Ulysses Odyssey

Monday

2007-09-17T22:47:00.000-04:00

Monday 6pm Eastern time: Kansas City

Saturday

2007-09-16T14:19:00.000-04:00

At 1pm, Eastern time (9 am Alaska time): Chris was in Billings, Montana.

The ride...finally!

2007-09-13T23:20:00.000-04:00

Hey everyone,
We left Fairbanks Tuesday morning, spent a night in Coldfoot and arrived in Deadhorse, Prudhoe Bay on Wednesday 12th around 4pm where the temperature was about 32F. What can I tell you about the ride up there?...All I can say is that, I asked for adventure and I got it!

Fairbanks is located 566.9 miles from Prudhoe Bay. The only way to get there besides flying is to take the Dalton highway or also known as the"Haul Road" which is 70 miles north of Fairbanks. The Dalton highway is the main supply route for Prudhoe Bay oilfields. The road conditions are so bad that most rental car companies won't allow you to drive on it. Coldfoot is 327 miles from Fairbanks and is the last gas station until Prudhoe Bay.
So imagine, sitting in the back as a passenger for over 12 hours, squeezed between Chris and the extra gas tank he had stripped to the Buell, trying to film and take pictures at the same time!
Riding on the Dalton highway was quite an experience. We rode on pavement, gravel, mud, dirt, potholes, over and down mountains and valleys in some freezing cold temperatures...We shared the road with large tractor-trailers that usually left clouds of dust or mud behind them...and even though, we came close to crashing a couple of times riding 15miles/hr in slippery mud, we thought the scenery through the Arctic tundra to the farthest north point of Alaska was unbelievable!

Chris finally left Prudhoe Bay this morning on Thursday 13th about ninenish (Alaska time) to get back on the Dalton highway, headed South, but this time in the rain...I am not quite sure of the exact time since he had to get gas first and the dated receipt will be used as the official start time.
I just got off the phone with Chris and after being pulled over on the Dalton highway for speeding (who would have thought there was a speed limit where civilisation is non existent?), and a crash from the muddy road (thanks to 2 hunters and a trunk driver who helped get the bike out of the ditch), Chris made it to Fairbanks in 9 and1/2 hours.

Anyway, I flew back to Anchorage this evening and should be back in Atlanta on Saturday. I will try to update you guys as soon as I hear something new from Chris.

By the way, the GPS tracking device doesn't seem to be working. Larry Marquit is looking into it, but it doesn't look very promising...sorry guys :(

Fairbanks, Ak

2007-09-11T13:03:00.000-04:00

We've been in Fairbanks for 2 days now, and the bike finally arrived yesterday afternoon. The Harley-Davidson of Fairbanks is preping it so we can leave today for Coldfoot, Ak. The plan is to spend the night there and then continue up to Prudhoe Bay on Wednesday. Officially, we'll start the ride Thursday morning. So far, the weather has been great, and the forecast also looks very promising. Need to extend an enormous amount of gratitude to Doug Chambers and his staff. When the bike arrived, the service department made preping the bike a priority. Everyone has been very cooperative and gracious about the ride. This should be my last entry until I return from Key West, but you will get more updates from Sowatha and don't forget to check the GPS to follow the ride...A bientot mes amis!

Anchorage, Alaska

2007-09-08T22:24:00.000-04:00

Well it appears that we have finally made some progress on the motorcycle. I met with EGL "superstar" John Higgins for lunch this afternoon. John was outstanding in helping me with the motorcycle and coordinating my movement in anchorage in terms of the most economical way to navigate through the city. It's funny, I feel as if he would have been involved from the beginning this whole fiasco would never have occurred. Even John himself was amazed at the number of people who were involved and how the whole thing transpired. Anyway, that's all history now, time to plan for my upcoming ride. For those of you who have not been to Alaska, everything costs $$$$$$$. So here's the new plan. The bike will now be shipped up to Fairbanks tomorrow, Doug Chambers at Fairbanks Harley-Davidson has everything in line to prep the bike and send me on my way the first of the week. So I will be leaving for Coldfoot on Tuesday, spend the night there and then push on to Prudhoe Bay on Wednesday. Considering the fact that the window of opportunity for Prudhoe Bay- Usuhaia is gone now, I will attempt to break the Prudhoe Bay-Key West world record which stands at 101 hours right now by Gary Egan. Thursday morning, I will officially kick off the ride. Almost as if on cue the weather has turned ugly here, last week while waiting for the bike it was sunny and in the mid 60's, today and all of next week the forecast calls for rain and lots of it too. While the rain is not such a big deal, it does bring in to question the condition of the Dalton Highway after 4 or 5 days of so much precipitation. I was actually hoping to make some good time through there... looks like that might not be possible now. Have also had reports that there already is snow north of the Brooks range so I may have to deal with that as well. I need to acknowledge the gang over at Woodland International (shipping co.), after reading my saga with EGL Logistics, decided to contact me and offer their assistance. In fact, Jeff Schumacher even went so far as to contact EGL to get the facts pertaining to the whereabouts of the Buell. I feel confident that his involvement was instrumental in getting the bike to Alaska. Thanks to Kevin, Sherry and Jeff, I certainly appreciate your concerns and the effort.

Where is Waldo?

2007-09-01T21:55:00.000-04:00

Hey my people! Here is the recent scoop... I am in Alaska. Allegedly, Eagle Global took possession of the Buell Ulysses on Friday. Recent conversation with EGL vice president indicate the motorcycle should arrive into Fairbanks Harley-Davidson sometime next week hopefully Wednesday or Thursday. After the bike has been prepped, I am going to ride the motorcycle to Prudhoe Bay. However, based on my previous experiences, I am going to refrain from making any plans or arrangements until I actually see the motorcycle. Keep reading the posts!

Chris Carr

Final update

2007-08-29T20:31:00.000-04:00

Hi everyone,
Sorry for not giving news sooner. As some of you already know, I had been fighting with Eagle Global logistics (shipping company) since last Friday trying to get the motorcycle out of customs. Unfortunately, once the bike arrives in customs, receivers names can no longer be changed, so I had to fly back home. According to the last EGL representative, the bike should leave custom tomorrow and be shipped back to Atlanta. It is to my regrets that I have to abort the project because of unfortunate events that are out of my control. But things usually happen for good reasons. Stay tune...this is not over yet!

Day 4 in Buenos Aires

2007-08-26T20:29:00.000-04:00

Argentina customs is closed for the weekend, so the saga of getting the Ulysses released will resume on Monday. The big concern now, as you know, is that there is a 3-5 day ride to Ushuaia to actually start the ride. Initially this may not seem like a big deal, but the fact is the start date originally set for the August 21th, then changed to the 26th, and now maybe September 2nd (a 2 week delay). The big question will be the Antigan pass in Alaska, if there is snow the road can be impassable, which could make breaking the current record an even bigger challenge, and potentially even impossible. Currently, discussions are taking place with Chris Houghton, owner of Harley-Davidson of Atlanta, John Flickinger, CEO of Buell motor company, and Chris Carr to develop possibly an entirely new strategy for being successful at this ride. Other concerns are the Pan American highway in Peru and the conditions of the road there since the earthquake. Additional obstacles could be found in the aftermath of hurricane Dean and its impact on Central America. While we anticipated obstacles along the way, this situation is something that has everyone involved scratching their heads wondering how this could have happened. Each day that goes by poses a bigger challenge in Alaska, not to mention the financial consequences. Chris informed me that customs is charging $150.00/day storage fee for the motorcycle. Lets hope Eagle Global Logistics can remedy this unfortunate situation. I want to thank everyone supporting this project and for all the people who have called Chris during this mess.

Message from Chris

2007-08-25T16:15:00.000-04:00

chris carr
Friday, 8/24/07, 9:44 AM

HEY EVERYBODY JUST WANTED TO GIVE YOU A QUICK UPDATE, I HAVE BEEN IN BUENO AIRES NOW FOR 2 DAYS. APPARENTLY, THE SHIPPING COMPANY MADE A HUGE ERROR IN SHIPPING MY BIKE, MY NAME DOES NOT APPEAR ON THE SHIPPING PAPERS SO CUSTOMS WILL NOT RELEASE THE BIKE TO ME. THE CLOCK IS RUNNING SO HOPEFULLY WE CAN GET THIS RESOLVED AND WE CAN START THE JOURNEY. THANKS TO EVERYONE AND I WILL TRY TO KEEP YOU POSTED.

The GPS tracking device

2007-08-23T22:00:00.000-04:00

Just in case if some of you folks are wandering why the GPS still indicates a U.S/Georgia location for the bike, the answer is because the device is "off" at the moment. What you see right now is a sattelite image from several weeks ago. Once Chris turns it back "on", you'll see the "red dot" blinking in South America. I don't know if many of you are familiar with satellite imaging, but I find it fascinating that we are able to zoom in and out on a location, and adjust the image from "aerial" to "road" and "hybrid"...Anyhow, you guys should try it once the ride starts.

Day 1 in Argentina

2007-08-23T21:21:00.000-04:00

Chris finally arrived in Argentina this morning at 9:00 a.m. Once he made his way to the Harley-Davidson in Buenos Aires, he was met by some very welcoming and helpful employees who helped him with accommodations. Chris plans on getting the bike out of customs Friday morning and start riding down to Ushuaia. It is now unclear how long the ride from Buenos Aires to Ushuaia will take, there were several mixed information from 18 hours to 4 days, but what is certain is that it is 2,000 miles.

updates on Chris' ride

2007-08-21T13:14:00.000-04:00

Some of you guys may have noticed that the expected starting date has changed to the 26th due to some unfortunate delay in shipping the motorcycle to Argentina. Consequently, Chris had to change his flight to tomorrow morning so he can arrive in Buenos Aires on Thursday. Once there, he will have to fill up the bike with oil and gas and start riding to Ushuaia (the southern most tip of South America) which should take him about 3 days (2,000 miles)...then start the ride from there. This ride is going to be more challenging than expected because of the latest news about natural disasters such as earthquake, possible tsunamis and hurricane in South America, as well as the recent activity of Pavlof volcano in Alaska...All we are missing is a tornado along the way :) Otherwise, Chris is anxious and exited to finally start this amazing ride!