Cycle to the Circle Cookout!

The Cycle to the Circle crew got together this weekend to enjoy a meal, swap stories, and review a consolidation of photos taken by the individual riders. Shown in this photo are: (front row) Penny Grow, Sylvia Wood Cunningham, Nita Wood, Densi Rushing, and Norah Kurian, (back row) Scott Haney, FC Wood, Robert Wood, Rick Rushing, Sam Rushing, Biju Kurian, and Beksy Kurian.


Shown in this photo: Bob Cunningham, Scott Haney, FC Wood, Robert Wood, Rick Rushing, Sam Rushing, and Biju Kurian.

Although unable to attend the cookout in person, Christopher Wood joined us by video Skype and shared the tale of the wandering moose...

Badge of Honor

As a follow-on to our adventure I've compiled a few photos and notes on equipment performance and mementos left on the bikes:
Both of the new LED driving lights on the BMW had lenses and plastic protective covers broken from flying rocks and gravel on roads under construction (destruction). We shipped replacement parts to Brookings, but really needed the lights for the dark mountain road between Grant's Pass and Brookings following the blowout on the Drifter. This was the only real "night" operation for the trip, as Alaska was enjoying 22 hours of daylight during our time there. The designed placement of the Lexan cover directly onto the glass lens seems to contribute to the breakage by preventing the cover from flexing while absorbing impacts.
Still working with Pirate's Lair to get another rain cover for the Bags Connection tank bag damaged by the hailstorm on day one. No rush... The clear packing tape I applied to both sides seemed to work through some fairly heavy rains over the remaining 21 days of the trip.
The Lexan headlight protector from Cee Bailey absorbed a ton of bug and rock damage and kept the $500 headlight lens intact. Good investment, but now unnecessary for normal roads.
The Fenda Extenda did a great job of keeping rocks from damaging the radiator on the BMW, but was eventually chewed away by gravel and road debris.
This is the front of the right pannier on the BMW. Most of the forward-facing components on both bikes took a few chips and nicks from the gravel sections of road. Interestingly the Dalton Highway, which was my biggest concern going into the trip, was mostly asphalt or dirt and has relatively few sections of loose gravel.
The is the front-right side of the Drifter's fuel tank.
The left fork-slider on the front of the Drifter took at least one hit from a rock large enough to bend the upper cover. The resulting dent left a stripe where the two parts now scrape against each other as the suspension flexes.
My normal reaction to chips and scrapes on the bikes would be to start ordering replacement parts for the damaged components, but at this point I'm more inclined to take a few weekends to clean the bikes up, repair the Drifter's fork slider, remove the fender extension on the BMW and view the remaining dings as a Badge of Honor from our adventure.

Thank you Christopher for taking three weeks out to join me on this adventure. I truly enjoyed your company, your sense of humor, and your writing!

Thank you Kaytie, for lending me your husband even though it placed you thousands of miles apart on your second anniversary.

Thank you Rick for assembling all of the research and reservations along the way.

Thank you FC, Scott, and Biju for flying up to Alaska and joining us for the final miles to Arctic Circle. Good friends are hard to come by, and you are some of the very best.

Thank you Nita, for fostering the dream of this trip and encouraging me to "find a way" when plans changed and and success looked unlikely. Your love and support make each day a treasure.

Home again, home again!

We arrived safely back in Mustang, OK just before 6:00 this evening. Kaytie and her family were tracking us on SPOT and met us in the driveway with sparkling cider. We completed the trip at 7,274 miles across 22 days. What an adventure!


The last block...


Parked in the driveway.


Kaytie and Christopher reunited.


Cheers! (thanks for taking the picture Jenna!)

Safe and sound in Pueblo

We managed to skirt rain most of the day while we enjoyed the beauty of the Rockies and some great twisties, but eventually spent an hour in steady rain before breaking out and pulling into Pueblo. Now for an evening with Don & Arleen, the Boyz and their families.


The crest of Monarch Pass, at the Continental Divide, 11,312' ASL.


The view from Monarch Pass.


Bikes wet, riders dry @ Pueblo.

Oregon, California, Nevada, & Utah

We left Brookings yesterday morning, driving out through the redwood and pine forests and mountains. We eventually climbed to the high desert and spent the night at Winnemucca, NV. A stark contrast as the tallest vegetation in Nevada was primarily juniper and sagebrush.


Today we continued southeast into Utah, passing the Bonneville Salt Flats, the Great Salt Lake, Salt Lake City, and stopping on I-70 near the Colorado border at Green River. Like many of the northern tributaries, the river is bank full...


More white than we saw in Alaska at the Bonneville Salt Flats, but still in the upper 90's today.


Between Salt Lake City and Green River.


Green River, bank to bank.


We're off to Pueblo tomorrow, then home on Friday. Great trip, but looking forward to seeing friends and family in Mustang!

Over the Divide

Fog is a constant in Brookings, at least when I've been there. Most mornings in the spring and summer it rolls in off the ocean and leaves the coast socked in for miles. Sticks around till noon too. We rolled out into the hazy early and headed south towards the Smith River pass, Redwood Highway. It was a cool 55 degrees, really not bad considering what we'd gone through up north. The road runs over the mountains towards Grant's Pass, and it's all kinds of madcap fun. The cliffs over the river are steep and the road hugs all the curves, so it's awesome on a bike. Except when you get stuck behind a minivan with the creeping horrors of going over 35 on a corner. God bless turnouts and passing lanes, and CDoT for keeping the road in good shape

It was hot over the mountains, and it rolled down the pass. We started in full gear, but once we got into Grant's Pass it was too hot for any of it.

We opted to take a less direct route back to Oklahoma, we're trying to keep out of the southern desert as much as we can. Nonetheless, we still kept a pretty straight path east, one mountain after another. The forests of pine shrank like a film in reverse, the climate growing dryer as we approached the high plains.

There was a pause there at the end of the Cascades. The mountains dropped away behind us and a wall of rock out to either horizon before us, distant at the end of a long valley. For long miles we raced toward the wall but at the last second we turned to the south and climbed along the cliffside, ascending hundreds of feet over the scrubland. We had reached the high desert.

It was like riding through a Western, all mesa, scrub, and rock spires. The air smells like spearmint up there. I don't know which plant it was, maybe some kind of sage, but it was great. Eventually even a sweet-smelling desert begins to drag, and I was happy to call it a day in Winnemucca.

A few photos from the Fourth

Fireworks still pending, but some great sights from the beach house in Brookings already today.


Nita, Howard, and Ginger.


Christopher collected some interesting sea glass.


Flowers in the backyard at the beach house.


More flowers from the backyard.


A deer and two fawns that walked through the backyard this morning.


Great view of the jetty where the fireworks will be launched tonight!