Here are some of the highlights from my 2022 trip from Alabama to Alaska on an old 1993 DR650 thumper dual sport, kickstart-only motorcycle.
You can find a lot of video footage on my Youtube Channel, Dragon Offroad!
The trip started off from Birmingham, AL, headed towards the Trans America Trail, which I planned to use as a possible route, off and on. However, by the time I reached the Mississippi River, it was clear that all of the streams and trails were too flooded to safely traverse on the TAT.
I camped out in the Mississippi River National Scenic Area south of Memphis, and the next day crossed the vast agricultural area to reach the Ozarks in Arkansas. I spent a couple days riding the curvies through the Ozarks before crossing into Oklahoma.
I raced across Oklahoma to beat a heat wave that was forecast for the next day, following a two lane road with insane crosswinds threatening to blow me off the road, often pushing me from the centerline to the edge of the road with every gust. Giving me a few seconds in between strikes to swerve back over and prepare for the next burst of wind. Exhausting.
That night, I found a campground at a nice Sand Dunes off-road park deep within the no-mans-land of Oklahoma’s finger, that thing jutting out from the West side of the state on the map.
In the morning, with an early start to reach higher altitudes before the heatwave struck, I raced into the southwest corner of Kansas, gassed up and grabbed some breakfast burritos from a Loves Travel Stop, and set out on a two lane road towards Colorado.
Right at the Colorado border, the two lane ended and became a double wide dirt track! Hell yeah, just what this bike was made for! It was a lot of fun racing across the Comanche National Grasslands on that dirt track through the middle of nowhere, AKA southeast Colorado.
By noon, I made it to Trinidad and did some resupplying at the grocery store, before heading up into the mountains west of town.
Following Hwy 12 towards Monument Park, the scenery was incredible — huge rock pillars and cliffs with mountains all around. The road led up to a pass and past many crystal clear alpine lakes.
I found an amazing place to camp near the top of the pass and enjoyed the fresh mountain air and the views.
The next day I headed north to Westcliffe via Hwy 69, riding by the imposing Sangre de Cristo Mountains. I stopped in town for a coffee before carrying on to hop back on the Trans America Trail just east of Salida.
The trail led up a canyon and out on a ridgeline with stunning views of the Collegiate Peaks, a long string of 14ers making up the backbone of the Continental Divide, a place close to my heart since thru-hiking the CDT in 2016.
Path: Monarch Pass, Lake City, Engineer Pass, Mineral Creek Trail, Ouray, Million Dollar Highway, Silverton, Hurricane Pass, California Pass, Cinnamon Pass, American Basin, Lake City, Black Canyon of the Gunnison,
Smoking Canyon Utah/Wyoming, Bridger Teton National Forest, Jackson WY,
Leadore, ID, Salmon River, Darby MT,
Highway 2 Loho Pass, Columbia River to Portland OR in the rain, Saw sister, Hiked Tunnel Falls, changed tires, then headed into Canada towards the 4 major National Parks centered around the Canadian Rockies.
Head to Pt 2 for the rest of the story!