June 6 was a wet adventure, but had some cool stuff happen.

I woke up again without the assistants of an alarm clock. I was wide eyed at 6am. Never, and I mean never when I ‘m home and working weekly does this ever happen. At best I’m up at 8am with a backup alarm set at 8:45am. So I caught a quick shower and bounced out the front door to sprinkles. Not a full rain shower, but sprinkles. I ran into the poor motorcycle guy and he was no better off than the day before, but he was in high spirits. I hope today he found a solution. We part ways and that was the last I saw of him.

I walked down to a breakfast spot and on a sign hanging outside said, “The Best Buns in Town.” So I walked in and told the woman behind the counter, “I had to take down your sign outside that said, The Best Buns in Town, temporarily because I’m in town now. My wife tells me all the time I have nice buns, so it must be true.” To which she responded, “That’s you’re wife’s opinion.” We all had a good laugh and then I selected my Blueberry bun and she invited me to sit down with some older, bearded, man. Who by the way, thought my comment was hilarious.

So I sat with the old man for a good 45 minutes talking about everything under the sun you can image. Work, wives, kids, government's, Canada, and the United States. My 5 to 10 minute breakfast bun turned into chat fest. We both mutually decided it was time for us to leave and time for me to get riding. I paid for his coffee and asked his name. He proudly said, “Ken, but everyone calls me Rooster!” Well Rooster now how did you end up with a nickname like that I was wondering. He told me. When I was younger, I was a woman chaser. What a character he turned out to be and made for a great start to the day.

I never thought I was going to get out of Stewart. You have to understand that there may be 45 to 50 people living there full time. Everyone that walked by wanted to chat. What was I to do? So I chatted with them all, including the guy who wanted to pump my gas but I had to turn down. I have a funny fuel tank on this bike. When it clicks off, I can squeeze another 3/4 of gallon of fuel in that tank. Thanks to the Adventure forums for that tip. When I did finally get the BMW rolling, it was in a full rain shower, not a down pour, but a nice steady rain. I only took a few pictures today because of the rain. I made sure that I got a few of the Snow slide and made sure Dixie got in the shot. Left her out yesterday and she was not happy. When I open the tank bag, she let me know it!

Before I talk about the rain, let me tell you about the one other thing that happened today and it started by me making a u-turn to check on a fellow rider. If you didn’t know, a motorcycle parked on the side of the road means you are required to check on their well being. I was just a bit late to the scene, but he apparently dropped his bike trying to put his kickstand down. Before you think, how dumb is that. Wait until you hear the rest of the story. This fellow riding the motorcycle, R1150GS, was Jeffrey Polnaja. I had no idea who he was, but he as been on the road for 6 years and has visited 77 countries. He is from Indonesia. He sold his company, to which he told me in American money was only $100,000, and started traveling the world in 2006. Can you imagine? Now do you think I’m less crazy? Once again, if you have a dream, follow it. He did! He told me he managed to get all his equipment paid for with the exception of the bike. He still has to pay for gas, food, and a place to sleep sometimes. When he started his adventure, he spoke no English and now spoke it better than most West Virginian’s. Sorry, I live in Virginia, so I have the right to make that comment. Come on guy’s, all in fun. So we chatted, he took pictures and I took pictures and we went in opposite directions. Now how cool was that? Now looking at the picture of his bike, you can see everything he owns is on that bike. Now, dropping it seems more possible than not.

Check him out here.

Pretty interesting day considering it looked so dismal outside and then rained on me the entire day until the last hour of the ride. The good news about all that rain was that I dry. I was warm. My toes were really warm. Can you see me smiling? I did have a little big dummy moment. So I pulled into a parking area that was slightly slanted down hill. I needed to make a glove adjustment. I raised my modular helmet to the open position, and began to take off my rain gloves. Um, the bike slightly shifted, my left foot slipped on the wet rocks and dirt and down we all went. Put a big cuss word right _____! I picked it up and put it on a kickstand. Repeat after me so it sinks in my big dumb head. When you’re not holding onto a 900 to 1000 bike, and your on your tip toes because it is so tall, put your damn kickstand down first before you start fiddling with anything. Specially when your on a slight grade. Big Dummy. So two riders with heavily loaded bikes, and even though they know what to do, have dumb moments.

The only other thing that I have to speak about that is significant is my tail bag. It is the bag that has the two red fuel tanks on top. Something somewhere is leaking water inside the bag. My water resistant bag inside did a pretty good job protecting my cloths but the water pooled under the bag so one pair of jeans got wet. Also all my receipts got wet that I put in the bottom of the bag. I’ve poured water all over the case and can’t find it. I drilled 4 holes in the case for those red tanks and it makes sense that it should leak there, but I can’t find it. I made my own seal and treated the holes on both sides with silicone, so I do not think it is possible, but maybe. I need to find something that I can spread on the inside the case that will show water tracks when it’s leaking. If anyone knows of a compound that I can spread on aluminum, speak up.

Tomorrow I head to Vancouver and I plan to be there a few days. Let me clarify. I have a few things I would like to see in the city and then I want to ride a ferry over to Vancouver Island and spend at least two days riding there. This was unplanned and after all the talk on the road that I’ve heard about the island, I’m going. I found a Road Runner route out of my subscription to the magazine online, downloaded and I’m still breaking it apart. 

One more side note. I thought I was getting close to breaking my all time mileage record for a trip, but not so. Lori and I road to California and back to the tune of 10,415 miles. I’m currently at 8,535 miles, so I still got a bit to go.

I almost forgot, would you stay here? It was clean and cozy inside. Not bad for $100.

 

 

 

 

Pictures of the Day

June 5th ride report. The Migration and no’s.

To explain that title before I give you today’s short ride report. Talk about a migration of RV’s heading to Alaska. Yesterday I forgot to mention the fact that just about every single vehicle that passed me in the opposite direction was an RV. Sometimes they were 4 and 5 deep in trail. Today same thing, all heading to Alaska. So make note to yourself, the first week of June is the RV migration to Alaska. It means something, I just know it does. What about the NO’s. Once I pulled out of Whitehorse, I had no cell service for 644 miles of driving. No major restaurants or gas station either. Just mom an pop type businesses which is fine but I find it unusual. I had no trouble finding a place to eat or getting fuel, but not even major Canadian names were to be found. Luckily, my little tiny motel has wi-fi.

Let’s start by talking about the weather report for today’s ride. When I went to bed the forecast for the town I was sitting in, Whitehorse was 50% chance of rain and increasing throughout the day. The weather forecast for Stewart, my destination, was for rain the next 5 days. No way I wasn’t going to get wet and be a little cool with a high forecast at 50. When I awoke, the sun was out. Hehe! I love it. It was chilly at 45, but sunny. The ride down to Stewart looked threatening at times but I never hit more than just a few sprinkles that lasted no more than 2 miles of driving. For the most part it stayed partly cloudy most of the day. I had to barely turn my heated suit on some parts of the day at higher elevations. Like Ms. Tippens says, “Keep those toesies warm!.” So I feel extremely lucky to have had the views today along my ride. The rain? I’ve got the gear to handle that, but it just ruins the views and I do not take pictures in the rain.

The ride from Whitehorse to the break off of Route 37 was ok, but the ride on 37 was awesome. I finally had the opportunity for almost 400 miles to lean into some curves and find out what those hard dirt bike tires can do. Once they are warm and burned in a bit they do pretty better damn good, not street tire good, but well enough that I leaned the girl at high speed. The views down 37 were everything that I read about. Everything has turn a deep rich green and the only thing that ruined some of the views, was man. They’re putting some new electric poles to transfer power along the route for about 30 miles. Damn it was ugly.

Going to make this short because I didn’t arrive into Stewart until 7:10pm. Why? The route today was 644 miles. Long day and it was longest planned route of the trip because there is nothing in between to two points. Well almost nothing! I know there is no damn cell service.

The turn off of route 37 onto 37a was a 32 mile ride into Stewart. Wow. Towering mountains lined the road on both sides. Snow still melting down the sides. Some of the snow slid down into streams and staked itself over 2 stories tall and almost covered the stream beds. Then the glacier sliding down the mountain. Pretty spectacular visuals to drive for the first time. Did I mention waterfalls? Yes waterfalls to. Tomorrow on my way out, I will take more time to get more pictures of this road. The town of Stewart? Let’s just say, there ain’t much here. My room has a TV but no service for channels. They offered to bring a satellite receiver for the night, but since it was so late, I can live without it. Kind of peaceful. When I finish this blog, it’ll be time for bed.

When I pulled into town and fellow actually followed me the motel by foot and waited until I got my room to speak. He needed help and he was a rider. He saw my bike driving through town, one street town remember, and saw the tires hanging on the sides, and thought there was a chance one might fit his bike. He is driving an RT1200 BMW. His tire width is 180 and mine in 150 and I just do think my skinny tire will inflate on the wider rim. The chords are showing on his tires and air is leaking from multiple places. I had nothing on my bike that would solve his issue. I offered my inner tube, because that would likely do it, but when he said he needed to travel 300 miles to Prince Rupert to catch a ferry, I didn’t think his tire would hold together that long. A bit risky driving on a tire that could shred at speed. I really felt bad for him and if it were me, I would have been on the phone all day getting a tire overnighted. He spent his day trying to come up with a patch. I wished him the best and we parted. I would have given him the tire if it would have worked.

Tomorrow is just a another transition day for me and I’m heading to Prince George, BC. That will set me up for my entry into Vancouver. The ride into Vancouver is suppose to one of the best twisty roads out there. Come on dry payment, no traffic, and no repair work. Speaking of repair work. After all the worrying I did about road repair, I got stopped for maybe 2 minutes all day and all the other sites under repair, I just blew right through them. Fairbanks to Deadhorse was good training and now I see repair work and think, come on just let me through.

Today’s ride was 644 miles putting my trip total @ 8205. I’m not 100% sure, but I think that is close to being my high for a trip. I would have to look that up. I may have done 8500 before. Tomorrow my departure point should be overcast with possible morning showers but I think my route should be mostly sunny. Prince George might be sunny and 65.

Pictures of the Day

So it end’s and now the rest of the adventure.

Those that have been following this trip since May 18th know the entire story about the why for this trip to Alaska. Today that reason and it’s completion of a dream is now over. I did it and I’m proud of it. So I sadly close a book on Alaska and move into British Columbia tracking toward Vancouver. I close that final chapter with my Dad, his dream of RV’ing to Alaska, that never happened but I finished as promised. The skies were covered with clouds and misting rain until I reached the Alaska and Canadian boundary and then they started to clear. It was almost as if someone from above was crying that this was over. Me? I’m good. I’m leaving filling the need to comeback and do it again because I would love flying up and renting a car or motorcycle and driving seeing some of the sights in a slow motion. What a beautiful and diverse state and one everyone needs to visit at least once in your lifetime.

If you learn anything from this trip, this blog, this adventure is that if you have a dream, you need to do it. Do not procrastinate and say, “I’ll get to it one day or I just can’t do it.” You will have regrets down the road. Live for your dreams and live life to the fullest. Remember as my dad always said, “You have no promise of tomorrow.” Those that know me very well, know that if I dream it, fear it, or want to do it, Mark is going to do it. I’ll find a way and if you have any doubts, you do not know me. My wish for my 2 boys is that follow in my footsteps and never let anyone tell them that their dream(s) is to far fetched or it’s a waste of time and effort.

As I was exiting Alaska, I once again stopped at the entry sign for the state. There, I run into two couples traveling in one RV that are from Martinsburg West Virginia area in Hedgesville. They didn’t know I livid 15 miles away and asked what I thought of the road in the Yukon. I started laughing and said, the funniest thing you ever want to see is riding behind an RV watching it ride the road like a boat on the ocean. Someone needs motion sickness pills. We must have talked 20 minutes or more about their route and where they were heading. Then of course we spoke about what I had done to date. Good folks and they were beaming  that they finally made the border. Thanks for the conversation Greg and Linda and I hope you enjoy Alaska.

I spent the rest of the day riding toward Whitehorse. It went from 46 overcast and misty, to partly cloudy, windy, and temps fluxed between 50-61 degrees. I saw some pretty amazing sights like clouds just barely dancing on the ridges which gave the effect that the tops of the mountains were being frosted with icing, like a cake. I saw a really strange cloud formation that I will post below and I will be curious if you see what I see. Then Destruction lake, what a difference a week makes. Now there was more water showing than ice and the water was all different shades of blue.

I finally rolled into Whitehorse around 4:15 and it was a fairly short trip at 386 miles. After getting my key to my room, I turned to see a young lady standing there with a dog and a UNC jacket. I said, “UNC? Really? In Alaska?” To which she replied, “Do you own the motorcycle with Virginia plates? And are you a UVA fan? I said, “No, Virginia Tech.” To which she said, “That ok then and I lived in Winston Salem and I’m now moving to Anchorage for my first permanent job as a Physical Therapist. She was excited about her new job and wondered what the winters, day and nights would be like during there extremes. She was riding one way with her mother and the mother was flying home to leave her little duckling all alone. I didn’t catch their names but it was fun chatting and bantering about the schools. UNC! I guess everyone has some type of issue. Just teasing.

I’m a little concerned about my routes going through British Columbia because of all the talk by travelers and the British Columbia 511 website. I’m going to lean to the page being accurate and updated and I will proceed on my planned routes and just expect delays. It must be hard living in this world where extreme cold and snow just destroy the primary roads on a regular bases. This would get old, quick. Below you can see the link for the BC 511 page for tomorrow route if your are curious.

Whitehorse, Yukon to Stewart, British Columbia

Yesterday I got a little rain, not to bad at all. Today I also got a little rain, but mostly just mist and wet roads. Tomorrow, I expect 650 miles of rain on the longest planned leg of my route. Got a feeling the next 3 to 4 days are going to be wet. Welcome to the west coast.

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My favorite shot of the day by Destruction Bay.

 

 

 

 

I’m a space alien and I will eat your young! Run!

 

 

 

 

I see a baby eating or feeding him or herself something to eat.

 

 

 

Pictures of the Day

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

June 2 Wow what a day–733 miles 16hours:30minutes

Before you think I’m crazy for a day like what is briefly described above, you have to know that as hard and trying as it was at times, I was having fun. Plus. I knew that rain was in the forecast for Monday. The only thing that could have been better in my mind, would to have had a support vehicle chasing me so I could actually ride without fear of totally destroying my equipment and body as I rode. When I told a truck driver back in Coldfoot that I left at 3:50am in the morning, traveled to Prudhoe Bay,(Deadhorse), and then back to Coldfoot by 2:15pm, you could see him processing the information and then said, “Damn, you were hauling ass!!” I was thinking to myself, “Not really, the bike was hauling the ass, I was just ass for driving to fast and long.”

I guess because I planted the seed in my mind the night before about getting up early and starting to Deadhorse. My mind was racing and I naturally woke right around 3am. I sat in bed for a second listening to sounds around me and out my window I could hear dogs howling, at least I thought it was dogs. Have not heard that coyotes run up here, but I could be wrong. My $200 dollar room was so nice that I actually went out to my motorcycle the night before and got my sleeping bag, silk liner, and pillow so I could just sleep on top of the bed. Not to sure those sheets have been cleaned for awhile. So I rounded everything up, put on my entire gear, and set off into the north for leg one.

The sun never really sets even if they call a time sunset in Coldfoot, the skies were bright blue and the air was crisp at 45 degrees. The Atigun mountains to the north blocked the sun from my view and what I didn’t know at the time was this mighty sun was going to be a small issue later. I actually hit the road at 3:50am and it was just me, no other living thing that I could see, not even an 18-wheeler. I had hard surface roads for the first 20 miles and then transitioned to dirt. If the roads stay like this to Deadhorse, I will make good time.

It wasn’t long after I started that I climbing into the Atigun mountains and into the pass. As I climbed the temperatures continued to fall and fall and fall until they hit a low of 33 degrees. Was I cold? Nope, that little trip in Anchorage to the Alaska Leather shop to fix my heated suit was paying dividends now. Even my little toes spoke to me and said, “thank you.” Cold fingers and toes, I hate that. On a motorcycle, cold fingers and hands eventually will make you stop. I was just rolling along 60-65 mph when the first issue of the day hit me in the face and it was something that I prayed for. Give me cold and give me sunshine, but no rain please. That sun pounded me in the face and my shields for sun protection were not helping much. Is it because I was so far up north that the sun seemed 10 times more intense? Could it be with no air pollution to speak of, I was seeing what a real sun looked like. I literally could hardly see 20 feet in front of the bike at times, so I had to slow my speed to 10-15 mph until the angle of the sun that was hitting me made it easier to see. Until you see it in person, it is really hard to describe just how intense that sunlight was. The Antigun pass was incredibly beautiful. The sharp edges of the mountain peaks with no trees and snow capped, while some were bare. Being out there with no other human in sight was also cool on one hand and a little concerning on the other. We are so programed now a days that we need humans around us at all times in some form or another. You say you want to be left alone or be by yourself, but once your stuck in this environment when sh$% happens, you got one person to lean on, you. If you didn’t think most scenario’s through, you might just be waiting in the cold, lonely, world north of the artic circle. Yes, I’m above the artic circle.

Reaching the end of the Atigun pass or mountain range, I was drop into a valley of nothing ness. No trees, just low laying grass, snow, and water. Sometimes it looked like the road was built up in places high enough just to get through. You could see forever. Sometimes the road blended in with the terrain and I had to slow to make sure that I just didn’t drive off into the wild blue yonder. What helped in some places were the snow guide poles that they put down for the snowplows to follow to make sure they stayed on track. It was still early enough in the transition between winter and summer that large junks of ice were still floating in the streams and or lodge in nooks because the water was traveling so fast.

Rolling into Deadhorse, it looked like a work zone only. The wind was howling at a steady pace of 30 knots or more and I could image how brutal it must be to work here in the middle of winter. I should have taken more picture of this area, but I got the feeling that I was an alien in a strange world and they might not take to kind to photo’s. I mean, I was here for fun, these guys were working. The hunt for gas was now on, because a 240 mile clip with no services in between, even my gas hauling rig would be in the tight zone. In the dirt, head winds, weight an loaded, and the speeds that I was carrying, I was getting 38 miles to the gallon. The most fuel I have every burned is 9 gallons times 38 is 342 miles. Now I do carry and extra 4 gallons in those red tanks in back just in case and that gives me and additional 152 miles, which is 494. 240 times 2 is 480. Would you roll the dice in no man land? Not me, back up for my backup. Finally stopped a worker walking by to point me to fuel and he kindly gave me direction there and how to use it. Because of the extreme cold, their pumps are quite different. No attendant at all, just a phone if you need help. Put your credit card into the terminal, select your pump that matches type of fuel, diesel or gas. All of that is in a little building. Now walk back outside, open the numbered box, mine was 3, lift the handle insert into tank, now turn the lever to on in the box, then turn the emergency cutoff handle 90 degrees to on, and the pull the trigger and fill. All of this because sometimes the cut off vales when below zero do not cut off. I have no idea how much fuel I got or what the total was, but I do know it was $5.50 a gallon.

Now food! I knew from other rider stories that the best place to eat was the newest looking hotel. It was an easy find because it was the biggest yellowish box in the area. I was amazed at how clean it was inside. Unfortunately for me, lunch was not being served until 11:00 and I was there at 9 to 9:15. The lady at the front desk see us motorcycle idiots all the time and before I even asked, she asked, “Did you enjoy the ride?” That was funny! Sticking out like a sore thumb. Anyway, she walked me back to the self serve food area that just about had a little bit of everything and some were left overs from the night before. Just like home! Chicken Cordon Blue, fruit bowl, and a carton of milk, $8 and that was that. Did I mention that they do not allow boots or shoes inside and you must remove said boots or shoes, put on booties and walk around with blue covered feet. Well at least everyone looked the same. Once again , no pictures. Sorry.

After lunch/breakfast, I came out to the bike and notice Dixie standing on my fender looking just a little upset that I got her BMW dirty. I told her if she didn’t like it, she could take up residence in Deadhorse and I would be on way. She promptly jump back into the Tank Bag and wrapped herself with gloves I was not using. There is nothing really to see here. It’s flat, you really can’t see the ocean very well, and it is basically a construction zone. If I wanted to pay for a tour to the ocean, I could have put my toes in the water. Sorry, not interested. Riding here was a bucket list, so CHECK.

So here we go in reverse order and this time I knew it wasn’t going to be quite as fun as the ride here, because I knew the 18-wheelers would be awake and rolling. So your thinking, so what? How many of you have every driven behind an 18-wheeler on a dry dusty road? You cannot see to get around them, so whatever their speed is, you match it. I ran up against three and only one made me follow him for about 10 miles of dust eating cussing. Sometimes I had to drop 500 yards back if the wind was in my face. Crosswinds were great cause you could close right up on there butts looking for a crease. Finally the last truck pulled over, slowed, and let me blast by. I was lighter and more nimble, so I could maintain 60-80 mph at times on the flats.

This is when all the fun ends. This is when all the joking about having a plan ends. This is when having a backup for the backup starts. Something in the frontend of the bike just didn’t feel right at speed. She was starting to follow grooves in the road and sometimes just felt soft or wobbly. Something told me, even though the sound of everything was correct, the feel wasn’t, so I stop. With bike running, I blip it, normal. I got off the bike and did a walk around, and everything looked dirty but good. Kicked the tires and they felt normal but I was going to check air since I’m stopped. Back tire, 30, right where I set it. Front tire 9 PSI. Really, 9? Checked again, 9. Crap, flat tire in the making. I had Ride-on inside the tires and it was suppose to seal small holes and I could not find anything sticking in the tire or any holes or damage. Currently, I’m 100 miles from Deadhorse and 150 miles from Coldfoot. Crap! I open the side case, grab my electric air pump. hook it to the bike that I wired just for this, and pumped that tire back to 30. It appeared to be holding. Got back in the saddle and took off. After 50 miles, things still felt perfect, but I stopped and checked pressure. Lost 5 psi. I’m ok, I didn’t re-fill the 5, and took off. I came rolling into Coldfoot at 2:15ish. Checked tire pressure, still the same, sitting at 25 psi. I would have to assume at this point, Ride-on fixed the issue. So, he who planned is safe.

At Coldfoot I decided to eat and see how I felt. I still had 250 miles to go to reach Fairbanks and a lot of that was dirt. I also knew they were working maintenance on this half. It is now 3pm and based on how I felt and the weather report that I knew about, I was going. I refilled the front tire to 35 PSI this time to give a little more room for leaking air. Saddled up and blasted 20 miles down the road and came to an abrupt halt. Seems someone lost control of their Grader and drove into a ditch. So us riders had to wait almost 30 minutes while they pulled that piece of equipment out of the ditch. Work zone after work zone were thrown in my path. Loose dirt, mud 3 inches deep and I was getting a little irritated the last 50 miles or so. Within 15 miles of the end of the Dalton Highway, another work zone stoppage. I mean come on, it’s 6:30 and I’m beat, let me pass. I only had a 3 minute wait, where I understand the others had been waiting 15 minutes or more. Lucky me. The last 5 miles of the road I knew  was going to good to go but what is this? They soaked the road with water and turned it into a muddy goodbye mess, just to say, thanks for the visit and we do not want you to forget us.

Finally asphalt and I never thought I would say it, but I did. The weight and size of the motorcycle combined with all the extra weight that I was carrying made the soft stuff and mud, gut wrenching at times. I learned very quickly that if didn’t stand up while riding through this crap, I was going down. Many times the bike would suddenly slide left or right and I just came to terms, I’m going down. Then the tires and gyro effect would snap it back inline with a little guidance. I was mentally exhausted driving through the wet stuff. If I had a CR-125 and a chaser vehicle, it would have been a different story. All in all, these short terror rides sometimes 2 to 3 miles long, didn’t ruin the fact that 95% of the road was a hoot to ride and I cruised at highway speeds.

I set a personal best with this leg. Once I rode with a group to Nova Scotia and the last leg of that trip was 625 miles long for me. Others may have had more or less, depending on where home was for them. Lori and I were totally whooped from that last leg. Today I completed 733 miles in 16:30 hours and even though I was tired, I had a great time. The main reason for the push was that I knew it was going to rain Monday. That forecast came true. Can you image riding 250 miles or more in the mud? I wanted no part of that equation because I had read the stories from other riders.

Would I do it again? No likely not. Give me a chase vehicle and 200 to 250 pound bike carrying nothing, mud or not, I’m in. To ride this R1200GSA loaded through the mud and soft dirt is not for the faint of heart. BMW has schools just for this bike and how to handle these situations and I didn’t take them. In my defense, I’ve been riding a long time and I have a lot of miles under my belt in the dirt. Just not with this big of a bike.

For this trip, this ends my dirt road riding. This means that from Fairbanks to Whitehorse, I will have to make adjustments to my planned route. I will update you as I move along. Sorry for the long blog post, but there was a lot to cover.

Pictures of the Day

June 1- Day 16 Report–Did you miss me?

Before I get started with my rider report, I want you to know that once I entered the Dalton Highway heading for Deadhorse, I will be electronic dark. No cell phone or wi-fi !! The only communication tool I had or have is my Satellite Spot Tracker that most of you have been checking from time to time, to see where I’m currently located. I can use that same tool to send one messages to my wife so she at least knows that I’m alive, well, and moving. Now my ride report.

I got up early, 6am so I could get to the dirt road portion of my ride because even though I did a lot of research, until the rubber meets the dirt, I do not know how the bike will handle or I will handle the bike. The sun was up much earlier than me and by the time I stepped outside it looked like it 10 or 11am. I suited up completely,(Heated Gear), so I could test the suit for when I run into that cold, cold, at Coldfoot and north. The suit works very well, so well I could not run it more than 5 minutes because the outside temperature was 57 and climbing quick. Within 30 minutes after I got into the days journey, the temps reach 70. Rolling into Fairbanks, 75. It was really hard for me to believe the temperatures.

The ride across the plains between Mt. McKinley and Fairbanks was smooth, warm, and the skies were bright blue and cloudless. I got the pleasure in seeing a Cesena pop above the tree line to my left and in-tow a glider. The forest here are thick with trees and most are spruce. The picture to the right is looking back toward Mt. McKinley about 80 miles northwest. The ride was pretty and uneventful.

So let’s get right to the Dalton. First thing that happened is that the guy from Texas that I met at the The Motorcycle Shop getting his maintenance was exiting the Dalton the same time I was entering. We both recognized the other did quick u-turns. He was dirty but not to bad, so I was thinking I would be ok also. I asked if he made Deadhorse, to which he answered yes and that to made me feel more confident. He was riding on new tires, but not real aggressive dirt tires like I had installed, so that made me feel good also. If he can do it, so can I. He told me watch the roads right after they wet them, but that advice turned out to be shallow, more later. He also told me it got down right cold on the other side of the Atigun pass. like 34 degrees cold. Ok, I can handle that also. We bid are farewells and spilt in different directions once again.

As soon as my tires hit the dirt, within 1 mile the dirt below me felt extremely bizarre. I could tell it was wet, but could I brake hard with the front tire? Why does the bike feel so unstable and wobbly? So first chance I pulled off to the side and put her on a kickstand. I knew from my past experiences that air pressure in soft dirt or mud, needs to be lowered. So I got my tire gauge and dropped them down to 30 each. 12 out of the rear and 8 out of the front. Then I walked out onto the surface of the road and it felt like clay or spongy. Got me some water to drink and got my courage from the OZ, then back on the bike. I accelerated, decelerated, upshift, downshift, weaved back and forth, and then did a hard rear brake and then a hard front brake. Then in the distance I see one of those workers with the stop sign, man!!! I was stopped chatting with her for almost 20 minutes before they cut us loose. I also got to speak to couple that were here from Italy touring Alaska. he spoke really good English, she not so much.

Ok, we finally got the go and I let the Italian’s go first to follow the pilot Truck for the next 8 miles. The bike was now handling a lot better. It was responsive to the instructions that I was giving and they felt as normal as they could for being in the dirt. Once the Pilot truck pulled to the side, I blasted away from the group. The current dirt was hard, packed, and not to much gravel and soon I was pacing at 60-70mph. I will make good time to Coldfoot at this pace. Then I hit my first real goo. It was about 3 inches of deep loose, but dry recently turned over dirt for road repair. OMG! This is one big bike and that was not very much fun! Glad it was only 1/2 mile long. Then it back to hard surface roads, yes hard surface. I was really surprised that of the 240 miles of was suppose to be dirt, maybe half was actual dirt.

Here is the problem with not paying attention to the road. Out of nowhere you could be transitioned from good solid dirt then loose dirt or even worse, wet soup. You really had to read the best you could far down the road. Then there was the occasional 8 to 10 foot long pothole. No little pot holes for this road, they were Alaska size. This was the easy stuff.

What happened next was gut wrenching, is the best way I can describe the internal feeling. The soil was turned over by a grader looking machine, then mixed with water to make 3 to 4 inches of mud. OMG x 2!! How I didn’t drop that beast of a bike is a miracle. She followed every track that was laid down before me and it was all I could do to hold balance without putting my feet down. Oh how I wanted to put those feet down, but I didn’t. That nightmare lasted about 500 yards or so. That was the only instance that I encounter for this portion of the run.

The next thing I hit is where the machine was grinding up the road and then flatten it out but it was soft. This time I tried an old tried and true method of dirt bike riding and that was standing on the pegs while driving. Whoa la! It wiggled a little bit because of tracks previously laid, but handling the bike through that soft stuff was much more confident. So, next time we see mud, up on them pegs boy!

That was it! It didn’t get any worse than that and the temperatures and weather was awesome. I should have written down my time when I first hit dirt so I would know the return time, but I didn’t. I have no internet or cell, so I cannot even use spot tracking website to figure out time and distance. Thinking 4 hours, but not sure. I have this wild idea to get up at 3am, and try to ride to Deadhorse and back to Fairbanks in one day. 760 miles of dirt and hard surface. Not sure that I’m skilled enough or have the endurance to pull that off. It really depends on rain or no rain. Also depends on how more road they tear up to fix up. I also know leaving Coldfoot, heading north to Deadhorse is 20 miles of hard surface and 230 miles of dirt. Truck driver said so!!

Ok, this is the end of my day. I stopped in Coldfoot, ate my lunch/dinner at the same time. Then I rented a room that I can only describe as, your kidding! Ready for this, $200 a night. Beggars can’t be choosey when this far north because your chooses are none! I did have a little entertainment watching a dust tornado wisk it’s way through the elite all dirt parking parking lot.

Pictures of the Day

Hi Alaska following peeps!

Really, really short. I'm in Deadhorse or Prudhoe Bay eating at a little restaurant. I'm dirty but safe. It is cold,windy, but sunny. Yea!!!  I've been up since 3am, took me 3:10 to drive 250 miles in the dirt. Now I'm going to return to Coldfoot. If the body feels good an I'm not to tired I will continue to Fairbanks. That would be a long 700 plus mile day in the dirt. 

Big if. Can't believe they have cell service here.