jessedwalters@gmail.com
mattczirjak@gmail.com
07.07.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:19 pm by jwalters
We
got up at the crack of noon and hit the road from our luxurious hotel
suite. The Alcan leaving Beaver Creek was under a lot of construction
and we spend the better part of the afternoon waiting at construction
sites as they blew up sections of rock ahead. They they’d have to clear
it before the pilot car would let us through. Usually the wait was no
more than 20 minutes, but it made for slow going. Take a look at our
scenery though, not a bad place to hang out. The Alcan traffic up here
seems to be predominantly RV’s and fifth wheels.
When we made it to Destruction Bay, we ate at the same gas
station/restaurant we ate at on our way up. The waitress remembered us,
and was real nice. We ran into some cars that we heard about from some
others the day before. These old cars are going to try and make it up
the Dalton highway to Prudhoe Bay as well. These cars will never look
the same.
We made our way to Haines Junction, the ride was pretty uneventful.
Although we road the same highway in the opposite direction already,
heading south had its own set of marvels. Heck even the gas station’s
around here have brillant views out their back door!
From Haines Junction, we got off the Alcan and started heading south
towards Haines. This highway would turn out to be one of the best roads
we’ve ridden yet! All of the RV traffic followed the Alcan so that left
us with almost no one on this stretch of road, ~150 miles. In this
stretch we went through thick forest, then into snow capped mountains,
dropping back down into rocky forested mountains before coming into the
spectacular town of Haines. We had no idea this little town was such a
cool place. I would recommend this stetch of highway from Haines
Junction, Yukon to Haines, AK to anyone in the area.
Here we are just south of Haines Junction.
The road surface through this pass was awesome!
It really started getting cold as we climbed into the mountains, on
a bike you have no one to talk to but yourself. It give you a lot of
time to think about a lot of random stuff. That afternoon, I started
thinking back to my chemistry and thermodynamics classes. Namely, the
ideal gas law: PV=NRT. P in this equation is pressure, and T is
temperature. As P drops (ie atmospheric pressure drops as we climb the
side of the mountain) so does the T (temperature) if the equation is to
remain equal. Ok, not exactly a brain buster, but that’s what came to
mind as we went from 70s weather, into the mid 40s as we passed the
Haines Summit highway post.
We made our way to the US border crossing where the border patrol
asked us the usual questions. Then we opted to stick around for a while
and shoot the breeze with the fellow motorcyclist, one of the customs
officers. He has a bike similar to my DR 650. He was asking me where I
got some of the after market parts on my bike and I was happy to help
out. Living around here, our bikes are a perfect size for some of the
trails, and I can see why he opted for the Suzuki DRZ-400.
From the US border we had 40 miles to Haines, AK. The last 40 miles
were fantastic. We started a long decent to sea level, where we quickly
warmed up. Once we got back into the tree line, the scenery jumped out
at us.
We made it into Haines, and found this little town to be a good
time! Check out that sky, the sunsets up here this time of year is
unreal!
We ate at a local sea food restaurant, where I met this lion in the
parking lot. He is an Alaskan Malamute and is quickly losing his winter
coat. The owner was playing in a band inside the sea food restaurant.
That night we met up with a couple that were traveling in their van.
They are from the Baltimore area. Dave is a architect looking for work
up here, and Megan (I think, please correct me if I am wrong you two)
has been in camera sales. They told us about the trouble they had
getting their van fixed on the way up here. I hope you don’t have to
buy anymore $100 “tune ups”! We had a couple beers with them, but Matt
and I had to ride over to the Ferry depot, so we called it an early
night. We sleep next to our bikes in the parking lot most of the night.
That’s it for now, our ferry is just leaving, the Alaskan capital.
If we don’t post anything for a while its because we don’ thave
internet access at sea. We still aren’t sure how much connectivity this
ship has. We’ll see!
Permalink
07.06.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:13 pm by jwalters
We
left the comfort of our hotel room at Valdez at 11:30, checkout was at
11:00. We got the bikes loaded up and started off the day in pouring
rain. Valdez is almost completely surrounded by mountains, except of
course, for the small ocean inlet. This region gets a lot of rain and
snow every year, and today was no exception. We got all geared up in
our rain suits, and lucky for us, about 40 miles out of town, once over
the mountain pass, we were in blue/cloudy skies. We had good roads back
to Glennallen and onward to Tok.
From Tok, Alaska we retraced our steps on the Alaskan Highway. (I am in Canadian right now so no usage of the term Alcan) 
We hit some more showers along the way but came through the Canadian
border crossing with out a shot fired! For the first time, I got my
passport stamped! Matt just added it to his collection. This time the
women working the crossing where “less than desirable” but friendly
none-the-less.
Just south of the Canadian customs is the town of Beaver Creek. We
stopped here for the night just as heavy showers came in. We got some
really cheap motels with a community bathroom. At $37 a night Canadian,
these places were cheap. And we got what we paid for. But hey, its
better than sleeping in a puddle!
Permalink
07.05.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:06 pm by jwalters
Happy Independence Day!
We got up from the RV park in Glennallen and decided we better have
a look at Matt’s battery. Before we left on our trip, we added some
heated grips to his bike, and recently his bike’s battery would not
hold a charge, even on low beam and no accessories on. The battery
terminals did not make their way loose (which often happens on these
single cylcinder “thumper” engines) what we found was his battery was
dry. So right away that morning I set out on my bike to find some
distilled water. But remember, this was July 4th, so finding an open
store in a small town may be a challenge.
I found an open grocery store (it wasn’t a challenge it was the only
open place in town), but to get to it, I had to drive through the crowd
that had gathered for the parade. The parade was to start at any time
but the local sheriff let me go through. Cautiously riding my loaded
little motorcycle, with tons of stickers on it, some kids thought I was
the start of the parade in the “clown car”. Well, I wasn’t, but I still
gave the Vanna White wave as I drove by. Once I got a jug of distilled
water, there was nothing to do but watch the parade, for it had
started, and there is only one way in this small town to get back to
the RV park, and that road was filled with 4-H floats, prom queens, and
30 year old fire trucks.
It was fun to watch the line of RV’s pill up behind the procession,
remember this was the only way through town, and the only way to get to
Anchorage from the Glenn highway.
Once we filled Matt’s battery with distilled water, the neighbor
with a fifth wheel let us use his battery charger for a few minutes.
That was all it took, and we were back on the road. After 6,000 miles
you expect things like this, but it was a relief to be back on the
highways of Alaska! We headed out to Valdez, AK. It was a short ride,
but we wanted to get somewhere by the water for the 4th of July.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t get very dark here, and fireworks don’t look
as spectacular as they do down south.
The ride to Valdez was awesome. It started off with a pretty
straight and uneventful road, but within no time we were in the
mountains, and looking at really tall waterfalls. We also met back up
with the Alaskan pipeline! We didn’t realize it until we got here, but
we have traveled to both the start and stop of the Alaskan pipeline.
The start being in Deadhorse, AK (Prudhoe Bay) and the stop here in
Valdez.
Some really neat Glacier ice as we got further into the mountains.
Around this glacier we took some trails that led us closer to the
ice. Below you can see where the pipeline was buried into the mountains.
Just after the Thompson Pass, we found some more trails that
wandered off into the distance. These motorcycle’s of ours are perfect
for these trails. So we wandered off for a while. Came to some great
scenery.
Back on the paved highways, we were getting close to Valdez. With
only a 120 mile ride today we enjoyed taking some back country detours.
As we got closer to Valdez we came across a bunch of waterfalls right
off the highway. Very cool!
Once we got to town, we grabbed a motel. We haven’t had a motel in
over a week and a half. Life is good here. We get our own toilet, and I
unwittingly washed my hair twice in the same day. That’s some kind of
record on this trip. After we got into our room we headed town to the
water and checked out some boats. Like trains and planes, I could walk
these docks and look at ships all day.
As of writing this, it is 10am. We are waiting till 11am when they
have to kick us out of the hotel. We have some miles to cover over the
next couple days as we make our way to Haines for our rondevoe with
Alaskan Marine Highway, which is a ferry system that will take us down
to Bellingham, Washington (Seattle). To get to Haines, though, we have
to travel back into Canada and backtrack the Alcan to Haines Junction,
where we will head south to Haines. See you then!!
Permalink
07.04.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 6:49 pm by jwalters
We
finally got packed up and hit the road from Talkeetna. We had a nice
time there, but the prices in the tourist town were starting to show,
and we wanted to head further south. Talkeetna is a neat mountain town
because there are mountaineers who are either staging for a Denali
climb (or one of the other mountains), bush pilots who live in the
area, locals who feed the tourists coming in during the day, and
hippies that just sort of… well, hang out. Pitchuly oil aside, it is a
great place to check out.
I’d love to come back someday with a backpack and some climbing
gear! I talked with one guy who just got off Denali and made the
20,000+ feet summit! Took him three weeks, but he finally made it! I
could have listened for hours, but he wanted just as bad to hear about
our trip. That’s what makes this town so cool, EVERYONE has a story.
You don’t just end up here, because that’s where a job was. You come
here because you want to be here.
It is a GREAT place to people watch. I felt sorry for the folks who
came in on the cruise ship charter buses though, because the town is
much more fun after the tourist gift shops close, and the buses head
back to the ship. That’s when the locals get together to play beer
kickball, and open mic at the Fairview Inn. FYI, beer kickball is
played like normal kickball except you MUST have a beer in your hand
the entire game.
Small world, here we are with the Freedman’s from Coralville!
Matt and I both bought some books at the local bookstore. I got a book titled Wager with the Wind.
It is about local bush pilot legend Don Sheldon, who made a living
rescuing downed Air Force crew, hauling goods and mountaineers all over
the Alaskan range. Landing on glaciers and Denali’s lakes he became a
living legend. The neat thing about reading the book, was that Don’s
story is based out of Talkeetna. I could hear the constant whine of
other bush pilots at the runway Don used just a few blocks away. And
the book even talked about the Fairview Inn, which Matt and I were
hanging out at earlier that evening. Kind of neat.
Since we road the Dalton, we really haven’t had too much of an
itinerary. So we weren’t sure where we were headed, just south on the
Parks highway, toward Anchorage. We called Jim and Sissel from Wasilla,
AK, but they didn’t answer, so we knew they were still in Fairbanks
working on their plane.
Deciding to push on, we made our way south to highway 1 and headed
in the opposite direction as Anchorage, to Glennallen, AK. We had more
overcast with light rain, same weather we’d had through our stay at
Talkeetna. Pulled into an RV spot and called it a day.
Permalink
07.02.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 1:56 pm by jwalters
Matt
and I spent a day in Fairbanks, getting the bikes back in order for
some more highway miles. About $10 in quarters cleaned both machines,
and I scrounged another street tire for my DR. We probably would have
left after we got everything in order, but Jim and Sissel’s hospitality
kept us the evening. The on Sunday morning, we slowly woke, to Sissel’s
coffee (she’s been serving coffee her whole life in the airline
business and does it well!) and got packed up and ready to hit the
road. We HAD to get a picture with Jim and Sissel before we left.
Hopefully we will be meeting up with them in a few days at their house.
Assuming their planes gets back together without any unforeseen issues.
Our Fairbanks foster family:
We finally got on the road, and started heading south towards
Anchorage on the Parks highway. We hit rain about 50 miles out of
Fairbanks, and for the first time on the trip, we’d have to use all of
our rain gear. We stopped at a gas station and Ali, from Atlanta riding
a KLR 650 from one of the Alaskan rental dealerships, warned us of the
weather ahead. Nothing too serious, but inconvenient nonetheless. He
was on his way to the Dalton highway, and for once in our trip we could
give some advice on the roads “up there”. Ali, that pretty suit is
going to get muddy!
The views were neat, but with so much fog, we didn’t get to see much
of the mountain ranges. Which is not the end of the world, because we
are going to head back up that way and ride the Denali highway, later
this week. Hopefully, in some better weather. We still had some good
views though, so don’t feel too bad for us. 
We stopped for a cup of coffee and to warm up at this place. I
forgot the name of the guy we talked to but he was very friendy and
told us to hit Talkeetna, Alaska. (he has a sweet Bronco) My good
friend Ryan from Chicago, was just in Talkeetna a few weeks prior doing
some climbing in the area. This town is very touristy, but it also is a
staging point for many climbers. He gave us the 411 on the pubs and the
Ice Axe beer. The beer is made just for the West Rib pub, and is 9%
alchohol. They will only serve you two pitchers of the stuff, but we
only wanted one. Very good though, thanks Mr. Braun.
We met some girls there that were waitresses at the West Rib. We
talked them into having a beer with us. By the time the Ice Axe was
done, they were ready to head home and so were we. Sue and Heather we
had fun!
Here is another shot of the West Rib. We are having coffee and
writing this post from inside, WiFi is almost as abundant as mosquitoes
around here.
Matt was on his second Ice Axe. (not really he just had his eyes closed)
Inside the West Rib, we ran into James. This is the second time we’d
run into him. The first time was in Prudhoe Bay, more than 1000 miles
away! If you recall, we lost our tire irons in Prudhoe Bay, so we
talked with another biker and made sure they had some irons we could
use the next day if necessary. Well, that biker with the irons was
James! Funny, how 3 days and 1000+ miles we can run into the same guys!
Nice meeting you James, good luck in South America!
Permalink
07.01.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 2:15 pm by jwalters
We
got a decent start out of Coldfoot, AK around 9am. Considering we have
to go through the same ritual every morning of packing camp, gassing
up, taking a shower and hitting the road, 9am is a pretty good start.
As we were getting ready to leave Coldfoot, we ran into some folks on a
BMW with a sidecar, and a couple traveling two up on a KLR. They are
nuts!!
Going two up on a KLR 650 is crazy, we didn’t know how crazy until
we experienced the road conditions up north. They were the talk of the
highway though. Which was also amazing, we couldn’t believe how fast
news travels up and down this road. Since there were so few of us on
bikes up here, we would usually stop with oncoming bikers. This spread
news of a fallen rider or bad road conditions really fast. By the end
of the day, almost everyone had heard of this couple. Turns out the
gentleman on the BMW had his camera gear in the sidecar, and was
filming a movie. Matt and I are going to be in it, costars.
That morning we were back on the road and following the pipeline. No
chance of getting lost, just stay on the yellow brick road, expect it
was made of mudd and rock. Like in the movie, yellow bricks were only
in our dreams! Up here the road conditions are what you have to look
out for. No one better to ask, than the truckers who drive it everyday.
In Coldfoot the night before we struck up a conversation with a couple
of them, and they gave us a good idea what we had to expect ahead. The
problem is, trucks are more sensitive to bumps than our light bikes
with big suspensions. Whereas our bikes don’t like the sloppy wet
calcium chloride, the same stuff trucks breeze right through. So we had
to read between the lines, but they gave us a decent idea of what we
were in store for.
Here you can see what the wet sloppy road looked like. Our bikes
slip and slide through these sections and was very nerve racking. Also,
notice the truck, these guys book on the Dalton. It is also known as
the Haul Road and for good reason. Drivers up here are making a living
hauling goods up to Prudhoe Bay and the numerous pump stations along
the way. When they are behind you, or coming at you head on, pull over
and give them a wave so they know you see them. The dust up there makes
it difficult sometimes, so its good to give them the all clear wave
before they approach you. They appreciate it too, we’d get a wave or a
honk of the horn almost every time. Word travels really fast over the
CB when some jokers don’t play fair, says one trucker. They are up
there making money, we are just there for recreation, so give them the
respect they need. Besides, they have 100,000lbs of reason, why they
have the right of way.
Up here there is no height restrictions on hauling stuff. Obviously,
you don’t want your trailer to flip, but you can haul as high as the
sky, says another trucker. We saw the big snow machines these wheels
went on in Prudhoe Bay.
Through out the day we’d run into a few other bikers along the way.
We’d swap stories and what each other had to look forward to ahead on
the highway. The funny thing is, the Dalton’s conditions change so
fast. On our way up we hit a lot of sloppy chalsium chloride, but on
the way back it was later in the day, and the watering trucks had all
gone home for the evening, so there wasn’t as much trouble.
Just before Prudhoe Bay, we ran into some of the worst road on the
highway. They were laying down new rock bed for the road, and that’s
what we had to ride on. To make matters worse, we had just gone through
a bit of rain, so we were a little wet, and the closer we got to
Prudhoe Bay the colder it was. So the 40 degree temps, along with
already being wet, and a 30/40mph headwind really got us chilled for
the last 30 miles into Deadhorse, ak. All, while trying to navigate
roads like this.
By the time we got into the town of Deadhorse, AK (Prudhoe Bay) we
were cold, but neither of us were tired. Deadhorse is a oil drilling
community. Its really spread out, dirty in the summers, and not a lot
for tourists to do. So after a big meal at the Caribou Inn (and our
first of the day) we turned around and headed home. We didn’t buy
anything at the gift shop, didn’t take any real victorious pictures. We
simply ate and hopped on the bikes and went home. I did take a few
shots of the community though. Image this place in the winter, its
actually much cleaner, because the snow covers all the dirt.
We had one small issue on the way home. On the 30 mile stretch of
rough roads just outside of Deadhorse, a softball size rock hit my PVC
tool carrier. I didnt know it until it was too late, and lost most of
my tools, including my tire irons. Without tire irons on the road, you
run a pretty big risk. Both Matt and I wanted to head back to Coldfoot
that evening yet, but without tire irons we were a little uneasy. So we
talked with a couple bikers who were spending the night in Deadhorse,
they still had their irons. This meant that even if we did get a blown
tire, we could pitch a tent on the side of the road, and wait for these
guys to come down the next morning. Since we had somewhat of a fail
safe, we took off for Coldfoot.
On our way out of Deadhorse, we were eager to hit warmer weather,
which was only about 30 miles away. Deadhorse stays pretty cool in the
summer because the Arctic wind always brings in fridge wet air. Talking
to some of the locals, the day we were up there was a bit abnormal
however, and they told us that it was 45 and sunny the day earlier.
As I mentioned, the return trip down the Dalton was a lot different
than our way up. The section of road just outside of Prudhoe Bay had
been grated while we were eating, and was much easier traveling. And
the sloppy sections of the highway were few. There is just so much
construction and heavy truck traffic that the road is never the same,
expect probably in the winter.
Matt and I really enjoyed the trip home, partly because we knew from
here on in our trip we’ll be heading in the general direction of south.
We stopped a lot more, and really enjoyed the evening (midnight) sun.
At one of turn outs on the Dalton, we saw a truck pulled over and so
we stopped to. We saw the driver just looking over a bluff, at about a
100 miles of tundra. Glad to see the folks who work here everyday still
enjoy its beauty.
Of course, Matt and I strike up a conversation with this man. His
name, you guessed it, Jim. He said he was on his 341st load on the
Dalton and takes home about $1000 per run. From Fairbanks, AK to
Deadhorse,AK and back. Originally from Montana, he moved up here to a
few years back, and loves it. Unfortunately, he’s got diabetes and
doesn’t think his commercial drivers license will be around much
longer, so he might take up being a machine operator back in Montana.
He told us, he’ll often pan for gold, while his rig idles on the
side of the road. I asked if there was one piece of advice you could
give a trucker coming up from the south what would it be? He said,
learn to drive on ice, you can’t really use your brakes, just throttle
and the jake brake. You can see in the picture below, most of the tires
up here have lines spray painted on them, that’s so the drivers can see
if they are sliding or not. Even in the summer up here, the Atigun pass
gets snow and ice year around. Also, Jim mentioned that there is no
weight station up here, so as soon as they leave Fairbanks, the wheels
go up on that cheater axle in the middle of the trailer. Besides, the
grades they run are not to DOT spec, there are sections that are 12%
grade, and the only way to get up the hill, he says, is to get on the
CB and see if anyone is coming. Then give it full throttle drift around
the corner and pour the cobs to it as you climb the icy 12% hill.
Best of luck to you Jim!
Farther down the road, we came to Atigun pass. This time we stopped
to take some pictures. I can’t imagine driving a truck down these
grades on pure ice. (they prefer to drive on ice, because its more
consistent) Chains or not, you aren’t getting me in that cab. We talked
with a couple truckers in Fairbanks, who said the same thing.
As usual, we pulled over when we saw trucks coming our way.
We made it back to Coldfoot at 2:30am. Since it was still light out,
neither of us were tired. The next morning, we road from Coldfoot back
to the RV campgrounds in Fairbanks. We met up with a couple brothers
who were also coming back from Coldfoot. Nice guys, but I didn’t get
their names. We’d play leap frog all day down the last stretch of the
Dalton from Coldfoot back to Fairbanks.
You can see what the Dalton does to your bike. A thick glaze of corrosive icing over EVERYTHING.
Once we got back into Fairbanks we wanted to stay at the same RV
park we were at before. Because we knew they had WiFi, laundry,
showers, and we knew where things were in the area. This was “home” so
far on this trip. And the folks are real nice too. Unfortunately, by
the time we rolled in to the park, the office was closed the place was
full (it was Friday). But Jim and Sissle (the ones with the airplane
getting worked on across the lake) offered to let us camp by their
trailer. Had a couple beers with them, and got a few good Navy pilot
stories out of Jim. Turns out he flew the A-7 Corsair 2!!!! How awesome
is that! You’d never know it though, he’s a real humble guy! Jim and
Sissle (still hope I am spelling that right) thank you so much!
Permalink
06.30.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 7:23 pm by jwalters
(I’ve
updated the website, so it will only show the latest 3 entries. This
will hopefully speed up the site a bit, not having to load as many
pictures from previous days. If you want to go back to an older post,
click the “previous entry” link at the bottom of the page.)
Well, its June 30th and we are just getting the bikes washed and
ready for the ride south. We are starting to realize we’ve been on the
road for a while and not plugged into the media, because there are so
many important news stories we haven’t heard about till. Like
Paris Hilton finally getting out of jail. We are glad to hear she is
out! Ex-cons have a hard time finding work after prison. By this time,
a life behind bars is all she knows. With such a hard life, its a
wonder she’s made it as far as she has, if only someone would give her
a chance… We are both pulling for her, and wish her well.
Back to the story…June 28th
We left Fairbanks heading North on highway 2 towards Livengood, AK.
The weather was nice, we had a couple rain showers, but nothing to get
us real wet. We were able to ride through them and approached the start
of the Dalton with clear skies, and temperature about 75 degrees.
Perfect riding weather!
We had heard that the the calcium chloride they put on the roads up
here turns very slick in the rain and when watering trucks dump water
on it (they water the road to keep the dust down), they were correct!
Fortunately, we had taken a look at the weather the day before and we
knew we could expect mostly clear skies. Except, in the Brooks Mountain
Range where rain can come and go anytime. Just after the sign we
stepped off the pavement.
Just a few miles down the road we ran into the Alaskan pipeline.
This pipeline carries the oil from the Arctic oil fields down to
Valdez. We would be following the pipeline for the next two days. After
you ride next to it for a few hundred miles you realize just how
amazing it is, and what a construction/engineering feat it really is.
Up here, getting supplies to the job site isn’t an easy task, thinking
about how much material and supporting infrastructure that was needed
for this project is something. Remanence of the construction are still
around, the hotel at the Yukon river crossing was the old construction
quarters for the hundreds of working working on the pipeline in that
region. Now it is a restaurant, gas station, mechanic shop, general
store and hotel.
The Yukon river bridge was something. Very long and steep, with wood
planks. Many of the planks were missing or splintered. We had to be
careful not to blow a tire crossing this. We heard a guy blew a couple
crossing this bridge.
While south of the Brooks Mountain Range, we road through a lot of
praire land, with a lot of foothills. The nice thing about being on a
motorcycle is you get to smell everything you are riding through.
Through Canada the pine trees were the dominate scent, up here it was
the wild flowers. Very vivid, this picture doesn’t do them justice.
The tundra up here reminded us of Montana, expect there was no
fences and no cattle. It is kind of crazy to look out over 50 miles and
not see anything man made. Very cool!
By this time we made it to the arctic circle. Most folks try to take
some arts’e pictures here. We tried to do the same. You tell us which
ones you like best! As you can tell from the reflection, only our faces
get any sun on this trip.
If anyone would have shown up while taking this pictures, I don’t
know what they’d think. Getting a tan at the Arctic Ocean!!After we got
our cloths back on, we road to our gas stop at Coldfoot, AK. Here we
gassed up and camped for the night. Getting ready for an early start in
the morning. They have a really nice restraunt inside. This is pretty
much the entire town.
Permalink
06.27.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 12:25 am by jwalters
I
think they must restrict the times of day planes can take off and land
at our water runway in our temporary front yard. Right at 9am they
started taking off and landing. Not a enough to be annoying, but every
half hour or so. When they came in on final, they would really sneak up
on you, because they would just miss the tree tops and idle overhead as
they begin to flare further down the lake. Really graceful looking.
By the way, here is an aerial shot of Chena Marine RV Park (where we are staying).
For not traveling anywhere, we sure put on a lot of miles. Today, we
stopped over at the local Suzuki dealer, Northern Powersports, to see
what tires they had in stock that would fit our bikes. Matts tires he
got on in Billings, Montana are looking good for the Dalton, but my
rear needs replacement. I also needed a new chain guard as mine had
cracked earlier in the trip. They didn’t have any tires that would fit,
and they didn’t have any chain guards in stock either. I talked them
into letting me have the on off their showroom bike, for the same price
as a replacement. They thought that would be fine… thanks guys! They
recommended the local Harley Davidson dealer for tires.
This is a pretty famous Harley Davidson dealership, its called the
Outpost and is the farthest north Harley dealership in the world. But
what was striking to us, was the fact that they sold Honda, BMW and
Victory out of the same building. You don’t see that with too many HD
shops. They did have a TKC 80 tire in stock, which fits my bike so I
bought that, but they didn’t have any one in service that could squeeze
me in for the next couple days. I opted to install the tire myself back
at our campsite. I’ve been getting better and better with doing field
tire swaps, and we figured we might as well try it out in the comfort
of our campsite before possibly having to do it on the Dalton. (we
talked with one couple that blew two tires on the Dalton a few days
ago, they had to get tow truck after they were all out of spares)
All done!
Last night we ran into a guy on a BMW with a sidecar. We got to
talking, turns out he was the local KTM dealer, and runs Wild Alaska
Distributors. He said to swing out this morning for a cup of coffee… we
did. Bob Siftar is his name and he had some great advice about
traveling on the Dalton, what to bring and what to leave behind. He’s
done it a few times, so its first hand knowledge, not recycled
hear-say. There is a lot of that up here too.
With the tire changed, and chain guard installed we set out to clean
the air filters. They got pretty bad on the Alcan, with so many dusty
dirt stretches. After that we needed to do an oil change. We bought
some oil at a local parts store, and we brought our bike filters from
Iowa. What we were lacking was a receptacle to catch the old oil and a
place to dump it. We had heard that across the water was several
aviation shops that did work on airplanes. In addition to the water
runway, they also had a small airstrip that a few planes a day would
take off from. We had a hunch that we could probably find a plane
mechanic nice enough to let us change the oil in their shop. We were
right, thanks Jim! A 12 pack of Coors light is waiting for you!
We changed the oil outside the shop, but Jim was more than happy to
help us out. That is his Harley parked to the left. Notice all the
airplanes in the background, lots of locals have their VFR private
licenses up here, it would be a great way to get around.
Here is what was in the shop!
The plane in the white is owned by a couple that is staying in the
RV park with us, Jim and Sissel (I hope I spelled that right). They
have been in the airline business their whole life. Jim flew with the
Navy, and as a commerical pilot. Sisle has been a stewardess and is
retiring soon. They bought their own private plane and are fortunate to
fly where the heck they want! They were put up by Jim (the mechanic, a
lot of Jim’s in this story) at the aviation service shop in the RV
park, and are waiting for their annual service on their plane to be
complete. Sounded like there was some welding needed on the frame, so
they might be here a few more days. They didn’t seem too worried, it
was a pleasure talking to them.
Check out that radial lump back there! Over 400 horsepower!
Changing our oil at an airplane hanger, just another day on the road for Matt and Jesse!
Tomorrow we are going to head out to Coldfoot, AK, which is on the
Dalton. From there, we will setup camp, and unload anything unnecessary
for the trip to the Arctic. This will remove weight and give us better
tire wear/gas mileage. It is very similar to Alpine style mountain
climbing, setup camp and make a push to the top! Same idea. As you can
imagine we will probably be without internet access for a few days, but
at this point in the trip I wouldn’t be surprised if we found some, we
just won’t know. Rest assured though, we will be leaving contact
information with the locals up there, on our itinerary, so they know
when to expect us up there and back.
On a side note, wouldn’t this be a great way to see the north
country. What couple WOULDN’T want to travel in one of these babies!
(wink wink) We asked, it was 30mpg.
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06.26.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 11:45 pm by jwalters
This
ride was only a 210 mile stretch, but we were eager to get to
Fairbanks, so we could start preparing our bikes for the rough road
ahead on the Dalton highway. The Dalton highway, also known as, the
Haul Road, is the famous road that follows the Alaskan pipeline from
Fairbanks north to the Arctic Ocean. This road is really rough, and
recent reports put the condition of the road in pretty bad condition.
They are laying new road bed down, so locals tell us we can expect
baseball to softball size rock bedding for 10 - 15 miles. This should
be interesting…
Anyway, we got out of Tok a little late, but sleeping in felt good.
We knew we didn’t have a lot of ground to cover anyway, so it was nice
taking a break from the pack’n ride game we’ve been playing all week.
We stopped for breakfast at this local joint, where we found free
internet access.
We’ve been amazed by some of the places where we’ve found WiFi
access (remember the Ramble Inn in Montana), and disappointed in other
places where you would expect to see it, and don’t (the entire downtown
Whitehorse, YK).
Just down the road from breakfast we pasted another great example of
the old Alcan highway. I had to grab a couple shots of it. Here you can
see what looks like a fairly modern road, abandoned for the road
surface we are pictured on. If we had more time, we’d love to take our
small bikes down there, and ride some of these forgotten alleys.
We road by Eielson Air Force base, but couldn’t get in. Later
talking to a 1st Sargent, at the army base, we found we could get a
tour of some choppers, but we probably won’t have time. The ride
into Fairbanks we pretty uneventful, but we did go through North Pole,
Alaska. Yes it is a real town, and this is the post office we’ve seen on the Discovery channel where all of the Santa letters end up. They gets thousands of letters a year.
When Matt and I were talking about this, I think it finally dawned on him what this meant…
On with the trip, Matt and I headed into Fairbanks’ visitor
information center and found a RV camp site just on the outskirts of
town. Little did we know it was also a Marina. This Marina was a full
service airport. We haven’t seen one boat here, instead the shore is
littered with small aircraft. And the runway is about 50 feet from our
tents!!! As a plane lover, I couldn’t have found a better site (this
location will pay off later) We have planes buzzing our tents as they
come in on final, awesome!
We got our camp setup, and for the first time on the trip, we will
be staying in the same place two nights in a row. This is real nice,
not having to pack up camp in the morning, allowing us to get a early
start on parts and some maintenance we would like to do to our tractors
before we hit the Dalton.
Permalink
06.25.07
Posted in Uncategorized at 5:05 pm by jwalters
We
got up in the morning and was able to hit the road pretty quick, since
we were staying in a motel and didn’t have to break down camp first. We
had a look out for a grizzle bear and her two cubs, but didn’t see
them. Instead, we saw the neatest wild horse. I think they are actual
Mustangs up here (Tammy you can correct me) but it was a light brown,
with a black mane. Very cool, unfortunately, it took off before I could
get my camera out. From a distance it looked the same color as a
grizzly, so we kept our distance until we finally could make out what
it was.
We made pretty good time on the Alcan (I am typing this in Alaska
now, so I don’t have to call it the Alaskan Highway anymore) All the
while, heading towards Tok, Alaska.
The terrain was flat and forested as you can see from the picture
below. Also, notice the old roadway next to the highway. This is the
old Alcan highway. Some die-hard bikers will actually ride the old road
surface, although we never saw anyone on it. The old highway goes from
dirt to gravel and even some stretches of decent pavement (outside of
Whitehorse for example). We came across some old WWII emergency
airstrips as well. There is something cool about abandoned airstrips
and roads. I suppose its because these slabs of asphalt use to be the
life lines of the communities up here and how strategic the Alcan was
during WWII, but are now left to go back to nature, eventually
forgotten altogether.
Just before we reached Destruction Bay, Yukon the road started to
get a little rough. We stopped for quite a while, ate breakfast/lunch
and used there free wireless. I was able to get a couple more posts on
the site, but still was a day behind when we decided to hit the road.
From here on out the roads, came much rougher, and we finally saw
road conditions the Alcan is famous for. Frost heaves, and gravel. Like
the Cassier, this stretch of highway favored our bikes. These smaller
bikes really shine on this road. With so much suspension travel, our
bikes ate up the washboard ripples in the roadway. But even with our
nimble tractors, we had to go slow and be careful, we were along way
from anything and occasionally a large frost heave would sneak up on
you.
At another gas stop, we met up with Keith and Matt (guys let me know
if I got it right). Both on KLRs, one was an ‘06 and one was an ‘07,
but you’d never know it. They road these suckers. One even had a nice
“custom” duck tape seat, with gel inserts.
We went through the Canadian customs and had 15 miles before we
reached the US border crossing. The 15 miles in between, used Canadian
road signs, but Matt and I coined this the Canada/USA DMZ. We made it
through without a shot fired, and was greeted at the border. Passports
in hand, we had no problems, entering or leaving. (Cousin Chad, you can
tell us what a real DMZ was like in South Korea with the JSA, aye?)
Here is a shot of the “heavily guarded” DMZ:
Once in Alaska, Matt and I pulled over for some water and a bagel,
when out of know where Dog Sled Rick came flying in the turnout was
euphoric about making it to Alaska. Excited was an understatement we
hadn’t seen him in 500 miles but there he was! The alcan is a
traveling circus, he hung out for a while, and let the dogs stretch
out, then climbed in his truck and yelled “Pray for snow” as he took
off down the highway making dog howls and swerving back and forth. By
far, the most eccentric person we’ve met on the trip. You meet all
kinds up here…
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