BREAKING

Event Reports

The Hoka Hey

Key West To Alaska In 12 Days And A Lifetime

Article By: JJ Phipps

Photos By: JJ Phipps & Chris Callen

Originally Published In The January 2011 Issue Of Cycle Source Magazine

csm-jan2011-p77_page_1_image_0002

3 of the Hoka Hey had me heading through Tennessee and into Arkansas. This is as far west as I have been with the exception of Sturgis twice and a small ride in San Diego, CA so I am now in uncharted territory. Arkansas was a pretty nice ride and was not as hot as the south. If I knew what was coming, I would have enjoyed it more because I was about to enter a very miserable part of this ride: Oklahoma. Oklahoma blows, literally. The crosswinds were terrible, the roads were terrible, and the scenery was terrible: straight, flat, bumpy roads and crosswinds that would knock your head off. I cannot tell you how happy I was to get into New Mexico. New Mexico was a good-badgood situation for me. I got out of motorcycle purgatory in Oklahoma, and got into motorcycle bliss in New Mexico. The scenery was beautiful, and the riding was great! This was why I decided to take this trip, to see places like this: good.

At this time, I was riding alone and feeling pretty good so I wound up riding for twenty- three hours that day. Unfortunately, this was also where whatever minute chance I had at winning this thing went down the toilet. Our directions for New Mexico were to ride north and then west, paralleling but not crossing the Colorado state line. I kept riding north in the dark because the road I was on was supposed to intersect at another road to head west. I figured I had not made it far enough north yet (remember we didn’t know how far we were supposed to travel on any given road) so I kept going not realizing I had entered Colorado: bad. There were no state line signs posted on the road I was on. So, I camped out at 9900 ft elevation, freezing to death and sleeping in everything I had, including my rain suit. I woke up to even colder temperatures. Making myself get out of a warm sleeping bag into the cold was not easy. After packing up, I kept heading north till I needed gas. Once I gassed up, I went in the store to warm up and noticed there were maps of Colorado everywhere. I asked the clerk where I was and she said, “South Park, Colorado.” Yes, that South Park. I then asked her how far from the New Mexico line I was and she said at least one hundred and fifty miles. I cannot begin to express the sick feeling that came over me at that moment. I was tempted to cut across Colorado to Arizona and get back on track there but that wouldn’t be right and I couldn’t say I completed the ride if I knowingly took a short cut. So, I started back-tracking to get on the right road, and even though I was pissed at going so far out of the way, I saw even more beautiful scenery while riding through Colorado: good. It was also at this time that I came to the revelation that I didn’t need to ride at night for two reasons: 1) I suck at navigating and 2) I would miss seeing this country which was my main reason for taking this journey.

Once I was in New Mexico again, I got back on track and made it to Arizona, trouble free. I would develop a hate/love relationship with Arizona as well as the rest of the places I went for the remainder of the trip. I would hate the first part of the state/country and love the second part. The first part of Arizona had long, straight, endless, crappy roads and unbearable heat; not as bad as southern heat, but close. I would crest a hill on one straight, endless, crappy road hoping for something different just to find another one like the previous. When I first entered Arizona, I was on the Red Rock Hwy looking for a turn that never seemed to materialize. To make matters worse, along with the heat was road construction and I was getting pelted with rocks and sand. Feeling like I missed my turn, I pulled off where a flagman was standing and checked my atlas to see where I was. The flagman asked me if I was looking for a road. I told him yes and he said I passed it about 20 miles back. I don’t think I was the first biker he saw looking for that road. Once again, great people in this country.

I got back on track and kept going and so did the roads. It was in Arizona though that I had the good fortune of meeting a future friend: Greg Darby. Greg was on an Ultra and had some serious navigation skills so I rode with him as much as possible for the rest of the trip. The second half of Arizona was fantastic. Sedona was beautiful, the Grand Canyon was massive and the red rock in Arizona is truly unique. We headed on in to Utah and I was in awe of Monument Valley and the surrounding mountain areas. I would definitely like to visit Utah again. We left Utah for Wyoming in the home stretch for our next checkpoint, Flaming Gorge H-D. When we got off the exit, I checked my rear view mirror to find Greg skidding off the road, heading for a concrete drainage ditch after sliding on a patch of dust on the ramp. The irony was that we had just rode through a boatload of mountain ranges with steep grades and curves with no trouble and here he was about to eat it on the exit ramp. He went down the hill and I waited to see an explosion of plastic dresser parts flying through the air but to my surprise, up comes Greg on the other side, riding the bike to a stop and then does the first thing we all do when we crash, even if we’re lying. Greg jumps up and says, “I’m okay!” Thankfully, he was and so was his bike. People helped get the dresser up and on level ground and then we finally rode on to the checkpoint: Checkpoint 3- 2753.7 miles.

Related Posts

1 of 159