In a few days we will start our summer 2022 travels. We first planned to ride to Alaska in 2020, but of course we had to defer the trip. It looks like we will finally be able to enter Canada and head to Alaska this year.

For the past several months I have been planning the routes and preparing the bikes and the trailer. Beth has been planning meals and reassembling the kitchen equipment.

We took the trailer on a shakedown cruise at the beginning of April. One hub on the trailer was throwing grease. The wheel was clean before the trip; 275 miles later it was covered in grease and dirt. My friend, Ed, helped me install new grease seals and set the tension on the castle nut.

After the second shakedown trip both wheels were clean after 200 miles. We’ve made several changes to our equipment since last year. We now have a double-size sleeping bag and a larger propane heater. If you followed last year’s trip you may remember that our 12V tire pump failed. I’ve purchased a new one and have tested it.

Instead of an ice chest we have a refrigerator. I moved the water and gas jugs to the rear to help balance the added weight of refrigerator.

The solar panel charges the battery/power station which supplies 12VDC to the refrigerator. This setup seems to supply enough power to maintain 34 deg F.

We pulled the trailer out and set it up. It took us awhile to remember just how to do it.

The trailer is quite spacious. That’s a queen-size mattress.

Other than changing fluids and some brake pads, we haven’t needed to do much to the bikes. I did replace the Tire-Minder brand tire pressure monitoring sensors with the FOBO 2 brand sensors. These sensors work very well and the phone app is excellent. We also bought a set for Beth’s bike.

Our plan is to go to Alaska, then return to Rapid City, SD, for the Motor Maids convention, which is July 5, 6 & 7. From there we will wander around until Shark Week XII in Appleton, WI, August 2, 3 & 4. From there we’ll make our way home to Florida.

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