Canon Beach, Pacific Coast, Oregon, USA: 441 kms (4862 kms)

"This town's sick, brah?" For those cinematically savvy, Canon Beach is where they filmed the final scenes of Point Break. And there you all were thinking it was Bell's Beach, Australia. How stupid. It's news to me as well as I had no clue about this before I rolled into this very quaint seaside town tonight. Consider yourself learned. Don't thank me though, you're all welcome! I've gone from one extreme to the other today: 35 degs C at Mount St. Helens to 12 degs C by the coast and both within 160 kms of each other.

Portland, Oregon, USA: 331.1 kms (4421.1 kms)

It was a shame to leave Canada on Saturday as the lower 48 have turned out to be the polar opposite of my experience north of the 49th parallel. I've most definately left the wilderness behind me now as it would seem that everything in the US, as if I didn't know this already, is undertaken on a far larger scale. This applies double to the unfriendly interstate freeways. Seattle was a really nice experience, although landing in downtown on the Bainbridge Island ferry late on Saturday night didn't give me the greatest first impression of the city. In fact I wonder how many people get the right impression of a city when they immediatelty levitate to its centre. To counter this I took a bus ride out to the 'burbs on Sunday night to listen to an acoustic Sub Pop band in a restaurant/bar and really got the Seattle experience. Very cool indeed. This afternoon I'm heading to Mount St. Helens. The temperatures are once again off the scale for this time of the year and will peak at 32 degrees later today. Will camp at the mouth of the Columbia River tonight to get a little of that Pacific breeze. Then I'm riding the coastal highway (101) down to San Francisco.

I never made it to Vancouver unfortunately. That city will have to wait. I have instead, for the readers pleasure, sacrificed a whole day to upload some images taken on TransAmericas. Enjoy.

Nanaimo, BC, Canada: 418.2 kms (3730.4 kms)

During long days in the saddle I have time to contemplate the finer points of life, the universe and everything in between. I have therefore given much thought to the following statement but feel, given the weather experienced on TransAmericas to date, that the following is unequivocally true: the sun shines out of my you-know-where! Not news to me, you understand, but maybe to you readers out there. The evidence is in the unnaturally clement weather that has shadowed me the breadth of the west coast of Canada: days upon days of endless blue skies. The run down Vancouver Island today from Port Hardy was no exception and simply stunning. British Columbia has knocked the socks off me.

I'm staying two nights now in Nanaimo with the Pickells. Tomorrow I'm off to Vancouver to be cultural. Not sure I can pull this off but I'll give it my best shot. Cheers all.

Prince Rupert, BC, Canada: 0 kms (3298 kms)

I've been slack at keeping this thing up to date but that may be in part due to the wilderness that is the Yukon and British Columbia. The distances between points of interest in this part of the world is just ridiculous. But that is now behind me as I take a day off in Prince Rupert in the company of Liz and Colt (thanks guys, really) to shower and gather myself. I really needed this break having covered 3298 kms in only 7 days. The stuff I've seen and done since Anchorage has been totally off the chart, topped off in Stewart, BC by an impromptu helicopter ride over the glaciers surrounding the town (thanks Duggie, really). Tomorrow I'm on the BC Ferry to Port Hardy and Vancouver Island.

Dease Lake, British Columbia, Canada: 676 kms (2157 kms)

Everyone, bag your lives and get the first available flight to Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Buy yourself an unnecessarily large RV - because everyone else has one - and head down the Alaskan Highway to Junction 37. At the only restaurant in town pop-in and try some of Dennis´ delicious blueberry pie. And tell him that Stuart says hello. After that take the first right on to the Stewart Cassiar Highway. After about 200 kms, just before Dease Lake, in the shadow of some damn fine scenery, drive down a little dirt track, erect a fence to keep out the bears and start building your dream home. Then we´ll be neighbours! This is just a pipe dream, of course, but this place is stunning, and it hasn´t even started snowing here yet!!

Dawson City, Yukon, Canada: 565 kms (898 kms)

Yesterday was an epic day as I left AK behind and rode into Canada. Blue skies, autumnal scenery, snooker-table flat tarmac, gravel and a lot of dust; the day had everything. There's a lot of fun to be had in this part of the world on a motorcycle and most of it is off the Alaskan Highway. And not a Harley in sight either! I rode The Top of the World Highway 150kms from Chicken down into Dawson City on seat-of-the-pants loose gravel, something I hadn't been prepared for prior to arriving in Central America. But what a laugh. This is about as North as I'll be as I now start to head south towards mainland USA.

Glennallen, AK, USA: 333 kms (333 kms)

Hi folks. I left Anchorage on the 2nd Sept. and and spent last night in Glennallen. Getting here was an achievement as I ran out of petrol only 3kms from the airport! I'm not sure if the world or anyone else is aware of this but the scenery in Alaska is staggeringly impressive! Keep that secret to yourselves though! The weather's dry and the bike's performing well so will try to get to Whitehorse today.

D-Day

Departure day (Friday 29th Aug) disappeared in a blur of tiredness, tears (I can manfully admit to the world), coffee and the thought of ever actually coming back to Norway alive! This latter thought has, strangely, been my main occuptation these last few weeks prior to my departure. I attribute this to the fact that my tiny mind can not seem to comprehend or digest what the hell I've got myself into. Anyway, I'm now in London and enjoying the fruits of Heathrow! I leave at 1545 for Anchorage, via an overnight stop in Denver, and the veritable chill of a 6 deg C Alaskan day. These tickets are non-refundable so there's no turning back now.

Two Days and Counting

It's Wednesday 27th Aug 2008 and I leave for TransAmericas this Friday from Norwegian shores! In my head I'm ready for departure but I wish someone would tell the rest of my body that as I'm going through all manner of emotions at the moment at the thought of spending 4 months on the road. But it's all good and once I've got a few hundred kms under my belt I'll feel a whole lot more relaxed.

Black Yammy has left the Building

After months of prepartation Stuart's Yammy is now on the long journey to Anchorage, Alaska, leaving the offices of DOF Subsea Norway today. The first half of the trip will be via ferry to London Heathrow and the home of James Cargo. They have the unenvious task of ensuring the bike is safely delivered to Anchorage by plane in time for my arrival on 31st August. For those interested, my bike has had the following modifications made to an otherwise stock XT660R motorcycle:

• Belly pan
• Scott Oiler
• Airhawk seat
  
• 26L fuel tank
• Larger screen
• Acerbis hand guards
• Trail Tech Vapor o/b PC
• Hepco & Becker stengthened pannier frames

Strapping the bike and my panniers down onto two pallets and putting everything on the back of a truck was only marginally less stressful than the summer of 2006 when I undertook 8 metrologies for the Ormen Lange field development! And trust me, that was a stressful time! But there is suddenly a sense of reality about the fact that the bike has now left the country. TransAmericas became very real at 1400 on Friday 15th August.

Stuart Duncan and Matthew Cowing were awarded (by themselves) their Duke of Edinburgh's Motorcycle Maintenance Badges last night, Wednesday 6th August. Amid much fanfare and a rare display of competence the aforementioned individuals fitted a Scott Oiler lubrication system and a Trail Tech rev counter to Stuart's Yammy. Trivial as this may sound this is a major milestone as we are both, it would seem, completely clueless as to how motorcycles function.

Stinging Nettles in Mexico?

Hola – Matt here. Well things are really hotting up now! Stu’s off in a mere 4 weeks and is brimming with confidence after his successful trial run with the bike and kit to Sauda(merica) – sounds a bit like South America don’t you think? Stu does!

I am some behind/atras in my prep, but with a little help from Mastercard & Thorsten at http://www.off-the-road.de/ next week my steed should start to resemble the lean mean km crunching overland machine that I have envisaged. Team Panamercia are having their final meet in Bergen on Wednesday to cover a few finer details (better beer? – Hansa or Heinken) and also to get the tool belt out and tinker! This is the point where it could go horribly wrong for Stu’s bike!! How many bits?

Some great news that Jose Puig, the chap wearing legend from Mexico featured in the photo on the right will be meeting us in LA on his new Harley Sportster for a week long road trip down through Ensenada and the Baja Peninsula. Mixing in some diving with whale sharks and some potential real off-roading!! Although my last flirtation with something other than tarmac ended in a ditch full of 6ft stinging nettles. Nuff said. I wonder if they have stinging nettles in Mexico?? Or is it just cacti?

To Sauda (Merica) and Back

With the weekend of the 26th and 27th July came truly balmy temperatures here in Norway and the long needed practice run for the TransAmericas. Little did I realise that by riding 467 kms I would be enacting the likely crossing of the Atacama Desert, with the mercury hitting 31 degs C most of the weekend.

Naturally, clad in black, this made stationary posing in front of the ladies at ferry stops rather unpleasant but fjord road riding was an absolute dream. It took 5 hours to gather all the essentials together and another 4 hours to ride 200kms to Sauda. The bike is a very different beast when kitted out with upto 40 kgs of essentials and subsequently has the breaking distance of large oil tanker! Note to self: do not use the front brake on gravel when fully loaded!

I was joined in my escapades by DSN's premier offshore geologist, Jamie Simpson. He'd collected his 2001 Kawasaki ZXR1200 in Oslo Saturday morning and so joined my parents and I on Saturday night by the shores of Sauda for a bbq and beers. I doubt for one minute that the real TransAmericas will be this easy but as a practice run it was perfect. I think I'm ready.

Decisions, decision, decisions

Hello folks. I have exactly 5 weeks and 1 day to go before departure from Norway (that's 36 days for the arithmetically challenged) and I've made the bold decision, after a great deal of procrastination, to buy a bigger fuel tank. Boring as this may sound this is a long over due but extremely important acquisition. The current tank holds 15 litres and can't even get me to the shops without the fuel light flashing itself at me. The new 26 litre tank should at least allow me to get back from the shops, and, more importantly, across the 3000km Atacama desert! I will now have piece of mind on the road and this will almost halve the number of pit stops required between Anchorage and Ushuaia. Such a decision doesn't come cheap though, hence the procrastination. Thanks must go to the unknown soldier at http://www.off-the-road.de/ who has kindly given me his tank whilst he waits for another. With a 6 week lead time for such an item I would not have otherwise been able to take delivery of a tank. "Danke schön". Moral of the story: don't think, just buy!