Timy's Travels

I have decided to divide my adventure into several sections to accomodate my limited vacation time I have every year. Well, here is the tentative schedule:

Denver to Alaska, Summer 2006
I picked the middle of June for the Alaska leg of the trip because June presents favorable conditions. June provides a combination of warm weather and low precipitation, compared to July or August. The plan is to go from my home in Denver to Seattle where my cousin, a commercial rafting guide, wants to take me for some white water rafting.
From Seattle I'll head to Vancouver Island and drive to the northern-most point of the island, Port Hardy. From there I'll take the ferry to Prince Rupert. This will provide me with a couple of days of rest while covering a distance about 600 miles. From there I'll drive to Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay (Dead Horse). Because I only have a couple of weeks of vacation, I will fly me and my Beemer back to Denver.
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Entonces tengo pensado lo siguiente (tentativamente):

- Start June 17
- Denver to Seattle (Land)1,331 miles, 4 days?
- Seattle - No Driving, 1-2 days, rafting with my cousing, a certified rafting guide!!
- Seattle to Vancouver Island, 300 miles, 1 day (Port Hardy) (Land)
- Port Hardy to Prince Rupert, 1,211 miles, 3-4 days no driving! just beer drinking!! (Ferry - Alaska Marine Highway) (Sea)
- Prince Rupert to Whitehorse, 877 miles, 2-3 days?
- White Horse to Fairbanks, 602 miles, 2 days
- Fairbanks to Prudhoe bay (Dead Horse), 400 miles, 1 day (one way)

RETURNING:
- Dead Horse to Anchorage (Land), 760 miles, 2 days
- Anchorage to Denver (Air) 1 day

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New York City, Summer 2007
The second leg of the trip is from Denver to New York City. Although I'm not so thrilled about the destination itself, I hope to visit with my favorite aunt Mercedes for at least a couple of days, and then fly back to Denver.

Denver - Panama, Summer 2008
I'm expecting this to be one of the most exiting legs of the trip. I always wanted to visit Baja and other areas of Mexico. I'm also excited about the Central American cultures, specially because I hear they are so similar to my own Ecuadorian culture! Once I arrive to Panama, my bike and I will return to Denver by air.
Panama - Ushuaia - Winter 2008 ?
This is really what I wan to see, mostly because I will be crossing my native Ecuador!!! Fortunately, there is a bunch of nice people -dual-purpose aficionados- who like to hang out with other moto adventurers. Before starting this leg of the trip, I need to decide if I'll do the whole South America at once, or in two parts. The first part would stop in Chile and the second part would take me from Chile, Argentina, Brazil, Venezuela, fly to Houston, and drive back to Denver. It will all depend on time availability:-(
Chile or Argentina - Brazil, Venezuela, Houston, Denver ?

I know some of you have already covered this areas, so any type of recommendations are appreciated. Please send me your email to timygonzalez at gmail dot com.

Planning for my Alaska Adventure
This week I started planning my first long-distance trip, Alaska!
I think the planning might turn out to be as interesting as the trip itself. I keep imagining what it would be like to be there by myself, and sometimes, in the middle of nowhere.
Thanks to the internet, I've been able to do a little research about the roads and weather conditions. For a better perspective of my route, I've been using Google Earth maps to see the type of terrain I will be riding through.
As far as the hardware goes, I'm trying to buy a few more accessories, but they are very expensive so I'm acquiring them one at the time. I still need to get the pannier boxes and I'll eventually get a pair of BMW GS boots, a bigger windshield, crashbars, GPS, and a bit of camping gear. My biggest concerns are las moscas, el frio, and dropping the bike on my way from Fairbanks to Dead Horse.
As my research continues, I discovered that I could also get a heated jacket liner, with socks and other heated goodies! at a reasonable price. I also found out that I could use a non-DEET mosquito repellent that uses Picaridin as it's active ingredient...

Planeando Para Mi Aventura Hacia Alaska
Desde esta semana, estoy planeando mi primer viaje de larga distancia, a Alaska! Creo que el planeo va a ser tan interesante como el viaje mismo. Me imagino como sera el viaje, yo solo, y algunas veces en el medio de la nada. Gracias a la internet, he podido investigar un poquito hacerca los caminos y las condiciones climaticas. Para tener una mejor perspectiva de la ruta que tomare, he estado usando mapas de Google Earth para ver el tipo de terreno por el cual pasare. En cuanto la las cosas materiales, estoy tratando de comprar algunos accesorios mas, pero comos on my costosos los estoy comprando poco a poco. Todavia necesito comprar cajas de cargo de aluminio y eventualmente comprare las botas BMW GS, un parabrisas mas alto, barras protectoras, GPS, y algunas cosas para acampar. Lo que mas me preocupan son los sancudos, el frio, o que se me caiga la moto entre Fairbanks to Dead Horse. Durante mis averiguaciones, descubri que tambien puedo adquirir una chompa que es calentada electricamente, que vine con medias electricas y un monton de accesorios! a un costo rasonable. Tambien me entere de un nuevo repelente de sancudos, que en ves de DEET usa Picaridin como su ingrediente activo...