Harley Adventure PSP to ANC SOLO Ride

OK, for starters, I only rode 1,700 miles from Palm Springs, CA to Bellingham, WA and then Whittier to Girdwood, AK by myself.  I did get on the AK State Ferry in Bellingham and rode the ferry from there to Whittier via, Ketchikan, Juneau and Yakutat.

There were several pluses on this trip.  First and foremost…. I got to be the leader. I led the ride, I picked the stops and stayed in the hotels I wanted and stayed everywhere as long as I wanted and did exactly what I wanted.  Dah, I was alone!!  SOLO!  Perfect.

I left PSP and rode to Bishop, CA where I spent the night.  Nice little town where I had spent at least one night before on a previous motorcycle trip.  The next day I met Robin and her friends in Bridgeport, CA where they were meeting to remember good friends who had been killed in an avalanche.  I spent the evening with Robin and enjoyed the gathering of friends and then left the next day on the rest of the voyage.

Leaving Bridgeport I headed to Susansville north of Reno and then straight West to Eureka, CA  and then up the Highway 101 to Aberdeen, WA.   Then I went east to Seattle and North to Bellingham.   What a great trip it was.  At one point I rode about 2 hours and finally went 68 miles.  It was all curves from Redding, CA to Eureka, CA on the coast.  What an awesome ride.  TONS of CURVES, just what a motorcycle loves … and so does the rider.  I felt like I was skiing.  That’s probably one of the things that led me to love to ride was the feeling that I was on skis again but now it had a different kind of power behind it….

Now into Oregon.  Raining, rainy, I wore my best investment, rain gear for the next 6 days.  Only 5 because I needed it for rain and the next for warmth.  It was great.  I also found wearing the leather pants verses the leather chaps easier because I had one thing less to carry and the rain pants fit over the leather pants just fine.

You know, I’ve heard the term “What A Trip”  but now I know what that actually means… at least for me.  It was absolutely awesome.  You’ve probably all seen the movie “Wild Hogs”!  Well, I’m riding down the Highway and even though I’m alone I feel like I was one of them just not getting in trouble.  I couldn’t believe that I’m about 2 weeks away from my 61st  birthday, and I’m a woman, and I’m riding my Harley down the Highway and having the time of my life ALONE.  and loving it.  AWESOME.  God blessed me!  Ya he did.

So somehow I got side tracked.  First I rode to Cousin Marilyn’s home in Seattle.  She was so gracious letting me park my Harley and my boot for a night.  But the best part was actually spending a night with my cousin Marilyn who I hadn’t spent very much time with previously.   What a pleasure it was to finally do so and get to know her.  Thanks so much Marilyn for your time.

Jan, you so very unexpected invited me to spend the night with you and am I ever glad I did.  You were one of the absolute highlights of my trip.  You have an awesome place in Seattle and I enjoyed visiting with you and the time I was able to spend with you.  Thank you from the bottom of my heart as they say.    So now, after spending two great days in Seattle, one with cousin Marilyn and one with friend Jan and Teddy, I was off.

My trip was so great.  The part I loved the most was riding up the Oregon coast, eating where I wanted, when I wanted and staying in the hotels I wanted.   I stayed 3 nights in hotels on the beach or within 50-150-500 yards of the beach on 3 different nights.  It was great.  I could hear the surf.   I had fireplaces in my room and window seats, used the jacuzzi, had a massage and did I spoil myself, oh yeah.

So I leave Seattle, spend the night in Bellingham and arrive at the ferry.  The good new is they stage us (Motorcycles) together for entrance onto the ferry.  We all have to sit and wait for boarding so, we all introduce ourselves around, find out where we are from and  start sharing stories.    Now we are about to embark on our 5 night trip to Whittier, Ak.   Good news is, we’ve already met before boarding, we meet again on ship and eat together, see movies together, depart cities, reboarded and generally just enjoy other motorcycle stories.  What an adventure but then all of us motorcyclist’s are stories waiting to happen.

When we arrive in Whittier, AK another adventure awaits us.  Now we get to ride our motorcycles through a dark 2.5 mile tunnel that has railroad tracks in it and you ride down the middle on a concrete path.  The speed limit is 25 mph and the motorcycles in front of me must have been scared or something because they were going 15 mph.  It was almost to slow to control the bike for that long of a time so it was quite challenging.  I talked to other rides ahead of me and they felt the same way.  Nerve racking.  What a trip!

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