And so ends part one. Stay tuned as I will update the last fun-filled, dangerous (have you driven on California roads?) week of my solo adventure through Canada and North America. But for now it is back to earn my last three months of dosh, take my forth Spanish class (no, I still [...]

Just a quick post as I think I will have to write up the rest of part 1 later as now I have to ride from Port Angeles to Los Angeles (about 1,600 miles).
I got lost in the Cascade Mountains as I ended up taking a service highway that I thought was route 20. [...]

After leaving my mother and sister with my packed lunch I rode through the Columbia Ice Field is a basin of snow between a circle of eight mountains between Banff and Jasper National Parks (325 square kilometres).

I had to miss Lake Louise as my pass (you have to pay $10Can per day just to be [...]

Today I stood under a glacier! It was so cool, literally. I spent the day sightseeing with my mother and sister and then we went to the hot pools again in the evening. The next day I headed off and a bear ran out into the road. Unfortunately I couldn’t stop [...]

After a blistering hot day and a dinner with the relations I set off from Grande Prairie in the pouring rain (riding a fully laden motorbike in the rain is a good way for your family or anyone to think you are nuts and/or adventurous).
I had an uneventful ride to Jasper other than being cold [...]

My grandfather was one of the first pioneers in Grande Prairie. He owned a diary farm on the edge of the town and was the first school teacher. When he started selling sections of his land to people who couldn’t afford to live in Grande Prairie a new mini town sprouted up called [...]

Grande (big) Prairie (vast stretches of flat land), Alberta (second province inwards from Canadian west coast) was once a glacier valley (when Canada consisted of two huge ice fields) after it had been a subtropical marsh land full of dinosaurs (largest ever cache of dinosaur bones was found in Alberta) and now it is a [...]

I have been getting mileage between 32-40 miles to the gallon US (or 8-10 miles to the litre UK or 13-16 kms to the litre NZ) which I don’t think is that good for a motorbike. Still it is better than the RV (recreational vehicle) owners that I met who are getting 8 miles [...]

Oh Canada, our home and native land. True patriot love in all our sons command. With glowing hearts we see thee rise the true north strong and free. From far and wide Oh, Canada we stand on guard for thee (national anthem). Pop 33 million and second largest country in the [...]

Couple of notes about the highway.
Beautiful scenery : Once you are out of Alaska it is spruce covered mountains and the road follows a series of lakes and rivers. A lot of times you have the road and the views to yourself.

Frequency of gas: The high petrol prices must be effecting the areas [...]

When we stopped to look at the Muskoxen on the Dalton Highway I had been told that the animals think that the noise of a single cylinder bike is a threatening growl. Riding from Haines Junction to Liard Hot Springs I hadn’t seen any animals even though I had been told by Jack to [...]

It was sad to leave Alaska today as I have had such a great time there. My entry into Canada wasn’t the greatest as it had been sunny in Alaska and with the crossing of the border it started to rain and the first 200 miles so far has been incredibly windy and it [...]

The drive down to Valdez was spectacular. Once I got there I decided to go out on a glacier tour as apparently there is a pod of killer whales that you can see but unfortunately I didn’t get to see them but we did have a humpback whale pass under the boat which was [...]

It has been so great to get a good sleep (which I think I needed to help digest all the huge burger meals I have been eating ) that I am going to take it easy today – pop the 100 miles down to Valdez and then back to stay another night in Copper [...]

Didn’t make it to Valdez as meet up with Jack (riding companion from Dalton Highway) as he lives along the way and he recommended that I stop and rest as I seemed pretty tired. I didn’t take much convincing. So I have phoned my grandmother in NZ through Skype (it is great for [...]