It was one hot day today. I ended up taking off my mesh jacket because it was just too damn hot. I can take a lot of heat but even this Florida boy has his limits. And, I reached them today.
So I cruised the highway all day today with only a Tee shirt and jeans on. Yes, I know, I wasn't safe but I was a little cooler.
I stopped in Kansas City (actually Grandview, Missouri) for lunch today and gave Mike a call to see if he was available. Well, he wasn't. He was on the way to work at his new job.
I had my requisite Taco Salad and Frostie and was on my way again on the last leg of my journey.
The traffic was really bad in Springfield. I reached it just at rush hour. I found out the GS will start to heat up if you aren't moving air around the cylinders. Fortunately I wasn't there too long and it only got up to the top bars for a minute.
Boring day riding in the heat.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
I'll put in a final review of the trip and then I'm done with this blog. I must start thinking about my next trip now. It's only ten months away :) .
Friday, August 1, 2008
Day 27 One more day to home ! ! !
Today looked a lot like rain all day again. I was able to stay ahead of it but the sky looked bad all day.
I stopped today in Murdo, South Dakota to check out the auto museum. This was more like a bunch of giant flea market buildings more than anything. It had a lot of old cars and motorcycles plus all kinds of other old stuff. I took a bunch of pictures while there.
I was going to go back to the office and complain about the fact that I didn't see any Henry J's there but then in the next to last building, I found one sad looking Henry J. My uncle Ep in Florida had one of those back in the '50's but I think it rusted out in two years. They were not manufactured very well at all. A shame too, because that body would eventually become extremely popular in the drag racing world. In Denver in the '60's they would put Chevy engines in them and run them at the drag races. I would guess that was partly because the bodys were so light. They certainly didn't have any galvanizing on them. In Florida they would last maybe three years max.
They also had a couple of Mustang motorcycles (?) or maybe you would call them motor scooters? They were sort of a cross between a motorcycle and a scooter. A friend of mine in high school in the late '50's had one. At the time I thought they were cool. Shows what I knew about bikes back then.
I also found one Harley Davidson 125 from the '50's, almost exactly like the one I had in High School. I also took pictures of that one.
And of course, Elvis' Harley was there. I can't believe the number of Harleys that Elvis owned. I think I've seen one in every motorcycle museum I've been in. :)
Seeing all those old motorcycles has got me to thinking about my next bike project. I'd like to find a very early BMW K75 project bike. For some reason I've become extremely intrigued by that motorcycle and would like to rebuild one from the ground up. I have to find a cheap one though.
In fact when I came out of the museum there was a BMW parked right in front and at the time I thought it was a newer BMW because it looked so good. But looking back at the picture I took of it, it turns out that it was actually a K75. I think they quit making that model in the mid '90's so someone has definitely taken care of that one. It was someone from out of town (lots of baggage on it) and they were riding two up also. If I had known what it was at the time, I would have tried to find them and talk to them about the bike. It looked really good to be at least 13 years old.
At the end of today I stopped again at Rockport, Missouri at the Rockport Inn. This time they had a room for me but didn't have a key for it. So they told me if I went out to come and get them to let me back in. I should probably think about upgrading my class of accommodations on my next trip. One more day on the road and I'm home ! ! ! ! ! !
mo-gser.blogspot.com
I stopped today in Murdo, South Dakota to check out the auto museum. This was more like a bunch of giant flea market buildings more than anything. It had a lot of old cars and motorcycles plus all kinds of other old stuff. I took a bunch of pictures while there.
I was going to go back to the office and complain about the fact that I didn't see any Henry J's there but then in the next to last building, I found one sad looking Henry J. My uncle Ep in Florida had one of those back in the '50's but I think it rusted out in two years. They were not manufactured very well at all. A shame too, because that body would eventually become extremely popular in the drag racing world. In Denver in the '60's they would put Chevy engines in them and run them at the drag races. I would guess that was partly because the bodys were so light. They certainly didn't have any galvanizing on them. In Florida they would last maybe three years max.
They also had a couple of Mustang motorcycles (?) or maybe you would call them motor scooters? They were sort of a cross between a motorcycle and a scooter. A friend of mine in high school in the late '50's had one. At the time I thought they were cool. Shows what I knew about bikes back then.
I also found one Harley Davidson 125 from the '50's, almost exactly like the one I had in High School. I also took pictures of that one.
And of course, Elvis' Harley was there. I can't believe the number of Harleys that Elvis owned. I think I've seen one in every motorcycle museum I've been in. :)
Seeing all those old motorcycles has got me to thinking about my next bike project. I'd like to find a very early BMW K75 project bike. For some reason I've become extremely intrigued by that motorcycle and would like to rebuild one from the ground up. I have to find a cheap one though.
In fact when I came out of the museum there was a BMW parked right in front and at the time I thought it was a newer BMW because it looked so good. But looking back at the picture I took of it, it turns out that it was actually a K75. I think they quit making that model in the mid '90's so someone has definitely taken care of that one. It was someone from out of town (lots of baggage on it) and they were riding two up also. If I had known what it was at the time, I would have tried to find them and talk to them about the bike. It looked really good to be at least 13 years old.
At the end of today I stopped again at Rockport, Missouri at the Rockport Inn. This time they had a room for me but didn't have a key for it. So they told me if I went out to come and get them to let me back in. I should probably think about upgrading my class of accommodations on my next trip. One more day on the road and I'm home ! ! ! ! ! !
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 26 More of Montana
That storm that came through last night dumped a lot of rain here in Hardin, Montana.
When I was gassing up and getting ready to leave, I met three guys who were traveling around the Montana area and camping. They said they were camping last night when the storm came through and they only lost one tent. The other two held up ok. One of the guys asked me where I had been and when I told him, he turned to one of his buddies and said "Hey, this guy took this bike all the way to Alaska and back!". Evidently, he thought that was a pretty good trip.
One of the guys was riding a BMW K1200LT, BMW's answer to the Honda Gold Wing or the Harley Road King. He said they were going down the highway yesterday and his buddies passed a truck and then didn't leave him enough room to get back in so he cranked the throttle and passed both of them so he could get back in. He didn't think he was going all that fast but one of his friends said he was flying. He said when they stopped again he checked his GPS to see what his top speed had been and it showed 129 mph. He turned the GPS on and showed me. He said he couldn't believe he was going that fast. He said he's never gone that fast before in his life. That is pretty fast if you ask me! Especially on a big touring bike like the K1200.
When I stopped for lunch (at Wendy's again) there was a guy there driving a newer Turbo Porsche 911 and he asked me if I saw any 911s in Alaska. I told him I hadn't seen one of them the whole time. He said he had lost his farm in a tornado and that he also had an R90 BMW that was damaged during the tornado. He said he had been thinking about trashing it but I told him to hang on to it because the older BMW's seem to be becoming more popular these days.
Today I was passed by my first motorcycle. I think it was a Harley but I'm not sure. I'm so depressed. I've passed so many motorcycles and now I'm passed by a Harley. I was running a consistent 80-81 mph (the speed limit is 75 mph) and he must have been running over 85 mph. I just let him go. It was just outside Sturgis so I imagine he was drunk. Why else would he be passing me? :)
I've seen a lot more motorcycles since getting back to the Sturgis area. They are probably the early arriver's to the rally.
The rain chased me all day long today. The sky looked bad in one direction or another for the whole day. I got a little bit of rain near Sturgis but nothing heavy.
I stopped in Wall S.D. again at the same motel I stayed at going through to Alaska. This time they gave me the "cheap" room. That room was so small I had to keep my arms close to my sides if I wanted to turn around. I don't think the whole room, bathroom included was over 10 feet by 4 1/2 feet. Really small ! But, it was cheap.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
When I was gassing up and getting ready to leave, I met three guys who were traveling around the Montana area and camping. They said they were camping last night when the storm came through and they only lost one tent. The other two held up ok. One of the guys asked me where I had been and when I told him, he turned to one of his buddies and said "Hey, this guy took this bike all the way to Alaska and back!". Evidently, he thought that was a pretty good trip.
One of the guys was riding a BMW K1200LT, BMW's answer to the Honda Gold Wing or the Harley Road King. He said they were going down the highway yesterday and his buddies passed a truck and then didn't leave him enough room to get back in so he cranked the throttle and passed both of them so he could get back in. He didn't think he was going all that fast but one of his friends said he was flying. He said when they stopped again he checked his GPS to see what his top speed had been and it showed 129 mph. He turned the GPS on and showed me. He said he couldn't believe he was going that fast. He said he's never gone that fast before in his life. That is pretty fast if you ask me! Especially on a big touring bike like the K1200.
When I stopped for lunch (at Wendy's again) there was a guy there driving a newer Turbo Porsche 911 and he asked me if I saw any 911s in Alaska. I told him I hadn't seen one of them the whole time. He said he had lost his farm in a tornado and that he also had an R90 BMW that was damaged during the tornado. He said he had been thinking about trashing it but I told him to hang on to it because the older BMW's seem to be becoming more popular these days.
Today I was passed by my first motorcycle. I think it was a Harley but I'm not sure. I'm so depressed. I've passed so many motorcycles and now I'm passed by a Harley. I was running a consistent 80-81 mph (the speed limit is 75 mph) and he must have been running over 85 mph. I just let him go. It was just outside Sturgis so I imagine he was drunk. Why else would he be passing me? :)
I've seen a lot more motorcycles since getting back to the Sturgis area. They are probably the early arriver's to the rally.
The rain chased me all day long today. The sky looked bad in one direction or another for the whole day. I got a little bit of rain near Sturgis but nothing heavy.
I stopped in Wall S.D. again at the same motel I stayed at going through to Alaska. This time they gave me the "cheap" room. That room was so small I had to keep my arms close to my sides if I wanted to turn around. I don't think the whole room, bathroom included was over 10 feet by 4 1/2 feet. Really small ! But, it was cheap.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 25 Montana is big too !
I can't believe it. Chris Evert married Greg Norman. I just watched him the other day trying to become the oldest person to win the tournament he was in. Not sure, but I think it was the British Open. He finished tied for third.
Finally I can go 75 mph legally again. On some highways in Canada you can get up to 120 kph which equates to about 72 mph but other than major highways, the speed limits are generally under 62 mph. Boring!
So, I'm cruising along shortly after starting the day and I look down and Garmin (my most accurate speedometer) says I'm going 89! Whoa GS! You can't run that fast you might get a ticket.
Garmin quit talking to me today. That is a major problem too. I don't want to have to look down at the display and try to figure out where my next turn is. Fortunately, I was able to sort it out this evening. It was a blue tooth pairing problem. It's talking to me again.
Today as I was riding along in the boonies of Montana, a bug splatted me right directly in my vision area of my face shield. Up until now if one hit me, it was always a little to either side or the other and I just kept riding until the next gas stop and then cleaned it. With that big mess of bug guts in my line of sight, I just couldn't handle it so had to stop and clean it. While I was cleaning it this guy pulled up on a Yamaha Intruder (I think that's what he said it was anyway) and asked if everything was ok. I said sure, just cleaning the bugs. He then told me that he had stopped a while ago to work on the mount for his tachometer because it was coming loose and he said a bunch of Harley riders just roared right by him, not even waving or anything. I told him that was just a Harley thing. I told him I didn't care if they wave or not, I still wave at everyone. He said he does too.
I can't believe how much that motorcycle looked like a Sportster. He said it was a 1991 and it looked almost brand new. It was a V twin and it had what looked like the Sportster air cleaner even but it was on the opposite side. The color and the paint job also looked just like a Sportster paint job. The color was almost exactly the same color as my Fat Boy. If I had one of those, I'd move that air cleaner to the other side (the right side) and then I'd add a Harley horn on the left side and then drive down the road just like a Harley rider (but a Harley rider with a lot of extra money in my pocket).
While I was having what is fast becoming my daily Wendy's Frostie, I called Sharon on her cell phone. Where do you think she was? You guessed it. The golf course. She is going to be so good at that game by the time I get home, she won't be able to get her head through the door at home. I will have to challenge her to a play off.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Finally I can go 75 mph legally again. On some highways in Canada you can get up to 120 kph which equates to about 72 mph but other than major highways, the speed limits are generally under 62 mph. Boring!
So, I'm cruising along shortly after starting the day and I look down and Garmin (my most accurate speedometer) says I'm going 89! Whoa GS! You can't run that fast you might get a ticket.
Garmin quit talking to me today. That is a major problem too. I don't want to have to look down at the display and try to figure out where my next turn is. Fortunately, I was able to sort it out this evening. It was a blue tooth pairing problem. It's talking to me again.
Today as I was riding along in the boonies of Montana, a bug splatted me right directly in my vision area of my face shield. Up until now if one hit me, it was always a little to either side or the other and I just kept riding until the next gas stop and then cleaned it. With that big mess of bug guts in my line of sight, I just couldn't handle it so had to stop and clean it. While I was cleaning it this guy pulled up on a Yamaha Intruder (I think that's what he said it was anyway) and asked if everything was ok. I said sure, just cleaning the bugs. He then told me that he had stopped a while ago to work on the mount for his tachometer because it was coming loose and he said a bunch of Harley riders just roared right by him, not even waving or anything. I told him that was just a Harley thing. I told him I didn't care if they wave or not, I still wave at everyone. He said he does too.
I can't believe how much that motorcycle looked like a Sportster. He said it was a 1991 and it looked almost brand new. It was a V twin and it had what looked like the Sportster air cleaner even but it was on the opposite side. The color and the paint job also looked just like a Sportster paint job. The color was almost exactly the same color as my Fat Boy. If I had one of those, I'd move that air cleaner to the other side (the right side) and then I'd add a Harley horn on the left side and then drive down the road just like a Harley rider (but a Harley rider with a lot of extra money in my pocket).
While I was having what is fast becoming my daily Wendy's Frostie, I called Sharon on her cell phone. Where do you think she was? You guessed it. The golf course. She is going to be so good at that game by the time I get home, she won't be able to get her head through the door at home. I will have to challenge her to a play off.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 24
When there isn't much to differentiate one day from another, it's hard to keep track of what happened during the day.
Especially if I fall behind in my updates. At least I made it over the border anyway. I'm back in the good ol USA !! Just like John Denver used to sing "My it's good to be back home again".
Got delayed in Canada a little. I stopped at a Petro-Canada for gas and saw something in a display case that I wanted to buy and the girl broke the key off trying to open the case. I spent 45 minutes or so trying to get the case open without success. I gave it up and headed for the border.
The Mounties really patrol that last bit of highway from Calgary to the border. I mean they were all over that highway. They use some kind of special lights on their cars too. When their car was so far ahead you couldn't hardly see there was a car there, you could see that red light flash as plain as day. I'm thinking it must be some kind of laser light. It was REALLY bright. Plus, as they are going down the road on one side they are running the radar on the other side. If someone is just going a little too fast for them but not fast enough to turn around and chase them down, they'll just flick the light for a second or two. As if to say, if you don't slow down I'm coming after you. And, the cars on the other side slow down too. I must have seen them pull over at least 15 or 20 cars when prior to that I'd maybe seen one or two cars pulled over total the whole time I was in Canada. Either people in this area like to speed or they are really tough on drivers.
Meanwhile, I'm beginning to think I'm invisible to their radar. I can't explain why I'm going about 5 to 10 mph faster than most all other cars in Canada and I never see any Mounties. It's like my normal running speed is faster than the rest of the Canadians. Maybe the penalties for a Canadian are so great that they never speed even a little. I go my normal 10 to 15% percent over the speed limit. One thing I know is that unless they are also using a GPS, my speedometer is a lot more accurate than what they have in their car. Not the Mounties, they surely have something as accurate as mine. But the normal car is probably no better than my BMW speedometer and it's off at least 8 mph at 75 mph.
I forgot to mention that when I got my new passport I forgot to sign it. So the Canadians didn't notice it when I left the U.S. and the U.S. people didn't notice it when I arrived in Alaska but the woman working the Canadian border when I left Alaska noticed it so I had to sign it then. Twice I got away without having a signed passport before they caught it. Just went breezing through the border when I got back to Montana without problems. They just wanted to know if I was bringing in any tobacco or alcohol. Now, I ask you, who would pay $14 for a pack of cigarettes and bring them back to the U.S. ?
I saw a different looking trike today. It was on the other side of the interstate so I couldn't see it real well but the back tires looked more like the front wheel of a bike than the normal looking trike tire. I couldn't tell if it was just a two wheel frame that bolted on to the back of a normal motorcycle or not but it looked a little weird to me.
I'm still noticing that the riders in the North West areas don't seem to wave much. I'm not sure if they're Canadians or not but they act like the normal Harley riders no matter what kind of bike they're on. Really strange to me.
Ran into some major wind again after crossing the border. When I would come up behind a truck, it would feel like the wind was trying to blow me off the road. Speaking of wind, I forgot to mention that when I was following the Tire King of Sioux City, Iowa the other day, we hit some major wind near a lake we were going by and he must have not been on his toes because one gust of wind blew him over about a third of the way into the oncoming traffics lane. If a truck had been passing him then, I wouldn't have wanted to see the result. You have to be awake every second on a bike. And this guy was on a Gold Wing. When that wind comes along like that, you have to react to it very quickly no matter how heavy your bike is. Come to think of it, I was probably following a little too close to the tire king. I was at least 150 yards behind him but if there had been a truck passing when he went over into the other lane, the debris would probably have extended way beyond where I was. I'll have to think about that more in the future. Lots of riding today. Ended up in Conrad, Montana. Nice little town with a nice cheap motel called the Northgate Motel.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Especially if I fall behind in my updates. At least I made it over the border anyway. I'm back in the good ol USA !! Just like John Denver used to sing "My it's good to be back home again".
Got delayed in Canada a little. I stopped at a Petro-Canada for gas and saw something in a display case that I wanted to buy and the girl broke the key off trying to open the case. I spent 45 minutes or so trying to get the case open without success. I gave it up and headed for the border.
The Mounties really patrol that last bit of highway from Calgary to the border. I mean they were all over that highway. They use some kind of special lights on their cars too. When their car was so far ahead you couldn't hardly see there was a car there, you could see that red light flash as plain as day. I'm thinking it must be some kind of laser light. It was REALLY bright. Plus, as they are going down the road on one side they are running the radar on the other side. If someone is just going a little too fast for them but not fast enough to turn around and chase them down, they'll just flick the light for a second or two. As if to say, if you don't slow down I'm coming after you. And, the cars on the other side slow down too. I must have seen them pull over at least 15 or 20 cars when prior to that I'd maybe seen one or two cars pulled over total the whole time I was in Canada. Either people in this area like to speed or they are really tough on drivers.
Meanwhile, I'm beginning to think I'm invisible to their radar. I can't explain why I'm going about 5 to 10 mph faster than most all other cars in Canada and I never see any Mounties. It's like my normal running speed is faster than the rest of the Canadians. Maybe the penalties for a Canadian are so great that they never speed even a little. I go my normal 10 to 15% percent over the speed limit. One thing I know is that unless they are also using a GPS, my speedometer is a lot more accurate than what they have in their car. Not the Mounties, they surely have something as accurate as mine. But the normal car is probably no better than my BMW speedometer and it's off at least 8 mph at 75 mph.
I forgot to mention that when I got my new passport I forgot to sign it. So the Canadians didn't notice it when I left the U.S. and the U.S. people didn't notice it when I arrived in Alaska but the woman working the Canadian border when I left Alaska noticed it so I had to sign it then. Twice I got away without having a signed passport before they caught it. Just went breezing through the border when I got back to Montana without problems. They just wanted to know if I was bringing in any tobacco or alcohol. Now, I ask you, who would pay $14 for a pack of cigarettes and bring them back to the U.S. ?
I saw a different looking trike today. It was on the other side of the interstate so I couldn't see it real well but the back tires looked more like the front wheel of a bike than the normal looking trike tire. I couldn't tell if it was just a two wheel frame that bolted on to the back of a normal motorcycle or not but it looked a little weird to me.
I'm still noticing that the riders in the North West areas don't seem to wave much. I'm not sure if they're Canadians or not but they act like the normal Harley riders no matter what kind of bike they're on. Really strange to me.
Ran into some major wind again after crossing the border. When I would come up behind a truck, it would feel like the wind was trying to blow me off the road. Speaking of wind, I forgot to mention that when I was following the Tire King of Sioux City, Iowa the other day, we hit some major wind near a lake we were going by and he must have not been on his toes because one gust of wind blew him over about a third of the way into the oncoming traffics lane. If a truck had been passing him then, I wouldn't have wanted to see the result. You have to be awake every second on a bike. And this guy was on a Gold Wing. When that wind comes along like that, you have to react to it very quickly no matter how heavy your bike is. Come to think of it, I was probably following a little too close to the tire king. I was at least 150 yards behind him but if there had been a truck passing when he went over into the other lane, the debris would probably have extended way beyond where I was. I'll have to think about that more in the future. Lots of riding today. Ended up in Conrad, Montana. Nice little town with a nice cheap motel called the Northgate Motel.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 23 Nothing to Report
Just a lot of riding through wide open spaces.
That British Columbia is one BIG province.
Today when I first started out I got going down the road a couple of miles and I got the biggest cramp in my right arm. I guess I'm going to have to start stretching before I get on the bike each day. Sitting in one spot cranking on the throttle just seems to wear me down. I really need to get that cruise control on the bike when I get back home. At least it would eliminate the hand, wrist, arm problem.
I did come across a "Deer Crossing" sign on the highway today. I see the sign and then I look around and I can see about three miles in all directions and I'm thinking "Where the hell could a deer hide?". There isn't anything as far as you can see. I guess it would be a problem if you were driving at night but it would be awfully hard for a deer to sneak up on you in the day time when you can see him a LLLLOOOONNNNGGGGGG way before he even gets close to the road. BORING DAY !
mo-gser.blogspot.com
That British Columbia is one BIG province.
Today when I first started out I got going down the road a couple of miles and I got the biggest cramp in my right arm. I guess I'm going to have to start stretching before I get on the bike each day. Sitting in one spot cranking on the throttle just seems to wear me down. I really need to get that cruise control on the bike when I get back home. At least it would eliminate the hand, wrist, arm problem.
I did come across a "Deer Crossing" sign on the highway today. I see the sign and then I look around and I can see about three miles in all directions and I'm thinking "Where the hell could a deer hide?". There isn't anything as far as you can see. I guess it would be a problem if you were driving at night but it would be awfully hard for a deer to sneak up on you in the day time when you can see him a LLLLOOOONNNNGGGGGG way before he even gets close to the road. BORING DAY !
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 22 Still on the Border Dash
Running for the border with the federales hot on my trail. I'm hoping I'll get there before they fortify the border.
Just a lot of riding today. Saw no animals. Saw nothing but the lines in the road.
One of the things I'm going to have to do when I get home and get settled in is go back and figure out exactly how far I went each day and where I stayed at the end of each day. That could be important when I do this next year with Lyle. I don't want to stay any place I didn't like just because I forgot what place I stayed in.
I also need to better understand just how far I can ride in a day. Pretty boring report when all you do is ride (and eat Wendy's Taco Salads). I'm down to one meal a day lately. I have tea and a donut/cinnamon roll in the morning and then I eat lunch/dinner around 3pm or so. Then I don't eat again until the next day.
I'm really liking this garmin thing. I say "where is the nearest Wendy's?" and Garmin Girl comes back with a list of all the Wendy's within around 200 miles. So, all I have to do is see which one might be along my route and then head for it. Sweet! Well, at least the frostie is anyway!
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Just a lot of riding today. Saw no animals. Saw nothing but the lines in the road.
One of the things I'm going to have to do when I get home and get settled in is go back and figure out exactly how far I went each day and where I stayed at the end of each day. That could be important when I do this next year with Lyle. I don't want to stay any place I didn't like just because I forgot what place I stayed in.
I also need to better understand just how far I can ride in a day. Pretty boring report when all you do is ride (and eat Wendy's Taco Salads). I'm down to one meal a day lately. I have tea and a donut/cinnamon roll in the morning and then I eat lunch/dinner around 3pm or so. Then I don't eat again until the next day.
I'm really liking this garmin thing. I say "where is the nearest Wendy's?" and Garmin Girl comes back with a list of all the Wendy's within around 200 miles. So, all I have to do is see which one might be along my route and then head for it. Sweet! Well, at least the frostie is anyway!
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Friday, July 18, 2008
Day 21 Animal Day
Still heading South trying to get back to the states.
I'm running over roads that I did coming up but some of them I'm not remembering. I must have really been zoned out when I was coming through some of these spots. One area swings around a lake and up and down twisties that I just don't remember all of. I was probably so focused I didn't even notice where I was going.
One thing I definitely remembered from when I came up here is the bridge at Teslin. The metal bridge where the metal is in bad shape. It's still bad but not near as exciting as it was the first time. I guess I'm getting more comfortable with the wobbles on the metal bridges now. The bike was still wandering all over the bridge and bouncing up and down at the same time but it just wasn't near as "blood pressure elevating" as before.
Anyway, today was the animals day. I have got to come up with some easy way to get a camera out and take pictures. I couldn't just leave it out because it looked like rain the whole day. The way I have it now is in the tank bag and I have to stop the bike, turn it off, get off the bike, open the tank bag, dig out the camera, put everything back that I took out so I could get to the camera, zip the bag back up so I don't have everything fall out of it, and then I'm ready to take a picture.
Needless to say, I didn't get any pictures today.
I saw a moose cow standing in about two feet of water eating. What they do is go out in the ponds and graze just like a cow, but with their heads totally underwater. They like the stuff that grows on the bottoms of the ponds and lakes up here.
Then, I'm pretty sure what I saw were reindeer. They were all over that highway. A person couldn't go very fast at all because just as sure as you speed up, there will be a bunch of them around the next corner. And they always seem to want to run in front of you. They wouldn't run very far or fast but they waited until you were almost on them and then start running. Right in front of you most of the time.
Then I had to stop for a herd of buffalo. Yep! Right there in the middle of the road. It's sort of funny. The road to those buffalo is like a fence to a cow. You know how cows always go up to the fence and try to get the grass on the other side? Well, buffalo are like that with the road. There'll be twenty or so buffalo divided between the two sides of the road. All of a sudden, five or six on one side of the road will just head over to the other side. A minute later, five or six from that side will just head over to the other side. It's comical. The exact same grass is on both sides of the road but it always looks better "over there".
These are woodland buffalo. They almost became extinct. I don't think there are over three or four hundred of them left. Somewhere around twenty or so are killed by cars and trucks each year and I can see how. They are DUMB! I saw more of them after the herd but they were just in ones and twos along the road.
But when I stopped for the herd, they were right in the middle of the road. Being on a motorcycle I didn't think I should just ride up to them and see if they move. They were a lot bigger than I was so I waited until a car came along and they slowly moved up to the buffalo and honked their horn and they finally moved off the road. I zoomed along behind the car causing one buffalo calf to take off running off the road in a hurry.
Then there was one area where the stone sheep were out. They get on the road to lick the salt off the road. They can't be trusted either. They'll run right in front of you too. I probably saw around fifty of them.
Then I saw another grizzly but couldn't take a picture of this one either. I had just passed a car and there was no way I could jam on my brakes to stop to take a picture. It was another pretty big one too. It was pretty close to the road and not paying attention to the cars or me at all. He might have paid more attention if I had stopped to take his picture.
Then I saw another black bear but he was too far away to take a picture. He was probably three hundred yards away.
Went through more construction areas today but nothing like along the Dalton Highway.
When I stopped for lunch, there was a young guy stopped also and he had a bike exactly like mine. Same color and everything. That's the first one I've seen since I got mine. He was heading for Anchorage to meet a friend and do some touring of Alaska. I believe he was German but he had almost no accent.
That brings up another finding I have made. There are a LOT of Germans in Canada and Alaska. I keep hearing Germans talking all over the place. They must really like the cold weather. The woman who worked in the bakery in Haines Junction said she left Germany with her youngest daughter and husband fifteen years ago. She said she will never go back to live. She likes it too much in Canada.
Can you imagine leaving three of your kids, taking the youngest and heading off to a new country when you don't speak a word of their language. She still has a strong german accent but she can talk!
I stopped at one resort to see if I could get some lunch there but the dining room was closed. The woman working behind the counter had a german accent and two guests were coming out the door as I was going in and they were speaking in german. Almost like a resort for germans.
There are pockets of people here from different countries depending on where you are in Canada or Alaska. It reminds me of Nebraska a little. There are towns there which were largely settled by people from one country in Europe or another. Some mostly german, some Scandinavian, some polish, etc.
Making progress getting back home.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
I'm running over roads that I did coming up but some of them I'm not remembering. I must have really been zoned out when I was coming through some of these spots. One area swings around a lake and up and down twisties that I just don't remember all of. I was probably so focused I didn't even notice where I was going.
One thing I definitely remembered from when I came up here is the bridge at Teslin. The metal bridge where the metal is in bad shape. It's still bad but not near as exciting as it was the first time. I guess I'm getting more comfortable with the wobbles on the metal bridges now. The bike was still wandering all over the bridge and bouncing up and down at the same time but it just wasn't near as "blood pressure elevating" as before.
Anyway, today was the animals day. I have got to come up with some easy way to get a camera out and take pictures. I couldn't just leave it out because it looked like rain the whole day. The way I have it now is in the tank bag and I have to stop the bike, turn it off, get off the bike, open the tank bag, dig out the camera, put everything back that I took out so I could get to the camera, zip the bag back up so I don't have everything fall out of it, and then I'm ready to take a picture.
Needless to say, I didn't get any pictures today.
I saw a moose cow standing in about two feet of water eating. What they do is go out in the ponds and graze just like a cow, but with their heads totally underwater. They like the stuff that grows on the bottoms of the ponds and lakes up here.
Then, I'm pretty sure what I saw were reindeer. They were all over that highway. A person couldn't go very fast at all because just as sure as you speed up, there will be a bunch of them around the next corner. And they always seem to want to run in front of you. They wouldn't run very far or fast but they waited until you were almost on them and then start running. Right in front of you most of the time.
Then I had to stop for a herd of buffalo. Yep! Right there in the middle of the road. It's sort of funny. The road to those buffalo is like a fence to a cow. You know how cows always go up to the fence and try to get the grass on the other side? Well, buffalo are like that with the road. There'll be twenty or so buffalo divided between the two sides of the road. All of a sudden, five or six on one side of the road will just head over to the other side. A minute later, five or six from that side will just head over to the other side. It's comical. The exact same grass is on both sides of the road but it always looks better "over there".
These are woodland buffalo. They almost became extinct. I don't think there are over three or four hundred of them left. Somewhere around twenty or so are killed by cars and trucks each year and I can see how. They are DUMB! I saw more of them after the herd but they were just in ones and twos along the road.
But when I stopped for the herd, they were right in the middle of the road. Being on a motorcycle I didn't think I should just ride up to them and see if they move. They were a lot bigger than I was so I waited until a car came along and they slowly moved up to the buffalo and honked their horn and they finally moved off the road. I zoomed along behind the car causing one buffalo calf to take off running off the road in a hurry.
Then there was one area where the stone sheep were out. They get on the road to lick the salt off the road. They can't be trusted either. They'll run right in front of you too. I probably saw around fifty of them.
Then I saw another grizzly but couldn't take a picture of this one either. I had just passed a car and there was no way I could jam on my brakes to stop to take a picture. It was another pretty big one too. It was pretty close to the road and not paying attention to the cars or me at all. He might have paid more attention if I had stopped to take his picture.
Then I saw another black bear but he was too far away to take a picture. He was probably three hundred yards away.
Went through more construction areas today but nothing like along the Dalton Highway.
When I stopped for lunch, there was a young guy stopped also and he had a bike exactly like mine. Same color and everything. That's the first one I've seen since I got mine. He was heading for Anchorage to meet a friend and do some touring of Alaska. I believe he was German but he had almost no accent.
That brings up another finding I have made. There are a LOT of Germans in Canada and Alaska. I keep hearing Germans talking all over the place. They must really like the cold weather. The woman who worked in the bakery in Haines Junction said she left Germany with her youngest daughter and husband fifteen years ago. She said she will never go back to live. She likes it too much in Canada.
Can you imagine leaving three of your kids, taking the youngest and heading off to a new country when you don't speak a word of their language. She still has a strong german accent but she can talk!
I stopped at one resort to see if I could get some lunch there but the dining room was closed. The woman working behind the counter had a german accent and two guests were coming out the door as I was going in and they were speaking in german. Almost like a resort for germans.
There are pockets of people here from different countries depending on where you are in Canada or Alaska. It reminds me of Nebraska a little. There are towns there which were largely settled by people from one country in Europe or another. Some mostly german, some Scandinavian, some polish, etc.
Making progress getting back home.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 20 Rain Close
The temps were pretty low leaving Haines Junction this morning. I was actually getting cold. It was overcast and looked a lot like it was going to rain but I never saw any.
But before departing Haines Junction, I had to go back to that bakery and have one of those raisin cinnamon rolls. My, my, my but they are good. Yummy, is the word that comes to mind.
At a rest stop along the way I met a magazine writer that was on a KTM Adventure. He was heading for Prudhoe Bay to give the KTM a real testing. I'm going to watch his web site to see what he thought of it.
Nothing special to report today. It was just a dreary overcast day the whole day until just outside Watson Lake. Then the sun started to shine. But, I understand the weather forecast is for rain tomorrow. It figures, I just start having fun again and the rain starts back up. I hope it isn't heavy at least. I can ride ok in lighter rain but the heavy stuff is really hard to ride in. Visibility goes down to almost nothing in heavy rain.
When I stopped for gas at one RV park with a restaurant, I met a guy from Missouri, I think he said Kearney(sp?) Missouri. He was riding a Gold Wind and I can't remember what his son was riding but they are on a big trip. He said he's put 6,000 miles on it so far and had a lot of places to go yet. They were eating in the restaurant there at the RV park.
A couple of bikes were broke down in Watson Lake. One of them a Kawasaki KLR 650 with a broken chain and one of the few Buell / Harleys I've seen up here. The Buell had a broken drive belt. And of course, nobody within 1,000 miles has one. I think he's getting one shipped up from Washington or Oregon. That bike looks so small, it looks like a 10 year old kid could sit on it and touch the ground ok. Boy, is it small! I don't know what the model is but it looks fairly new.
When I went to have supper at the restaurant at Watson Lake, what do I see but the guy from Kearney with his son and they're eating again. I asked them if I didn't just see them eating not too long ago at the RV park down the road. The son said "we eat a lot!". From looking at the dad, I could believe it. He was pretty round in the middle.
Lots of motorcycles still heading up towards Alaska and Prudhoe Bay, Those Canadians make a lot of money off Americans going to and from Alaska on the Alaska Highway. We are a gold mine to them.
As a side note, I found out that Canadians pay over $14 for a pack of cigarettes! And, the price is going over $15 within the next couple of months. The Canadians who told me this didn't realize what they were doing, but as they were telling me this, they were lighting up cigarettes!!! The price for them is fast approaching $1 per cigarette. Quite expensive by any standards.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
But before departing Haines Junction, I had to go back to that bakery and have one of those raisin cinnamon rolls. My, my, my but they are good. Yummy, is the word that comes to mind.
At a rest stop along the way I met a magazine writer that was on a KTM Adventure. He was heading for Prudhoe Bay to give the KTM a real testing. I'm going to watch his web site to see what he thought of it.
Nothing special to report today. It was just a dreary overcast day the whole day until just outside Watson Lake. Then the sun started to shine. But, I understand the weather forecast is for rain tomorrow. It figures, I just start having fun again and the rain starts back up. I hope it isn't heavy at least. I can ride ok in lighter rain but the heavy stuff is really hard to ride in. Visibility goes down to almost nothing in heavy rain.
When I stopped for gas at one RV park with a restaurant, I met a guy from Missouri, I think he said Kearney(sp?) Missouri. He was riding a Gold Wind and I can't remember what his son was riding but they are on a big trip. He said he's put 6,000 miles on it so far and had a lot of places to go yet. They were eating in the restaurant there at the RV park.
A couple of bikes were broke down in Watson Lake. One of them a Kawasaki KLR 650 with a broken chain and one of the few Buell / Harleys I've seen up here. The Buell had a broken drive belt. And of course, nobody within 1,000 miles has one. I think he's getting one shipped up from Washington or Oregon. That bike looks so small, it looks like a 10 year old kid could sit on it and touch the ground ok. Boy, is it small! I don't know what the model is but it looks fairly new.
When I went to have supper at the restaurant at Watson Lake, what do I see but the guy from Kearney with his son and they're eating again. I asked them if I didn't just see them eating not too long ago at the RV park down the road. The son said "we eat a lot!". From looking at the dad, I could believe it. He was pretty round in the middle.
Lots of motorcycles still heading up towards Alaska and Prudhoe Bay, Those Canadians make a lot of money off Americans going to and from Alaska on the Alaska Highway. We are a gold mine to them.
As a side note, I found out that Canadians pay over $14 for a pack of cigarettes! And, the price is going over $15 within the next couple of months. The Canadians who told me this didn't realize what they were doing, but as they were telling me this, they were lighting up cigarettes!!! The price for them is fast approaching $1 per cigarette. Quite expensive by any standards.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 19 Just a Day of Riding
This was a pretty exciting day.
I rode over all the same route that I had so much trouble with last week and didn't even slow down. It seems it's so much easier this time. I don't know if it's the fact that I have had more experience or whether it's just a much easier road now. Anyway, it was very enjoyable riding the same stuff again.
It was amazing. First, I'm leaning into turns on gravel, then I'm leaning into turns on mud, then I'm leaning into turns on gravel and mud mixed! I was a wild man! Note to self: Be sure and sign up for Dakar in 2010 also!!
Well, maybe I wasn't leaning all that much!
I met up with a guy named Frank, from Sioux City, Iowa at the hotel I was staying at in Tok. He was riding a Gold Wing and was going the same way I was so we rode together from Tok to Haines Junction. Turns out he's the "Donald Trump" of tires in Sioux City. At least he was. He sold out to his kids and now he's "retired" like me. I think he had four or five stores around Iowa and now each one of his kids runs a store plus a friend of the kids that bought a share of the company runs one.
One of the bad spots coming down was along the Liard Lake area where they were doing construction. Coming down it was mostly mud and I slipped around quite a bit. This time I slid around some but not near enough to get excited about. After we stopped, Frank said "that was a really bad section, wasn't it?". I didn't really think so. He should have been on the Dalton Highway! Just caught a glimpse of a Black Bear today. I'm pretty sure it was a bear eating something on the ground but he never raised his head so I could get a good look at him. From where I was, he looked like a big black ball of fur. I hope I can get at least one good picture of a bear before I'm out of "bear country".
A bunch of Harley riders were staying where I was and they said they're headed for the Dalton Highway going to Prudhoe Bay. I didn't say anything about what everyone told me about Harleys and the Haul Road. They'll find out I guess.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
I rode over all the same route that I had so much trouble with last week and didn't even slow down. It seems it's so much easier this time. I don't know if it's the fact that I have had more experience or whether it's just a much easier road now. Anyway, it was very enjoyable riding the same stuff again.
It was amazing. First, I'm leaning into turns on gravel, then I'm leaning into turns on mud, then I'm leaning into turns on gravel and mud mixed! I was a wild man! Note to self: Be sure and sign up for Dakar in 2010 also!!
Well, maybe I wasn't leaning all that much!
I met up with a guy named Frank, from Sioux City, Iowa at the hotel I was staying at in Tok. He was riding a Gold Wing and was going the same way I was so we rode together from Tok to Haines Junction. Turns out he's the "Donald Trump" of tires in Sioux City. At least he was. He sold out to his kids and now he's "retired" like me. I think he had four or five stores around Iowa and now each one of his kids runs a store plus a friend of the kids that bought a share of the company runs one.
One of the bad spots coming down was along the Liard Lake area where they were doing construction. Coming down it was mostly mud and I slipped around quite a bit. This time I slid around some but not near enough to get excited about. After we stopped, Frank said "that was a really bad section, wasn't it?". I didn't really think so. He should have been on the Dalton Highway! Just caught a glimpse of a Black Bear today. I'm pretty sure it was a bear eating something on the ground but he never raised his head so I could get a good look at him. From where I was, he looked like a big black ball of fur. I hope I can get at least one good picture of a bear before I'm out of "bear country".
A bunch of Harley riders were staying where I was and they said they're headed for the Dalton Highway going to Prudhoe Bay. I didn't say anything about what everyone told me about Harleys and the Haul Road. They'll find out I guess.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 18 Time to Head South
It took me a while to get everything loaded up and ready to go this morning but finally I was ready to go and it was already lunch time.
One last Wendy's Taco Salad and I'm "outa' here".
I decided not to do some of the sight seeing things suggested by other riders as I'll be back with Lyle next year and we can do them then. I'm just heading for Tok and the border.
On the way to Tok, I'm cruising along and I see off to the right side of the road, a BIG black shadow and then I realize it's a moose. And a really large one too. He was back against the trees in the shadows and I could barely make him out until I was right there. He looked to be totally black but it's hard to tell colors when the sun comes in at an angle and the shadows are so dark. He could have been a really dark brown. He had the biggest rack on him I've seen in books and pictures. Boy he was big. I was by him so fast I didn't get a chance to even think about taking a picture.
Didn't see a single bear today. Where oh where are the bears? If I see one tomorrow I'm going to stop and take his picture.
As I was having supper in Tok, two state troopers went through town running over 60 mph or so heading South. They were definitely going too fast through the center of this small town. A couple of minutes later an ambulance went through much slower. Must have been an accident South of Tok. Hope it wasn't a biker.
Tomorrow I'm heading for Haines Junction. If the weather holds up, I'm going to go for an iron butt run the next day. See if I can get back to the states a little quicker than when I was coming North.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
One last Wendy's Taco Salad and I'm "outa' here".
I decided not to do some of the sight seeing things suggested by other riders as I'll be back with Lyle next year and we can do them then. I'm just heading for Tok and the border.
On the way to Tok, I'm cruising along and I see off to the right side of the road, a BIG black shadow and then I realize it's a moose. And a really large one too. He was back against the trees in the shadows and I could barely make him out until I was right there. He looked to be totally black but it's hard to tell colors when the sun comes in at an angle and the shadows are so dark. He could have been a really dark brown. He had the biggest rack on him I've seen in books and pictures. Boy he was big. I was by him so fast I didn't get a chance to even think about taking a picture.
Didn't see a single bear today. Where oh where are the bears? If I see one tomorrow I'm going to stop and take his picture.
As I was having supper in Tok, two state troopers went through town running over 60 mph or so heading South. They were definitely going too fast through the center of this small town. A couple of minutes later an ambulance went through much slower. Must have been an accident South of Tok. Hope it wasn't a biker.
Tomorrow I'm heading for Haines Junction. If the weather holds up, I'm going to go for an iron butt run the next day. See if I can get back to the states a little quicker than when I was coming North.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 17 And Back to Civilization
Had another good nights sleep and woke up ready to hit the road. Went over to the restaurant, ate breakfast and loaded up the bike.
While we were loading the bikes, a guy riding a KLR 650 came over and started talking to us about KLRs. Now the KLR is one of the best off road bikes going (except it has a chain and not a drive shaft) and a guy by the name of Greg Frasier has used one the last two times he's gone around the world on a motorcycle (I think he's done that "around the world" ride about 5 or 6 times, but only the last two on a KLR). He said the last time he went, he changed the oil and adjusted the chain a couple of times and that was it for maintenance. They are ultra reliable. At least they used to be.
The guy in Coldfoot was telling us about his 2008 KLR and how many things had gone wrong with it. I can't remember all of them but:
1. It burned a quart of oil in 1,000 miles (the rings wouldn't seat) and Kawasaki fixed the problem free.
2. His turn signal fell off
3. His display quit working
4. His speedometer quit working (he has to use his GPS for a speedometer now)
5. And other things I can't remember all of
It sounds to me like Kawasaki started making their bikes in China. There is no excuse for that many different problems with what is supposed to be a top of the line Japanese motorcycle.
After we finally got the bikes loaded up, Ken and I headed for Fairbanks. No real problems along the way. It was a breeze.
Another fine day of motorcycle riding.
As I was checking in at the hotel, the two guys and the girl that I had met in Coldfoot were also checking in. The girl wasn't there at the check in counter but I talked to the two guys for a while. Turns out the girl riding the older Honda Shadow with street tires had made it up to Prudhoe Bay and back without any problems. Now that is a motorcycle rider. The one guy riding the R1200GS said the girl had only been riding a motorcycle about a year or so. Maybe she was just too new to understand what was going on as she was riding in the mud and gravel and just buzzed right through it without a care in the world. I told them to tell her my hat was off to her and I thought she was an "ANIMAL". They just laughed and said they didn't want to give her an even bigger head than she already had.
Now that I can say "Mission Accomplished"! I'm ready to head home in the morning. .
mo-gser.blogspot.com
While we were loading the bikes, a guy riding a KLR 650 came over and started talking to us about KLRs. Now the KLR is one of the best off road bikes going (except it has a chain and not a drive shaft) and a guy by the name of Greg Frasier has used one the last two times he's gone around the world on a motorcycle (I think he's done that "around the world" ride about 5 or 6 times, but only the last two on a KLR). He said the last time he went, he changed the oil and adjusted the chain a couple of times and that was it for maintenance. They are ultra reliable. At least they used to be.
The guy in Coldfoot was telling us about his 2008 KLR and how many things had gone wrong with it. I can't remember all of them but:
1. It burned a quart of oil in 1,000 miles (the rings wouldn't seat) and Kawasaki fixed the problem free.
2. His turn signal fell off
3. His display quit working
4. His speedometer quit working (he has to use his GPS for a speedometer now)
5. And other things I can't remember all of
It sounds to me like Kawasaki started making their bikes in China. There is no excuse for that many different problems with what is supposed to be a top of the line Japanese motorcycle.
After we finally got the bikes loaded up, Ken and I headed for Fairbanks. No real problems along the way. It was a breeze.
Another fine day of motorcycle riding.
As I was checking in at the hotel, the two guys and the girl that I had met in Coldfoot were also checking in. The girl wasn't there at the check in counter but I talked to the two guys for a while. Turns out the girl riding the older Honda Shadow with street tires had made it up to Prudhoe Bay and back without any problems. Now that is a motorcycle rider. The one guy riding the R1200GS said the girl had only been riding a motorcycle about a year or so. Maybe she was just too new to understand what was going on as she was riding in the mud and gravel and just buzzed right through it without a care in the world. I told them to tell her my hat was off to her and I thought she was an "ANIMAL". They just laughed and said they didn't want to give her an even bigger head than she already had.
Now that I can say "Mission Accomplished"! I'm ready to head home in the morning. .
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Day 16 And a Better Outlook
Well, I woke up in a much better mood.
I totally forgot to mention that on the ride from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, I came across a Tasmanian Devil. Well, not really. It was a women from Tasmania named Margaret riding a BMW GS650. Well, she wasn't actually riding it. She was broke down. I stopped and took a look at it but she had already discovered the problem. Her radiator was totally blocked by mud. Not a bit of air could go through the radiator. She was trying to scrape it off without much success. About that time, Lane, Emily, Nick, and Jennie came along and they stopped also. I was saying that what we needed was a golf club cleaning brush to really get it out and I think it was Jennie said how about a toothbrush. Margaret had a toothbrush so then I started pouring water on the radiator and brushing with the toothbrush. It would have been a lot faster with a golf club cleaning brush but eventually we got the mud off, added a little water to the radiator and she put her bike back together.
It turns out she is riding around the world on the BMW. She calls herself "BEEMERBIRD". Her name is Margaret J. Peart and she has a web page documenting her adventures www.ridingtoextremes.com I'm going to have to look that up when I get home. She also is a member of Iron Butt Australia. She is one tough lady. I forget what she said was one of her record distances but I'm thinking it was around 1,800 miles on one ride. She was a pretty good mechanic too. She said she probably had most parts off that bike at one time or another and had broken a few others. I can't guess her age but I'd say over thirty anyway. She's on a real adventure.
I took a lot of pictures of our "roadside assistance team" and the broken GS and headed on down the road to Prudhoe Bay.
I also have to make a correction in yesterdays entry. Ken from Montana was riding on a BMW GS650, not a KLR 650.
Since I had missed the tour yesterday, they let me sign up for the one today at 8am. I made it there with plenty of time to spare. The tour was going to last two hours and then I had one hour to pack up and check out of the "hotel". They aren't really what I would call hotels. The
whole infrastructure at Prudhoe Bay was built for the oil workers so it made me think of my old days back in the military barracks. The food was a lot like "institutional" food but there was a lot of it. You had to put away your own dishes and trays just like back in the chow hall in the
military.
Ken, the guy who had dinner with us at Coldfoot was staying in an even worse place. He said the door to his room was a "meat locker" door. It had the big handle on the outside and a round knob on the inside that you push to open the door just like a large meat locker. If you think about it, the best way to have an insulated room is to start out with a large refrigerator. Perfect insulation. You just have to worry about making sure there is enough air flow to keep from suffocating someone.
There is no alcohol allowed in Prudhoe Bay, period. There are several things that can get a worker fired. Things like leaving a bag of trash in your truck when you go in to eat lunch (too enticing for bears), having any alcohol anywhere, getting a speeding ticket, harassing the wildlife, well, you get the picture. The workers are on a two week shift somewhat similar to Lyle working on the river boat. The company flies them up from either Fairbanks or Anchorage for their shift and then flies them back for a week. I think they can also work up to four or six weeks before flying home if they want to make more money.
On the tour they explained all about how the operation works and how the technology has changed over the years. When they say they can now drill without disturbing the environment, they aren't kidding.
Say they want to drill in some spot. They wait until winter when everything is frozen, then they build an "ice road" to where they want to drill. They do this by spraying water on the ground until they get it the right thickness and then drive everything they need out to the spot over this ice road. Then when the ice thaws, there is absolutely no sign that a road was ever there. Pretty slick if you ask me.
Plus the "footprint" to drill has been drastically reduced over the years. They used to have an acre or two to set everything up to drill and now have reduced that down to just several hundred square feet needed. Plus they can now drill horizontally from one spot out to 8,000 feet away from the drill pad. So they put the drill pad in one spot and can drill pretty far away from there if they need to. Pretty amazing.
On the tour, they take you out to Baffin Bay so you can go swimming in the Arctic Ocean, assuming any idiot would ever want to. In our case there were four idiots. Two young girls and two boys with them. I took pictures of the whole thing. An older guy from Wisconsin was there with his wife and he went in but only to his knees. I went in also. But just up to the end of my pinkie finger. HA ! Had you there for a minute didn't I? For doing this, I received a Pinkie swim certificate which I will frame when I get home.
The guy from Wisconsin was in a camper that they had been sleeping it during the trip up to Prudhoe Bay. He said one night when they were parked in a turnoff not too far from Prudhoe Bay, a bear came up to their camper and started pushing on the outside and making it rock. Then a bigger bear came up to a camper next to them and really started rocking it. Then it went around to the front of the pickup and climbed up on the hood. It finally went away. I bet that hood was dented.
After the tour I went back to my room and packed everything up on the bike. I found out that the guy I had met at the Arctic Circle sign two days ago on the way to Prudhoe Bay on the Versys motorcycle, had crashed about forty miles from Prudhoe Bay. That was just ten miles into the large gravel I mentioned yesterday. That was not the bike to take on that road at all. I was told he was disoriented after the accident but didn't break anything. The motorcycle was still functional too. They said he knew his name and what day it was but didn't know if he had been going North or South. Eventually, he came around and decided he would ride the bike on into Prudhoe Bay. I saw the bike parked next to mine when I came back from the tour but I couldn't find him and I didn't know his last name so couldn't ask about him either. I hope if I ever have an accident, they don't ask me what day it is. I have no idea right this moment so how would I know after an accident?
I went ahead and gassed up and headed back to Coldfoot. A most amazing thing happened along the way. I was having fun! Just yesterday that road was the worst thing I had ever encountered and now it no longer was a problem. I think the major difference was that I wasn't dead tired.
I was able to get a good nights sleep. The road was still difficult but I was no longer in constant fear of crashing and burning. Note to self: Put that application back in for the Dakar Rallye next year!!
Ken was also in Prudhoe Bay and we were planning to ride back together to Coldfoot but he had already started back by the time I got ready to go (he didn't realize that it takes me a long time to get ready). Plus, when I went to get gas, there was a Caribou traffic jam and then when I finally got to the service station, they were out of gas so I had to go find the only remaining gas station. Finally, with the tank filled and my two spare gas cans filled, I set out for Coldfoot.
Not too far down the road I came across Ken standing on the side of the road talking on his satellite phone. Now, isn't that just like a BMW rider? Carries a SAT phone around with him so he can "phone home" when he feels like it. He said he had rented it and a couple hundred minutes of talk time on it so if he had problems he could call for help. That isn't too bad an idea either. I might think about doing that when Lyle and I go next year. A pretty cheap insurance policy. That way if you're out in the middle of nowhere, at least you can call all your friends and tell them "hey! I'm out here in the middle of nowhere!"
After his call we headed on the down the road towards Coldfoot.
We breezed right through Antigun pass without any problems. It must have been due to my good nights sleep again.
We stopped at the "Hotspot Cafe" just North of the Yukon River. Ken said they were supposed to have the best burgers in the land. They were good but they were also BIG. I almost couldn't finish mine. The owner said no fries, just the burger, because it is so big. She was right. It was an interesting place. I took a lot of pictures.
We left there and went maybe a half mile to the Yukon river gas stop and gassed up and headed for Coldfoot.
About twenty miles or so from Coldfoot, it started to rain again. That, of course, turned the road into mud again and the ride got "interesting" again. If I'd known the road was going to be like that again, I wouldn't have eaten that HUGE burger. It wasn't the thing to do when you were going to be under a lot of stress. I made it through there alright though and we arrived at Coldfoot in the rain. While I was getting the bike unloaded and we were having supper, several Harleys arrived there for the night. They were heading for Prudhoe Bay. I wish I knew how they made out because that road was not a good road to be riding a Harley on.
See, it is better!
mo-gser.blogspot.com
I totally forgot to mention that on the ride from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, I came across a Tasmanian Devil. Well, not really. It was a women from Tasmania named Margaret riding a BMW GS650. Well, she wasn't actually riding it. She was broke down. I stopped and took a look at it but she had already discovered the problem. Her radiator was totally blocked by mud. Not a bit of air could go through the radiator. She was trying to scrape it off without much success. About that time, Lane, Emily, Nick, and Jennie came along and they stopped also. I was saying that what we needed was a golf club cleaning brush to really get it out and I think it was Jennie said how about a toothbrush. Margaret had a toothbrush so then I started pouring water on the radiator and brushing with the toothbrush. It would have been a lot faster with a golf club cleaning brush but eventually we got the mud off, added a little water to the radiator and she put her bike back together.
It turns out she is riding around the world on the BMW. She calls herself "BEEMERBIRD". Her name is Margaret J. Peart and she has a web page documenting her adventures www.ridingtoextremes.com I'm going to have to look that up when I get home. She also is a member of Iron Butt Australia. She is one tough lady. I forget what she said was one of her record distances but I'm thinking it was around 1,800 miles on one ride. She was a pretty good mechanic too. She said she probably had most parts off that bike at one time or another and had broken a few others. I can't guess her age but I'd say over thirty anyway. She's on a real adventure.
I took a lot of pictures of our "roadside assistance team" and the broken GS and headed on down the road to Prudhoe Bay.
I also have to make a correction in yesterdays entry. Ken from Montana was riding on a BMW GS650, not a KLR 650.
Since I had missed the tour yesterday, they let me sign up for the one today at 8am. I made it there with plenty of time to spare. The tour was going to last two hours and then I had one hour to pack up and check out of the "hotel". They aren't really what I would call hotels. The
whole infrastructure at Prudhoe Bay was built for the oil workers so it made me think of my old days back in the military barracks. The food was a lot like "institutional" food but there was a lot of it. You had to put away your own dishes and trays just like back in the chow hall in the
military.
Ken, the guy who had dinner with us at Coldfoot was staying in an even worse place. He said the door to his room was a "meat locker" door. It had the big handle on the outside and a round knob on the inside that you push to open the door just like a large meat locker. If you think about it, the best way to have an insulated room is to start out with a large refrigerator. Perfect insulation. You just have to worry about making sure there is enough air flow to keep from suffocating someone.
There is no alcohol allowed in Prudhoe Bay, period. There are several things that can get a worker fired. Things like leaving a bag of trash in your truck when you go in to eat lunch (too enticing for bears), having any alcohol anywhere, getting a speeding ticket, harassing the wildlife, well, you get the picture. The workers are on a two week shift somewhat similar to Lyle working on the river boat. The company flies them up from either Fairbanks or Anchorage for their shift and then flies them back for a week. I think they can also work up to four or six weeks before flying home if they want to make more money.
On the tour they explained all about how the operation works and how the technology has changed over the years. When they say they can now drill without disturbing the environment, they aren't kidding.
Say they want to drill in some spot. They wait until winter when everything is frozen, then they build an "ice road" to where they want to drill. They do this by spraying water on the ground until they get it the right thickness and then drive everything they need out to the spot over this ice road. Then when the ice thaws, there is absolutely no sign that a road was ever there. Pretty slick if you ask me.
Plus the "footprint" to drill has been drastically reduced over the years. They used to have an acre or two to set everything up to drill and now have reduced that down to just several hundred square feet needed. Plus they can now drill horizontally from one spot out to 8,000 feet away from the drill pad. So they put the drill pad in one spot and can drill pretty far away from there if they need to. Pretty amazing.
On the tour, they take you out to Baffin Bay so you can go swimming in the Arctic Ocean, assuming any idiot would ever want to. In our case there were four idiots. Two young girls and two boys with them. I took pictures of the whole thing. An older guy from Wisconsin was there with his wife and he went in but only to his knees. I went in also. But just up to the end of my pinkie finger. HA ! Had you there for a minute didn't I? For doing this, I received a Pinkie swim certificate which I will frame when I get home.
The guy from Wisconsin was in a camper that they had been sleeping it during the trip up to Prudhoe Bay. He said one night when they were parked in a turnoff not too far from Prudhoe Bay, a bear came up to their camper and started pushing on the outside and making it rock. Then a bigger bear came up to a camper next to them and really started rocking it. Then it went around to the front of the pickup and climbed up on the hood. It finally went away. I bet that hood was dented.
After the tour I went back to my room and packed everything up on the bike. I found out that the guy I had met at the Arctic Circle sign two days ago on the way to Prudhoe Bay on the Versys motorcycle, had crashed about forty miles from Prudhoe Bay. That was just ten miles into the large gravel I mentioned yesterday. That was not the bike to take on that road at all. I was told he was disoriented after the accident but didn't break anything. The motorcycle was still functional too. They said he knew his name and what day it was but didn't know if he had been going North or South. Eventually, he came around and decided he would ride the bike on into Prudhoe Bay. I saw the bike parked next to mine when I came back from the tour but I couldn't find him and I didn't know his last name so couldn't ask about him either. I hope if I ever have an accident, they don't ask me what day it is. I have no idea right this moment so how would I know after an accident?
I went ahead and gassed up and headed back to Coldfoot. A most amazing thing happened along the way. I was having fun! Just yesterday that road was the worst thing I had ever encountered and now it no longer was a problem. I think the major difference was that I wasn't dead tired.
I was able to get a good nights sleep. The road was still difficult but I was no longer in constant fear of crashing and burning. Note to self: Put that application back in for the Dakar Rallye next year!!
Ken was also in Prudhoe Bay and we were planning to ride back together to Coldfoot but he had already started back by the time I got ready to go (he didn't realize that it takes me a long time to get ready). Plus, when I went to get gas, there was a Caribou traffic jam and then when I finally got to the service station, they were out of gas so I had to go find the only remaining gas station. Finally, with the tank filled and my two spare gas cans filled, I set out for Coldfoot.
Not too far down the road I came across Ken standing on the side of the road talking on his satellite phone. Now, isn't that just like a BMW rider? Carries a SAT phone around with him so he can "phone home" when he feels like it. He said he had rented it and a couple hundred minutes of talk time on it so if he had problems he could call for help. That isn't too bad an idea either. I might think about doing that when Lyle and I go next year. A pretty cheap insurance policy. That way if you're out in the middle of nowhere, at least you can call all your friends and tell them "hey! I'm out here in the middle of nowhere!"
After his call we headed on the down the road towards Coldfoot.
We breezed right through Antigun pass without any problems. It must have been due to my good nights sleep again.
We stopped at the "Hotspot Cafe" just North of the Yukon River. Ken said they were supposed to have the best burgers in the land. They were good but they were also BIG. I almost couldn't finish mine. The owner said no fries, just the burger, because it is so big. She was right. It was an interesting place. I took a lot of pictures.
We left there and went maybe a half mile to the Yukon river gas stop and gassed up and headed for Coldfoot.
About twenty miles or so from Coldfoot, it started to rain again. That, of course, turned the road into mud again and the ride got "interesting" again. If I'd known the road was going to be like that again, I wouldn't have eaten that HUGE burger. It wasn't the thing to do when you were going to be under a lot of stress. I made it through there alright though and we arrived at Coldfoot in the rain. While I was getting the bike unloaded and we were having supper, several Harleys arrived there for the night. They were heading for Prudhoe Bay. I wish I knew how they made out because that road was not a good road to be riding a Harley on.
See, it is better!
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 15 A Day to be Forgotten.....Quickly!
So here I am in Coldfoot.
Oh, I don't think I mentioned how this place got its name. Back in the gold rush days, the miners were heading for Prudhoe Bay to do prospecting and when they got to Coldfoot and saw how difficult the journey had been, a lot of them got "coldfeet" and turned around and went back to Fairbanks. Hence, Coldfoot.
Oh, I don't think I mentioned how this place got its name. Back in the gold rush days, the miners were heading for Prudhoe Bay to do prospecting and when they got to Coldfoot and saw how difficult the journey had been, a lot of them got "coldfeet" and turned around and went back to Fairbanks. Hence, Coldfoot.
In order to make the tour that Nick had booked for us in Deadhorse, they said we had to leave at 6am. I said, "no problem". They didn't know I wasn't telling the truth. I actually did get up before 6am as I didn't sleep well at all. I got gone about 6:45 or so. Not too far down the road to Deadhorse, I came across Nick and Jen just sitting by the road waiting. Turns out they had mixed signals with Lane and didn't know where he was. He showed up just after I got there and they moved out. I was way behind. No way I could keep up with them.
The problem with the tour was that it was scheduled such that you only had 8 hours to get there. Well, with their late start, they didn't get there until right at 2pm so they made the tour. Meanwhile, I'm still on the road to Deadhorse.
That road from Coldfoot to Deadhorse is beyond description! It took me 9 hours to get there. You can do the math yourself. Nine hours divided into 244 miles gives you approximately 27 miles per hour. TWENTY SEVEN STINKING MILES PER HOUR! The magical part is I made it without any BMW road kill. I was so close several times again and I think the absolute worst part was when I was getting close and a sign came up "Road Repair next 50 miles". On this one they had put down LARGE gravel instead of the smaller stuff I was getting used to. I was ALL OVER that road. That large gravel is the hardest stuff to try and ride a motorcycle on.
The day had started out ok. The weather was clear, no construction and the road isn't too bad. But, not too far down the road after I saw Nick and Jen, I see fog. And this is real fog. I can't see the bottom of the ditch on the side of the road. Then I see a sign "Road Narrows". Well, I'm thinking, "if I can't see anything, how do I know when a truck is coming?". And then the road starts going up a little and it begins to look like something out of those old Dracula movies where you're riding in the carriage along the road to the castle and there's nothing on either side. Spooky stuff. I just motored on and shortly thereafter, I was out of the shadow of the mountains and the fog disappeared. I was so glad too.
Then comes Antigun Pass. WOW! It's high and it's long and it's MUD. Of course they had to be working on it when I wanted to go over so there's the mud again. I hate mud. Especially when I'm looking at all the guard rails along the road and I can't find more then 6 feet or so of rail without some kind of damage on it. That says to me that people have been running into those rails a lot. We're talking two to three miles of rail and it's all damaged to one degree or another. I guess a lot of it could be from snowplows in the winter. Yes, let's say all the damage is just done by snowplows. Now I feel much better. Except for the slipping and sliding in the mud. And looking down, way down, to the bottom of the pass.
I finally make it through the pass and the road is actually paved for a while so I can cruise along rather nicely. I can't get too relaxed though as I might miss a "pavement break" ahead.
About 50 miles from Deadhorse (right about where the large gravel started), I came across two Mexicans working on a bike tire. One was riding a bike like mine and the other was on a KLR. The older one didn't speak much English at all but the younger one did speak a little. I used my really bad spanish on them. "Se Habla Espanol aqui" They said they had it fixed and were going to try and make it to Deadhorse.
I saw my first Caribou today. It was just on the side of the road coming into Deadhorse. Just munching on the tundra and not minding my motorcycle at all. Come to find out that the wildlife are in charge in Deadhorse. It's against the law to try to drive them off or honk a horn at them to get them off the road. You just have to stop and wait until they decide to get out of your way. With Grizzly bears they are allowed to try to "train" them to stay away from humans by honking horns, yelling at them and shooting them with beanbags from a 12 gauge shotgun. But with Polar bears, if one comes around, the people have to leave the area until it is gone. They can't bother the Polar bears in any way. The natives depend on the Polar bears for their livelihood. Strange agreements they have in place up there.
So, I arrive and I am beat. I'm thinking "how can I find someone to put my bike on a trailer and take me back to Fairbanks?" I was in a total funk. It was so stressful getting there and I had to turn around the next day and go back to Coldfoot. I was thinking, "I just couldn't do it". I got something to eat and went to bed.
It gets better. .
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 14 A Day to Remember
What a DAY! Remember the "Pavement Breaks"? Well, it gets a lot worse going up the Dalton Highway.
The way they maintain their roads up here is similar to what I said before. When the road gets really bad, they pour a lot of dirt on it and then, wet it down good and then later put some gravel on it. IT IS A MESS! I don't have near the expertise to handle these conditions without a lot of stress. I get in that mud and the bike is slipping around like it's on grease! I almost bought the farm several times. I'd be just on the verge of disaster and then some how it would straighten up. Like magic!
Then they eventually chip seal the road. That's putting down some kind of tar and then dumping a lot of gravel on top. It's also a mess, for motorcycles. It doesn't seem to be a problem for most riders I've seen though. I did not pass a single motorcycle! But I was passed by a lot of them. The only motorcycle I even caught up with was a guy from New York waiting for the flagman to let him through a construction area. I followed him all the way up to the Arctic Circle. He was riding an ST1100 and he rode it well. Seemed like he was just cruising along through the mud while I was all over the place. He was only going to the Circle to take pictures and then head back to Fairbanks. We took a lot of pictures while there at the sign. Also met a guy riding a Versys there at the Arctic Circle sign. I asked him how far he was going and he said until he got tired. More about him later.
There was some rain, some construction (which is more or less just like rain) and so much gravel, I don't care if I ever see another piece of rock. It was just beyond description. I almost lost that thing three or four times. I have no idea how I kept it upright.
I stopped at the Yukon River to gas up and met two younger couples from Arkansas (Is everyone in Arkansas up here on a motorcycle?) on V-Strom 1000s, going to Deadhorse. Lane and Emily and Nick and Jennie. I couldn't believe there were people who could ride Two Up all the way to Prudhoe Bay. Turns out both Lane and Nick like to race bikes on the track so I imagine they have a lot more experience then the average rider. Anyway, they were booking a tour at Prudhoe Bay to see the whole operation. I had forgotten that you have to prebook that tour at least a day in advance or you can't go on it. They want to know who's going on it and they do a background check on everybody who books the tour. Nick was on the telephone with Prudhoe Bay and he asked his group for their drivers licenses so he could relay the numbers to the tour people. I asked him if he'd book me on the same tour and he did and they headed on to Coldfoot.
Also, while at the Yukon River I looked around for a "spot-me" radio that a guy had lost up here. I had reviewed the coordinates and put them in the Garmin and it told me that I should go a little past the Yukon River gas station and turn East. Well, turning East puts you in the bushes. Plus, it looked like it wanted me to go several miles East to a lake. I thought, there is no way the guy could have lost the thing out there in the weeds so the coordinates must be wrong or it is somewhere right around the gas station. I looked around for a while but didn't find anything.
After getting back to Fairbanks and reviewing the data again, I see what happened. For some unknown reason, Garmin wanted me to go several miles East over to a lake over there and the meander North and back West and actually end up very near the Arctic Circle turn out. Now, I ask you, why would Garmin send a person off into the weeds for a really long distance and then bring them right back to the road they were on in the first place, and at a point much farther North? Why not just stay on the road you're on until you get near the coordinates and then send you off in the weeds? Sometimes that thing makes no sense at all.
When I finally arrived at Coldfoot, I joined Nick, Jennie, Lane and Emily for dinner at the Coldfoot Camp Restaurant and they mentioned all the things they had seen along the way to Coldfoot. That's the big problem with riding on bad roads for me. There could have been a herd of elephants along the side of the road and I wouldn't have seen it. I am so focused on the road ahead, it's like I have tunnel vision. I can't see anything but that one narrow path ahead of me. I was lucky to see what few animals I did along the way before. I only saw them because I was on paved road when I encountered them. I didn't have to put 100% of my attention on the road.
A BMW 650 GS rider from Montana named Ken also joined us at dinner. He teaches Motorcycle Safety Courses in Montana. He had a great deal of knowledge regarding motorcycles and racing. They were all trying to get me to put some racing tires on my GS and go out to the track and give it a try. Can you see that? There would be parts of me all over that track!
Also, just before I went over to my room three riders came in to the restaurant. I think maybe one of the guys was on a R1200GS, the other was on a Honda TransAlp and the girl was on a Honda Shadow with normal street tires. She was oriental and weighted maybe 100 pounds wet. She probably rode the Shadow because it was one of the few bikes a really short person can ride comfortably. Anyway, they said they were on the way to Prudhoe Bay the next day like the rest of us. I was impressed. Here I was on a bike built to cross the Sahara with new tires made to scale Mount Everest, one of the guys with her is riding the same bike as mine but the newer version and the other guy with her is riding Honda's version of my bike sold in Europe and she's riding a street bike with half used street tires.
I went to bed wondering if I was going to dump my bike in the mud and a girl was going to ride by on a street bike snickering while I lay there.
I think Coldfoot gets most of their business from tour groups and environmentalist bozos. The truckers all carry enough fuel to go from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay and back without gassing up so they may stop to eat or sleep but that's it.
A lot of tour buses and vans come up to Coldfoot so people can see what the Arctic looks like.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 13 A No News Day
Today was a day of rest. I didn't do any serious riding at all.
The BIG day starts tomorrow. Miles and miles of DIRT and that means a lot slower traveling and, depending on the weather, a lot of bad words said.
The hotel has agreed to hang on to most of my gear until I get back from the far North. That way I can travel light and fast!
I'll be near the Arctic Circle tomorrow and at the very top of Alaska the next day. Assuming the road doesn't turn to mud on the way. Rain is in the forecast but not seriously steady rain, just showers. I've talked to a lot of guys that have gone up there at one time or another and most have stories to tell. While on the way up there I'm going to see if I can find Sgt. Preston and his faithful companion Yukon King. I'll let you know how I make out.
The mechanic at the Harley dealer (he talks to most all of the Harley riders going up there) said that he knew of 32 Harley riders that started up last year and he said 28 of them fell at least once. He says he tells EVERY Harley rider that they shouldn't take a Harley up there because it isn't the bike built for that kind of roads. I'd say the majority of the Harley riders totally ignore him.
One guy I talked to today at the Harley dealer said when he went up it was raining and he was in 6-8 inches of mud. He said they finally had to get off the bikes and just walk beside them as they used the clutch in first gear to move the bike along. He said when they finally reached the end, they were just covered in mud. Then, he said when they came back, it was sunny and everything was dry, You just never know. I don't think it will be TOO bad but we'll see. If it gets too bad, I'll just turn around and come back to Fairbanks.
I ran into Norman and his wife from Illinois again. This makes the fourth time I've seen them on the way up here. They are just traveling around Alaska (pulling a trailer) and don't plan on going up North any further than Fairbanks. I think he is interested in coming to our rally at Theodosia in September. I told him I'd email him the information. Their trailer is fairly large and Norman's wife told him that if a bear came around she was going to jump in the trailer and close the lid and since it wasn't big enough for two, he was on his own. She said she had seen a total of 15 bears in their travels so far. I've only seen the three. I'm way behind.
Norman's brother Fred is traveling along with them, also on a Harley. Norman said that when he told his brother that he and his wife were going to Alaska on the motorcycle, his brother said "can I come along?". Fred also said he didn't care much at all for the 47 miles of construction between here and Tok with the "dangerous curves" and lots and lots of mud.
I got to feeling pretty bad today but couldn't figure out why until it hit me. I immediately cranked up the GS, ran over to Walmart and took a nap in the parking lot. I feel MUCH better now. Almost like I'm home doing my normal stuff.
I have organized my pack mule such that when I get tired, I pull off at a rest stop or "turn around" as they have up here, pull my tarp from under the bungee cords throw it down on the ground right beside the motorcycle and within five minutes, I'm sound asleep with all my gear on, including gloves, helmet, etc. That way I don't have to worry about mosquitos at all. They can't get to me for all the kevlar and plastic.
Alaskan law is such that, unless it is posted otherwise, a person can camp just about anywhere here. I could also camp just about anywhere if I wasn't concerned about getting wet and drowning. If I were a frog, I'd be right at home.
Oh-Oh, Battery going dead. Must send email and go to room
More tomorrow
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 12 Fairbanks at Last
I got a chance to talk to the old couple on the Honda Goldwing pulling the trailer this morning. He said they went from Jacksonville, Arkansas (near Little Rock) to Alaska and then they went to Key West, Florida and now they're back in Alaska again. I asked him how many miles he had for this trip and he said about 20,000. That's a lot of miles sitting on a motorcycle. He said he's retired now and they don't have any schedule for anything so they just travel on the motorcycle.
I also talked to a guy who was riding a brand new R1200 GS that he had been traveling around Alaska for a while and then had his wife fly out to Anchorage and he picked her up and she was traveling with him for ten days. He said she only had ten days vacation so couldn't come with him on the whole trip. He said he had gone up to Prudhoe Bay by himself and spent two days going up and two days coming back and had the most perfect weather the entire time. I am SSOOOOOO jealous. I've seen nothing but rain for the last twelve days.
I started out from Tok in the rain as usual heading for Fairbanks. I planned one stop at North Pole, Alaska. Notice I didn't say THE North Pole. There's a city close to Fairbanks that is named North Pole. It has a Santa Clause Lane and Santa's House and a great big statue of Santa Clause right on the highway to Fairbanks.
There was very little construction between Tok and Fairbanks. Just one small stretch where they had one lane of the highway closed off while they worked on it. They had a pilot truck that you had to follow and it lasted about 2 miles or so. Not anything difficult at all.
Tomorrow, I'm going to go out and take a look at the Haul Road and see what I think. They say you can tell what it will be like in the first ten miles or so. This will be a mini test.
Right now it is 11:15pm and it's still bright outside. Your time is 2:15 am so I'm tired and going to bed. More tomorrow.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 11 What a day!
Last night when the sun was still shining at 11pm local time, I took a picture of the mountains with the sun shining on them. It was something to see.
When I woke up this morning I looked out at the mountains and there was fog all over the tops of them. I happened to be looking out the window when a Harley rider pulling a trailer got started up to go over to the gas station across the street with his buddies to gas up. He just got on it and backed up from his parking space and started forward to head out of the hotel parking lot and plop, the Harley fell over. It took he and his buddy to lift it back up and over to the gas station he went.
Since the restaurant where I was staying didn't open until 9am and I wanted to be gone long before that, I walked over to the gas station to see if they had any donuts and tea. I asked the Chinese guy if they had donuts and he said "not at this store" so I got some tea and walked back towards the motel. As I was walking back, I saw a sign that said "Bakery" and it pointed down a road. Back to the hotel, jumped on the bike and went "in search of". I found the neatest little Deli/Bakery over by a National Forest. It was owned by a German lady and she made the most scrumptious cinnamon rolls you have ever tasted. I got a dozen and headed back to the hotel and had a cinnamon roll with my tea.
After finishing off my one cinnamon roll, (did I say I got a dozen?, I meant I wanted to get a dozen, but only got one) I got the bike loaded up, went over to the same gas station, gassed up and headed out of town. But, I forgot one important thing. I forgot to read the highway signs. The problem with Garmin Girl is, if you have the sound turned off, it will just think you want to go somewhere via a different route. So I'm looking at the screen and it says "go 11 miles to unpaved road". I'm thinking "unpaved road?", I'm supposed to be on the Alaska Highway and it's supposed to be paved. Then I switch to the compass screen and it says I'm heading South East. I'm thinking, I should be heading North West and then it hits me, I took the highway straight ahead from the direction I was going in last night and the Alaska Highway makes a sharp right at the intersection where I spent the night. Quick U turn and head back to Haines Junction and take a left on the correct road and off I go for the second time this day. I was hoping nobody had seen me start down the wrong road and then return shortly after I left and took another road. Fortunately I had only gone three miles before I discovered my mistake. :)
Now the road from Haines Junction to Tok Alaska is in pretty bad shape. That probably is an understatement to say that. Bill Wing said I shouldn't take it. He said I should take the highway to Haines Junction and then the highway from Haines Junction that connects back with the Alaska Highway farther North. I thought, no way. I need to get to Fairbanks as soon as possible. I went for the normal Alaska Highway route.
I discovered "Frost Heaves" on that section of highway today. And no, it isn't what happens when you eat too many Wendy's Frosties at one time. It's what happens to roads in the far North when the ground under the highway freezes and thaws and freezes and thaws. The road moves up and down. It causes big "roller coaster" bumps to appear in the road. In Canada, every place one of these occurs, they put a small red flag on the stick in the ground on the side of the road. I was cruising along pretty good and hit one of these and it was like I bounced in the air. Quite exciting! There had to have been at least 500 of these on that stretch of highway. I think some of them were so bad that both wheels came close to coming off the ground. I was following a couple of cars pulling trailers and I could see the trailers just bouncing up and down like crazy. Makes for slower travel for sure. I didn't get up near my normal speed on this highway. If Sharon had been with me and we were riding the Harley, she would have been saying OW! every two or three minutes. Plus, we would have bottomed out the Harley suspension on just about every one of these bumps.
I also discovered "Pavement Breaks" on this stretch of highway today. When frost heaves make the road so bad that it has to be repaired, they spread dirt and gravel all over the road and smooth it out. They call this repair area a "Pavement Break". And it can be something else too. I have another name for them.
There is a lake not too far from Haines Junction where the Alaska Highway follows the lake for about 5 miles. About half way around the lake, the construction starts and some of the dirt they are putting down is a little wet so, you guessed it. Grease on the road. I managed to stay upright but it was a struggle in some places. Plus, I didn't have a whole lot of room to slide around, so it got even more exciting when traffic was coming from the other direction.
Then, about five miles before you get to the Alaska border, there is a U.S. Customs stop point for trucks. Just after that I encountered another road repair area and this one they spread the dirt down and put a thick layer of large gravel on top. Man ! Was this exciting! I was ALL OVER the road before I got to the end of that section. After the gravel has been down for a while, all the trucks going over it will pack it down so it isn't near as bad to ride through on a motorcycle. But when they first put the gravel layer down, it is unbelievably difficult for motorcycles.
When I got through the U.S. border check, there was more construction but it had been down for a while so it wasn't too bad. At the end of that stretch there was a little gas station/restaurant and I decided I was tired of the construction and needed something to eat. After my late lunch, I hit the road again feeling pretty confident. I went about five miles through several more short "pavement breaks" and then came upon a sign that said, "Road Construction Next 47 miles". I thought, well it can't be too bad and plus I did put my entry in for Dakar next year so I should be able to handle anything they can throw at me. Boy, was I in for a surprise! Why? Because it started to rain. And then I wasn't near as confident as I was just a short while ago.
The first construction area I hit after the rain started, was one they had just put down the dirt. It was a mess. I was all over the road again and came the closest to losing the bike as any time I can remember. Ever!. It was going over due to the front end washing out and somehow I was able to get the tail end to come around and catch up with the direction the bike was going. I don't think I would have been hurt or the bike would have been hurt because there was so much mud and I was probably only going 15-20 miles per hour at the most. I was really breathing fast by the end of that "Pavement Break" though. I can tell you now, if it is raining, I am NOT starting up the Dalton Highway towards Prudhoe Bay. NO WAY! With somewhere around 400 miles total of dirt roads, I'd have to be insane to think I could make it up there and back without any problems when the whole thing was mud.
Well, it continued to rain and now I'm really nervous about construction and the next 40 something miles. I go through several more of these areas expecting to wipe out any moment. I was sliding around a lot in those areas but nothing like the first area. So we have stretches of regular highway and then one of the "Pavement Breaks" and then more regular highway. I'm on the regular highway part, trying to see clearly what's coming ahead through the rain on my face shield and I see a sign coming up. It says, DANGEROUS CURVES. Just shortly after this sign, I see another sign. You guessed it, "Pavement Break". Well, you can imagine what I'm thinking. Definitely not something a person can quote in an email.
I go around the first curve on the regular highway part and then I see a long downhill stretch that continues around a curve at the bottom and it is ALL dirt and gravel. Now the dangerous part of this is that almost at the bottom of the hill there is NOTHING on either side of the road. The dirt and gravel goes up to the edge and then nothing but space and lots of it, down to the bottom, which I am too busy to see how far down that is. So, I REALLY slow down and go slipping and sliding down the hill towards certain doom, thinking it's a good thing my life insurance kicked in the first of July.
I made it ok but I'm hyperventilating by the time I get to the bottom. And this presents an additional problem. The more you breath, the more your face shield fogs up and I'm way too busy to take one hand off the handlebars to open the shield more. My bell must have scared off all the demons because there was not one car coming the other direction the whole time I was on this hill. It's a really good thing too because I was all over the other lane before I got to the bottom. Now, I'm thinking, I wonder if there's a penalty for withdrawing from next years' Dakar?
When I finally got to Tok, Alaska, it's still raining so I pull into the first place to get a room and get off my bike and I feel it's leaning a little too much where it is so I decide to put it on the center stand. Now on pavement, it's fairly easy to do because you can feel the correct balance point on the center stand pretty easily. This was gravel and it's sometimes hard to feel that balance point. Well, I started raising it up on the center stand and the bike was off balance and plunk! It's laying on its side in the mud. I can't believe I've gone almost 4,000 miles on this trip and now I plopped my bike in the mud. As I was taking my helmet off, a guy who was in his car waiting for his wife to come out, jumped out of his car and came over and said "do you think we can pick it up?". I said I don't know but we can try. Well, we lifted it right up and I left it on the side stand. I couldn't thank that guy enough for his help. I would NEVER have been able to pick it up by myself. Not a mark on the bike. Just a little more mud. Boy, that thing looks rugged right now. All the mud the trucks have thrown up. It's a disgrace to the BMW name.
As I was going in to check if they had rooms, the Harley rider and his wife from Illinois, who I had been talking to when I was also talking to Bill Wing day before yesterday, came walking out of the hotel/restaurant. They told me this place didn't have any rooms and also the next three places didn't have any either. They told me they got a room down the road a couple of miles and they thought they still had some rooms left. While I was talking to them, they said they came through the same construction I did, and also while it was raining. He said that when they came to that "dangerous curves" construction area that he told his wife that if the bike starts to slide, she should bail out and not try to stay on the bike because it was probably going to go over the side. He didn't like the "Pavement Breaks" any more than I did. He said there was no way they were going any further in the rain. I told him that's exactly how I felt.
There's an older couple I keep seeing on the road riding a Honda Trike pulling a fairly large trailer. They were also at the hotel/restaurant where I first stopped to check for rooms and they ended up here at the same hotel I'm at. I got a look at their trailer and on the back of it is written "North to Alaska, to Key West and Back North to Alaska". They are on a SERIOUS bike ride. That's got to be in the neighborhood of 10,000 to 15,000 miles or more. I'll have to see if I can talk to them some tomorrow to see what their story is.
Anyway, this was enough excitement for one day so I'm going to bed and hope like heck it isn't raining in the morning. If it is, I may just stay here until it quits. :) .
I may have talked the Illinois couple into coming to the BS rally this year. He acted like he really liked the idea. Plus, he probably talked some to Bill Wing about it. I think Bill talked to every rider that came in to either of the two hotels there where he was staying. He and Les were still in the parking lot when I left to go to bed at 11pm that day. I hope they made it to Hyder, Alaska ok. He said they were going there to get "Hyderized". That's some kind of drinking ritual that the bar in Hyder puts the tourists through, I think. I'm not sure. I've just heard some stories.
When I next talk to Bill Wing I'm going to be sure he knows that he may have ridden the bad road to Tok but I rode it in the RAIN.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 10 NO RAIN!
Not much to report today. I spent most of the time riding.
More tomorrow.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
When I got up this morning Bill Wing and the Arkansas group were already gone. They must have gotten up early. They were going to go to Hyder, Alaska which is on the way home, more or less. It's near the West coast of Canada.
Did a little sight seeing here in Watson Lake before I left town. I went to see the famous "Sign Post Forest". Don't ask me how this started but a long time ago somebody put up a post and put a sign on it. Then someone added to it and then someone added another post and you should see it today. It is unbelievable. I can't even guess how many posts there are now and each one is covered front and back by signs. License plates, city limit signs, personal signs and just signs with anything on them. I took a lot of pictures. I wish I had thought to bring a sign to put up. I found a couple put there by Springfield people. It's really something to see.
I've seen a lot more bikes like mine up here. I also see a lot of people heading home. They probably came out around the first of June like I had originally planned.
I saw my first Honda motorcycle today. When I stopped to gas up and have lunch at Teslin, there was a guy gassing up and he was riding a 1981 Goldwing. He was a younger guy and said he only had ten days vacation so he basically just rode up to Alaska to see what he needed to plan for his real vacation when he had more time. He just spent four days getting to Alaska from Oregon. He must have been riding some really long days to make it that quickly. He said his Goldwing didn't have fuel injection and he could certainly tell it when he went up and down the mountains. Depending on the altitude he was at, the bike had decent horsepower or it didn't. It didn't run very well at all at higher altitudes. That's just one of the things fuel injection fixed with cars and motorcycles.
I had more lessons on dirt roads today. Turns out that the Alaska Highway North of Watson Lake has been patched recently and the way they do patches is to put gravel there. Every once in a while there'll be about 50 yards or so of gravel. Pretty exciting.
I've been over several metal bridges since getting up here and today was the best one of all at the Teslin bridge. It was not smooth metal. So, besides the wobbles you get from riding on that metal grating, I also had the bike bouncing up and down from the uneven metal. That was really exciting. The bike was going all over the place and it was a long bridge. Maybe a quarter mile long. And, as I get on, I see on the other end a huge motor home starts on the bridge. That gives me even less room to wobble around on the bridge. Made it ok though. I hope that's the worst of the metal bridges.
I forgot to mention that I've seen three different bicycle riders on the Alaska Highway. One was an older guy I saw just after seeing the coyote standing on the road. The guy must have bicycled past the coyote just before I went by. Another was an older guy I saw after I saw the bears. He was going towards the bears. I hope he didn't end up as dinner. The last one I saw was a younger guy out in the middle of nowhere. He was just peddling down the road about twenty miles from the nearest town.
There is just so much unbelievable scenery up here. I wish I had a way to easily take pictures. What I need is a camera like Sharon's that is small and can be operated with just one hand. The scenery today was the best so far. Lakes high in the mountains. In fact, one of them was called Summit Lake because it is at the top of a pass. Really spectacular to see.
It's 10:45pm local time and the sun is shining brightly here against the building. This may be tough to handle if it never gets dark.
wifi isn't working here so this won't go out until some time tomorrow. Phooey ! ! ! !
More tomorrow.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Monday, July 7, 2008
Day 9 and you guessed it !
Where to begin?
I said I wasn't going to discuss it any more but it was raining when I got up and it continued to rain until very late in the day.
There's so much to report today I hope I can remember it all.
I started out from Pink Mountain. If you ever go there, don't stay in the motel on the right as you first get to Pink Mountain. It's too "low class" ! If you go a couple miles further, there is a much better place to stay.
If you are going to camp, then you want to stay at the first place you come to on the left. It's the best.
Not too many miles after leaving Pink Mountain (in the rain, I might add, in case I didn't mention it before) I saw a coyote just standing on the opposite side of the road. Right on the edge of the road. He just stood there watching me as I cruised by. He wasn't spooked at all.
After leaving ,Pink Mountain, I ran into a construction area where the sign said there was gravel road ahead. I thought "gravel, no problem. I'm almost ready for Dakar so worry about gravel? Not me!" Well, big mistake. They should also have had on the sign that there were big potholes there too. I was cruising along pretty good and at the last minute I saw the potholes and I thought S*IT ! ! These were BIG potholes too. I thought the bike was going to go one way and me the other way. I managed to keep it upright but just barely. What a ride!
Just after the construction ended, I turned a corner and I could see way up the road that something was standing in the road and it was licking the road. It was a fairly small moose. I slowly went down the road and the moose would move down the road away from me a little and then stop and lick the road again. I kept going and he keep licking. Finally, I got tired of this and sped up and he moved off the highway a little until I went by and then he got back on the road and started licking again. I found out later that moose like to lick the salt off the road.
Quite a few miles later, I came around a turn and I could see a big moose standing off to the right in a turn around area that backed against the side of the mountain. There was no where for that moose to go except towards the road if it got spooked so I slowed way down and watched it closely. When I got up real close, I saw what looked like a calf moose carcass on the side of the road. I didn't get a good look at it as I was watching the big moose too closely. The moose may have been a cow and the calf got hit by a car or truck.
I stopped at Toad Lake for gas and to send an email to Sharon using my pocket PC. I had to do that because the dump I stayed in at Pink Mountain didn't have wifi. The cheap no goods.
I noticed as I was gassing up that I had lost a water bottle and a quart of oil that I had bungeed to the bike. There were really secure and had been there for over two thousand miles. They must have popped off when I hit that gigantic pothole at the construction site. I wonder how high the bike went in the air when I hit that pothole? I wish I had a video of it.
I talked to a couple of Harley riders who were gassing up and heading North also. I asked them if they had seen a quart of oil laying in the road and they asked me if it was Castroil. That was the brand I lost. They also saw a water bottle in the same area. So I know they were "dislodged" by the potholes.
I also met an older guy on a newer GS like mine at Toad Lake. He said he thought every BMW GS in North America was on the way to Alaska. I think he might have been right. There have certainly been a lot of them on the road.
I saw the Harley riders again when I gassed up at Lizard Lake (not its real name but I can't think what the name was. Something like lizard though) As soon as they saw me they yelled, "You didn't lose anything else did you!". They were definitely Shriner clowns on vacation.
After leaving Lizard Lake, I saw my first Grizzly Bear. He was on the East side of the highway and about 50 yards away from the highway. I didn't have my camera ready so I went on by him for a mile or so and then turned around and got the camera ready. Then when I went back he wasn't on the East side any longer, he was now on the West side of the road and down low where I couldn't get a very good picture of him. So, I went on by for a mile or so and turned around again and came back. I could see him from a long distance and it looked like he was moving back towards the highway. Whoa! Is the picture going to be TOO good?? I kept my speed up and clicked several pictures of him while cruising by. I hope they turned out ok. He wouldn't have made any record books but he was still a fairly large bear. I would guess maybe seven feet tall when standing.
Then I proceeded on towards Watson's Lake. About five miles past the Grizzly, what do I see but a Black Bear. It was a fairly small one. He was quite a ways away from the road. Then about another mile down the road there was another Black Bear and a much bigger one. He was right next to the road. Just beside the gravel shoulder and he was eating the wild flowers. I didn't see him until I was right on him and then he looked up with a mouth full of wild flowers like he was saying HUH? Who are you? I was by him too quickly to take any pictures. Then a little farther down the road there was a small Mule Deer. I can't believe I saw so many critters in one short time.
I'm seeing a lot of crows. I don't know why, but they are spaced along the highway in different areas like sentinels. Like they're just waiting for something to happen. If you could read their minds, they're probably thinking "you can ride that GS fast but if you crash, you better be wearing a full face helmet or I'll be feasting on your lips while you gasp your last gasp"!
I also saw a murder today. Yes a real murder, of crows that is. They were also just sitting beside the road in a group, not doing anything. About eight of them just sitting. Weird ! !
Coming into Watson's Lake (more on this subject tomorrow) I was following the Harley riders and they were staying at the Big Horn Motel so I cruised into the parking lot to check out if they had a room available. As I get off my bike a guy comes up to me and asks if I'm going North or South. I told him North. He said he as heading South. The guy looked so familiar to me. I was thinking on it as I was taking off all my gear and then it came to me. He's one of the Arkansas guys who comes to the BS rally at Bull Shoals. His name is Bill Winger. Now is that weird or what? Here I travel over 3,000 miles and run into a guy from our area that I know. He's here with his wife and a guy from Arkansas and another from California. They've been riding all around Alaska for the last couple of weeks. We talked about bikes and Alaska for quite a while. He rides a GS like mine. We were examining all the bikes in the parking lot and discussing the merits of each. Quite interesting conversations. But of course we decided the GS was the absolute best bike to be on up here. But then we knew that already, didn't we?
mo-gser.blogspot.com
I said I wasn't going to discuss it any more but it was raining when I got up and it continued to rain until very late in the day.
There's so much to report today I hope I can remember it all.
I started out from Pink Mountain. If you ever go there, don't stay in the motel on the right as you first get to Pink Mountain. It's too "low class" ! If you go a couple miles further, there is a much better place to stay.
If you are going to camp, then you want to stay at the first place you come to on the left. It's the best.
Not too many miles after leaving Pink Mountain (in the rain, I might add, in case I didn't mention it before) I saw a coyote just standing on the opposite side of the road. Right on the edge of the road. He just stood there watching me as I cruised by. He wasn't spooked at all.
After leaving ,Pink Mountain, I ran into a construction area where the sign said there was gravel road ahead. I thought "gravel, no problem. I'm almost ready for Dakar so worry about gravel? Not me!" Well, big mistake. They should also have had on the sign that there were big potholes there too. I was cruising along pretty good and at the last minute I saw the potholes and I thought S*IT ! ! These were BIG potholes too. I thought the bike was going to go one way and me the other way. I managed to keep it upright but just barely. What a ride!
Just after the construction ended, I turned a corner and I could see way up the road that something was standing in the road and it was licking the road. It was a fairly small moose. I slowly went down the road and the moose would move down the road away from me a little and then stop and lick the road again. I kept going and he keep licking. Finally, I got tired of this and sped up and he moved off the highway a little until I went by and then he got back on the road and started licking again. I found out later that moose like to lick the salt off the road.
Quite a few miles later, I came around a turn and I could see a big moose standing off to the right in a turn around area that backed against the side of the mountain. There was no where for that moose to go except towards the road if it got spooked so I slowed way down and watched it closely. When I got up real close, I saw what looked like a calf moose carcass on the side of the road. I didn't get a good look at it as I was watching the big moose too closely. The moose may have been a cow and the calf got hit by a car or truck.
I stopped at Toad Lake for gas and to send an email to Sharon using my pocket PC. I had to do that because the dump I stayed in at Pink Mountain didn't have wifi. The cheap no goods.
I noticed as I was gassing up that I had lost a water bottle and a quart of oil that I had bungeed to the bike. There were really secure and had been there for over two thousand miles. They must have popped off when I hit that gigantic pothole at the construction site. I wonder how high the bike went in the air when I hit that pothole? I wish I had a video of it.
I talked to a couple of Harley riders who were gassing up and heading North also. I asked them if they had seen a quart of oil laying in the road and they asked me if it was Castroil. That was the brand I lost. They also saw a water bottle in the same area. So I know they were "dislodged" by the potholes.
I also met an older guy on a newer GS like mine at Toad Lake. He said he thought every BMW GS in North America was on the way to Alaska. I think he might have been right. There have certainly been a lot of them on the road.
I saw the Harley riders again when I gassed up at Lizard Lake (not its real name but I can't think what the name was. Something like lizard though) As soon as they saw me they yelled, "You didn't lose anything else did you!". They were definitely Shriner clowns on vacation.
After leaving Lizard Lake, I saw my first Grizzly Bear. He was on the East side of the highway and about 50 yards away from the highway. I didn't have my camera ready so I went on by him for a mile or so and then turned around and got the camera ready. Then when I went back he wasn't on the East side any longer, he was now on the West side of the road and down low where I couldn't get a very good picture of him. So, I went on by for a mile or so and turned around again and came back. I could see him from a long distance and it looked like he was moving back towards the highway. Whoa! Is the picture going to be TOO good?? I kept my speed up and clicked several pictures of him while cruising by. I hope they turned out ok. He wouldn't have made any record books but he was still a fairly large bear. I would guess maybe seven feet tall when standing.
Then I proceeded on towards Watson's Lake. About five miles past the Grizzly, what do I see but a Black Bear. It was a fairly small one. He was quite a ways away from the road. Then about another mile down the road there was another Black Bear and a much bigger one. He was right next to the road. Just beside the gravel shoulder and he was eating the wild flowers. I didn't see him until I was right on him and then he looked up with a mouth full of wild flowers like he was saying HUH? Who are you? I was by him too quickly to take any pictures. Then a little farther down the road there was a small Mule Deer. I can't believe I saw so many critters in one short time.
I'm seeing a lot of crows. I don't know why, but they are spaced along the highway in different areas like sentinels. Like they're just waiting for something to happen. If you could read their minds, they're probably thinking "you can ride that GS fast but if you crash, you better be wearing a full face helmet or I'll be feasting on your lips while you gasp your last gasp"!
I also saw a murder today. Yes a real murder, of crows that is. They were also just sitting beside the road in a group, not doing anything. About eight of them just sitting. Weird ! !
Coming into Watson's Lake (more on this subject tomorrow) I was following the Harley riders and they were staying at the Big Horn Motel so I cruised into the parking lot to check out if they had a room available. As I get off my bike a guy comes up to me and asks if I'm going North or South. I told him North. He said he as heading South. The guy looked so familiar to me. I was thinking on it as I was taking off all my gear and then it came to me. He's one of the Arkansas guys who comes to the BS rally at Bull Shoals. His name is Bill Winger. Now is that weird or what? Here I travel over 3,000 miles and run into a guy from our area that I know. He's here with his wife and a guy from Arkansas and another from California. They've been riding all around Alaska for the last couple of weeks. We talked about bikes and Alaska for quite a while. He rides a GS like mine. We were examining all the bikes in the parking lot and discussing the merits of each. Quite interesting conversations. But of course we decided the GS was the absolute best bike to be on up here. But then we knew that already, didn't we?
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Day 8 and more of the same
Another day cut short by rain. Hereafter, I'll only mention rain if it doesn't happen that day. But I did make it on to the Alaska Highway! !
The day started out great. Slightly cool but just right for riding. The mesh jacket was a little cool so I put the liner on also and headed out of Grand Prairie for the Alaska Highway. Light car traffic but a LOT of motorhomes and big trucks. Turns out Alberta is the Texas of Canada. Everything is about oil in this providence. Night before last, in my room in Red Deer, I didn't have a phone book or a bible but I did have a copy of the "Canadian Oilfield Supplies and Services Directory". It had every company a person could ever want to know that had anything at all to do with the oil industry. It was about the thickness of a St. Louis Yellow Pages book. I guess that's what's important to all the people who stay in hotels in Red Deer??
After seeing that directory, I realized that a lot of the truck traffic I had seen had been transporting large pieces of equipment. So the traffic is probably oil related also. That continued to be true today on my way to Dawson Creek and the beginning of the Alaska Highway.
Saw my first Canadian animals today. Dead and alive. Saw one moose dead by the shoulder of the road. Saw a deer from a fairly good distance away. I was maybe 150 yards from him and he was below me about 50 feet. He watched me go by and then went back to foraging. I'm supposed to be getting into moose country so I've been watching really hard to make sure I see any before they become a problem.
I stopped in Dawson Creek and took a few pictures of the "tourist" mile zero marker of the Alaska Highway and I also took some of the "original" mile zero marker. It's a couple of blocks away from the tourist one but the area it's in can't support all the people that were coming through just to have their picture taken in front of the marker. The original marker is still there. It's just that not every tourist knows there is another one in town. I couldn't take my picture with the marker so I put the bike up near it and took its picture with the marker.
While having lunch, a couple pulled into Subway (I sure eat there a lot!) in a T-Rex. I've never heard of one but it's basically a three wheeled fancied up gocart. It has somewhat of a body on it and what could be locking motorcycle hardbags on either side of the rear wheel. The two front wheels steer and the rear wheel is driven. I have seen a vehicle similar to this in St. Louis, but it wasn't a T-Rex. It didn't have a name on it but it was built around a BMW K1200 motorcycle. I don't know what the basics of the T-Rex are. I'll have to research that. It didn't have a top or side windows so I wouldn't want one. You might as well ride a motorcycle as be in one of those.
Just North of Dawson Creek there is a turnoff to a paved road where you can ride on some of the original Alaska Highway from the old days. When the highway was originally built, as soon as it was finished they actually started work on eliminating a lot of the curves and making the road shorter. Any of the road they eliminated, they just left it there. This particular turnoff was so you could go to the Kiskatinaw Provincial Park and also so you could drive over the only remaining totally wooden bridge still in service from the original Alaska Highway. This means it was built some time in the mid to late '40s.
So I take the turn off and start cruising down the "old" Alaska Highway. Boy was it in sad shape. It's a good thing I was only going 5k on it. Cruising along about 50 mph, not a care in the world, went by the entrance to the park, still heading for the bridge when WHOA BABY, who put the marbles on the road and where did the pavement go? While the book said it was a paved road, it turns out that one portion of it, just before you get to the bridge, is gravel. I'm trying to bleed off speed without ending up out in the trees and having a grand time. Acting like I know how to ride on pea gravel. I managed to remain upright and soon the pavement came back. By the time I got back on pavement, my focus was narrowed quite a bit. Before I was on autopilot and then BANG, I'm zeroed in on one thing. I'm going to have to be more observant from now on, as I think this is common all the way into Alaska.
I rode over the wooden bridge just to get a look at it and take a couple of pictures. It was dry when I went over it. I don't think I'd want to try it if it was wet. I imagine wood, especially wood polished by sixty years of traffic, could be rather slick if wet.
Going back out, the gravel wasn't near the problem it was going in. Totally different mind set.
I made it as far as Pink Mountain where I'm now sitting in my room at the Pink Mountain Motor Inn, hoping it won't be raining in the morning. If I'm ever going to get any distance at all, I need dry weather.
This place doesn't have wifi so this won't go out until tomorrow some time. I think future updates might not go out on the same day if wifi isn't more common. We'll see.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
The day started out great. Slightly cool but just right for riding. The mesh jacket was a little cool so I put the liner on also and headed out of Grand Prairie for the Alaska Highway. Light car traffic but a LOT of motorhomes and big trucks. Turns out Alberta is the Texas of Canada. Everything is about oil in this providence. Night before last, in my room in Red Deer, I didn't have a phone book or a bible but I did have a copy of the "Canadian Oilfield Supplies and Services Directory". It had every company a person could ever want to know that had anything at all to do with the oil industry. It was about the thickness of a St. Louis Yellow Pages book. I guess that's what's important to all the people who stay in hotels in Red Deer??
After seeing that directory, I realized that a lot of the truck traffic I had seen had been transporting large pieces of equipment. So the traffic is probably oil related also. That continued to be true today on my way to Dawson Creek and the beginning of the Alaska Highway.
Saw my first Canadian animals today. Dead and alive. Saw one moose dead by the shoulder of the road. Saw a deer from a fairly good distance away. I was maybe 150 yards from him and he was below me about 50 feet. He watched me go by and then went back to foraging. I'm supposed to be getting into moose country so I've been watching really hard to make sure I see any before they become a problem.
I stopped in Dawson Creek and took a few pictures of the "tourist" mile zero marker of the Alaska Highway and I also took some of the "original" mile zero marker. It's a couple of blocks away from the tourist one but the area it's in can't support all the people that were coming through just to have their picture taken in front of the marker. The original marker is still there. It's just that not every tourist knows there is another one in town. I couldn't take my picture with the marker so I put the bike up near it and took its picture with the marker.
While having lunch, a couple pulled into Subway (I sure eat there a lot!) in a T-Rex. I've never heard of one but it's basically a three wheeled fancied up gocart. It has somewhat of a body on it and what could be locking motorcycle hardbags on either side of the rear wheel. The two front wheels steer and the rear wheel is driven. I have seen a vehicle similar to this in St. Louis, but it wasn't a T-Rex. It didn't have a name on it but it was built around a BMW K1200 motorcycle. I don't know what the basics of the T-Rex are. I'll have to research that. It didn't have a top or side windows so I wouldn't want one. You might as well ride a motorcycle as be in one of those.
Just North of Dawson Creek there is a turnoff to a paved road where you can ride on some of the original Alaska Highway from the old days. When the highway was originally built, as soon as it was finished they actually started work on eliminating a lot of the curves and making the road shorter. Any of the road they eliminated, they just left it there. This particular turnoff was so you could go to the Kiskatinaw Provincial Park and also so you could drive over the only remaining totally wooden bridge still in service from the original Alaska Highway. This means it was built some time in the mid to late '40s.
So I take the turn off and start cruising down the "old" Alaska Highway. Boy was it in sad shape. It's a good thing I was only going 5k on it. Cruising along about 50 mph, not a care in the world, went by the entrance to the park, still heading for the bridge when WHOA BABY, who put the marbles on the road and where did the pavement go? While the book said it was a paved road, it turns out that one portion of it, just before you get to the bridge, is gravel. I'm trying to bleed off speed without ending up out in the trees and having a grand time. Acting like I know how to ride on pea gravel. I managed to remain upright and soon the pavement came back. By the time I got back on pavement, my focus was narrowed quite a bit. Before I was on autopilot and then BANG, I'm zeroed in on one thing. I'm going to have to be more observant from now on, as I think this is common all the way into Alaska.
I rode over the wooden bridge just to get a look at it and take a couple of pictures. It was dry when I went over it. I don't think I'd want to try it if it was wet. I imagine wood, especially wood polished by sixty years of traffic, could be rather slick if wet.
Going back out, the gravel wasn't near the problem it was going in. Totally different mind set.
I made it as far as Pink Mountain where I'm now sitting in my room at the Pink Mountain Motor Inn, hoping it won't be raining in the morning. If I'm ever going to get any distance at all, I need dry weather.
This place doesn't have wifi so this won't go out until tomorrow some time. I think future updates might not go out on the same day if wifi isn't more common. We'll see.
mo-gser.blogspot.com
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Day 7 and I don't have to tell you it's been raining
Beautiful day starting out. You couldn't ask for a better biking day. Slightly overcast with cool temperatures. Note to self: Put a thermometer on the bike.
I was cruising along saying YEAH ! THIS IS WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT ! !
Made pretty good time too. Went through some different landscape today. More trees and less population. One thing finally struck me, I hadn't seen any tires on the roadside or roadway. In the states, you're always seeing pieces of truck tires laying about. I don't think I've see one yet in Canada. I wonder how they do that? Maybe they don't let trucks use retreads up here?? Just one less thing I have to worry about in the road.
Garmin Girl led me through Edmunton, Alberta on a route that didn't get into any high population areas. Not sure how that happened as it is a large town. Anyway, I didn't see any gas stations along the way so I decided to wait until I got to the other side of town. Well, you know what happened. No gas stations, and I was about forty miles from running out. I keep heading West and North and tell Garmin Girl to show me all the locations for fuel. Well, the screen came up and all the arrows are pointing down. That means it thinks all the stations are behind me. I page down to get fuel locations farther from me and the arrows are still pointing down. I page down again and, you guessed it, they are all still pointing down. Page down again and there is one ahead of me.
I take the exit and Garmin Girl says turn left in 100 meters and I don't see anything. I keep on straight and then she says "recalculating" then directs me to turn around so I did. Then I'm cruising along and she says "arriving at destination on right". And off to the right is an empty field. Curses! Foiled again. So now the next big town on my route is too far ahead for me to make it. Being the optimist that I am, I decide there MUST be something between here and the next big town and head on West.
There's a sign for a town called Onoway! It should have been called Outoftheway because it was really small. But! They did have a station with 91 octane so I'm home free. Gassed up and back on the highway. Take THAT Garmin Girl! !
Up ahead I see a storm cell in my path. It looks like it's just to the North of me so I just put on my liner for the mesh jacket and keep on truckin' or rather motocyclin'. I just crossed the edge of the cell and got some really bad wind. First it would blow from the South and then from the North. South, South, South, North, North, South.........well, you get the idea. I was using every inch of my lane running the speed limit (110kph). It didn't last a real long time and then it's looking great again. The sky is clear ahead of me. Back to feeling like I know all about motorcycle riding and maybe I'll enter Dakar next year.
Two more hours down the road and I see another storm cell and this one is bigger and blacker and just gets blacker as I ride toward it. I'm thinking that I may just get by the edge of it and I see Garmin Girl telling me that the highway ahead curves directly toward the cell. I make a quick stop and get out the big guns again. I put on the Kilimanjaro IV and the matching pants and now I'm bullet proof. Well, at least waterproof.
While sitting there at the rest stop, I zoomed out the map and saw where the highway made a 90 degree turn just a few clicks up the road. That would mean I would be heading almost directly into the wind. I liked that idea a whole lot better than trying to fight this side wind any longer. I cranked up the GS and limped on down the road very slowly and there was the turn. Things became a whole lot better almost instantly. Still a lot of wind and rain but not blowing me around any more.
Needless to say, no camping this night. Plus I didn't make it to the Alaska Highway like I thought either. I'm SSSOOOOOOOOOO close though. I'll be on it tomorrow if the weather clears up.
You may be interested or you may not, but I saw in the paper here where Alberta has just passed a law setting minimum prices for all drinks which have alcohol in them. Too many people were going to the 2fers and getting drunk so something had to be done! Do away with those free drinks ! ! ! !
More stories to tell but it's late and I'm really tired after all the wind and rain.Wednesday, July 2, 2008
Day 6 and even more rain !
This day didn't start off nice and end with rain like all the others.
This started off with rain and ended with rain.
I left Roundup, Montana with a dark overcast sky and a cool wind. The humidity was very high with no sun, so it was almost cold riding on the bike. After not very many miles, it started to rain so I pulled into a rest stop and got out the big guns. My waterproof riding pants and my Kilimanjaro IV waterproof jacket. After the rain died down a little I headed on down the road. It rained off and on all the rest of the day but I was toasty warm the whole time.
I thought I was going to actually make it over the border today but the weather slowed me down a lot. Other than the rest stop, the only time I stopped was at a Subway for lunch in a little town named Lewistown. A nice little town. Fairly large for being out in the middle of nowhere, Montana. It seems there are a lot of towns out in the middle of nowhere in Montana. I talked to a Canadian Honda VFR rider at the Subway for a few minutes. He was pretty tall and when he sat on the VFR, his knees were almost dragging the ground just sitting there. VFRs must be really short bikes. He was telling me he left from Calgary and it was raining hard up there but it was all moving East and South so should be gone by the time I get there. I hope so.
I told him he should try to find the video on the internet about VFRs. This is the video using a Hitler movie but somebody had put new English subtitles all about BMW and VFR. I can't begin to describe it but it is one of the funniest things I have seen on the internet in a LONG time. I couldn't quit laughing when I saw it.
I forgot to mention in yesterdays' report that while I was stopped in the rain at the Cozy Corner Bar in the middle of absolutely nowhere, standing under the eave of the shut down convenience store, an older couple pulled up to the pumps wanting gas. I told them it was only 85.5 octane but the women said "it's better than no gas". Evidently, they were running really low.
She asked me where I was going and I told her Alaska and she said they were going there too. Then she asked where I was coming from and when I told her Missouri, she said "NO, I was born in Missouri". She asked what town I was from and when I said Mountain Grove, she said "NO! I was born in Licking". Well, I could hear the little dolls singing that song again, "It's a small, small world". She wanted to know if I had ever heard of so and so, but of course I don't know anybody in Licking. Evidently her family had owned the funeral parlor in Licking back when she was a kid.
Now the sun starts to shine here in Shelby, Montana. It's 9pm local time and the sun is shining in my window here at the Glacier Motel and RV park in another middle of nowhere town in Montana. It's not a very nice place but it is cheap. When I arrived here there was a drunk guy out washing his new Harley. He proceeds to tell me how he went to Washington state to buy it and slowly made his way back to here. Although if he drank like this during his travels, I'm surprised he made it back here.
It was a nice Harley. He had gotten the detachable windshield and sissy bar just like mine. I made the mistake of telling him that I had a Fat Boy but decided to ride the BMW instead. Well, you could see him starting to get cranked up about that. Why on earth would a person ride a BMW instead of a perfectly fine Harley. For a minute there, I thought I was hearing the Clove. When I told him I lived on dirt roads at home and I was going up the Haul Road in Alaska he calmed down. I'm sure he still thinks a Harley would be the perfect bike to take up the Haul Road but he didn't want to say it.
Then he starts in about how hard it is to find a good woman that really likes to ride motorcycles. I wanted to tell him that I thought it would be hard for him to find ANY kind of woman but I decided "discretion is the better part of valor" and said nothing.
Remember when I said I just HAD to have one of the one wheel trailers for next years trip to the Yukon? Well, I've changed my mind. I researched them on the net last night and found they cost in the area of $2,800. So forget that. I'll have Sonny make one out of scrap parts instead. The stupid thing is not much bigger than a large Coleman drink cooler and it costs close to 3 grand. Not in my worst dreams would I have imagined it would be that expensive. Maybe I can find a used one somewhere.
The drunk Harley guy just left on his Harley. I don't expect he'll make it back from whereever he's going. He's probably going looking for a bar.
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