Cast of Characters

Originally my intention was to bicycle solo from Denver to Prudhoe Bay fully self-supported. However, Sophie, my wife of more than 25 years, made it clear she didn't think it was a smart thing to be out there all alone what with the occasional hungry grizzly bear as well as lots of four wheeled critters who often seem on a mission to bag an unsuspecting cyclist. Besides, she wanted to go to Alaska herself though she had no passion for riding the several thousand miles it would take to get there.

So we went off and bought a SylvanGo camper which markets itself as the Coolest. Camper. Ever. If you aren't familiar with what these campers are you should check out there website. So it's me, my wife, and a brand new camper. What else could be missing? Ten points and a free trip past go if you guessed, what else, canine companionship. Not just one dog mind you, but two. Aptly named for our intended destination these two balls of fur are Siberian Huskies, but they do a better impression of being more suburban than Siberian. Yukon and Bentley are rescue pups who adopted us at about one year of age after not being so gently welcomed into the world by their human, but not so humane, original owners. Having found there new forever home what do we do but uproot them again and head out on the road.

Oh, and since this is supposed to be a bicycle trip why not load up four bikes and since I hear there are several large bodies of water enroute why not throw in two kayaks for good measure. What started out as a self-supported solo bike trek has now morphed into a fully supported caravan with most of the comforts of home thrown in for good measure.

So there you have it - two supposedly responsible adults (although as someone who just retired I'm looking forward to being not all that responsible, at least for a while), two snow dogs from Denver, a camper, four bikes, two kayaks and all the assorted paraphernalia to support this ungodly load all either being in, or towed by, our Toyota van getting ready to brave I-25 north out of Denver. First stop, Cody, Wyoming with the serious intent of at some point actually putting butt to bicycle saddle somewhere between home and the arctic circle.