• Intro
• April
• May
• June
• July
• August
• September
• Dalton Highway

From Florida to Alaska on a Bicycle

• 

  April 1st, 1997 - I sat on a bicycle in my driveway in Largo, Florida. The bike was loaded with camping equipment and supplies that tipped the scale at 150 pounds. As I pulled out of my driveway I had really no idea of what to expect - I just started riding - with distant thoughts of someday ending up in Alaska...More

  "Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." -- Mark Twain

• 

  April - It was on April 1st, 1997 that I left my driveway in Largo, Florida - April Fools Day. This may or may not be a coincidence. I will never know for sure, but no sooner than I left my driveway I was starting to feel that I may, possibly, be something of a fool - (actually what I was thinking was more along the lines of "WHAT THE HELL AM I DOING!!??) - but it was too late. I had already started...More

• 

  May- Having made it to Natchez State Park, I felt I was beginning an entirely new chapter. The Natchez Trace itself was something I had wanted to explore long ago. A desire of mine that existed independent of my bike to Alaska plans, now was a part of the same trip...More

• 

  June - I meet interesting people wherever I go. I guess when you are riding a bicycle loaded with stuff, people are inclined to come shoot the breeze with you. It was incredible. No matter where I was people would come up to me and start talking, asking questions; People I would not normally expect to come up and start a conversation with a complete stranger would now invite me to dinner, or to take a shower at their house, bring me food, or even money...More

• 

  July - I stayed there the next day to rest. I was listening to my new radio and heard that Charles Kurault had just died of Lupus. That sucks. I remember watching his “On the Road” shows on TV as a kid, and I always wished I could do what he was doing. They played a recording he made at the age of 14 of an essay/poem he wrote. He was a poet and a great storyteller, and it is too bad he had to go. This trip is my “On the Road”...More

• 

  August - I have been thinking of my original plans. Back in March and April of 1996 I wanted to go to Yellowknife, NWT or Inuvik. I still would like to do it but I can’t go everywhere. Reading this Milepost book is bringing back memories of when this was all a pipe dream. Just looking at pictures and reading and imagining. It is hard to believe sometimes that I am actually doing it...More

• 

  September - I have been thinking of my original plans. Back in March and April of 1996 I wanted to go to Yellowknife, NWT or Inuvik. I still would like to do it but I can’t go everywhere. Reading this Milepost book is bringing back memories of when this was all a pipe dream. Just looking at pictures and reading and imagining. It is hard to believe sometimes that I am actually doing it...More

• 

  Dalton Highway - The bumper sticker is still pinned to the bulletin board in my room: " I survived the Dalton Highway Prudhoe Bay, Alaska" The word “Highway” seems to be a bit of an exaggeration in describing the trail of dirt and rock and mud that stretches some 414 miles from the tiny town of Livengood, Alaska and to the Prudhoe Bay oil fields on the Arctic Ocean...More