Expedition Recovery

Why this?  Why now? In 2007 I returned from a 16-month tour in Iraq, where I served as a US Army Infantryman with the 172nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, first in Mosul, then Baghdad, Iraq.  While overseas I participated in more than 100 combat missions. My roles ranged from mounted patrols as a Humvee gunner, to serving on the personal security team for Col.  John Norris, then battalion commander of the 4 th Brigade 23 rd Infantry Regiment.  I survived improvised explosive attacks, mortar strikes, and small arms contacts. When I returned I advised by the Veterans Administration, that I displayed indications of possible Traumatic Brain Injury, as well as a form of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, known as Survivors Guilt I confidently pursued a career as a municipal police officer, long a personal dream. Within several years, cumulative stress from police work and the effects of my untreated survivors guilt, weighed heavily on me. I was eventua...

Nothing like a change of plans to start an adventure. 8/14/16 North Pole, AK to Arctic Circle, AK - 211 Miles Ridden I had been planning for weeks to leave out and take the end of the week to run north for Deadhorse .  That plan went out the window when a good friend asked for help getting some things moved.  She is an amazing person and since I had the option, I made the switch. I didn’t know how else to adjust for the days lost in bike prep and stayed up till after 4 in the morning wiring circuits on the bike for the heated grips, the future GPS, and for both 12 volt automotive sockets.  The work was worth it, but I was still short of connectors and parts so I had to call it and delay my Sunday morning departure until I could get some sleep and run into town for parts. All the changes and delays meant that I was going to have to make the dreaded afternoon departure.  Riding motorcycles in the dark is always nerve wracking, especially in the summer...