Conclusion, tying up loose ends
Writing this six months after returning home,
the biggest thing that sticks in my mind
is that the glow from the Alaska trip still
hasn’t worn off. The people and places that
I saw through the month of June, 1999; have
left a very deep impression on me.
About the only thing I’ve done that compares
is the first trip I ever took to the west,
17 years old and just out of high school,
each day of the trip bringing new adventure
and experiences. The far north was exactly
like that, all over again, but bigger.
Joe ended up buying a used dual-purpose bike
after we split apart at Eagle Plains, going
to the Arctic Ocean, boarding a ship to Prudhoe
Bay with the bike, and riding down the Dalton
Highway. Then selling the dual purpose bike,
and driving home to Iowa in a junk car with
the wrecked GS stuffed in the back. The GS
was a total. It’s his story, and I really
hope someday he’ll put it to paper, or put
it out on the ‘net. He was gone 6 weeks;
his trip puts my trip to shame.
On our gear and preparations, everything
worked exactly as intended. Other than
the
minor oil leak on the GS early on,
2 flat
tires on the RS, and the GS being wrecked
in the mud on the Dempster Highway,
there
were no mechanical problems with our
bikes
or any other gear that we used on our
trip.
Our riding gear, our electric gear,
our camping
gear - all performed flawlessly, exactly
as intended.
Doug Grosjean
Pemberville, Ohio
|
