In three weeks of travel, I only got rained on once. Then, on the last day's ride, it poured. I left Morgantown at 7:30 am and followed the beautiful I-68 through the Alleghany Mountains to Hagerstown MD. It rained the whole time.   I was comfortable though, and enjoyed the run.

Thank you everyone for following, and for your comments . It is great to get feedback as I go along, as otherwise I am living inside my own head for hours at a time -- and as a sign in an Athens OH shop window said: "Don't believe everything you think".

The whole trip covered 12,662 miles. I was out for 48 days, counting travel to and from Washington in June and July. I made it to Deadhorse AK, my initial objective, and then completed the trip to Inuvik, in Canada's NW Territories, which I had not foreseen. The motorcycle behaved wonderfully, with no mechanical problems -- all I had to do was keep changing the tires and adding a little oil. I retraced some of the route I had taken in 2012 up to Fairbanks and Dawson City.   Second time round is sweeter than the first -- one can appreciate nuances and make comparisons. Except for the Bakken Shale Oil area in North and South Dakota, most of the places I saw a second time had grown and changed for the better. I stayed in small hotels, university dorms, b and b's and with friends -- which meant I did not carry lots of heavy camping equipment. This was a boon when it came to negotiating the difficult bits on the Dalton and Dempster Highways.

People were extremely friendly all along the way. I was only stopped once by a cop, in Washington State, and forgiven my speeding offense. Otherwise I stayed clean. The best conversations were held with other bikers in parking lots along the way.

Anyone can take this trip -- with a little planning and a reliable vehicle. The rewards are great, but you have to like driving.