Is that a bloodstain on the carpet? Last night when the Ferry docked in Port Hardy, at the northern end of Vancouver Island, I found myself casting around for a hotel room, the Thunderbird Inn …

Last night I snuggled into the coziness of the Bayview Hotel, which is part of the Ripley Creek Inn complex. A restored period piece sitting above the Bitter Creek Café, the Bayview Hotel is …

The River Song Café doesn’t open until noon on Sundays and that’s not helping my morning any.  I’m a breakfast person and right now my blood sugar level is off, riding feels like the toughest …

So KTM, would now be a good time to mention that my off-road history could be measured in quantities prefixed with “mili”? Likely not, because the ride from Dease Lake to Telegraph has me debating subtleties of throttle control like never before. By the way KTM, the fuel injection is a tad jerky at low speed isn’t it? Give there’s a billion-foot drop to the left I’m all about control.

The 990 Adventure and I skulked from the Dempster like a rebuffed dog.  The weather drove us forward, but eventually the Yukon took over pulling us along.  Backtracking in the sunshine, the road to Whitehorse …

The Air Force Lodge is a restored 1942 pilot’s quarters so there’s an austere military sense to the place, right down to shared washrooms and showers assigned to each gender – don’t let this deter …

You only need to know about the Dempster Highway – it hates you. It’s a cold hearted, fickle, and tempermental highway that never wanted to exist, and would like nothing more than to take it out on you given half a chance.

I’ve spent the past five days alternately enjoying the Dawson Music Festival and waiting for a break in the weather.  Here in “the Land of the Midnight Overcast” I’ve been taking in the sights, the …

Hideous downbursts of rain should have ruined the ride, but the 990 Adventure and I have the groove on. That’s largely owing to a new rear tire, a complete lack of enforcement from Whitehorse to Dawson in the Yukon Territories, and the good graces of Jim from Tourism Yukon who’s offered to carry the luggage in a support vehicle. So much for going “solo”, but damn the bike feels so good I couldn’t give a toss.

Is it incongruous that the friendliest, most helpful, warm, and kind dealership experience has required me to travel well over 2500km to Whitehorse, YT? Whitehorse Honda is the local KTM dealer, and frankly I’ve never had a dealership this genuine and helpful. Period. Full stop.

I should have just camped.  The Belvedere Hotel has one of the few licensed lounges in Watson Lake, making it the hot spot.  Having a room overlooking the parking lot was good for the bike’s …

Camping wasn’t horrible. The salvation from H.O.T. (Hell’s Own Tent) was an MEC sleeping bag and ground mat. Despite developing a bad list overnight, the H.O.T. did keep the mosquitoes out. No mean feat, at one point at night I woke up from a dream wondering why there was group of sportbikes running the highway at night. Only to realize the sound was masses of mosquitoes bumping against the mesh.

At Kismet, the junction of highways 16 and 37, I have a moment of doubt and nearly turn back.  There’s no strong game plan here, just an urge to press northwards.  The sign here in …

It’s a moment ripped from Northern Exposure, walking into the Wells Hotel for breakfast everyone already seems to know who the guy on the “big orange bike” is and where he’s come from. More mysteriously they have a fair idea where I’m heading.

Here’s an early birthday gift, somewhere behind me is a Honda Accord with all the KTM’s overstuffed luggage and then some. Admittedly having a well-used front-wheel drive as a sag wagon diminishes the adventure a of riding from Wildwood to Barkerville, BC the “back way”, but it’s giving me a taste of what this bike can really do. Oh, dear gawd, it’s bloody dirt-road ambrosia with a chaser of complete hoonery thrown in.

Tyax Lodge, outside of Gold Bridge, B.C., feels deserted.  A fabulous location, picturesque to the point of overload, Tyax should be bustling at the seams with tourists.  Instead it’s quiet to the point of being …

In the history of slow starts this has been epic. Hannibal had an easier time wrestling up some elephants and infantry, than my getting out on the road the past few days. Yet, sitting here at Tyax lodge I’m hard pressed to be more satisfied with the first day of “North: The KTM Summer of Adventure”.