Searching for Shade

By Nancy L. Stimson

This book celebrates the journey in July of 2021 of two experienced motorcycle pals on trikes who crazily decide to ride to Alaska via Canada. They obsessively plan the trip for a year—ten thousand miles in thirty-one days. They joyfully began the ritual of meticulous mapping detail, precise gathering of equipment, and making choice reservations. There is one very dark shadow in all of their meticulousness, the COVID-19 is beginning and growing through 2020. The border between Canada and the United States remained closed and did not open month after month after month. In the eleventh hour, the journey changes, and they make hasty plans to travel nineteen states into the heat of an inferno, forest fires, and homelessness of the southwest of America instead. The trip to the cool confines of Alaska becomes an eight-thousand-mile “search for shade” in the sun-scorched climate crisis of the Southwest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: Aug 26, 2022
• ISBN: 9781669840114

Nancy L. Stimson

Thirty-two years of law enforcement career and fifteen years as a professional investigator, the author’s extensive training gave her a quality in description and accuracy matched by her joy of writing during English classes at the University of Virginia as part of the FBI National Academy training. In comparison to the discipline in her work, she luxuriates in the peace and freedom of the sun, sand, wind, water and trees during her motorcycle journeys. After the fear and near panic of battling breast cancer in 2011, the wind therapy of motorcycle riding became a passion. In 2012, she began her pursuit of happiness, purchasing her white Can-Am Spyder RT Limited at sixty years old. For eight years, she celebrated her passion by riding in twenty states and over fifty-six thousand miles. In 2020, her devotion to riding became a dedication to experience all forty-nine US states and ten provinces in Canada on her motorcycle. Her trip to Alaska is the highlight of her endeavor, covering ten thousand miles in thirty-one days.

Book preview

NANCY L. STIMSON

Searching

for

Shade

Copyright © 2022 by Nancy L. Stimson. 838733

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced

or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic

or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by

any information storage and retrieval system, without

permission in writing from the copyright owner.

Xlibris

844-714-8691

www.Xlibris.com

Library of Congress Control Number: 2022914279

Rev. date: 10/31/2022

Contents

Introduction

The Back Story

In the Beginning

Change Of Plans

The Trip Southwest, USA

July 1, 2021

July 2, 2021

July 3, 2021

July 4, 2021

July 5, 2021

July 6, 2021

July 7, 2021

July 8, 2021

July 9, 2021

July 10, 2021

July 11, 2021

July 12, 2021

July 13, 2021

July 14, 2021

July 15, 2021

July 16, 2021

July 17, 2021

July 18, 2021

July 19, 2021

July 20th, 2021

July 21, 2021

July 22, 2021

July 23, 2021

July 24, 2021

July 25, 2021

July 26, 2021

July 27, 2021

July 28th, 2021

July 29, 2021

July 30, 2021

July 31, 2021

Conclusion

Acknowledgements:

To Frankie

for your love,

unending support,

and your truly miraculous ability

to turn a sentence into a work of art.

Introduction

It took a while for me to realize that we could have died there. The only shade was the small shadow from my motorcycle that I could squeeze into by sitting on the running board. There is not a tree in sight anywhere. Just dry, barren desert and a cloudless sky.

It’s 114 degrees with full sun, just outside of Peoria, Arizona. Fading fast, I am hot, light headed and feel like fainting, all in a matter of less than five minutes. It all began with my riding buddy Jackie, stopping to pour her drinking water over her burning thighs and head. We only rode another five miles and she was starting into heat exhaustion. Pulled off immediately onto a side road, desperate for shade, but not a single tree or building in sight. The temperatures in Arizona are the highest that either of us have ever experienced, we clearly did not realize how treacherous it could be.

We should have been in Alaska by now. A year ago, we started planning to ride to Alaska in July of 2021. Today we should be riding comfortably in jeans and a jacket in 60’s and 70 degrees and 19 hours of daylight. Instead, we are dying of heat exhaustion on the edge of a dessert in 114 degrees. Covid 19 did us in. The borders remained closed. Could not enter Canada to get to Alaska, so we are traveling southwest instead.

This story is the actual trip itself, day by day, starting on July 1, 2021. It is about our search for shade during a global warming crisis, including high heat in New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada, California and South Dakota, and out of control fires burning thousands of acres in Arizona, Nevada, California and Oregon. It is about riding through smoke for hours blowing down from Manitoba across northern Minnesota, causing me to arrive home with respiratory and sinus issues, requiring weeks of medication.

The bright pink clusters of Fireweed in the burned forest of Yellowstone National Park remains the image of hope and renewed growth amid the devastation, like laughter, in the 8000 miles that we experienced together on our venture across this country we call home.

The Back Story

I grew up in rural Michigan as the second of five kids. We had mini bikes, dirt bikes and snowmobiles. My first motorcycle, a red 175 Yamaha, I proudly bought when I was about 19 or 20. I learned to love highway riding on this bike, rode it everywhere, including to work. My second motorcycle was a real gem, a 1982 Honda 400, dark red with red and pink pinstriping. I had a white faring and red saddle bags put on, and I rode that beauty all over Michigan, the Upper Peninsula, and into Wisconsin and Minnesota.

But then I handled three fatal motorcycle accidents in about six weeks, as a seasoned ten-year police officer in the fall of 1984. I never got back on that Honda and sold it the next year. For 28 years I did not ride a motorcycle. I was a police officer for 32 years, the latter half as a Detective-Sergeant. I retired in 2006 and became a licensed Professional Investigator. In 2011 when I was battling breast cancer, the trauma and fear that goes with it, I remembered the freedom and joy of riding my Honda way back when, and this was about the time that trikes began showing up on the highway.

My friend Jackie Smith gave me the pathway back to my love for riding motorcycles. She is a hairdresser and we started playing golf together a long time ago and have been friends ever since. In the spring of 2012, she bought a 2009 Harley-Davidson Ultra-Classic Trike, deciding that three wheels were better than two for her. She told me about it at golf and offered to take me for a ride. She picked me up one day, that awesome wind therapy hit me, and I was captivated again by the emotion that I felt riding my Honda 28 years ago. Jackie picked me up several times that summer and we rode all over Lower Michigan. Finally, towards the end of summer of 2012 it was time for me to get my own trike.

Jackie is an adored fan of Harley-Davidson and all of the bling that comes with it. I however, was not, so I went to Ray C’s Extreme store in Lapeer, anything but Harley-Davidson. Ready for my care and attention, waiting on display, was this beauteous white 2012 CanAm Spyder RT Limited, floor model with 1970 miles on the odometer. I remember the miles because that was the year I graduated from high school. At this point, September of 2012, I was turning 60 years old and was one year cancer free. I bought this classy white bike and the matching white trailer as a birthday present. Happy Birthday to me!

In late October, Jackie and I took a 3-day weekend and rode to Tennessee to experience the adventure of the Tail of the Dragon. This is the number one road for motorcycles to ride on in the United States. It is 11 miles of roadway with 318 curves in the edge of the Smoky Mountains. It was crazy to ride that road, breathtaking the first time through at speed limit, and heart stopping on the way back, like a roller coaster. A marvelous experience on those stupendous curves. We drove 12 hours in the cool rain on Friday to get to Tennessee, spent Saturday riding around on The Tail and the mountains, all in damp, cool weather. The temperatures had dropped significantly in Michigan and by the time we returned on Sunday I nearly froze to death. We rode in the vicinity of 1400 miles that weekend. That’s how the craziness started.

In the Beginning

That white CanAm Spyder RT Limited became a beloved friend. For eight years we traveled around the United States, riding in 19 states and Ontario, Canada, fascinated with the variety of the land forms, the towns and the people.

By 2020 the fascination has turned into a passion to ride in all 49 states of the Continental United States and all 10 provinces of Canada. I decided to go big, choosing the furthest state in the United States, Alaska, as my next quest. Riding to Alaska would mean I would encompass four Canadian provinces and five more states of the United States. The allure of riding to Alaska would involve time and endurance, a captivating challenge.

I asked my trusted friend Jackie if she wanted to join me on this wild, month-long endeavor to ride to Alaska. She was over the moon with excitement and the planning began at that moment, June 1, 2020. A year of planning, a year of excitement, intrigue, detailed maps and routes, collecting our gear. There was one looming shadow in the planning. We were dead into the Covid-19 pandemic and the borders between Canada and the United States were closed. We were sure that all would be back to normal by the day we leave, July 1, 2021.

The trip to Alaska became our obsession, and we were going to plan it meticulously. We both pored over maps, paper and computer, determining routes from Michigan to Alaska. At first it seemed like a far-off dream that would become a realty as we planned and scrutinized the maps. Maps became friends, enticing us to explore their environment and their challenge. We were only going to have 31 days to complete the trip, so the planning has to be precise, organized, well laid out. In June 2020 we both spent hours pouring over maps, both map books and Google maps on the computer, planning routes according to milage. We planned the route according to towns with motels.

Since we were staying in motels it made sense that we travel as light and simple as possible, conserving gas and weight. Since we decided that my matching trailer would stay home, I needed a large dry-bag that would strap to my back seat and expand or diminish as needed. On June 24 at the REI Store in Troy, I was elated to find a large dry-bag, the perfect size, orange in color contrasting to my white bike, for visibility and safety. It would hold my computer tablet and charging cords, pouches of popcorn, extra jackets, shoes, water and my laundry bag. Since this was my first purchase for the trip, it felt special, like this trip is really going to happen.

As we planned this 10,000-mile trip, we figured that we would have to ride 400 to 500 miles a day to make it all the way out to Alaska and back, in 31 days, and have time for some sightseeing. On July 17, 2020 it was 88 degrees, we decided to take a 500-mile test run. We rode to the Mackinaw bridge via US23, along Lake Huron, across the bridge and back, then down I-75 to home. On the way back down I-75 at about 400 miles we stopped at a rest area south of West Branch and I walked around for five minutes. That was all I needed and the next 100 miles were easy. We determined at that point that we could handle traveling 500 miles in a day and still have time to rest and relax. Little did we know that 500 miles a day could be endless in difficult terrain and tedious weather.

We realize that communication is the life blood between Jackie and I as we travel safely mile after mile, bonded together with each other’s voice always in our ear. On our past local trips, we communicated through our CB radios and put up with a multitude of problems, feedback from other CB’s, wind on microphone, and Jackie’s microphone key on her clutch hand. At this point there were several new wireless intercom systems for motorcycles, and we were thankful that we found the Cardo Pack Talk system, which was highly rated. This system was like a reassuring friend that allowed us to talk to each other at any time through our earphones. That reassurance was like a miracle to family that could reach us through our personal phones connected to the Pack Talk system. Each of us was able to answer our phone calls without sharing the conversation, and listen to our personal music on Pandora, through the phone, through the helmet, without the other hearing the music. If either of us spoke, the volume on the music instantly turned down, then came back up after speaking. We could be at least a half mile apart and still hear clearly. The only down side to all of this is that if one of us is on a personal phone call, we lose communication with the other rider. What a miracle of technology that kept us happy, centered and safe through our trip.

Up until now I did not have individual stationary holders on my handlebars for my telephone or water bottle. I knew that finding the right ones would be imperative for safe travel. I searched thoroughly on line, ordered them, and waited patiently for my newest purchases. I installed the water bottle holder myself, but my neighbor Dan loosened the center bolt on the bike for the phone holder attachment. In order to keep the phone charged while riding for hours and hours, I bought a six-foot charging cord to run from the USB port in the frunk (front trunk) to the phone holder. A little excited with my fix, I had to remember that during rain both the phone and charging cord had to be tucked away.

I was eager to test my new equipment, so I met Jackie on July 31, on a nice summer day for a 345-mile ride. The adjustable phone holder and charger were flawless. No jiggle, no vibration and I could clearly see the phone without blocking my view of the gauges. However, the water