Happy 2023, everyone! To many, new years are a great chance for new beginnings. For adventure rider and YouTuber Noraly, who runs the Itchy Boots channel, the end of 2022 marked the end of her three-year, 65,000-kilometer (approximately 40,389-mile) journey from Patagonia to Alaska. It’s an impressive accomplishment, sure—but what’s next?
On any long adventure, you’re going to have to do at least minor repairs and maintenance along the way. From tire and oil changes to replacements of things that break, like mirrors and inner tubes in the tires, there was of course plenty of that during the journey. Alaska—which is Noraly’s name for her Honda CRF300L Rally—has done it all, and done it well.
Now that she’s stationary for a bit, though, it’s time for a full rebuild. After taking the bike completely apart, it’s time to attend to all the things that need some TLC after having put in so many miles, across such a wide variety of terrain.
Naturally, there’s a whole lot of cleaning involved. Among other things, a new camshaft goes into the engine, which gets a complete rebuild that we unfortunately don’t get to see in great detail. The protective bits that Noraly installed, including the bash plate and engine guard, did a good job—but that doesn’t mean that they came through unscathed. They’re structurally fine, but any time you get to bare metal, it needs to be treated with something to prevent rust. Here, Noraly opts for some fresh paint, both to protect the metal and also to make it look a little nicer.
Of course, taking the bike apart this far makes it an excellent time to install a few upgrades for the next adventure. A shiny new Arrow exhaust system replaces the old one, and we do get to hear how great it sounds on a short test ride at the end of the video. Noraly also noted that the old windscreen was a bit short and produced some undesirable buffeting, so she added a slightly taller one in this rebuild. Although she would have preferred a clear one, she took the tinted one because it was available—and honestly, we’ve all been there, haven’t we?
A new adventure calls for new graphics, so after a thorough cleaning of the body panels while they were off the bike, she applied the decals before getting Alaska ready to go to her next destination: A shipping container.
Where will Itchy Boots head next? So far, she hasn’t said just yet—only saying that Alaska is headed to a new continent, and that she’ll be going by sea freight instead of air freight this time due to the comparative costs involved. It’s also worth noting that we’ve now caught up to where Noraly is in real time, so the channel is going to be taking a bit of a break while Alaska proceeds to the next destination. (I mean, if you just went on a three-year journey, I think you’re probably entitled to a bit of a break, aren’t you?)
We look forward to seeing where the next journey leads, and can’t wait to see what new adventures are in store in Itchy Boots’ future.
