On August 4, 2014, I left my home in Bethesda, MD—a suburb of Washington, DC—for a bit of a journey on my motorcycle, a ’13 BMW R1200 GS Adventure (nicknamed, The Mule).
The Plan
The original idea was to leave home heading west across the U.S. all the way to the Yellowstone Nat’l Park; here I would veer right, towards Canada and ultimately Alaska; I would then do a “traditional” Top-To-Bottom, all the way to Ushuaia, Argentina, at the very southern tip of South America. I would complete the journey by returning north, to Brazil, to put The Mule on a ship and send her home.
This was all to be done on the road, with three exceptions: 1.- The return south from Alaska to the Lower 48 (which was to be done on a ferry of the Alaska Marine Highway system); 2.- the passage from Panama City, Panama to Manta, Ecuador (which was to be done on a commercial ship, because there is no way yet to cross the Darien Gap by road); and 3.- a stretch on the Amazon River Basin, from Yurimaguas to Iquitos, both in Peru, and then to Belem in Brazil (which was to be done on river boats, because…).
Lastly, for all this to work on the weather front, I would have to sit in Southern California for about a month, to wait for the end of the rainy season in Central America. So, per my thoroughly thought-out plan, I would be back home in mid-April of the following year, just in time for my 25th anniversary of married life!
On the “finances” side, I had lined up a few sponsorships—mostly in-kind contribution. Additionally, I was going to raise funds from donations as I went along.
What Really Happened
All went absolutely per plans for the first half of the trip, from Washington, DC, to Alaska, and then south to Southern California. Once here, and for reasons too long to explain in this write-up, I had to take the hard decision of canceling the Central American stretch of the trip. Instead, I would return home through the southern states; I would then ship The Mule down to Valparaiso, Chile; and from there, I would continue my journey to Ushuaia, but now on a revised route. …And this is how my Top-To-Bottom evolved into two loops, one through North America, and a second one through South America.
Part 1: North America
What follows is a brief, mostly photographic, reportage of the first loop of the trip, the North America one. Tough assignment, believe me, picking the pictures to show here: Way too many of them! I ended up selecting them based not necessarily on their “artistic value”, but rather on their ability to “tell the story.” Soon (hopefully!), there will be a post on this blog with the equivalent write-up for the South American loop
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Out of Washington, DC, the first leg of the journey was basically heading west, all the way to Yellowstone Nat’l Park. The guiding idea was to hit as many national parks / landmarks / points of interest as practically possible. A few examples of sites visited include the National Road; Lincoln’s (and Rt 66) Springfield, IL; Badlands Natl Park, SD; Mount Rushmore Nat’l Memorial, SD; Devils Tower Nat’l Monument, WY; the Heart Mountain Japanese American Confinement Site Landmark, WY; and Buffalo Bill’s Cody, WY.
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From the Yellowstone Nat’l Park, it was north and northwest, into Canada and Alaska. Already on the Alaska Hwy, I went through one of the “high anxiety” moments of the trip. At the Liard Hot Springs Lodge & RV Park, near Liard River, Canada, I woke up with a big animal right next to my tent. I was sure that it was a bear, as the site was full of posters advising campers on what to do to avoid bear attacks. So, I lay inside my sleeping bag as quiet as I could, without moving, for a good half an hour. Waiting for the attack! Making things worse, I was dying to pee. Eventually the animal moved away enough, allowing me to open the bottom of the tent’s front zip. That’s when I saw that it was only a bison herd! I still had to wait a good while before I was able to leave the tent and run the bathroom.
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In Alaska! What a place. Highlights: The iconic Dalton Hwy, up to the Arctic Circle and beyond, to Wiseman. AK (the plan was to go all the way to Prudhoe Bay, but the weather didn’t collaborate…); the Denali Hwy; The Gracious House Lodge and its Sluice Box Bar; the Richardson Hwy; Homer & Seward, on the Kenai Peninsula; Whittier, the town on a building (and hence its moniker, the town under one roof); the mountains and the glaciers. Indeed, what a place!
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After a few weeks in Alaska, it was time to head south, first back to the “Lower-48” by ferry; and then further south, to Morro Bay, CA. The ferry part—on the Alaska Marine Highway, the only stretch of water that is a part of the U.S. highway system—was absolutely magical: from Whittier, AK, to Bellingham, WA, with stops in Yakutat, Juneau, and Ketchikan, all in AK, a five-day run mostly through the Northwest’s Inside Passage.
After the ferry, it was a straight-forward ride along the Pacific coast. Highlights: A two-day stop in Mukilteo, WA (to “help” a friend with his wine-making duties); U.S. Hwy 101 through Washington and Oregon and then California’s SR-1; California’s Lost Coast and the Ave of the Giants; Oysters galore; San Francisco; Duarte’s Tavern in Pescadero, CA; John Steinbeck’s Monterrey, CA; and the Big Sur, of course.
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Between Morro Bay and San Diego, CA, I made a wide detour inland. The idea here was to allow me to see Death Valley, CA, and Vegas, NE, and the Grand Canyon, AR, and the Grand Staircase-Escalante Nat’l Monument, UT, and quite a few other landmarks. Which I did!
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San Diego was where the original plan went awry! I did go down to the U.S. / Mexico border, but then instead of turning right, I continue straight. And I headed home. Highlights from this leg: Quite a few more national parks and monuments—including Joshua Tree, the Grand Canyon (yes, again), Natural Bridges, and Mesa Verde; doing a few good stretchs on U.S. Route 66; Monument Valley; the Valley of the Goods; visiting old stomping grounds in “cajun” Louisiana; and lastly, doing a good chunk of the Blue Ridge Pkwy.
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In the middle of the afternoon of October 15, I was back at home, in Bethesda, with the first loop completed—very close to 15,850 miles / 25,510 km in nearly 2 1/2 months.
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…And shortly after my arrival, I started working on the other half of this journey: the South America loop. But you will have to wait a bit longer to see the “story” of that stretch.
Hopefully not too long…
Stay tuned! Cheers.
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Larry Quinn
Jorge, nicely done. If you didn’t travel so much, you’d have time to keep your blog current. But, then again, if you didn’t travel so much, you wouldn’t have anything to blog about. A nice conundrum to have, indeed!
L
SerpaJ
Larry, Thx so very much for your understanding! Cheers.