Day 4

What a difference a day makes! When I awoke this morning there was not a cloud in the sky! The temperature was still a little on the cool side, but it was dry. The only thing not great about this day were the roads. Looooooooong and straight. Brunhilde could have driven this by herself. I crossed the border into Canada at the Tolstoi crossing. I was asked the usual questions about occupation, alcohol, and of course weapons. When I stated that I had no weapons the border guard asked about a little container I had hanging from on of the zippers on my riding suit. I told him they were for my earplugs. I had to open the container and prove that they were indeed earplugs and not pepper spray, mace, or an AK-47. Being satisfied that I was one of Americas best, he let me pass. Back in Canada again! The road to Winnipeg was, you guessed it, long and straight. I camped for the night at Birds Hill Provincial Park with beautiful skies and perfect temperature. I am in the Central Time zone and at 6:00PM it would be 7:00PM at home. I thought of my fellow Western North Carolina ADV rider buddies dining at Green River BBQ in Saluda, NC. I was eating Laura Lynn (store brand) double stuffed ravioli out of a can. Oh, well. Tomorrow the goal is Good Spirit Lake Provincial Park in Saskatchewan. Sorry no pictures today.

Day 3 - 424.3 Miles

Today’s big story is the weather. I began by riding through the Iowa farmland. This is real hometown America. The photo of Clarence is typical of the towns I rode through. Riding through Cedar Rapids and Waterloo, IA. I witnessed devastating flood damage. My heart goes out to the citizens of this area. The photos of the car underwater are in Waterloo. I learned from TV that Waterloo is now under a mandatory evacuation order. I have left Iowa and I am now in Milaca, Minnesota. Two cold fronts came through bringing heavy winds and rain. The temperature also dropped about 20 degrees. For the first time in my life I am staying in a hotel on a motorcycle trip. Mother Nature had beaten me! I am now in Milaca, MN at a Super 8 hotel. There was extremely high winds and rain that resulted in me hydroplaning the front wheel several times. I decided to surrender and spend the night in a hotel. Oh well, that allows me to catch up on some email, pay some bills, and take a hot shower and sleep in a bed. It only cost me $10.00 more thanks to my AARP discount. There are some good things about being old. Tomorrow I will head for Winnipeg, Canada. Let’s hope the weather is better. WiFi may be sporadic from this point, but check back often to keep up with me. Alaska or Bust!!!!!!

Day 2 - 497.8 Miles

There is more to report today. First of all, I did not sleep that well last night. I was one of only three campers at the campground. Martin State Forest is quite secluded. The other campers spent the evening intoxicating themselves and then one of them decides to introduce himself. He tells me that he and his significant other are broke and are just bumming around looking for money to buy gas. Well, like I said he was three-quarters drunk and broke. Here I sit with a BMW fully loaded with Touratech stuff. I must seem as rich as barnyard dirt to this fellow. My over active imagination played all sorts of scenarios in my head, one of which ended with him saying something about “squealing like a pig”. Needless to say they did not rob me, but probably passed out on a picnic table. It was too wet for thievery anyway. We got three inches of rain during the night.
That brings me to my next problem. After packing up and leaving I found out that I could not use my intended routes. Southern Indiana and parts of Illinois were in the midst of a hundred-year flood. Roads east were closed. I had to make a one hundred mile detour, most of it on the interstate. I spent the rest of the day driving through the Illinois cornfields. It did get a bit more exciting when I reached Iowa. The Scott County Sheriffs Department thought I was trying to get through their county a little fast. However, once I explained that I was merely looking for the Scott County Campground he decided to let me off with a warning. Thank you Saint Christopher! And that is where I am writing this, the Scott County Campground in Iowa. It is much nicer than last night’s campground.
Well I need to get my tent up and have a meal before some much needed sack time.

Day 1 - 413.9 Miles

I left Asheville, NC at about 7:00AM. My wife, Tine (pronounced “Tina”, don’t ask, it’s a German thing) gave me a Saint Christopher medal before I left. For all you heathens and non-believers he is the patron saint of travelers. He just may come in handy on this trip. Nothing really remarkable happened on the first day. The feature of this day was the HEAT. I did make it to Martin State Forest in Shoals, Indiana. No WiFi, maybe tomorrow. Today I covered North Carolina, Tennessee, Kentucky, and Indiana.

Leaving Tomorrow!!!!!!

I have just about finished all the final preparations for my trip. I will leave in the morning. I may have to change my plans, though. I had planned on being in Shoals, Indiana tomorrow night, but I have heard they are having heavy flooding right now. I refuse to change my plans before I even leave my driveway. I will just ride there tomorrow and see what the deal is! Well, all the batteries are charged and only a few small items remain to be packed. I will update this blog from the road whenever I find a WiFi connection. That may be a few days as I will be camping in state parks and forests. Check back often to view my progress (or lack thereof!).

Shakedown Cruise - One Week to Go!

This weekend I am at Cruso practicing my wilderness computing skills. No WiFi! I have a feeling this is going to happen a lot on my trip to Alaska, so what better place to practice than in the wilds of North Carolina. The process will go something like this: type daily entries into a Word document and then cut and paste them into the blog whenever I can find a connection. If you are reading this the process works. I am on a shakedown cruise to perform one final check of my equipment before I leave next week. Also, I had a new front tire put on and will ride about one hundred miles to scuff in the tire before I leave.
This week I will clean and pack the bike for the trip. My next entry will probably be next Sunday. After that, check back often for entries from the road!

Two Weeks To Go!

This weekend I went to the Blue Ridge Motorcycle Camp in Cruso, NC for the weekend. From now on you will just hear me refer to this campground as Cruso. On Saturday I rode to Tennessee just to ride. Notice my new Kermit chair in the photo. I think this is going to be a lifesaver on the trip. I guarantee that this chair is more comfortable than those picnic table benches after a long day in the saddle (of which there will be many on this trip). I took the R80RT to save the tires for the BIG trip. I will have a new front tire mounted on the GS this week. Next weekend I also plan to ride to Cruso and ride the GS just enough to get the front tire scuffed in. I will also use it as a shakedown tour to make one final check of all my equipment.
My wife, Tine, will be returning from Germany just days before I start my northern adventure. That is also adding a little excitement to this adventure. Stay tuned!

Three Weeks to Go!

I have three weeks to go before my big trip to Alaska! I am in the process of making my final plans and preparations. I had the bike serviced today at Touring Sport in Greenville, SC. All fluids changed and a general check up. She is ready to ride. But first my wife will be flying to Germany Tuesday and she will return just days before I leave. She will meet our son in London who is returning from Korea as I write this. As an elementary school teacher I have my busiest three weeks of the year ahead of me. I will have only two days between the last day of school and my departure.
The cost of this trip is starting to worry me. Gas prices have almost doubled since I began planning this thing! The cost of tires has also gone up. If they are expensive here, what do they cost "up there"? Oh well, I guess the object is not to die with a huge bank account, but to die broke with a lifetime of experiences! I will be posting not only to this blog but I will also be posting a ride report on the ADV rider site. It will be in the Ride Report section and I plan on calling the thread "Solo to the Circle". If you are an ADVer be sure to check it out. I will also be posting my photographs on my SmugMug site. Be sure to check www.kurtnugent.smugmug.com for what I hope are great photos.
I will be taking a couple of weekend trips starting next weekend. Nothing big, just camping at Blue Ridge Motorcycle Campground in Cruso, NC. Check back often to see what is going on with "Solo to the Circle"!

Georgia Mountain Rally

I spent the first weekend in May at the Georgia Mountain Rally in Hiawassee, GA. I arrived on Friday and easily found a place to camp. Other years the campground has been packed, but the weather forecast kept several riders away this year. This rally is famous for rain. Some even call it the Georgia Mountain Regatta! Highlights this year were Hawk Hagebak (author of a series of motorcycle touring books), Walt Sweatt's seminar on vintage racing and of course the steak dinner on Saturday night. True to form, it did rain on Saturday, but the rally was not a washout. It was a good chance to meet some new people and renew some old acquaintances. The only down side was my allergies! Camping under the Georgia Pines during allergy season is not a good idea! As a matter of fact, I was so miserable on the way home and the next day that I may skip this rally next year.

Wet Weekend

I got a late start on this weekend's trip. We had a field trip and one of my student's parents "forgot" to pick her up. I wound up taking her home with my assistant principal. Anyway, I got home way too late to go to the Spring Fling ant High Country Motorcycle Camp in Ferguson, NC and decide to spend Friday night at home and go for an overnighter to Kickstand Lodge in Stecoah , NC on Saturday.
On Saturday April 26, 2008 I rode to Kickstand Lodge and waited for the rain to end so I could put up my tent. This weekend was the Survivor Rally on Cherokee and the campground had quite a few pieces of American Iron. The campground owner left for the evening and went to the Kenny Wayne Shepard concert at the rally along with more than half of the campers. I stayed and enjoyed the campfire with the remaining campers and went to bed around 11:30PM.
The next morning I awoke, had breakfast, and left. I rode over Mt. Pisgah to get home and what a mistake that turned out to be. Rain and fog!!! Visibility was 10 feet at some places. It is a strange feeling to enter a tunnel and not know it! I was on my airhead and it does not have emergency flashers, so I just put on my left blinker and hoped I would not be hit from behind. I rode out of the fog coming down the mountain and arrived safely home.
Next week is the Georgia Mountain Rally in Hiawassee, GA. Check in next week for more photos and rides!