Me and my dad will be riding all the way from TX to AK and reaching the arctic ocean, then coming down hwy. 1 and going all the way to the Florida Keys.  Ulimate coast to coast Iron Butt Challenge.  I will being riding a vstrom (1000) and he will be riding his Hayabusa.  We made racks for Pelican boxes and have mounted them to the vstrom and he is taking soft bags.  On the way we will be camping some and also staying in hotels.  My dad got my sister to start a myspace or something like that for these stuffed animals we are taking and it will be updated every couple days, ill get the web address for that and if yall would like you can "keep track" of us on our 11000 mile journey.  We have sent tires to a dealer in AK and also to the main suzuki office in california (dad works for suzuki), and we will be changing our tires on the way.  We have riding pants and we have bought insulated riding jackets and we are making some heated vests to take along.  Also we put outlets on the bike to power things like our phones, gps, and vests.  I must say this will be quite an experience when as we go.  Just wanted to let yall know as some of yall have done some trips.  Wish me luck!!

Ben

PS: I have pics of our luggaged bikes but dont know how to use a host, if anyone has any good host websites I could upload to then yall can see the bikes. 

Pictures

Iggie my iguana that is going with me
http://img439.imageshack.us/img439/3264/vstrom0085gw.jpg

Atta boy.
Stay warm.
That is a proper epic trip.
It makes may planned 3500 mile circumnavigation of Texas sound sort of pitiful.
I am now both jealous and sad.
Post as much as possible.

what does your timeline look like?

Wow, sounds like a once in a life-time experience.  I'd love to ride out to the Keys, i love it there.

Good luck, sounds like you'll make a bunch of good memories.

http://imageshack.us/ is a good free imagehost and they show you howto link the pics.

Thanks,
Ill have the pics on friday because my dad has the camera and is in alabama on business right now.  I will def. post here when we stop in hotels and have internet access and let yall know our where abouts. 

Ben

Sounds like an awesome trip man!     

I'm planning a much shorter trip this summer, a lot of which is along Highway 1 in California and Oregon.  You can check out my route here: http://gstwins.com/gsboard/index.php?topic=26681.0.  If you're around the SF bay area let us know, there are a bunch of GSers around here.

Oh, and take lots of pics!

By the way, Streets & Trips is an awesome software for planning road trips.  You might want to check it out if you haven't already.

That's a pretty ambitious trip, 94.  Sounds great!

A few comments:

* Prepare to be bored (in between the "WOW!" sights).  Especially from upper BC on....  Personally, I don't mind long rides through "nothing", but just so you know.

* Prepare for yucky things to happen to the Hayabusa on the James Dalton Highway (the last 400-mile stretch from AK 2 to Prudhoe Bay.  I have read about VStroms going up there (no cinch even for them) and even touring bikes like ST1100s, but you need to be ready for mud-caked radiators and heavy-duty construction on the road, and big trucks, and ....

* Your dad

might want to rethink the soft bags.  Or at least bring along an extra rain cover or two.  (One of mine blew off on a freeway once.)[/list]

Other than that -- More power to ya.  Have a Blast!

Also, I read this awesome article on Pashnit a while back.  It's someone's journal from a 1 month-long trip to Alaska (on a BMW F650GS).  You might find it interesting.   

http://www.pashnit.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2211

Thanks for the comments Kerry and wild blue, we are doing some prepping that is exclusive for the james dalton highway, ill will post pics.  The soft bags have straps on the bottoms and they will have gas cans on top of each so I hope they wont be coming off, thanks again for the pointers, I will keep all yall updated. 

Sounds amazing.. I've made the trip from Naples, FL to Skagway, AK many times... but never on a bike.. have fun man!