06.27.07June 26: Fairbanks, Alaska to Fairbanks, Alaska :-)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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06.30.07June 28: Fairbanks, AK to Coldfoot, AKPosted 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.
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07.01.07June 29/30: Coldfoot, AK to Prudhoe Bay, AK (and back to Coldfoot)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! |
07.02.07July 1: Fairbanks, AK to Talkeetna, AKPosted 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!
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07.04.07July 3: Talkeetna, AK to Glennallen, AKPosted 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.
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