Check out 2010 Bed and Breakfast plans! Why not make a tax deductible donation to help deaf, deaf/blind or medically fragile babies? C'mon .. click this link and you will find a few ways you can donate. You can sponsor any biker you want from 1/10 cent per mile up to whatever amount you wish as a tax deductible donation. 100% of donations go to SKI-HI, an early intervention group.
Are you planning to join us in 2009 or a future year? Please vote.
Hi ... I'm Mike Tuccelli and I would like to invite you to join us in 2009 on an adventure ... North to Alaska!!! Just look at the photo to your right ... imagine over FOUR HUNDRED miles of wild desolate beauty to the Arctic Ocean! What is an adventure without challenges? (You can change your mind when you get to Fairbanks and go someplace else more civilized such as Anchorage or Homer ... but put some life in your years and join us! Can't make it in 2009? If you wait until 2030, maybe most of the spectacular glaciers will be gone! Check 2009 if you want to go next year.Not coming? Please tell me what I can do to meet your expectations.
There is a neat radio show on motorcycles! The program is aired Tuesday evenings 9 eastern over the net with listeners in China, Australia, through out Europe, and the Americas. The last hour of the program is all about riders their trips, adventures, sometimes perils and such. This 7th Annual Florida/Alaska Benefit Run was broadcast April 8 and we hope to get more riders to join us! www.sidestandup.com
On the Alaska Highway, you will be admiring eagles, bears, wolves, caribou, buffalo and mountain sheep as you drive. You will be dodging frost heaves, pot holes and enjoying rest stops at the unique lodges which welcomes you with the aroma of home made bread and serious coffee. You can read what were live updates from 2004 to 2007 in "Trip Notes" button at the upper left of this page.
Once you arrive in Fairbanks, you can drive to Denali and Anchorage and Homer and Valdez. At Denali, you can take the shuttle into the park to spot glaciers and bears, and gaze up at Mount McKinley. The more you see and do in Alaska, the more you will want to join us every year.
What to do? If you drive south of Anchorage, you will see Turnagain Arm and it's heart-grabbing scenery with Russian Orthodox villages. If you want to stay around Fairbanks, go about 100 miles east and find Chena Hot Springs and its enormous boulders which surround a big, steamy outdoor pool. If you want serious bragging rights AND you have a bike designed for dirt/gravel roads (or you can rent one in Fairbanks or rent a car or take a van tour), take the Dalton Highway North to Deadhorse. Try Dalton for 20 miles. If you are still game, keep going about three hours and you will reach the Arctic Circle. Keep going and you will reach the Beaufort Sea and outbrag even the Alaska Highway crowd. Biker wannabes do events such as Sturgis, Daytona Beach, etc. but serious bikers will do this! Darryl Petrack made it to Deadhorse on his Baby Wing in 2007! You can now see a link for his photos so you can admire his determination and excitement! Do read the 2007 updates, though and feel his excitement and determination in his detailed notes.
This 2009 adventure will leave St. Augustine, FL July 1, 2009 (you can join us at any of the overnight stops to be listed in the coming 2009 schedule page) and going thru Kansas City MO, thru Minot, North Dakota, then the TransCanadian highway to Fairbanks, AK, arriving approximately July 10. There, we will stay three days, taking in the sites. Bikers can decide among themselves if they want a group or solo ride (please read Darryl's log on the 2007 trip notes) to Prudhoe Bay, to Homer, Anchorage, etc.
The return trip will go through Hyder, AK with a day's stay to explore glaciers and watch bears fish for salmon and will head east over Lake Superior. then south through Michigan and Indiana, finally onto the "Tail of the Dragon" to ensure cool weather for most of the route.
Here is a working link for photosof a trip Patrick Henry took with his 250 cc Suzuki with me! As of February 9, photos of previous trips As of February 18, more photos from Dave Stufflebeam. As of March 17 photos from Darryl Petrack. In our 2008 trip, after leaving Alaska, we are going to Logan, Utah to join their mini-run on Thursday, July 24. We will go through Wyoming, Nebraska, Kansas, then be back in St. Augustine, Florida on or about July 28. If you live within a day's drive from Logan, Utah, why not have your motorcycle chapter do a run to Logan July 24 and join the festivies? Contact SKIHI for coordinating this.
You, of course, can jump in at any of the 20 or so check in points as listed on the 2009 schedule page (coming this Fall) and leave at anytime. Kickstands up by 6 or 7 a.m. each day (meaning get your bikes ready and have your breakfast) ... this will allow us several hours of "wiggle room" in case of breakdowns, bad weather, etc. so we can get to our destination before dark. As always, you can cut off from the main group and do "side trips" to points of interest en route. You can sleep in late and leave and catch up with us at the next stop.
Here how it would work. You register online at DrSign.com. We will correspond via email so we will know if you want a room-mate, etc. You then meet us before departure time at the designated site. Simple, hey?
As you meet other bikers joining us en route, you and others will naturally form groups. This loose organization allows for maximum flexibility and yet the security of having at least one buddy to ensure your safety.
Registration is $200 and includes a ride T shirt and a souvenir DVD. This is a "fly by the seat of your pants" tour led by a guide who made six Florida/Alaska trips the past six years. Thirteen bikers are in this 2008 tour and we are expecting 40 bikers in 2009.
One biker asked about costs. Well, aside from the $200 registration cost, it is how you budget. If you are willing to share a room with three others ... your share of the room would be 20 to 40 percent. With the average room at $100, that's $15 to $35 per night. As for me, I am taking a sleeping bag so you can have a nice comfy bed <g>. As for gas, let's plan for a scenario of $5 per gallon for gas. At an average of 500 miles per day, you would buy 10 to 14 gallons of gas. That's $50 to $60.
Did you know that there is an alternate to this bike trip? You can fly into Anchorage and have a two week tour! Including airfare, meals and this tour, it would be $12,000 or thereabouts. They supply the bikie, tour guide, maintenance, and other nice benefits but you still are responsible for virtually all of your meals.
This $200 Florida/Alaska Benefit Run registration includes a 2-hour DVD, an amateur guide with lots of enthusiasm, proceeds help parents of deaf and/or blind babies, arrangements for rooms where you can pay as little as $18 per night, and you can bring your Tupperware container with your snacks which will be kept in an ice chest to keep costs further down. Makes this $200 cheapie a great deal, hey?
Now for meals ... most restaurants have their best prices for lunch so if you do as I do ... at evening stops, go to the local deli, pick up some food items, make snacks, put them in your quart-size leakproof tupperware container, put that in the ice chest which I will bring along ... use the hotel's coffee and eat a light snack ... stop for lunch at a fast food place (a double cheeseburger for a $1 or Subway's daily special, etc. or a buffet at, say, $6.99), and then eat take-out pizza or snacks in our rooms at night, I can see this at $20 or less per day. So, your daily costs would be $100 per day at the most and possibly as low as $75.
When you register, I will send you a form to fill out to see which segments you will ride in, whether you want a private room with your traveling companion, or if you want to share a room with up to two others. See this link for room-mate information. For example, two bikers want their own bed, and two others are willing to take sleeping bags. So the two bikers taking beds pay 40% each and the other biker taking the floor (hey, I'm a grandfather and yet I took the floor last year!) in his/her sleeping bag/air mattress at 20% each. For example, if we did that at Chattanooga, TN, then the guys or gals taking the sleeping bag would only have to pay only nine bucks! You will make your own room reservation from the choices given in the 2009 schedule page (coming this Fall) and the person(s) you room with will split the costs with you.
Bring cash? Not necessary. One trip, I was able to charge EVERYTHING on my credit card. Check with your credit card company and see how much they charge for currency conversion and take the best deal. The exchange rate fluctuates daily so if you take Canadian cash with you, you will have to pay the exchange rate plus a fee and if the exchange rate goes down, you are out of luck. On the other hand, if the exchange rate goes up during the trip, you will be fine ... so I suggest you watch the exchange rate during June and if it looks as if the dollar is becoming stronger, go with the credit card. On another note, advise your credit card company of this trip so they won't freeze your card on suspection of fraudelent activity. Take at least two cards. If you plan to go North to Prudhoe Bay, I suggest cash.
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On the Alaska Highway, you will be admiring eagles, bears, wolves, caribou, buffalo and mountain sheep as you drive. You will be dodging frost heaves, pot holes and enjoying rest stops at the unique lodges which welcomes you with the aroma of home made bread and serious coffee. You can read what were live updates from 2004 to 2007 in "
