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.
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