My BMW luggage setup.. Caribou Cases

A few people have sent me emails from the advrider.com site asking how I like my luggage system on my BMW. I did alot of research and finally decided on the 36L cases from Caribou Cases (www.cariboucases.com). I had originally purchased a nice used set of Touratech aluminum cases but found that they did not give alot of storage room and were not totally waterproof.

The Caribou system matched with the Hepco Becker quick release rack system were PERFECT!!!. It was a very very solid system. The cases locked very securely, were totally waterproof, and were easy to take on and off. They are also INDESTRUCTIBLE!!! I went down with a fully loaded bike a couple of times (parking lot incident and a low speed gravel drop) and they handled it easily. They even protected the bike very well and prevented even more damage.

The installation was very easy with the instructions. Most of my time was taken up just getting the BMW factory rack off.

After installing my cases I had some room to put a toolkit that I made our of a 5 inch ABS pipe and also a little rack for my stove fuel bottles. It worked perfectly. The center of gravity and balance on the bike was great. My toolkit was waterproof and very secure.

This was a great system. Money very well spent. They cases will last a very long time.
Give Roger a call or email at Caribou and he will definitely take care of you.

Found some pictures!!

Just found some pictures while cleaning up my laptop...first couple are from Banff, the islands are the north shore of Lake Superior and then Alaska near Hyder.

Summary of Mileage

I did a quick summary of the daily mileage for the trip.
Total Mileage was 10503 km.

Day 1 - Home to Batchawana Bay ON = 931 km
Day 2 - Batchawana Bay ON to West Hawk Lake MB = 1167 km
Day 3 - West Hawk Lake MB to Medicince Hat AB = 1202 km
Day 4 - Medicine Hat to Calgary to Banff AB = 418 km (tire change day)
Day 5 - Banff AB to Jasper to Prince George BC = 660 km
Day 6 - Prince George BC to Hyder Alaska = 699 km
Day 7 - Hyder Alaska to Williams Lake BC = 934 km
Day 8 - Williams Lake to Revelstoke to Banff = 780 km
Day 9 - Banff to Grenfell SK = 1001 km
Day 10 - Grenfell SK to Vermilion Bay ON = 764 km
Day 11 - Vermilion Bay to Batchawana Bay ON = 1016 km
Day 12 - Batchawana Bay to Home = 931km

Total Mileage = 10503 km

Finally home and dry!!!

Got home late yesterday. I will do a quick update later.

Rainy riding.....but almost home

Spent all day yesterday riding the northern Ontario area, in the rain
with temps at around 8c.
Not as bad today leaving Lake Superior and on the home stretch.
Will be home today:-)

Banff to Greenfell SK to Dryden ONT

Left Banff Monday morning and started my trip back home. There are not alot of choices for routes to head east so I got back on the TransCanada and made my way out of Alberta. After an all day ride in nice sunny weather I ended camping in a small Saskatchewan wheat town called Greenfell.

Left Greenfell SK Tuesday morning with a goal of making it acrossut the prairies today. For the most part another all day ride through the eastern part of Saskatchewan and across Manitoba finally crossing into Ontario and ending up in Vermillion Bay Ontario.

Total mileage for Monday = 1001 km
Total mileage for Tuesday = 767 km

Looking forward to riding along the north shore of Lake Superior. The weather forecase for the Thunder Bay area and southeast doesn't look good. Rain and cold.

Internet and cell coverage will not be very good for the next day in northern Ontario, but I will do my best to provide an update.

Alaska and back to Banff

As I mentioned in my other post I made it to Alaska. \Even though it was the most southern part of Alaska.
I woke up Saturday morning and check the weather forecast and it was calling for alot of rain and cold north of where I was. I decided to turn back south and head for warmer and drier places. Also, I was running out of time and if I did head farther north I would probably need to leave the bike up there and fly back with the intention of coming back in a few weeks to do the return trip. Too much hassle.
So I left StewarT BC early Saturday morning with drove back down the 200km of the Cassiar and east to Prince George. This time \i was going to go south of Prince George and drive the central BC towards Kamloops, and then head east through Revelstoke National Park and then Banff.
On Saturday I made it as far as Williams Lake BC. I nice cowboy town north of Kamloops by a few hundred kms. The landscape in this area is much drier almost desert-like the further south you go towards Kamploops.

Sunday morning got up and continued to Kamloops and then west through Revelstoke. Very very nice ride....sunny day and not too warm. Once through Revelstoke and Golden BC , I entered Banff National Park from the west.
Camping in Banff again (which prefer to hotels/motels) and will figure out the plan for Monday.

Nice Sunday drive through central BC

Left Williams Lake this morning heading east towards Banff. Finally a
nice sunny day.

Alaska!!!

I am a little late in getting this post out.
I made a decision on Friday morning (regardless of the weather) to begin driving west of Prince George and then up the Cassiar Highway north to the Yukon and Alaska. I left early on Friday morning and the weather was fairly good. No rain which was great.
I rode about 400km Hwy 16 through some nice country west of Prince George. HWy 16 ends at Prince Rupert on the coast.
I was headed to the intersection of Hwy 16 and Hwy 37 . Hwy 37 is also known as the Cassiar Highway which until recently was one of the only routes north. The road has been gravel for most of its life and is mostly paved now.
A couple from Seattle recommended that I take this route instead of the more popular route that heads west and north from Price George.

This was a great choice. The weather was good and I felt like I was the only one on the highway. I was pretty disappointed with the trip through Banff and Jasper National parks because of the traffic and large number of tour buses.

Once I started north on the Cassiar I had 200 or so km until another junction where I could continue north to Watsons Lake or head west to the border fishing towns of Stewart BC and Hyder Alaska. The 200km ride was probably one of the best motocycle rides I have been on in 25 years. This area is very very isolated and I only met a couple of cars and trucks going in the opposite direction. There was also tons of wildlife, lost of deer, the odd moose, and bears!!! This is where is where I saw my first grizzly bear. It was making a quick road crossing about 200 yards in front of me. It had just come up an embankment from the nearby river. I think it was a young grizzly from its size. I didnt stop where it crossed just in case its mother was following!!

When I came to the 200km junction I stopped for a moment and then made a left on the to the Stewart Highway also called the Glacier Highway. This 65 km stretch was very curvy and basically was cut out of he canyon heading west to Stewart and Hyder. This 65 km was awesome and even better than the previous 200km. One of the highlights was that it went right beside a glacier icefield. I did a quick stop and took a couple of pics. This was much better than sharing the view of the Columbia Icefield with 30 buses and hundreds on tourists.
I had the glacier to myself. I preferred this area over the Banff and jasper Parks any day.
I finally arrived at Stewart and Hyder AK. It was everything I expected. They are very small towns with only a few buildings and businesses. There is a ship terminal where tankers dock.
I checked into the King Edward Motel, had a quick bit to eat in the little restaurant, and then went to bed.

Sorry about the pictures but that is the best I could do...

Mountains, bears , and lots of ice cold rain!!!

Left Banff this morning with nice weather on my way through Banff National Park and then into Jasper National Park to Jasper and then into British Columbia, another timezone, and Prince George.
The ride started out nice..but it got very ugly about an hour into the 6hr 600km+ ride. While riding the Icefield Parkway the rain started and then the temperatures started to drop from 20C down to the single digits and sometimes as low as 3C. Very cold when it is pouring rain and you are cruising at 100kph+. Luckily I had bundled up and my gear kept me dry..for most of the trip.
I wish I had more pictures of the Columbia Icefield and the glaciers..but there was no way I was stopping in that rain and cold to take a picture.
Even though the weather was less than ideal the scenery was great. The mountains in this part of Alberta and BC are amazing. Also, there was lots of wildlife out during the day. I was expecting to see one or two bears during the entire trip, but I lost count after 5 sightings today alone. I took a picture of one of them when it was convenient (not raining buckets!:-). Highway 16 from Jasper to Prince George is a great highway and I enjoyed the ride.

The weather doesn't look good for the upcoming days. I met a few folks (who were checking into the same motel to dry out) that rode down from Dawson Creek and the weather was worse farther north.

My next destination is suppose to be Watson Lake in the Yukon and then on to Whitehorse for a total of 1700km. Dawson Creek is on the way to Watson Lake.

I will be checking the weather tonight and will need to make some decisions tomorrow.

So far I have logged about 4400 kms....

SPOT messenger

A few folks have been asking about the SPOT messenger so I thought I would post the answers here.
Basically, the SPOT device is used to provide a quick "check in" that everything is alright. I am also using it to highlight some spots that I want documented. It is a great unit and well worth the $100 yearly fee. Included with the checkin/tracking capabilities, I also have roadside assist (button) and 911 button for search and rescue.
A few people have mentioned that I seem to have stopped alot. That unfortunately is not the case. Most of the time I hit the "checkin" button while I am moving. For the first 3 days of the trip I stopped very little. Usually just to fill with gas which was once during the day and then when I stopped at night. Through Ontario and Manitoba I was usually doing 600kms in a stretch without stopping. I have water in a camelback which allows me to have a quick drink every once in awhile (bathroom stops where at the beginning and end of day).

Alberta....Banff

Well arrived in Alberta late last night and stayed in Medicine Hat. Got up early in the morning and did a quick run on the TransCanada to Calgary. I wanted to get the bike into Blackfoot BMW Motorrad to get the front tire changed and have a quick check over.

It took a bit longer than expected at Blackfoot...and little more money than expected:-(
It is amazing that two tires for a motorbike are almost as much as 4 tires for a car!!!

So it ended up being a bit of a rest day. Once the bike was ready and reloaded, I left Calgary in great weather and headed for the mountains with a destination of Banff National Park.

The park is beautiful. I have a very nice campsite at Tunnel Mountain. I setup camp and made dinner (freeze dried chicken gumbo that was pretty good) and then took a little ride into town to catch up on email.

The plan tomorrow is to slow down the pace a bit. No 1000km days. Plan on heading up to Jasper and see where it goes from there.

Manitoba through Saskatchewan.....

Tuesday was a long day....
Got up and packed up camp on the eastern border of Manitoba and started my drive across the prairies. Once you get past Winnipeg the landscape starts getting very flat. I also noticed that storms can be seen from a long distance. I was lucky that most of the storms went on each side of the TransCanada Hwy so I only had a little bit of rain and did not have to break out the heavy duty raingear. The scenery was most the same...lots and lots of farm land and grain elevators. As you get towards the western side of Saskatchewan the landscape starts to be rolling and more interesting. My last gas stop was in SK was in Swift Current. I still had a few hours of daylight left and decided to try and get as close to Calgary as possible and Medicine Hat was the best choice from the time I had remaining.
Arrived in Medicine Hat Alberta at 11:00pm local time.
A 1200km day!!!
After a quick 200km sprint in the morning , Wednesday is scheduled to be a bit of a day off in Calgary. I need to have the bike checked over by a BMW mechanic at Blackfoot BMW Motorrad. I will also need to change tires for the trip north.

Ontario to Manitoba.....

Finally got out of Ontario late Monday night (day 2). After leaving the north shore of Superior went through Thunder Bay and then up to Dryden and Kenora. The ride was OK except for about 3 hours of rain. The roads in norther Ontario are in great shape.

You know you are heading north when you see a sign that says “you are entering the Arctic Watershed, from this point all streams and rivers drain into the Arctic Ocean. This was in the Dryden area.
You also know you are heading west when the next sign you see is “you are entering the Central Time Zone”.

Leaving Ontario I was getting some great views of Lake of the Woods. The Ontario/Manitoba border area is very nice. I was checking my GPS and noticed that sundown was not until 10:30pm so I kept going until I got well within the Manitoba border and then began looking for a campsite.

I was lucky to find a nice spot at West Hawk Lake in Whiteshell Provincial Park. I set up camp quickly and went to bed. Another long day.

North Shore of Lake Superior

The drive along the north shore is stunning. Great road with lots of curves and great views of the lake. This area is very remote. I left early Tuesday morning to make it to Wawa , Ontario. I did not know that the route was going to take me through Lake Superior Provincial Park, where there are no gas stations!!! I had 3 liters of fuel to spare once I found a station. Very close.

On the road again....

Finally have some cell coverage. About 75 kms east of winnipeg .
8am central.

Thought I would test out my iPhone to see if I can make a post. I hope
to provide some updates to the blog if I can get an Internet
connection tonight.
Cheers

Quick update after day one....

This will have to quick with no pictures unfortunately.

After leaving home on Sunday morning I put about 1000kms on the bike. I arrived a small resort/camp on the North Shore of Lake Superior in a place call Batchawana.
Left early this morning and drove through Lake Superior Provincial Park all along the north shore and I am now at a small info kiosk at Terrace Bay, borrowing the computer from the girls so that I can do a quick checkin.

There is no cellphone coverage up here for me and very little internet access.

The North Shore of Lake Superior is beautiful country. Very very rugged. Great coastline. Lots of trees. Great great roads.

Saw my first bear this morning as I was leaving Wawa. It was a fairly good size black bear. He was sitting in the grass about 15-20 feet from the road. I went by and then turned around to see if I could get a picture, but as I was fumbling try to get my camera and trying very hard to keep the bike from falling over he just made his way into the bushes.
Met a Ontario Provinical Police officer this morning when filling up with fuel and he made a point of coming over to me to let me know that the moose have been very active lately. Appartently, the night before a bull moose literally torn the front end off of a Kenworth transport just outside of Marathon. The

I do not plan on riding at night but they are also around at dusk and dawn.

Bike is unbelievable. Perfect riding with 600km range per tank. Perfect for me since my range (until bathroom time is easily 800km;-)
Bike is very heavy when it is fully loaded with fuel (it holds almost 9 gallons). I think in total the bike is more than 600lbs.

Days are getting longer (doesnt get dark until almost 10) so I am going to try and get to Manitoba border by end of day.

Thats it for now.
Andy

9am Sundy morning. He's off....

Finally, the bike's packed, the gear's on, and he's away...

Weather's overcast, with light showers expected, so I hope all that waterproof gear works.

Destination for today is Sault St Marie - 878kms away!

Wish I was going to... :(

Last minute prep -

Decided to leave Sunday the 21st and try to get to Sault Ste. Marie.

Heading north of Ottawa, through NorthBay, Sudbury, then over to the Sault.

Mom , Jonah, and Sally giving me a hand to pack all my camping gear, food, clothes, and tools.

Preparation - GPS and Spot Satellite Messenger

This is a pretty long trip and I didnt want to carry around paper maps. I also wanted to be able to locate points of interest easily on the way. Especially, up north it is important to know where you are and be able to figure out where the nearest gas station or service is located. After a bunch of research I decided to go with the Garmin GPS 60CX with the North American topo maps installed. This GPS can be both battery powered or plugged into my accesory outlet. Also, some of this trip is outside of cellular coverage and I also wanted to provide frequent updates that I was OK and also with my location. The SPOT satellite messenger system is excellent for this purpose. By pressing a checkin button the unit sends a signal to an overhead satellite. The SPOT system then updates friends with my position and also pinpoints me on a google map. I can also send a 911 alert to the network to call for help if required. This is just for emergencies.

Preparation - Riding Gear

I spent a lot of time researching what kind of riding gear I wanted. I have tons of street riding and motocross gear, but no adventure/dualsport riding gear.

The key thing I was looking for was protection and comfort from the weather. I also wanted some gear that can be used when the weather is warm to when it gets very cold and wet. I will be spending hour after hour on the bike and it is very important to be warm and dry.

I finally chose the the Cayenne Pro Jacket and Pants from Rev It (www.revit.eu). This is a great riding suit. I have already worn it in some wet/cold weather and I am sure it will do the trick.

I also have a number of street riding and racing helmets but I wanted to get a helmet specifically for dual sport riding. I was looking at both the Shoei Hornet DS and the Arai XD. I finally chose the Arai XD (www.araiamericas.com). This is a very comfortable helmet.


For boots, I also wanted to get gear that would be comfortable for long riding days, be waterproof, and provide protection. I chose the BMW Santiago boot. These are very warm and comfortable boots.

Preparation - The Bike

I have been thinking about doing a long distance motorcycle trip for a long time. I finally decided that this would be the year to do it.

The first step was to get the proper bike.....

I purchased a used 2007 BMW R1200GS Adventure earlier this year.

This bike purpose built to travel the world with the ability to cover lots of different terrain. Very little work needs to be done to this bike as they come fully loaded from the factory.

Welcome

Welcome to my blog.....
I created this blog to keep track of my upcoming adventure ride from Ontario, Canada to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska on the Arctic Ocean. I will be leaving on sometime around the last week of June 2009 and will be riding my BMW R1200GS Adventure. I will be stopping along the way for some sightseeing and also to take care of some business stuff. I hope to be able to keep you up to date with my travels along with some of the preparation for the trip. Stay tuned....