Maritimes: 2018

It was some time last fall (October or November) that I settled on wanting to ride to New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Quebec for the "big" summer adventure in 2018. Most of the hotel reservations went in during the first week of February (which turned out to be a good thing, for some of the more remote locations); the rest were picked up in early April. I've spent the past six months or so fiddling with the route, making sure to get on the coast roads as much as possible, and doing the research on the highlights that others have pointed out.

The bike needs a 12000 mile maintenance visit and new tires, and there are a few more things to adjust / add, but it's largely ready to go. One of the advantages of having the bike "rally ready" most or all the time is that the packing isn't a big deal, and the odds of forgetting critical things are low.

It's just over a month until launch.

13 May 1966: North to Alaska

On this day, in 1966, we started the trip north from southern California to Eagle River. Paul, Maureen, Kim, and I left my grandparents home in Ventura, making the trip in our maroon 1964 Rambler (a car I was later to take to college in 1974).

I didn't know it at the time, but I was to leave years of respiratory distress behind, and embark on a new way of thinking about the outdoors and about myself. Living in Alaska had a profound shaping effect on my life.

I haven't been back to Alaska as much as I would like, but certainly as often as life and other priorities allow. My last couple of trips back were work-related; one to Anderson and one to Shemya, both in the winter of 2015. I'm planning a ride to Alaska in 2020; that's a lot of fun to plan for.