Day 21-25 – Home sweet Home

The trip to Alaska is now over. It was a good trip and I experienced lots of new adventures along the way. Here are some of the stats I compiled along the way:

Total Miles - 10,524
Total Gallons of Gas Used - 286
Average Mileage - 36.8 MPG
Average Daily Miles Ridden in 25 Days (Minus 3 days on the ferry) - 478
Total Miles from Fairbanks AK to USA/BC Boarder - 2,275
Time Needed to ride from Fairbanks to USA/BC Boarder - 3 Days 14 Hours
Total Miles from Bellingham WA to Harrisburg PA - 2,956
Time Needed to ride from Bellingham WA to Harrisburg PA - 3 Days 16 Hours
Most Miles ridden in one stretch - 1,260
Number of stops for temporary repairs - 3
Highest price paid for gas (Honor goes to Canada) - Avg. $4.00 a gallon
Total times I dropped the Harley – ZERO!!

I made it back home from Bellingham Washington, which is about 100 miles north of Seattle, in 88 hours. The shifting lever came apart a total of 3 times on the way back and I was able to repair it on the road using cable ties to hold the pieces together. Each time it would fall apart in a different place. You can see the ties in the picture below. My cruise control worked for the most part but did take 400 to 500 mile stretches of acting up where it wouldn’t hold the speed. This happened in dry and damp weather. More things to have checked out by the service guys.

I came real close to clobbering 2 deer that were standing in the middle of the interstate around 3 am out in Iowa. It was good that they were frozen by my lights and just stood there. I went right in between both of them with the rear of one on my left and the head of the other on my right. I was so close to them that my right leg jerked in and off the highway peg as a reaction. That kept me awake until I reach Davenport for the night.

I also ran over a fresh road kill in Columbus. I had deer guts all over the underside of the bike and hanging off the kickstand. That one almost knocked me over when I hit it. I was crossing lanes and the bike was on a little angle and didn’t hit it straight up like you are suppose to. I had a good time washing that off when I got home.

Some of you may still be wondering about how the name Carl Fetchmor came about. Well for those of you who haven’t heard it before, here it goes…

The name is Carl Fetchmor no E. Who is Carl and what's his story you have been asking yourself? Well many years ago my wife Mary Kay was having a problem with a vendor and she was getting the royal run around by them. I stopped by her desk and she poured out her frustration with this vendor to me. I had her dial the vendor and I announced that this was "Carl Fetchmor" Mary Kay's administrative assistant. After inquiring of the status for her the vendor promptly took care of the issue and sent whatever they were to send the very next day.

So started the life of Carl. He can "fetch mor" then any other! The reason there is no "E" on the end of his name is because of the Anne of Green Gables series. Anne always pronounced her name as "that's Anne with an E" so of course Carl has to pronounce his name to the vendor as "that's Fetchmor no E". Over time Carl has acquired a wife named Doris. Doris was the voice mail lady on Mary Kay's phone at work. She would "talk" to Doris when someone left her a voicemail saying, "Oh what does Doris want now".

Carl also has a brother Shalomo who is part of a two-man band called The Joy Brothers, Carl and Shalomo Fetchmor. They play at different functions at their synagogue such as picnics and Hanukkah celebrations and also at each week’s service. There is also Carl Fetchmor's Moving Service that people call when they need someone with a truck.

So you see Carl is a very active person, who also likes to ride a Harley! That's the story of Carl, be it ever so strange.

Thanks for viewing my site and following my trip! I hope you all enjoyed following the adventures of Carl as much as I had in putting it all together.

May you all have such safe and blessed vacations yourselves!

Shalom,
Carl