June 3, the day after, relax, clean, setting up for an exit.

Well after 9 hours of rock solid sleep, I feel ready to roll. I peeked out my hotel window and the roads were wet and the skies were overcast. Even though it was not currently raining, it looked like it could at any moment. So it looks like making that extra effort paid off. The original plan had me spending the night in Prudhoe Bay and then returning to Coldfoot today. Then Coldfoot to Fairbanks tomorrow. The weather forecast today and the next couple of days looks wet. After all the sunny days I’ve had, it is really hard to complain, but I’ve gotten use to them and want more.

So after breakfast, I packed up and went looking for a car wash. I pulled into a coin feed wash and proceeded to take most everything hanging on the bike off. It took me $6 worth of washing to get most of the caked on dirt off. I spent no time trying to make her pretty because the plan was just knock off the dirt so nothing gets damaged for the long haul ahead of me. I knew I was going to be riding in the rain shortly, so why bother. Once that was done, I had a 20 minute conversations about dirt bikes and riding with the guy running the wash. Funny how motorcycles and the people that own them can start talking to perfect strangers and chat for quite a long time.

Having no real plan of where I wanted to be today and no real agenda, I started wondering toward the North Pole. So someone at work please tell Jamie, Mark made it to the North Pole! When Jamie asked if I was going to the North Pole, I first looked at her and thought. “Really?” Then I thought better and asked, is there a North Pole Alaska? Why yes there is, so I had to drive through that location anyways, so why not stop. There is not a lot there, but I did stop at Santa’s house to see what was waiting for me. By the way, all you guys at the FAA are getting coal. I hooked you up. Looks like for Christmas, I’m getting a new K1600GTL BMW motorcycle and even a new Ford Fusion. Lucky guy! Well, like I said, there’s not a lot here but things to note that are unique. Street names are all Christmas related and the light poles look like candy canes.

Since I made the decision that I’m done with dirt, that eliminates a few routes and this put me in route to Tok, Alaska. This is my last full day in Alaska and tomorrow I will head toward Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Technically, after riding the Dalton highway, I was suppose to cross into Canada and in up in Dawson. That is another dirt road that just recently opened and no one could give me a clue on its condition. I’m not going to be the test bunny, so I will bypass this route. After speaking to a lot of the locals, running to Inuvik, Canada comes with some real risk to tire damage and not one that should be done alone. I’m going to heed that advice and bypass. I will head to Whitehorse and then I will start my adventure in the British Columbia. Everything I’ve heard and read, tells me this is the most beautiful Provinces of Canada. I will update my planned routes where you select dates for routes.

To date I’ve been on the road for 17 days and seen a lot cool stuff, but I’m not quite half way through yet. I’m pretty sure I have about 40 to 42 days planned for riding. To date, I have also traveled 7179 miles.

Pictures of the Day