YORKTOWN — Michael Arndt captured almost 15,000 miles on his motorcycle over the course of 32 days. His dream? See Alaska on his bike.
Arndt has been obsessed with motorcycles since he was young.
“I’ve been riding anything with wheels since I was about six. Really, the dream began in high school. When I was 17, it was the first time I had ever seen a picture of Denali Mountain, and from the first time I saw it, I thought ‘man I really need to go see that in person,'” Arndt said.
An active duty soldier for over 20 years, Arndt would frequently request Alaska on his wish list for duty station. Yet, throughout those 20 years, he was never stationed in Alaska.
Arndt had learned about bucket list motorcycle rides while in college and was hooked. The Ultimate Coast to Coast Challenge is a long-distance motorcycle ride from Key West, Florida, the southernmost point of the United States, to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the northernmost point of the United States.
In October, Arndt decided that his dream motorcycle trip would happen in 2024. To prepare, Arndt asked some of his motorcycle buddies for advice.
“I’m a member of a lot of different motorcycle riding groups on Facebook, so I reached out to a bunch of them. I got a plethora of answers on what to do, where to stay, where to eat. I sat down and made an itinerary of exactly how many miles I planned to drive each day from point A to point B,” Arndt said.
Arndt left his home in Yorktown on July 4 and drove to Key West to begin the journey. Armed with his motorcycle, affectionately known as Sprocket, and a packed crate, he began his trek on July 6. Arndt drove across the entire United States in three and a half days.
Once he arrived in Alaska, Arndt spent time exploring some of the different sights. To get to Prudhoe Bay, Arndt had to drive the 500-mile Dalton Highway, known to be one of the most dangerous highways in the United States.
“It’s 500 miles of solid mud and gravel. There’s only about 75 miles of pavement in that whole 500 miles. At one point, we were traveling through about 10 inches of solid mud. It’s some of the most remote, austere, dangerous roads I’ve ever ridden on and I’ve ridding motorcycles all around the world,” Arndt said.
At the end of the Dalton Highway, Arndt left a piece of Yorktown in Prudhoe Bay, adding stickers from his woodworking business and the Combat Veteran’s Motorcycle Association to the wall at the Prudhoe Bay General Store.
Along the way, Arndt took in Glacier National Park, Devil’s Tower, Jasper National Park and more. He also encountered wildlife, including caribou, elk, moose, bald eagles, and his share of bears.
“The whole trip was the biggest bucket list thing, but just to be riding down the road, I’ll never forget Highway 40 in Canada, headed North, and the sun started setting. As soon as the sun started setting, a ton of black bears came out of the tree line and came to eat the berries,” Arndt said.
During his trip, Arndt’s wife Mary established a Facebook page, where he posted at the end of every day with photos from his day of travel and updates on his progress. The page also provided visitors with the address for a website where Arndt’s location was pinged every 10 minutes.
Arndt arrived back home in Yorktown on Aug. 4. In total, he amassed 14,939 miles over a span of 23 days.
“There’s just so much sheer beauty, so much wildlife, the mountains, the people, the sunsets. It was so much that I experienced that I had jammed into my psyche. It’s hard to process all of the things I had seen. I had a blast, it was a lot of work. I spent some long hours in the seat, on the first day I drove 20 hours. I’m glad I’m home, it’s a long way, 15,000 miles is crazy,” Arndt said.
The Arndts are happy to be reunited, but are already planning their next trip, hoping to make the Four Corners Ride a reality.
