Gary is the 10th biker to join the group! He will begin the ride in St. Augustine, FL.
Tavares in in central FL about an hour northwest of Orlando. My wife, Elaine, and I have been married 41 years and we have two super daughters. I'm a retired mechanical engineer and worked 38 years in the defense industry. I currently have a little (non-thriving) business going doing custom golf clubs and club repairs.
I think I got the itch to motorcycle to Alaska in the mid 90's from some magazine articles. Anyway, it made it onto the bucket list and Elaine says do it now before you're too old! I couldn't convince any of my riding buddies to go, so was thrilled to find Mike's web site and such a nicely organized trip.
The motorcycle is a '99 Gold Wing which I've had for a little over a year now. The previous owners get the credit for the pin-striping and bling. The photo was taken on the Blue Ridge Parkway - Tavares doesn't look like that! I'm looking forward to meeting everyone.
Until then, Ride Safe!
For any of you heading north from Hyder, I would love to come along for companionship, safety, adventure, and room sharing! We could come up with an itinerary/plan that would meet everyone's goal of getting there and seeing the desired sights. I've looked into it some and can see that we can find towns at 250 to 350 mile intervals for lodging. Also the Cassiar highway that could get one from Stewart to the Alcan highway is about 10% unpaved, but the gravel part is used by RV's and is purported to be OK. From checking on-line it appears the Alaska Ferry has space for vehicles from Prince Rupert to Haines, but on to Whittier is sold out.
My original plan (prior to signing on with Dr. Sign (couldn't resist)) was to do the Alcan from Dawson Creek to Tok, make a loop thru Fairbanks, Denali, and Anchorage, then double back to Haines and take the ferry to Bellinham, WA and ride back to FL from WA. None of my local riding buddies wanted to be gone that long. So now I'm totally flexible, but don't want to go it alone. I'd also like to keep costs down as much as possible by sharing lodging, but I really don't want to camp!
I plan to travel with George Upton after Hyder. We are taking the ferry from Prince Rupert and will return to the US
I think I got the itch to motorcycle to Alaska in the mid 90's from some magazine articles. Anyway, it made it onto the bucket list and Elaine says do it now before you're too old! I couldn't convince any of my riding buddies to go, so was thrilled to find Mike's web site and such a nicely organized trip. 
