Spending some time with a fellow traveler

Mike Saunders and his Ruckus 

Richard, a friend of mine and fellow sidecar driver mentioned to me that like to meet this fellow.

 I sent him a personal message via the ADV forum and extended him an invite to some Alaska hospitality. and he graciously accepted. We spent a couple of fun days together Visiting the local areas, Hatcher Pass, And Eklutna village and lake

Hatcher Pass

The bunk houses

Mike and Sharon

Picture from Superintendents building

Mike in a Tram Car

Mike, Mark, Sharon and the Ruckus

Our next stop was to the Eklutna Village

Please visit the link

Eklutna Spirit House Link


Some of the graves in this cemetery go back to 1899 The houses are built over the graves to give the spirit a place to stay until it decides to leave this earth. If the families believe that the spirit is still on this earth they keep up the maintenance on the  houses


This building was amazing because it was made of steel and powder coated. It was made for his wife and he passed two years later

He made his wife a beautiful house. She was Russian Orthodox and he was a Jew. This house will last a long time

A spirit house where the spirit probably moved on

It was great meeting someone that has so much exuberance for life

And ask you all to visit his Blog I really believe you'll enjoy it


Link to Mikes Blog

DMC Sidecars and Mount Rainier

The next stop was going to be DMC Sidecars.

 In 2009 I purchased a brand new BMW1200 GS after watching, that great movie "Long Way Around" I thought, I would love to be able to travel that way. Which is probably a little ambitious for a guy that had just turned 66 years young. But I pressed forward and set the GS to be a full blown touring outfit. Asked Sharon if she wanted to cruise up to Hatcher Pass with me. The ride went well and I envisioned us out there touring all of North America. But Sharon quashed that vision by telling me she didn't enjoy the ride mainly because she couldn't see anything

 In the fall of 2010, I was still trying to figure out a way to get Sharon to go riding with me. And I was reading a lot about sidecars on the internet, I found that a lot of folks in Europe have put sidecars on just about every type of bike there is. I talked to a friend of mine who lives in Gulkana Alaska who had a sidecar that he would put on and off his KLR. And asked him what he thought about putting a sidecar on a GS. There are two companies in the US that actually manufacture sidecars. One on the east coast and the other on the west coast, and being in the Alaska I called DMC up and put my order in. They said they could ship it up and the deal was set.

Since installing the sidecar we've put on on about 12,000 miles together.

My Sidecar build Link

I never would have thought that Google Maps would have recognized the grocery outlet in Emunclaw Wa. but it does. As you can see from the map, the route to DMC sidecars cuts through a real rural area in Washington. I just put the address into my GPS and it took me to the front door 

Finally Sunshine

Me and Jay, The owner of DMC Sidecars

Shop Area

DMC's new Expedition Model Sidecar

Another view of the new model

This ice cream sidecar is attached to a motor scooter is going to California

This two place unit is going to South America

Next stop was Mount Rainier

We left Emunclaw and started our trip to the mountain, In the town of Buckley we stopped and got some gas and stretched my legs a bit. In talking to the woman in the station we found that Rainier actually had two visitor centers one on the north side, called Sunrise, and a higher one on the south side, called Paradise   

Mount Rainier Visitors Centers Link

Loved riding thru the Cascades 

Kathy and Bruce our intrepid partners in this adventure

Rainier in the Background

Mt. St. Helens in the background

Sharon in the drivers seat

The Cascades are Beautiful

Moving on Guys follow along

Third Stop

While we were in Washington, we really wanted to see Mt. St. Helens, DMC Sidecars

And Mount Rainer 

Bruce and Kathy suggest using a campground called Paradise which is located in Silver creek Wa.

 That would be the most centrally located

Entrance to Campground

Mount St. Helans

Cool Facts about Mount St. Helens Link


Silver Creek Campground

Camp Sites For Tents

The Camp Site at Paradise

While we were up at the visitors center the clouds built up and it started to rain. Because of the clouds you couldn't see 20 ft in front of you. We watched the movie from the park service that shows the whole history. We had to wait for about 30 min to see this movie but it was well worth it, because while we were waiting the clouds lifted and the sun came out.

The visitors center is located right on the very edge of the crater of the volcano. The end of the movie shows the explosion from so many different angles. And then the whole room goes black for about 3sec. Then the area where we were watching the movie turns out to be a curtain and they open

And this is the view we saw!!!

The land is recovering but the landscape sure changed

Me , Kathy, Bruce, Sharon at the lip of the volcano

My Bride

Mount Saint Helens Oregon 1980

Picture and Story Of the Eruption Link

But anyway on the way up to the visitor center there was restaurant and gift shop

I've been up in Alaska to long, this was the largest assembly of  Cobra  sport cars that weren't in a show that I have ever seen.

On to DMC Side cars and then Mount Rainier