Girdwood, Kenai Peninsula and Homer

I'm playing a little catch-up so the dates aren't going to make much sense when I post these entries. We left Denali and headed down to Girdwood, AK, the home of my Uncle Bill and Aunt Donna (Welch)

Girdwood is a ski community – really a fancy ski resort with a few stores and a couple dozen homes. I have only skied once so the slopes looked terrifyingly steep. I'm not sure I'd want to go there unless I had a lot more practice. It didn't take long to drive through the whole town and see it all, so I headed out to the Seward highway and rode down to the Portage Glacier. I couldn't actually see the glacier because it was around a bend in the hills, but I could see about 3 or 4 others and I took in the view and visited the National Park visitor center at the end of the lake that the glaciers created.

The lakes and streams that are fed from the glaciers are an intersting milky-blue color, and are gritty. The water has a very fine silt from the ice grinding across the mountains. That water all eventually ends up in Turnagain Arm (a bay off the ocean) and has silted it up to the point where it is mostly quicksand. The tide varies by 30' or so and if you walk out on the sand and get stuck you will quickly get drowned. There is a tidal bore there – a phenomenon where the incoming tide builds up over the outgoing tide, so when the tides change from low to high the incoming tide is actually a 6' wave coming into the area from the sea. It looks like a tsunami wave. I was not able to time things to see it while we were there, but it happens 2x a day.

I only left the house for 2 hours the first day there (Wednesday) because I was tired and wanted to talk to Aunt Donna. It was also a chance to catch up on some work I was doing.

On Thursday, dad and I headed down to see the Kenai Peninsula. We had heard it was a 3 hour trip to Homer – but when we got to Homer it took 5 ½ hours! We barely had a chance to look around and then it was time to make a fast run back to Girdwood. We only stopped for gas, and that was a very quick stop. We managed to make it back in just under 4 hours.

On the way down we did stop quite a few times, for photos, and also to check out the little villages and some of the rivers. I wasn't able to get a photo of the “combat fishing” conditions along the Kenai river, but the fishermen were definitely lined up along both sides of the river, each with their own little 12 – 20' “personal space” around them. There were also boats running up and down through the rivers, which are very swift and could be considered “whitewater” in some places.

Homer was the end of the line for us, both for the day and also for our whole trip. It is as far south as we could go on the mainland portion of Alaska – the rest would have taken a Ferry to reach or you'd have to go through Canada. We had lunch at a pizza place called “Fat Olives” then rode out onto the spit – which reaches about 2 miles out into the water. At the end of the spit I took a picture of the bikes – from here on we would be riding back toward home.

Denali National Park

From Fairbanks to Denali NP was a leisurely 2 hours of riding, so before we left we went out one more time in the rain for a ride around Fairbanks. For a town of 35,000 or so in an area with 90,000 it had the biggest Walmart I've ever seen. I would guess it would have to - there's probably not a distribution center near here so they probably bring things up in larger than normal quantities. I peeked in the back door to the warehouse area, which is usually just 2 or 3 rows of big storage racks. The one in this place had ten or so racks. I really only needed a screw put in my eyeglasses but the vision center wasn't open so we got back on the road.

We went up the road 10 miles or so to a place called 'Fox' which is where the pavement ends if you're going north in Alaska. I wanted to ride all the way to the end of the paved roads and we were pretty close (actual end of pavement was further up and we had a good place to turn around so we did so while it was safe)

Near Fox is a turnoff to a small park where the Alaska Pipeline runs through. We spent some time there checking out the displays among 3 or 4 tour buses worth of other tourists. I have always been fascinated by the challenges faced by the designers of the pipeline and there were information signs as well as the actual pipeline to look at. They had many of the configurations of supports and insulation shown in the 1/4 mile stretch that was on display, so I was able to walk around them and appreciate just how big the thing is and how well engineered it is. While looking at the information boards I discovered that the principal designer of the pipeline is a Purdue Graduate. Go Purdue!

After visiting Fox we headed back through Fairbanks, checked out of our hotel and once again had to deal with heavily loaded motorcycles. I took a picture of the bed in the hotel room with all of my stuff on it. What you don't see is the tools and equipment I keep on my scooter - it's a tool bag, extra batteries, extra face shield, towels, spray cleaner, a bottle of oil, spray lubricant, two gas cans and a fuel pump!

I would have loved to have made the whole trip with an empty one, but at least with all of my camping gear we can stop whenever we want and camp comfortably. We flew down the highway to Denali (maybe a little too fast) and while dad waited on a waiting list to get in to see a ranger to register for a tour I went and found a campground and booked us in for a couple nights. Then we could enjoy our 8 hour tour without worrying about all of our stuff on our bikes in the parking lot.

The next day we boarded a bus that took us 60+ miles into the park to a visitor center near Mt. McKinley AKA Denali. Denali means "the great one" but we didn't get to see it today because of the rain. We did see a few grizzly bears, Dall Sheep, Caribou (Reindeer), a wolf and a moose.

Denali NP seemed unique to me because there is just one road into it, about 90 miles long, and it's not paved except near the entrance. You can get on a bus, ride out to almost anywhere along the road, and hop off the bus and hike into the wilderness. The driver will radio HQ and tell them where you left the bus and you are on your own. They have you view videos on how to deal with the wildlife and you rent a food storage container to carry your provisions (they also have another similar one for your waste to go in...) We didn't go through that program because we stayed on the bus out and back except for visiting the two information centers along the route. I was really amazed that people can go out with the bears and wolves, but the animals are not interested in the humans because they are not an opportunity to obtain food. They said that once an animal associates humans with food that animal must be destroyed. Apparently the programs are a success as the animals completely ignored us and we didn't hear any reports of hikers being attacked.

Today we are heading down the George Parks Highway to Anchorage and then to Girdwood, AK. I will be one fuel can short the rest of the trip - one of them (just filled!) flew off the bike the other day and sprayed gas all over the highway. Dad managed to avoid it but ended up stopping off the road on the very soft gravel shoulder and it gave way under the weight of his bike. Fortunately we were able to get the bike back up onto the road, but unfortunately he will need a new paint job on his fairing and right saddlebag. I felt terrible about it. All dad managed to fling at me was little water bottles and I'm tossing napalm bombs at him! Today I will have everything back on the bike so one item can't become unstable like that.

Whitehorse and Fairbanks

I've not posted in a couple of days - been busy with riding and a little bit of work - house(tent) work that is...

We left Watson Lake and had a leisurely ride only 280 miles or so - but man was it cold!

Our first stop was the Signpost forest, where during the construction of the highway someone

put the distance to their hometown on a

post with other signs, then another was added,

and another... well it's to the point of absurdity now... I think I read that there were 27000 signs there. Most appeared to be home-made by travelers through there, and many were license plates people had removed from their cars. It was quite a sight to see and fun to walk through.

While we were at the signpost forest I took a good hard look at my scooter. So far during the trip the only issue we had with the bikes was dad's cruise control was kicking off and his brake light was coming on at random times. We traced that to a loose plug on the brake controller. As we were leaving the campground it started raining and I reached with both hands to zip up my jacket. Normally you can take both hands off the handlebars with no problem, but I had apparently never done it while going only 25 or so, because when I did the bike immediately went into a "tankslapper" If you aren't a motorcyclist, that is when the front wheel wobbles from side to side hard enough to bang the handlebars back and forth against the tank. Think of a shopping card with the wiggly front wheel and you get the idea.

Fortunately, the scooter doesn't have a tank there so the bars just shook like crazy and wiggled back and forth, but unfortunately it is still terribly violent and scary. I immediately leaned forward and was able to stop it from doing that. I did a little testing and it only happened below 40, so I just made sure to keep a tight grip on the bars when going less than 40... I re-tested the bike at Fairbanks with no load on the back and it doesn't do that, so I'm guessing it's due to so much weight on the back of the bike when I'm fully loaded.

Once I was sure my scooter wasn't going to kill me I took the lead the first section because I was pretty sure I could not make it on fuel - well, 162 miles later at the next gas stop I was pleasantly surprised. At the point when I normally fill up my scooter around 140 miles there is one "bar" showing on the display on the dash. Well, after 20 miles or so that bar starts flashing. I went another 10 miles with that last bar flashing... and at some point the bar goes away and you are out - but fortunately I didn't get that far. So I know now know that I can go quite a bit further on a tank - maybe 30-40 miles. That's important up here because more than half of the gas stations are boarded up!

Our second section of the ride wasn't so far, but I did celebrate a bit of a Milestone - 25000 miles on my scooter. I took a picture of the odometer to post on the burgman web site some day. Most people just tell where they were when it happened, but I'll have a picture too. We arrived

in Whitehorse quite a bit earlier than we normally stop, but there weren't many places to go beyond there, so we decided to stay. We stopped in the visitor's center in the center of the city, but decided to just go to the motels and try to find a room. The first place was pretty grungy

looking, the next place we went looked great but was full. We decided to go to an RV resort back up the road and it was really nice. I got a good nights sleep and did my laundry so I'm good for another 8 days of clothes.

The next morning we decided to get a room in Fairbanks. Someone said it was only 400 miles or so from Whitehorse so dad booked a room online. Because we made the reservation the same day as our stay, it was non-cancellable... As we were getting ready to pack Dad asked the

campground owner and he said "around 600" Oops! That's farther than we rode any other day!

We ran back to the campsite, packed quic

kly, put all of our rain gear on (mostly for warmth) and took off down the highway. Well, we ripped through the miles pretty fast even though it was raining and the temperatures were upper 30s and low 40s, but after about 250 miles we stopped for gas and started hearing horror stories about the road ahead. One man on a motorcycle said the potholes were two feet deep, with loose gravel and ruts 6-8" deep for 120 miles. I felt a sense of doom as we headed down the highway... and after 50 miles or so it started. First it was just a bump here or there, then the ruts started, and after a few more miles we passed a highway department truck with a man filling potholes. His shovel and the lower part of the handle were not visible in the hole he was filling - it was about 2' down!

The worst part of it was that there were places where you'd think you'd dodged a hole, then a ridge or dip in the pavement would bottom your bike out. In some places, they had aparently given up on filling the holes and the whole road was covered in Gravel. That was smoother, but since it was raining, it was slick and the gravel was loose. Most people slowed way down for that section of road and took 3 or 4 hours to go through it. Dad and I manag ed to go through there at 60mph or more, and I followed a truck that looked like it belonged to someone local. He dodged most of the holes and ridges, and I sat about 150' behind him and watched his wheels... if there was a hidden ridge the back of the truck would jump up in the air and I would slow down or swerve around the problem... It worked really well until we had to stop for me to refuel, then we were on our own, but most of it was behind us. We survived the worst part of the Alaska highway!

The Alaskan border was nothing like what I expected. You enter Alaska on a gravel road, and climb up a hill to a guard house. There is one lane for cars and RV's and one for big trucks. That was it! We waited for about 15 minutes to get through, but heard from others that it took as long as an hour. After clearing the border it was back on dirt and gravel roads for another 10 or 20 miles, then things started improving. By the time we got down out of the hills where the border station was we were flying down the highway, and the weather improved to the point where we knew that we could easily reach Fairbanks, just 200 miles ahead.

Once we arrived in Fairbanks we checked into a brand new motel - just a month old. We decided it was so nice that we'd stay two days and recuperate from the crazy ride the day before. We hauled everything inside and I spent the day cleaning my scooter and changing the oil. I can normally change the oil in 15 minutes or so, but it took 3 hours because every time I went out there to do something it would start raining or hailing. The storms have gone through here all day on about a 30 minute schedule. Even the locals say this much rain is unusual for July.

Tomorrow we will be back on the touring trail, checking a few local attractions then heading down to Denali to camp and see Mount McKinley. We did get to see it on the way to Fairbanks - It's amazing to see it covered in snow and glistening white in the sun (what little sun there was)

Muncho Lake, Liard River, Watson Lake

Today was the most scenic day by far and the fewest miles we've done on the trip so far...

The morning was occupied by me getting more money at the bank and some oil for my scooter - I have had to add some oil every few days and predicted that today it would need it (it did)

Once we got rolling we immediately started seeing wildlife - first a bear at the side of the road eating berries, then a Caribou (tha

t I had to ride around - he was in the middle of the road) and Stone Sheep, Bison, and a Beaver.

The previous day people had told us that the road was horrible going forward... well, it wasn't a smooth paved road, but I wouldn't call it too bad. About 15 - 20 miles was oiled dirt - I loved that part because it was smoother than the asphalt. Then came the gravel patches - strips of gravel 50' long poured over the asphalt. That was pretty challenging because the road was very twisty through the mountains at that point and some of the time you'd sweep through the corners at what seemed like a good speed and hit that gravel and the bike would start to slide toward the edge or the cliff - not a good feeling... The final stretches were flagged with pilot cars - so you had to wait in line, then follow a line of trucks and RVs through 5-10 miles of VERY dusty, dry gravel roads.

For one flagging operation we got waved ahead to the front, which was really nice, but when dad got up there the ground was soft and his bike fell over - all half-ton+ of it... The little flag girl came over to help him and I wanted to take a picture of that but instead helped dad pick his beast back up onto it's wheels... I should have know that was an omen when dad was teasing another motorcyclist for dropping his bike at the campground earlier in the day! At least that time there were 4 of us there to help the guy lift his bike up. Kick stands don't work well in grass and dirt... especially when the bikes are so top heavy with all of the "stuff" everyone packs for weeks away from home!

The last flagged area was a big one - the dusty nightmare... I thought I had time before the other direction's traffic would get there so I started transferring fuel... Nope, we were asked to go immediately so I had to stop the pump and jump on the scooter and go or we'd have to wait 45 minutes for the next westbound departure! I had fuel spraying all over my luggage and bike because the pump was still full of fuel, which then gave the dust something to stick to! What a mess!

The highlight of the day was a stop at Liard River Hot Springs. I got to take a nice 30 minute soak in the hottest water I've ever gone in... which helped the afternoon go very well since I felt better than I did when we started in the morning.

Today we're not sure how far we are going to go, but have decided on taking the northern route through Dawson City, BC. The only issue with that route is that 50 miles of it is unpaved road through the mountains, but after today that won't be anything new for us! Beside, Marlene and I rode on a 30 mile stretch of the roughest rocky road you can imagine in New Mexico when we took a shortcut around Albuquerque so I know the scooter can handle whatever this one is like.

Well, off to the signpost forest. I wonder if I'll find one from Austin?

Mile Zero and Beyond

The ride this morning started a little later than usual, in a steady downpour. Everything was muddy and wet, and I was really glad that we had been able to park under a canopy at the hotel... it kept us dry until the moment we were ready to go.

I noticed over the last couple days crossing Alberta that all of the people directing traffic at the road construction sites were young ladies in their late teens or early 20s. They wore makeup and were very pretty. Whoever sat in the safety meetings and proposed that the drivers would pay more attention to the “Slow” sign if it were attached to a pretty young lady should have got a big raise... it really worked. Most of them would make eye contact, wave and smile at you. Of course, being a gentleman, you'd do just as they directed. I had noticed a sign when we entered Alberta that was a reversal of the “slow down, my daddy works here” signs I'd seen in the US... this one had picture of a man with his daughter and said “slow down, my daughter works here”

It rained until after we passed the “Mile Zero” city of Dawson Creek, the start of the Alaska Highway. We took our photos under the mandatory stop at the “start of the Alaska Highway” sign, then it was off on the toughest part of the trip – 1500 miles of bumps, potholes, gravel and construction zones, with few opportunities for gas. We experience all of those on day 1.

When you leave Dawson Creek the road starts out just like any other after you leave a small town, but soon the houses and farms along the sides of the road end and you are just riding between the trees, with only the occasional building or turnout... The gas stops we read about in the guide book were usually little more than a 40 year old gas pump connected to an above ground tank. I stopped at one such place and went in a restaurant and they sent a boy out to unlock the pump for me. It was a good thing we stopped there because that was the last open gas station for 120 miles. The next 3 were out of business.

Dad didn't get gas there (it was $5 per gallon, which seems to be normal for up here) and at the 3^rd closed gas stop there was a highway sign saying “check your fuel – next services 100km” He didn't have enough fuel! Fortunately I did have one extra gallon in the gas cans I carry on the back so I knew if he could get half way there we'd be able to add what I had and make the distance. Well, not only did he make it there, he found an extra half a gallon of gas in his tank, because his trip computer was reading “zero miles fuel left” for about 1/3 of the 62 miles.

We stopped for gas and I filled my tank, plus both of my 2 gallon gas cans I have been carrying for 2900 miles – I really need them now! When we got to the edge of town there was another sign - “check your fuel – next services 253km” I can only go 220km on a full tank of fuel on my scooter! I also decided we'd better plan our trip more carefully. We have to be able to make it more than just one stop... I will have enough fuel to go 350 miles, or about 500km. It is 600km to the next major town! Our strategy will include slowing down and stretching the fuel that we can carry. On a motorcycle your speed mades a huge difference on your mileage. If we can stick to the speed limit we can go quite a bit further... but it's hard on a 2-lane road with nothing ahead of you and big trucks behind you to go just the speed limit.

Tonight we are in a campground in Ft. Nelson, BC. We are camped next to a group of riders from Seattle, WA who are riding their Kawasaki Dual Purpose motorcycles to Prudhoe Bay. The campground manager asked us to put our tents right next to theirs so he could pack the most people in this grassy area as possible, so we pulled up next to them and practically set up right against their tents – obviously that made it really easy to get to know them since it's hard not to start a conversation with someone 5' away. We have talked to a lot of people along the way, and many of them have had a lot of questions for me about my choice of transportation to Alaska... Very few people think to take a scooter. I figured it was a natural choice since I already own it, it's paid for, and it's easy to ride and can carry a lot of stuff on the back... Many ask how it rides – I tell them “I twist the throttle and it goes”, and that it's “smooth riding” I'm not sure what else to say. They ask if it can “keep up” and I tell them “Yup”

It is really weird for it to be light at 11:30pm and 5am. I did anticipate it however, and wear some really nice padded eye shades. They go nicely with the foam ear plugs... Along with the tent-cot and comfy mattress and pillow I think I can sleep anywhere now. We've sure put it to the test in some of the places we've stayed. Tonight the ground is lumpy and wet, but since I'm sitting on 6 legs I can prop them up with rocks as needed to level my tent. With my little “dog trot” in the middle I have a place to get dressed and to keep all of my stuff dry. It's not raining, but might as well be because the dew is very thick.

Well, tomorrow should see us riding past Laird River and Muncho lake, and into some better scenery. I'm looking forward to it (but not the construction!)

Valley View

I've been pretty busy with work the last couple nights and haven't been able to update my blog, so here's a quick recap of the last couple days.

We left the campground in Montana and headed across the mountains to I-15 to the border. Man was it cold! I asked dad to go faster to try to get it over with, but of course at 70mph plus a strong side wind you get even greater wind chill! We eventually stopped and I put on even more

clothing - I was then warm and it was good practice for later on when the low in Montana was higher than the High in Alberta.

We crossed the border at Sweetgrass MT. It was not at all what I expected. Kinda reminded me of a ski-lodge or mountain pass. Just a cluster of buildings around the crossing. I had all my "papers" with me but all I needed was to show my passport and have them photograph my license plate, then I was off. I reset my speedometer to Kilometers and off I went. It was weird to be running triple digit speeds (only did so once before on the trip - while passing a truck in Colorado and that wasn't much fun since the road was grooved and the bike wobbled badly)

Everyone in Canada seems to drive well over the posted speeds. In 1000 miles so far up here I haven't seen a police car with anyone pulled over. When I'm leading I go a little faster than the speed limit, and Dad runs his cruise control at a little over too. I don't like having a solid stream of cars and 34 wheeler trucks (two 53' trailers in tandem (!))

We stopped for the night in Airdrie, AB and had dinner at a nearby restaurant. I ordered a burger and fries and they asked if I wanted Poutien instead. I was not aware of this, and asked the waitress what it is... She brought it for me and I ate it and later looked it up - it is a Quebec thing - French Fries with fresh cheese curd melted by hot brown gravy. Probably very low calories... When I checked my bill later I saw that they charged me $2 for the gravy and curds, and then at the hotel checked my credit card website and it looks like they charged us for the drinks we didn't receive! I'm not sure if it's worth arguing with the credit card company though over $5.00.

After dinner I went to the local Walmart Supercentre. I wanted to get a few items and figured it would be good to go somewhere familiar to save time... so much for that - all of the products and brands were different from what I'm used to at home so I had to do some "shopping" I rode my scooter back to the hotel in the last bit of daylight at 10pm! Sunrise has been around 5 and sunset at a little after 10. The days will only get longer as we go.

We left the hotel quickly on Monday to try to avoid storms, and it worked. We managed to ride

most of the day with no rain, but it was quite cold. I wore several layers of clothes and was dry.

We stayed the night in the Valley View Motor

Inn. It rained hard overnight and we will be riding through mud this morning.

Here are a few photos - I will add descriptions later.

~Ron

Wind, Rain and Sun in Big Sky Country

What a day... we made it through Wyoming and well into Montana today. The views were amazing, but so was the sight of rain showers falling thousands of feet from the high clouds down to the road ahead of us. It started out chilly, got warm, then was really cold with the rain, then alternated between the two. Once we hit Montana it was very hot - low to mid 90s with a few places closer to 100 for short distances... Too bad I was stuck in my heavy coat for part of it! I couldn't wait to stop and get that rain suit off.

We are staying in a campground along I-90 in Reed Point, MT. We are right between the interstate and railroad tracks, as usual, but in this case the trucks and trains are drown out by the drunk people wandering around - there's some kind of event going on it the park by the river and everyone was apparently having a good time well before we got here. The live music is nice though, but one I put my ear-plugs in it

won't matter.

It was threatening to rain when we arrived this evening so we set up

our camp as fast as we could. I finally got to deploy the tent-cot in all it's glory, complete with the one-scooter garage and dog-trot porch. The wind gusted and it did rain for a little bit, but for the most part it was dry enough to sit outside and work on my laptop. The skeeter's weren't too bad either once I sprayed myself with DEET.

For the last two nights we've been able to eat at the campgrounds - Beef BBQ on Friday night right at our picnic table, and tonight was Pizza and beer at our picnic table... it's nice not to need to drive anywhere to eat after a day of driving!

Tomorrow we are heading into Canada, and will be half-way in distance to the Alaskan border, but not in travel time! We will be slowing things down and looking around once we get north of Edmonton, AB.

In the photos you can see our campsite, including a view inside my tent when I'm using the computer! Not much space, but enough... and all of my gear can sit outside at night since it's covered so at least I don't have to bring it in with me.