 
• If you are contributing on a per-mile or lump sum basis, and 
• How much money you want to contribute.  

All contributions are voluntary and based on the honor system, it is your responsibility to contribute.

 
You can contribute any time before, during or after the trip at gnv4all.org/gez-flc.