Living The Dream- 7,500 Miles

Denny first became a customer of Denali Dreams in 2019 when he found our ManlyMan soap in the small town of Chicken, Alaska. After placing an order with us after he returned home, Denny shared his incredible adventure with us along with some pictures. These stories that we hear from people’s travels are the exact reason we love creating the products that we do. We love connecting with people who take that trip of a lifetime to visit the last frontier. Your stories and adventures drive us, we would love to hear from you!

With that being said, this is the beginning of a series we call “Living The Dream.” We will share your stories in hopes of inspiring others to take time to see glaciers crashing into the ocean, to watch the northern lights dance across the sky, or see humpback whales launch themselves out of the water, or in Denny’s case, travel 7500 miles to see it all. Right from Denny’s own fingers, he shares his story below.

Alaska truly is one of America’s last frontiers and an outdoorsman’s paradise. My infatuation with Alaska was born in 2001 when my college buddies Wes and Al invited me to fish Alaska – fishing reds in the Kenai until our arms fell off. Fast forward 18 years, and multiple failed attempts to get myself back to Alaska only increased my desire for a return trip. 2019, I turned 40, and to mark that momentous event, the opportunity for an Adventure Motorcycle trip to Alaska with my buddy Adam. That was how I wanted to celebrate being 4 decades old – the Year of the Hao: a 7,500+ round trip from San Jose, California to Dead Horse, Alaska. My 25+ years of motorcycle experience never included adventure bikes, so I bought a BMW GS 1200 Adventure specifically for this trip. I spent the month before we left building and customizing the BMW to suit our trip – and loaded it with camping gear, food, tools, and
spare parts. The trip did not disappoint – we experienced everything: camping under the midnight sun, riding across mountain passes in a snowstorm on unimproved gravel /dirt roads, logging miles under torrential downpours with dime-sized raindrops – we didn’t miss any weather pattern that Alaska offered. We checked all the boxes.

The adventure that we experienced was second to none during our 2.5-week trip – the wildlife we saw, taking a dip in the Arctic Ocean, the amazing scenery that we earned, the new friends we made, and the experiences (and gigabytes of photos and videos) we brought back with us, was without a doubt, an Alaska Dream trip. Made it to Alaska!

Below is a picture of sketches we sent Denny with his order. He had requested a drawn picture of our favorite Alaskan animals. It has been one of our favorite requests! If you want to get to know The Dream Team more, we would love to hear from you.