Harley Davidson

I guess if we need to partition out blame for this expedition, the large majority of it would go on Harley Davidson.  If their bikes were a little more "dirt road friendly" this probably would have never developed into what it has become.  

While working/living in Canada, I got the urge to buy a Harley.  It was overpowering.  Especially since my wife thought we needed a Harley too and my company had just given me a bonus check that would cover the total cost and my first bike way back when just happened to have been a Harley.  A 125cc battery powered ignition bike (versus, the Hummer which came out later and didn't have a battery, using a magneto only).  But, that's a "whole 'nother story" as they say.  

Then, after purchasing the Fat Boy in March of 2000, in May, my company decided they needed me back in the U.S. so off we went to Florida for a while and then back to Missouri where I retired and built a house on 80 acres on the Gasconade river.  The problem?  The house was on two miles of VERY bad gravel road.  Up and down hills with turns in the middle of hills and turns at the bottom of hills.  Well, you get the idea.  I never did dump the bike but I sure came close several times.  

We got tired of that house after a couple of years (a person can get really tired of deer, bobcats, turkeys, etc. walking through your yard all the time) and bought some land closer to town and built another house on more gravel road.  Two miles again, but much tamer navigating.  Still, not a pleasant ride on a Fat Boy.  

Wanting to ride more, I then decided I needed a bike that was more "dirt road friendly" and went off researching.  I wasn't ready to buy at that time but wanted to do research to decide what I should look for.  

The "best laid plans", etc.  Not one week into my research I found a guy who had a 2001 BMW 1150GS with 36,000 miles on it for $6,200 and he was thinking about selling  it but hadn't actively started trying to sell (a friend of his was on a motorcycle list I subscribed to and told me about him).  

Off I go in my truck 200 miles, to look it over.  Took one ride and whipped out the old checkbook and headed home with my new (to me) bike.  

Now I have it home and riding around not believing how well that bike takes to gravel roads and doing research on what maintenance I should plan on, when I find the forum www.advrider.com.  I start reading about all the trips riders had made and especially trips to Alaska.  Well, that was the start.  All of a sudden, I just HAD to go to Alaska.  

So the adventure begins.