Decisions, Decisions, Decisions

Most of the decision making of our little group is done by consensus. So far most of the group decisions have been well thought out and benefit the group as a whole. An example is a discussion as to whether we should carry guns or not. There were many arguments both pro and con. Ultimately we decided to carry one (or perhaps two)shotguns kept primarily to protect us from marauding bears. With proper preparation and Canadian registration we should be OK.

One of the most difficult parts of this trip is how to decide who should ride with us and who should not. I have met several of the riders on the Internet and although I have met most in person, there have been several I have not met. It is going to be difficult to determine if someone is compatible with the group's collective personality just over the Internet.

When we started this adventure in Oct. or Nov. last year, Erica and I decided that we wanted to limit the total number to 10 riders. This seemed to be a good compromise with enough of a critical mass to protect each other from just about any threat or problem but not so many as to become unwieldy. So far, the nine remaining (as of Feb. '07) appear to be pretty compatible.

One personality trait that both Erica and I have become pretty leery of is the "Loner." The Loner is someone who feels that he does not need the support of the group to survive and that he is better off doing things by himself. The loner does not participate in group discussions but tends to bitch at group decisions. This is kind of like someone who doesn't vote but complains about the results of the election. It is the tyranny of the majority but that's the way we do things around here.

We don't want any loners traveling with us because they will not understand the group dynamic and may be somewhat disruptive or, at the very least, will not be an active part of the group. In a serious medical emergency, the loner will probably not know what to do because he hasn't taken the initiative to understand each of our potential limitations.

It is ironic, though, that each of us has to be a loner to some extent, particularly if we get left behind because of a mechanical, medical or other problem. While I don't think we will abandon anyone out in the middle of the Yukon Territory, someone with a major problem could very well be expected to make it on his/her own once we got to a center of civilization.

The other thing that is disruptive is when an individual decides that he will do whatever he wants despite a group decision to the contrary and despite the fact that his behavior will have a disruptive effect on the group. A person of this type will not last too long with us either. We have had to ask several people to "bugger off", not that we want to be mean but that we feel that individual will be better off with some other group or perhaps traveling by himself.

Meet the Peeps

Our little group is a diverse bunch of baby-boomers and a few whipper-snappers from a much later epoch. Most are riders of one of the best bikes that Harley ever made, the Sportster. 2006 was the 50th anniversary of the venerable Sporty and it is still going strong in the Harley lineup.

Above is a picture of me and my '04 XL1200 Sportster at the Cumberland Gap. In its current configuration I have made numerous changes in the basic Harley layout including lowering the front and rear and putting Race-Tech Cartridge Emulators in the front and Progressive 440 shocks on the rear. I installed Supertrapp 2-into-1 pipes, a Sundowner Seat, forward controls, a 4.5 gallon fuel tank and a trailer hitch. I have put 30,000 miles on it since March of '04.

I started this whole mess by making an announcement on the Sportster List that I was interested in taking a motorcycle trip to Alaska during the summer of 2007. I asked if anyone was interested in joining me. After I posted that , Erica Stack (Red) answered in about a nanosecond that she would be interested in going too. She has started her own Erica's Blog on the subject. I had met Erica through the XL-List and Kansas City Sportster Ralleys and knew that she was a pretty enthusiastic and competent rider. Once Erica joined, things started rolling right along. I wasn't sure she was serious about the Alaska trip but she showed any doubters that she was dead serious. She began orgainzing in earnest somewhere back in November, 2006 and had a complete packing list finished well before Christmas. Erica is converting her XL883 to a 1200 bike and should have it finished by the end of March, 2007.

Bob Hill (Opa) is another of the baby boomers that we met on the Sportster List and at the Kansas City Rally. Opa rode his Sportster down from Seattle last year and although he tried to convince us that he was through with long trips Erica worked him over and he has pretty much decided to ride with us. His trip will be about 3000 miles shorter than ours because he is already on the West Coast. We are going to meet up with him in Cranbrook, British Columbia and then we'll hit the Canadian Rockies for what is purported to be the most scenic drive in all of North America. Opa is a little concerned about the finances of the trip and, as you can see from the accompanying picture, his ride seems to be missing some critical parts.

The rest of the group joined in short order. Dan "Screw Loose" Cunningham had also been a member of the XL-List and he bought an XL883L late last year and decided to ride if from Philadelphia down to North Carolina and The Dragon and then do some sightseeing through Virginia and West Virginia. Take a look at Dan's Blog and you will see why we call him "Screw Loose". After some urging (think nagging) from Erica I got my trailer and met up with Dan in Spencer, West Virginia right after New Year's Day. All the dealerships were closed in Charleston and would be closed for another two days. So I carried Dan and his bike back to Ohio to Liberty North Harley Davidson. His bike is still there waiting for some pistons and cylinders to be replaced. Check out his Blog for the whole story.

The other east coast rider is Chris Dopher (Brooklyn). He is another member of the Sportster List and he is an experienced long distance rider. What makes Brooklyn so unique is that he has had Cystic Fibrosis (CF) all his life but he has not let that slow him down. His bike looks like a Respiratory Therapy Clinic and he has to jump through a special set of hoops but he loves to ride and I am looking forward to meeting him in person and riding with him, if for no other reason than he makes my Diabetes look like a comparative walk in the park. Brooklyn has written an article entitled Putting Whiners to Shame that appeared in February 2007 issue of Thunder Press, about his traveling with CF.

From the Cleveland/Akron, Ohio area we have Ron Demyan, a friend and riding buddy. Ron and I went to the Tail of the Dragon in '04 and have several shorter rides around Ohio and West Virginia. Ron is an enthusiastic rider who's only fault is that he rides a "Rice Burner", a Yamaha FJR1300. We decided to let him join us because his six-gallon fuel tank might come in handy on those long stretches between gas stations along the Alaska Highway. We just have to make sure someone brings a siphon hose. Ron wants it known that he is the one on the LEFT, the one with the green shirt.

Also from the Cleveland area is Lee Levy. No body seems to know too much about Lee but we know he exists because we have a picture of him and he speaks up, with words of wisdom, every now and then. He seems to be familiar with bears as he can be seen kissing one in the above picture.

He, too, rides a Sporty.

The 2nd last member to join the group is Tom "Newfie" McCort. The Newf and I were in Graduate School together in the late 1960's (I think we were there) and we had done alot of hunting, camping and canoeing together then. We have hunted bear up in Canada and I figured we could invite Tom along to act as bear-bait while the rest of us got away, in the event that we get attacked by a grizzly. Tom is known to carry his rifle with him everywhere he goes, even while swimming in the Canadian wilderness (I have a picture of that somewhere). Tom doesn't have a bike yet 'cause he sold his last year when he thought he was through riding. He is thinking of some type of Yamaha Cruiser and he claims he'll have it by the end of March. In the picture, that's Tom on the left, me on the right and a bagged-bear in the middle. The picture was taken 35 years ago so both Tom and I might look a little different today. The bear became a bear-rug but when I moved to Arizona the heat and low humidity made the rug somewhat brittle and my wife tossed it one day when I was out of the house. I couldn't really blame her though because the feet had started to break off and it didn't look much like a bear with no legs.

The sobriquet "Newfie" comes from a joke that we were told by some inebriated native in Timmons Ontario back in '69. We had stopped there to get some vittles and this guy insisted on telling us this joke about a Newfie (a man from Newfoundland) who had a blowout in his rubber boots at 30mph. We decided that it was human nature to look down on somebody and the Newfies appeared to be it in Northern Ontario. Tom and I have called each other "Newfie" ever since. But since I am known as "Bootie" to the Alaska group, I figure Tom is the sole owner of the "Newfie" tag.

The last member to join is my son Daniel "Boojr" Taylor. He has always wanted to go with us but his job commitments in the summer blocked his way. Well, as luck would have it, his summer job fell through and he is thinking that this turn of events represents a "calling" to join us on our Alaska adventure. Dan participated in the KC-Rally last year and had his butt pinched by the ladies who collectively voiced their approval. So he has been accepted by the Sportster crowd even though he doesn't have a Sportster. He, in fact, does not have any bike now having sold his Suzuki 850 last summer after a long ride from North Dakota to Ohio. He is looking at an '06 Street Bob so we'll have to see how that goes. He put about 5000 miles on a rented "Bob" last year and that was pretty much all the mileage it had on it. The Dealer is looking to sell it to Dan for at a pretty good price. Now, if he only had a job.

Bootie's Blog, Alaska

I and seven (or eight) other fools will be heading for the adventure of a lifetime. We plan to ride to Alaska and the Arctic Circle on Motorcycles this Summer. We will be leaving from Stow, Ohio in late June and we won't be back until late July. We'll be tent-camping much of the way unless 1)the weather gets too bad (days upon days of rain), 2)we begin to smell each other and decide on a shower or 3)bears. Total distance for the trip from Stow will be on the order of 10,500 miles. For some it will be an additional 1000 miles because they are coming from the east coast. For others, on the west coast, the ride will be somewhat shorter.

Most of us are riding Harley Sportsters of various vintages and we have even permitted a couple of rice-burners to accompany us. I have met all but two of the participants through the Sportster List and we seem to be a pretty compatible bunch.

The Route we Plan to Take

The route will take us through Michigan then a Ferry across Lake Michigan to Wisconsin, Minnesota and North Dakota in the US. We will then cross into Montana and Glacier NP and then head north through British Columbia and Alberta. Then up across the spine of the Canadian Rockies through Lake Louise and Jasper. Then onto Whitehorse, Yukon Territory and the Alaska (Alcan) Highway. Once we are in Tok, Alaska we will head North to Fairbanks. From Fairbanks we will take what is now known as the Dalton Highway (used to be known as the Haul Road for the Trans-Alaska Pipeline) to the Arctic Circle. At the Arctic Circle we will camp out for one day, take some pictures and revel in the land of the midnight sun.

After the Arctic Circle excursion we will head to Anchorage to visit some friends, take care of maintenance issues and one or two of us might even get some tattoos. A quick review of the people that are going can be found in "Meet the Peeps". Our return trip will be along the west coast to Vancouver, British Columbia and Seattle, WA. From there we return through Idaho, Wyoming, Nebraska and home. Some representitive locations and cumulative miles for the trip to Anchorage are given below.

Akron, OH to Chinook, MT - 1205
Chinook, MT to Cranbrook, BC - 1620
Cranbrook, BC to Dawson Creek, BC - 2342
Dawson Creek, BC to Whitehorse, YT - 3219
Whitehorse, YT to Tok, AK - 3607
Tok, AK to Arctic Circle - 4009
Arctic Circle to Anchorage, AK - 4568

During the winter '06/'07 layover I decided to get a trailer hookup for my Sporty. After some searching, I settled on a "Wind Raider" from Cycle-Mate in Elkhart, IN. They recommended a trailer hitch from Hitch Doc but, in spite of their ads to the contrary, their hitch did not fit my '04 Sportster. I was therefore forced to modify and manufacture my own hitch. After several attempts, I was able to fabricate a hitch that fit the bike and now the trailer and I are rarin' to go.

The hitch-fabrication efforts had several side benefits. One was that I was forced to give myself a Xmas present, namely a Plasma Cutter, so I could fabricate the parts. I had seen the plasma cutters on American Chopper but I always assumed that one would be too expensive. After some help from an XL-Lister I purchased a cutter and went to town. The cutter is great; it cuts through 1/2 inch steel plate like the proverbial hot knife through butter. I, as a result, have retired my Oxy-Acetylene cutting torch and use it only to remove old VW's from my back yard.

The trailer will carry about 250 additional pounds of cargo and will place about 50 lbs. onto the hitch. I plan on taking a test run with the trailer fully loaded in March to see how it runs and to see if I can keep up with the group at highway speeds.

The other trailer in the group will be Opa's "Thang" which is one of the strangest-looking contraptions that I have ever seen. It turns Opa's ride into a four-wheeler and is extremely stable on the straightaway. Only problem is that it has a very wide turning radius. So wide, in fact, that Opa is concerned that he may not be able to negotiate the tight curves in the mountains. I guess he can make the curves, just not too fast. But, what the heck, a little too much slow never hurt anybody.