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I made it to Tuktoyaktuk NWT today. It was by far the most difficult road I’ve ridden to date. Now I’ve been as far north and south as you can ride in the Americas!

Nine days on the road (so far). Touring Barber Vintage Motorsport Museum tomorrow then heading to GA. Next up, cherahola skyway, deals gap, BRP, the snake and back of the dragon

It's official. I have informed the company I am retiring the end of April.

Well, I can't say I did it today, but after years lovingly wrenching on my older bikes, chucking money aside for the better part of a decade, I bit the bullet on a machine I can trust to not leave me stranded, hammer my spine on bumps or be hopeless when gravel appears. I just completed installing the major farkles I wanted on this bike and so far, I love it to death. Claims it's boring are vastly wrong. Also, hey, I haven't been on this board in a long time. The last few years have been kind of...weird.

I’ll be heading back to Dawson and then taking the ferry over to Alaska. I’ll do the Dalton then, so I’ll be through Tok. Too bad you didn’t have time. It would have been a trip to run into you Nevin. And thanks. This has been a crazy road. Still not sure I want to do this last stretch to Tuk tomorrow. My leg still makes it hard to even walk. One fuck up and it could be bad. It’s probably stupid for me to be doing this shit still. It’s all I know now, and one of the few things that make me truly happy.

Picked up a new retirement project bike to ride the backwoods this fall.

Amanda and I had our maiden voyage on the RT. We took OH-212/93 to Roscoe Village for BBQ and then came home via 60/62/83 into Smithville/OH-21. Good weather. Good roads. Good food. Good day.

Weather for the start of the Arctic Circle journey was looking iffy so I did two things: I delayed the start a few days so I wouldn’t be riding through rain to start the trip, and I also booked a small cabin at Cannabis Creek Cabins in Luther Michigan. They are as affordable as a motel and includes a nice gift bag with some tasty treats! Should be a great end of the first full day’s riding on the 15th after an overnight stay at my Father’s. Sunny 2.0 is completely loaded and champing at the bit to get going. You’ll be able to track my progress through the Yukon and Alaska with this link to my Garmin Inreach Mini satellite tracker! https://share.garmin.com/HWJA4

Just back to Ohio where I’ll begin prep for YT and AK departure on the 12th. I attended the Horizons Unlimited travelers meeting near Appomattox and had a great time hanging out with like minded people that don’t think you’re crazy for cashing in and leaving “normalcy” behind to create your own normal. On the way home I was hosted by Lauren and Paul Brenner at Rainbow Farm near the New River Gorge in WV. Aside from running an organic chicken farm and riding the world in their spare time (check out their YT channel “the other end of the Rainbow) they run the Appalachian Motorcycle Adventure tour company. Lauren took me for an awesome 250 mile loop through some crazy WV dirt roads. They cater to all skill levels up to hard enduro (they have one day ride with over 100 water crossings!). If you’re interested in using their services (highly recommended), their web page is here: https://www.appalachianmotoadvtours.com/ Some pictures from my last week Mystery hole! friend and we’ll-known motorcycle travel author Sam Manicom publisher Michael Fitterling

Took the wheels off the Versys. Went to IP for a pair of Roadsmarts 3 to replace the knobbies. Bought new helmet. Expensive trip over $600 for everything.

Congratulations! I plan to inform my company next Friday. Tomorrow I'm going to look at a potential retirement gift for myself.

Home. 2468 miles, 5 states one province, two countries and 5 casinos.

On our third day of five days to the Ozark. Mrs. Durk is killing it averaging close to 500 miles a day. No complaints about speed or cornering too hard. She gets a little green feeling at times so does request at times to back it down a bit. MO 125, AR 125, AR 123, AR 7 are some good roads. Peel ferry is a cool deal, can’t believe it’s free. Did take a route around Lake of the Ozarks that was a nice cruise and had a fun little loop from Camdenton down towards Devil’s Elbow and back up to Bridal falls this morning.

Got it fixed! First I planned to pull the oil pan which meant draining the oil that had less than 50 minutes on it. Then I had to remove the exhaust and the lines to the oil cooler before the pan came off. The only useful thing I could see up there was that the part I needed to access was in the clutch compartment. So now on to removing the clutch cover and clutch basket. I probably could have realigned the shift shaft gear without removing the clutch but, WTH, I'm already this far... After removing everything, it was a simple job to align the shifter end and spring. Shifting seemed like Iike it was good, so I put it all back together. New oil and a ride around the neighborhood confirmed that it's fixed!

I’ve been off grid for a while, riding the Denali Highway and camping. This is something you folks should make a bucket list item. It’s doable on a road bike if careful. Stunning scenery everywhere you look. Camp sites as far as the eye can see. I have lots of pics and video to download. Here is a cell phone photo from my tent last night Before hotels and motels Alaska had “Roadhouses”. There are some still around. Tonight I’ve got a room at Meier’s Lake Roadhouse near Paxon Alaska at the end of Rt. 8, the Denali Highway its raining hard. Relaxing and wondering what’s to come. Tomorrow it’s into Palmer Alaska and reuniting with a girlfriend I haven’t seen since 1989 !!!

Been on the road since May 5. Should be home tomorrow. Twisted sisters in Texas, cherahola skyway, dragon, moonshiner, blue ridge parkway, snake, back of the dragon. Whew. Who knew there were so many roads with funny names 🤣

Finally it stopped raining long enough to get outside and change Sunny’s oil. Im leaving on the 21st for a week long trip down to Appomattox Virginia to attend the Horizons Unlimited Traveler’s meeting. There in addition to camping and hanging out with like-minded vagabonds, I’ll also be giving my first solo public presentation about my travels, and will also be doing a reading from my chapter in Sam Manicom’s travel anthology “the Moment Collectors”. Then the next day I’ll be doing a seminar on modifying and maintaining DR650 for extended international travel! nervous as hell but I’m sure it’ll be fun. And yeah Tony, this spring has sucked bad. Very few nice days. Really looking forward to the ride down. Staying at Mark Swepston’s in Kingston Ohio the first night out. Second night will be at the Koolwink!! hope everyone is doing ok

Worst spring ever!

I informed my company on Friday that I am leaving effective 3/14. I did give them an option to pay to retain me as a (very) part time consultant for 90 days to ease the transition. 50/50 if I want to stay on as a consultant or just be done. Wheels are in motion.

Bought this 2013 Kawasaki Versys. I am the 2 nd owner. 34,000 miles. Loaded with S & W moto extras. He had it set up for dirt. It has big block knobbies on it. Going to turn into a good street bike that can do back roads, but no off road. It’s 200 pounds less than my FJR.

Rode it to work Thursday and found this when I got home. Saturday I patched it.

Got New rubbers at wheelers

Yesterday I took Mystery for a ride up Hatcher Pass not far from their home in Palmer where I’ve been staying while resolving issues on the bike. With all systems go now, it’s time to explore a bit. As we ascended and descended the pass, I handed the Nikon to Mystery and she was the trip photographer. Summit Lake at the top of Hatcher Pass AK watching hang gliders descend afterwards, live music at the Palmer Alehouse

Made it to Seward Alaska and the best crab I’ve ever had!

Today Work on my new DR.650 Project. 1. Wind screen 2, Bark Busters. 3.Bar risers 4. Skid Plate 5 Peg/Brake lever Lowers. 6. Center stand 7. Rear Rack. 8. Sealed rear Rim & Installed Mitas E-o7 tire https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsBAaDfZkbxULiV3c5MohnA

Sorry couldn't update here as the forum was not loading for me. Some kind of error , ty again for coming out in the cold @Gpaw @durk @B-Mac so nice to meet familiar faces again. we got back Saturday night itself. It was a fun day getting to meet yall and riding with you again. Hopefully get to do it again in fall. missed meeting you @Tonikand @Pauly till next time

Done and done. Thank you Michelle! Thank you Procycle! So far I’ve only ridden probably 3-400 miles of dirt roads in the last week, and on only a few were under dusty conditions where I was following a pickup. I was surprised how much dirt made it into the fork seal area with those cracked boots. Much better now. Confidence restored. Heading NW towards the Carway border crossing tomorrow

There are friends I don’t hear from much anymore that still frequent this site, and their signatures on my bike are a steady reminder of fun times in the past. So I’ll keep updating here as well So I decided to stay an extra night here in Pettibone ND at Chris’ cabin in order to do a maintenance day on Sunny. There were a few things to address, namely getting the horn working and a few other things. Well, things never are as simple as that are they? During cleaning and inspection I see multiple cracks all over both front fork boots. These boots are criticize keeping dirt and grime away from the fork seals. I contacted Procycle and they are shipping no cost a new set a day ahead of me where I can do the install (which requires both fork legs to be removed). So guess where I’m heading tomorrow? A long day SW to Custer South Dakota where I’ll be visiting and staying with friend and Moto-author (and fellow contributing author with me in the Moment Collectors book) Michelle Lamphere !! I last saw Michelle when leaving Denver heading back to Ohio right after getting out of the wheelchair! Also will be visiting friends Shana Sanderson and her husband Eugene where I can do the work changing out the fork boots. So all in all a productive day. Horn repaired Chain cleaned and lubed Carb breather filter cleaned Small section of fuel line replaced with one the correct length Two pounds of bug guts removed. Yuck lol. Highway peg pivots cleaned and lubed so much blood disassembly begins horn now works again

Random campsite in MN near the ND border. One week out

Bought this one a few weeks ago because my standards are low and why not... Actually, I let the wife pick it out with the only criteria being rear seat comfort...it came with a $700 Mustang Touring Seat. I also considered the weird 2014 Valkyrie F6C even though stock tire sizes are basically out of production. It was cheap, like new with low miles, so why not...

Went ahead and ordered a new converter because I was convinced that was the issue.... Hard launch might have worked the inside somehow. And what a difference between the stock 12" and the new 10" But as soon as I pulled the pan I was unpleasantly surprised with this mess. A whole lot of bushing material in the fluid....like.... A WHOLE LOT so I went ahead and with no previous experience I ripped the transmission apart. Initial inspection hard parks all looked good except the rear planetary, clutches are toast and every bushing is trashed. Ordered an overhaul kit, all three painless accumulators and a rear planetary rebuild kit. I really have no idea how the transmission was functioning properly outside of just noise and vibration. With the way the clutches look I would have expected this thing to be slip city. But then again I've only ever worked on dirtbike clutches before this 🤣

Rescued this little guy from deep slumber in @bowdogs garage. so far we’ve established compression, spark and air but the fuel isn’t getting to the cylinder. ordering a carb rebuild kit, and air filter and have some snapped plastic anchor points to repair but should clean up and run good.

Oil/filter change on the RT. It's ready. Goldwing alternator gave out last fall. I replaced it with 90amp unit. 13+ VDC at idle. Way better than OEM 40amp. Oil/filter change will be wrapped up this weekend.

The 650 Versys model is a great mid-size for doing many things. I rode my 650LT on a long 2 1/2 week trip from OH to the CA border--out to TX, across AZ/NM NV, headed north to southern UT/CO and home. Comfortable riding position and great handling with maybe average wind management. DId everything from hooning the twisties in the passes to superslabbing in 108* temps through western TX to some moderate off-roading on Kolob Terrace Rd (north of Virgin UT) to the Shafer Switchbacks and part of the White Rim trail heading back to Moab.

End to end clean run on the good part of 16 this morning. Dry, clean and great pavement. Lunch then 353, 209 and 208 and all that.

I made it into the Arctic Circle!! I’m riding with a couple of Johns on big Beemers that I met at the D2D Rally. We have conquered multiple sections of the infamous Dempster Highway together already. Dawson City to Eagle Plains. Eagle Plains to Fort McPherson. There to Inuvik where I am. Two of the locations were out of fuel. Many bikes stranded. And the fuel truck carrying two tanks nearly took me out when he passed going the other way! And it indeed deserves its horrid reputation. Two motorcycle deaths in the past week I rode past the remains of one of the BMWs laying in the ditch. The Police tape wrapped on its remains caught my attention. I’ve had several close calls with Semis coming the opposite direction. Thank God for the new knobby tires. Seriously. I don’t care how long they last. They’re worth their weight in gold. Now we are stopped in Inuvik where we got gas and are waiting for John 1 to catch up. We were separated at the McKenzie River ferry. There were two ferry crossings today. Nothing like wet steel ramps and fresh dug dirt hills to start your grand exit. We may get rooms here and attempt to ride to Tuktoyaktuk and back to here again tomorrow. Or we may regroup and ride to Tuktoyaktuk tonight. We’ll see. It doesn’t get dark at all anymore. RIP GS pilot

Southern edge of Nelsonville on the old main drag. 2 eggs, bacon, hashbrowns, toast & coffee for $7!

WoW! Like old times. Thank you Doc for the ride. Had a great time. Only thing missing was Jshaft on his Ninja and me on my Z1K. I tried to represent the aging V-Strom community by chasing you tourist from the south. I even had a stuffed toy on my top case for the GW-ers.

This is it! I give you Casey IL. They have pretty much the biggest and largest everything.

Ok, to start the biggest and largest day we start with big cats at this cool exotic feline rescue in Indiana.

Failed TIG Weld on my British Customs exhaust. Shipped to CA for warranty repair that will probably take 2 weeks to get back. I really like that exhaust, but a failed weld seems like half-assed workmanship 🙄 Good thing I kept the OEM pipes and have 3 motorcycles 😄

at 1200 miles I made the change today to synthetic oil on Sunny2.0. Motul 7100 20W-50. And she is purring like a happy cat. So I wandered around a bit to feel her out and man, does the DR like the 20W. Shifts like butter. Ready now for leaving next Monday for a week in Appomattox VA and the Horizons Unlimited event there. After that? The Yukon and Alaska! I sold what’s left of the old bike along with the unused parts from the new bike to a fellow DR650 enthusiast who has the tools and capabilities to rebuild motors. He sent me pictures of the old lump. As suspected, the cage on the main bearing failed. Somehow bizzarrely, no apparent damage anywhere in the motor other than some scoring on the crank. He’s replacing the bearing a confident she will run again!