Some additional Pictures taken by John Popelish on our trip of a lifetime:
Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Canyonlands National Park, Utah
Bill gets in the spirit and performs an ancient native Indian "Sand Dance". Canyonlands National Park, Utah (actually Bill and Kenny looking over the damage caused by a sand trap.)
Park Avenue section of Natural Bridges National park, Utah.
Balancing Rock in Natural Bridges National park, Utah
Did you ever wonder why people talk about the Columbia River Gorge??? The Columbia river between Umatilla and Portland
The Columbia river between Umatilla and Portland (look at the willows leaning over in the wind!)
Multnoma Falls on the Columbia River
What were these guys doing under this tree....looks kinky! Big spruce tree that grew over a big log that then rotted away, next to the largest Sitka Spruce in the continental US along Route 26 west of Portland.
Kenny says if JOHN is doing it, I'm gonna do it!
Bill can't resist the thrill either!
What a good looking group of folks, all together in Bellingham, Washington already brimming with stories to tell each other. And we haven't even gotten to Alaska yet!
John, Trees, Helmet...... John has lots of JTH pictures! Deception Pass State Park along route 20 in a string of islands leading up to the ferry ride from Keystone to Port Townsend, just north east of the Olympic Peninsula.
Pretty enough for a picture for sure. Part of the daytrip Richard, Meg, and John took from Bellingham. Deception Pass State Park
Rushed to the ferry......then waited several hours to load!
Ask Kenny about the Dive-Bomber attack on his bike that happened here. (A BANZAI SEAGULL!)
There is our boat if they'll ever just let us board the sucker!
Rare siting of civilization from the ferry. Mostly pines/mountains/islands and no sign of people for 3 days.
Richard and Harry ask the captain what some of the controls do. Turns out he isn't sure either!
How many Eagles can YOU spot in this tree John photographed in Ketchikan, Alaska (our first ferry stop in Alaska)
Father and Daughter on board the ferry.
The UNIQUE belt buckle made by Meg. Only two exist in the world, one for her and one for Richard. Yeah, we all agree that is PRICELESS!
A view of the glacier just outside of Juneau.
Midway Lake, half way between the Canadian Border and Tok (where John dropped his rain boot cover while taking a picture. He rode back from Tok to find it!) An incredible trailer killer pot hole was just a few miles closer to Tok. We saw a utility trailer that the whole yoke had broken on when they hit the pothole!
Lots of folks wondered about mosquitoes. Check out the one dive-bombing John while he takes this picture!
Would somebody tell me again why we're on motorcycles at 31 degrees when it is snowing?
Richard, this whole crazy trip was your idea......you lead so YOU can hit the ice/snow in Thompson Pass first!
Wait a minute, the sun is coming out and it is warming up. This is right pretty! Some beautiful mountain on the East side of the Richardson Highway leading to Thompson Pass. Perhaps, Mount Billy Mitchell.
Thompson Pass is completely clear, with clean white snow!
One of many waterfalls coming into VALDEZ.
A view from the ferry in Valdez
Peacocks in the yard in Homer
One of a ZILLION beautiful views in Homer
The whole gang lounging on our front deck in Homer. The yard right next to the deck was full of moose droppings (but we didn't see the moose that often grazes there).
We thought at first that these signs we saw everywhere weren't kept up to date because the numbers were not the same. That is NOT the number of total moosekills in Alaska....that is the total in this one locality! That is why the numbers don't agree!
As far as John was willing to go down the rutted road past Cantwell (near Denali) (which consisted of a few houses and one bar). John hit this on one of his many "exploratory rides" and saved us the agony of going down this particular road!
Only about another 120 miles on gravel road and you'll be at the Arctic Circle! (John regrets he wasn't carrying gas. He would have headed all the way to DEADHORSE if we had the time!)
Views going to the Arctic Circle were right pretty
And you could stop and see the Alaskan Pipeline in lots of places
The YUKON RIVER bridge. Just another 60 miles or so to the Arctic Circle Wayside.
But first, we have to stop for tradition. The first time you cross the Yukon River you are supposed to .......... Go ahead and tell the folks what you're doing here John!
Karen Gordon, an enthusiastic motorcycle rider we talked to in GlenAllen, Alaska (between Tok & Valdez). John then got pictures of her and her motorcycle almost a week later in Fairbanks.
Kind of like 1/2 of a GOLDWING isn't it. Karen's bike is a Honda PACIFIC COAST model.
Another beautiful Alaskan view. Just about the only bend in Route 2 from Dot Lake to Tok (Cathedral Rapids was just around this bend. The Alaska range is showing off in the background to the south.
John visits the post office in Chicken.
A beautiful view of downtown Chicken. John & Kenny......you didn't REALLY visit Chicken unless you had a few drinks in the saloon!
Typical view from the TOP OF THE WORLD HIGHWAY
Kenny & John explored the creek near the gold dredge but didn't bring home any nuggets of gold!
We ALL wanted to go to EAGLE and revisit our friend Ruth. Here was the turnoff! But we all were just starting to realize how long the trip home was gonna be!
Ruth, if you see these pictures.....PLEASE send us an email. If we had another week, we would have come and mined for gold in EAGLE, honest!
Kenny takes off on what finally looks like some good road inside the Canadian Border.
Turns out the road had some treacherous soft gravel. Kenny, we'll miss ya buddy!
Turns out these helicopter rides are LOTS more expensive than GOLDWING rides!
John ignores "divine guidance" in the Yukon. John had missed a turn, and this truck completely blocked his road just 2 miles after he missed the turn. (Unfortunately, John ignored the heavenly message and rode another 30 miles on the wrong road before he turned around! Later in his trip, when he got a similar divine message about his rear tire.......he paid attention!)
Gee, I wonder what John is using to take all his pretty pictures? OH.....now we see!
Mount Robson (highest point in the Canadian Rockies) just down the road from the Mountain River B&B in Tete Jaune Cache the evening we arrived. The light was not nearly so good on this mountain the next morning. (Harry was eating Wild Arctic Caribou while John was taking this picture!)
One of the first peaks on the east side of the Icefields Parkway heading into Banff.
Tangled Falls, just north of Bow Summit in Banff Park.
Very near Bow pass in Banff, where the snow was still two feet deep on the road side where John climbed up on it to take this one.
Really pretty to actually see a Sunset again after spending some time where the sun never did more than slightly dip below the horizon. It NEVER got dark in some places where we stayed! Sunset at Rochelle Illinois, along route 39 (south of Rockford). John was taking the long way around Chicago to avoid the traffic on route 94. By 11.30 PM when he was passing Chicago on route 80, the trucks were three abreast. At least there were almost no cars.