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. . 

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