Forum Member Takes Ride of a Lifetime from North Carolina to Alaska

This story is equal parts amazing, breathtaking, and heartwarming. 

When the weather is nice, you can ride anywhere. And as soon as summer started to come around this year, H-D Forums member NowHere Man packed up his Harley and headed northwest, from North Carolina to Alaska and back again. It’s a ride that plenty of us have dreamed of taking. Lucky for us, he started a thread in the Forums to update us along the way.

NowHere Man’s story starts around June 16th, when he posts a photo of his Harley loaded to the gills and ready to go. “Ready to roll out,” he says. “Couldn’t fit the kitchen sink. Will try to post a few pics along the way.” We’re happy to report that he posts more than a few pics. In fact, his updates are equal parts amazing, breathtaking, and heartwarming.

One day in, he proves his road trip bona fides by posting his campsite, a small tent under a tarp in an Ohio park. From there, he heads north to Michigan (bother lower and upper). By June 20, he’s riding through the beauty that is the TransCanada 1. After posting a blurry photo, he writes: “The vastness is incomprehensible to me. Sorry that my photography skills do not adequately reflect the true beauty.”

Then, just 11 days after leaving North Carolina, he hits the Alaska Highway. From there, it’s a go all the way through to the Arctic Circle in Dalton, Alaska. He passes through Poker Creek and Chicken Creek along the way, mentioning the good food, drink, and people.

Finally, on July 4, he makes it to the Arctic Circle. And in his post, he mentions that the trip wasn’t just for him. “Actually, mission accomplished when I left the photo of my riding buddy Mark Christian Barber on the sign, he says. “He was the only friend that said he would ride with me up here. A Toyota took him out. A good man, way to [sic] young, but he did the trip anyway. I will try to make sure his daughters know he made the ride.” Doing a bucket list ride is one thing. Doing it to honor the memory of a fallen friend is another thing entirely. Our hats are off to him.

Obviously, this is a simplification of NowHere Man’s incredible story. For the full saga, check it out in the forums.

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James Sapienza

James Derek Sapienza has worked as a writer and editor in the world of automotive journalism since 2015.

He has a BS in History at SUNY Brockport, with a focus on American popular culture. A fan of the classics with a special interest in German cars, he is a proud owner of a 1991 W124 Mercedes. He is a frequent contributor to Mustang Forums, MBWorld, 5Series, Rennlist, and more.

Sapienza can be reached at JDS.at.IBA@gmail.com