Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

I'm sure you've noticed by now, Mary likes cloud pictures.

Stopped at Buckshot Bettys, had some good food. Asked if there was any good fishing spots nearby. Was told there were a few good spots in a "creek down the road". We asked which direction? How far?

Back southeast, the way we came, about 125 miles! lol, now, that's country...down the road = 125 miles.

Going over a few things on the phone with Devin & Dawn at the shop.

Coming up on the Customs station for coming into Canada for folks traveling the opposite direction of us.

I expected that soon after we would hit the US border with the US Customs station. But there is 20+ miles between the two. Sort of a bit strange.

Then some wet gravel road.

The some dusty road. Notice the line of "meals on wheels" coming up the road toward us.

The some more dusty road.

After 20 or so miles of passing the Canadian "Border" we hit the US Alaska "Border". The entire stretch of road was gravel, except a few pavement stretches that would have been smoother if they were gravel. lol

Coming up on the USA Customs station.

Not sure why, waited 10+ minutes at this stop sign with no one in front of us.

Once we got to the window we showed our passports, answered a couple of questions, and were inside within a couple of minutes.

No searches, he did punch in our license plate #, but did not punch in our names or passport #'s.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Road was a bit better. The entire rest of the way was a nice curvy road. Tetlin Pass.

We came up on the Tetlin National Wildlife Refuge Visitor Center. Took a look around. Evangaline, whom we had met a few times over the last week rolled up right after us.

We ended up riding together for the next week.

If I look a bit beat down, I was. The roads in the Yukon are rough! And the last 128 miles from Burwash were the worst.

Not sure the reason why...but Burwash is the last town in Canada along the Alcan before the US border. It may be that that stretch of the Alcan has the lowest priority.

Evangaline is from Australia. She flew into Seattle, bought a GS800 BMW, set it up, and is on the road in Canada and the USA until next April.

It rained most of the way thru the pass and Mary had the camera tucked away. It did not take away from the great ride!

Starting to come out of the rain.

Looking back at Evangaline and the storm we rode thru.

A few more miles of nice road!

Coming into Tok. This is the first town on the Alcan in Alaska. It is quite small.

It rained and stormed off and on in Tok all evening.

Here we are at the Motel when we first arrived. Notice how "clean" the bike is after getting plenty of rain. That calcium cloride dust just turns to a cement type material and sticks to everything.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Here Evangaline and myself stand still for Mary in Tok, getting ready to head toward Fairbanks.

Off to Fairbanks!

Beautiful day!

Evangaline is riding a nice sound BMW, it has aftermarket 2-1 pipes with the core baffle removed. It gets up and moves!

Went just a few miles before the all too familiar "loose gravel" sign.

But this is the good kind! Smoother than most of the pavement.

Back on the pavement. Alaska so far is rather dull compared to BC and parts of the Yukon. Pretty straight and flat, relatively speaking. But for the 7.2 million paid to Russia, still a deal!

First time we saw the Alaska pipeline running alongside the Alcan.

We got a bit of rain...not enough to stop for the rain suits...we are close and push on...it's not that cold, in the 70's.

I should qualify that...not that cold to me. Mary is wearing her chaps, Evangaline is wearing $500 pants that are waterproof and have armor, but breathe, so good in cold or hot weather. I'm wearing my kevlar jeans.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Here's a bit of fun! Still raining a bit, but the TG holds the road well at speed, wet or dry.

Never knew there was an actual town called the North Pole.

I forget why we stopped here, but when we did, even though it was raining, we were immediately surrounded by mosquito's. So a couple of pics with the North Pole sign and off we went.

In the pic above you can see that all I am running for an air cleaner is 4 layers of shirt material. :biker1:

When I had called our shop a couple of days ago, I asked them to send a new backplate to me at the Harley Dealership in Fairbanks. So that is our first stop. Farthest North Outpost.

There is a Harley Dealer, Victory Dealer and BMW all under the same roof.

Evangaline on her dream BMW.

Then she went and sat on a Sporty Super-low and fell in love with it. When she gets back to Australia, she says she will be getting one.

Here is a pic of the road to take to the Harley Dealer in Fairbanks. Yep, it's gravel! lol

We did not get any pics, but after the Dealership we went and got checked in at a motel just down the road. They had a nice parking lot, so I went to the autoparts store and got some supplies.

Changed the oil in the parking lot at 11pm that night. No pics...the girls had taken a shower and did not want to get bit up by mosquito's or put any repellent on.

I knew it did not get dark up here iduring the summer, but to experience it is quite another thing. Still daylight at 2am.

 

[eagle1]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

A trip of a lifetime!!

 

[RdKnB]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

I am so enjoying you post, Thanks

 

[Blondie Gal]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Can't wait to have similar experiences!

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

A trip of a lifetime!!

Yes, we did not realize when we started out...how big a trip this is, and all that we would see.

I am so enjoying you post, Thanks

Cool!

Can't wait to have similar experiences!

It is definitely worth it!!!

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Here's a picture of two ignorant dumb-asses at 10:30am in Fairbanks, getting ready to head out to the Arctic Circle up the Haul Rd.

The folks at the HD Dealership had told us it was 150 miles up, 300 round trip, and that the road was good the whole way...some gravel, but smooth. NOT!

This is a nice part of the road leading up to the Dalton Hwy. (aka the Haul Rd.)

90 miles later we finally reach Dalton Hwy.

We got off the bike for a pic or three, we were immediately surrounded by mosquito's. Not a dozen or two, literally hundreds. It was so bad it was actually funny.

I normally do not use any kind of repellent, really dislike the feel on my skin. But there was no avoiding it, had to use it.

Couple of pics and we are back on the TG.

Within a couple of miles we hit the dirt/gravel.

This is the nice kind, smooth, not dusty.

This is still nice and smooth, but eating some dust.

btw, you might have noticed we both ride with Nolan modular helmets, I ride with mine open quite a bit, and even when I close it down, I leave the face shield open, except in heavy dust or really heavy rain.

Dusty and not quite so smooth, but no one in front.

Ahh, back to some nice smooth road. This was actually the best surface to ride on...what little asphalt there was, was not as smooth as the slightly wetted down smooth dirt.

HEY! Something's not adding up here. We've gone 120 miles, and we know that the Arctic Circle is well past the Yukon River...plus there's been no sign of gas for quite a while. We have used almost 4 gallons and only have about 4 more gallons with us.

Not the first time a HD Dealer has given mis-information. lol

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

A little bit of paved road....it is only a trick...it will either turn into nasty pothole ridden or back to gravel. lol

At 150 miles we get to the Yukon river, there is gas here, AND mosquito's...so many we did not even take the time for a pic.

Oh, and found out the Arctic Circle is another 60 miles!

Good pic of the Alaska pipeline right next to the bridge.

Nice good dirt road...actually came to really like this stuff...it is smoother than most of the paved roads in Alaska and the Yukon.

None of the pictures really capture how long or steep these hills are. More than 10%...there were no signs, but my guess is 12-14%.

Speed limit on the Dalton is 55 mph, but on this stuff we were traveling 65-75 mph.

So were these guys!

Stopped at Finger Mountain. Talked to this couple that was coming back from Deadhorse. They said beyond Coldfoot the gravel was 6" deep for miles at a time. Good thing we are not going that far.

They at both washed out a couple of times in the stuff at about 45 mph, but all their BMW gear prevented any injury or even bruises....bikes had a bit of duct tape thought. lol

At this point we already know, that if we knew, we would never have left, but we are only 20 or so miles away.

Not such a good pic, but this is the road immediately leaving Finger Mountain. Loose gravel on a NOT smooth surface, and, yes, that is the road as far as you can see.

Well, ya'll might be bored with me writing about the road surface, and to be fair, on two wheels it probably is not as bad. On the TG we have three tracks, vs two wheels only have one track, even trucks and cars only have two tracks. It's a bit more difficult with three tracks to find a smooth line.

More pics in the next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

We're HERE!

Yep, this is what we rode 210 mile for...a pic in front of a sign. lol

Oh, wait! We have to ride back. 420 miles, so here's another pic.

We are seriously tired, we left at 10:30am and it is almost 6:00pm. I consider going on to Coldfoot for the night. But it is another 70 miles of even worse road, then we just have to do it again tomorrow.

So off we go!

Pipeline along the road.

I know the road a bit now, we are making good time. Even on this wet squishy stuff, the TG is surprisingly stable.

More pics in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

This stuff had us going about 10 mph, fortunately there were only a few spots like this, maybe 5 miles total.

We did not get a pic of this fancy sign on the way up, so here it is on the way back.

We are off the Dalton.

Took a break for some sandwiches (and mosquito's). This pic was taken around 11 pm at night.

And here we are, back at the motel at 11:30 pm.

Gone 13 hours, 12 hours riding, 420 miles, and we did not need the gas can. We made it, but gotta say the road beat us. Neither of us have the slightest desire to do it ever again. :lol:

 

[StorminNormin]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Awesome!!!!

 

[Bill Reber]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

I sure wish I could still sit a saddle like you folks can , well I will just dream along with you !

 

[bustedwing]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

This has been a fantastic awesome voyage so far and from the majority of us that can't or have not made the trip you are showing us how fantastic everything can be, given what can be shown thru a camera. Thank you for taking the time to do this, it's great. Enjoy your travels Ride safe.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

That's cool you all are enjoying it. Mary takes 200-300 pics a day, I try and include a good cross section to give a feel for the days ride.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

After getting back from the Arctic Circle we did not do anything the next morning.

Evangaline took this picture in Fairbanks...since it does not get dark during the summer in Fairbanks, the Northern Lights are not visible.

Not sure what this is-

That afternoon we headed out to Chena Hot Springs, where the Ice Museum is.

Nice easy ride on some nice roads! About 100 miles round trip, ALL on pavement!!!

Momma moose eating with her two young-ins back on the shore.

A close up so you can see them better.

Evangaline taking a pic of Mary taking a pic.

Another Triker. Lots of bikes up here, mostly BMW's. We do see some Harley's, Honda's & KLR's. Every now and then a Can-Am.

At Chena Hot Springs Resort, walking around the grounds before the Tour of the Ice Museum.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Some folks enjoying the hot springs.

This duck came up and started quacking and nipping at Evangalines' knees. It was pretty funny, would not stop.

Mary and I.

The Ice Museum. It is a metal building. Inside it is kept at 28 degrees with power for the refrigeration coming from the hot springs.

When you first go in there is a ante-room where there are down coats for everyone to wear. After that you step into the main room. The first section is the work area where the ice sculptors do their work.

All the pieces are sculpted right there, with ice from the river that was cut out during the winter.

Some of the sculptures have been in here for over 3 years.

Me listening to the tour guide, standing next to a sculpted circular staircase.

The knights and horses are life size.

Everything is made of ice!

Toward the back of the museum are 4 bedrooms. These are available for $600 a night! All made of ice!

They put reindeer fur on top of the ice bed and it is supposed to be warm.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

They use LED lights that don't put off much heat for the lighting.

They have a bar. Bar stools are made of ice, topped with reindeer hide. Sat down on one, sure enough, my tukus was warm sitting there.

Tour guide doubling as the bartender.

Yep, the glasses are made of ice, one time use only. Take em outside and break em while making a wish.

They have quite a large greenhouse operation here also.

Headed back to the bikes.

Dang BMW is blocking the view of the moose. lol

Mary gets some great cloud pics.

Upper left...the every present mosquito's.

Had a bit of rain on the way back.

 

[Blondie Gal]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Fascinating! Great job!

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

After a couple days in Fairbanks we are off to Denali, where Mt. McKinley is.

Another great day to ride!

Quite a few changes in terrain between Fairbanks and Denali.

Stopped at the Fireweed Roadhouse. Had some sandwiches in the parking lot and took a couple of pics.

Got within 22 miles and hit road construction. 10 miles of gravel.

But it was wetted down, so not so bad after a 20 minute wait for the pilot truck.

After it turned back to pavement, we stopped for gas. Almost there, let's go!

Big Sky!

Even though the park road is closed to private vehicles after the first 15 miles, that is our plan, ride in the first 15 miles, having a look around. Mary and I talked about riding the bus tour thru the rest of the park...decided against it.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Got a little rain once in the park.

We got all the way to the 15 mile mark, saw some caribou, but the pics did not turn out.

Walked around a bit. Saw some more caribou off in the distance. Too far for our camera.

Headed back toward the entrance. That is Mt. McKinley in the distance. It looked much more impressive to the eye than what the camera captured.

We were fortunate, according to the literature, only about 30% of the time is it visible during this time of year. Usually too many clouds.

There was some snow on the side of the road, ice really, and like any kid, I had to go play in it a bit.

Moose munching on some bushes on the side of the road. We were about 20 feet away.

Back on the road, looking for a motel. Stopped at several within 10 miles of the park. All Full, no rooms. We went on to Cantwell, about 30 miles and found the Bluesberry Inn.

It's really a bunch of log cabins. Good price, and very nice.

Evanaline got a room right off. He did not have a second room ready, suggested we go down to the cafe for some dinner, it would be ready when we got back.

As far as we could tell there were only 4 businesses in town, the Inn, 2 gas stations and this Cafe.

Back at our little cabin. This pic was taken around 10:30 pm. I'm digging that it never gets dark!

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

On the road to Anchorage.

Leaving the Bluesberry Inn. This was a good find.

Every morning I pack up the trunk, mount the video camera. Mary packs the Tour-Pak and bungees stuff on the rack.

Mary giving the "thumbs up", ready to go!

This was one of the two gas stations in town. Gotta love the outside wall and signage!

Moving down the road...on our way to Anchorage!

We come around the bend...and we see this!

Supposedly there is only a 30% chance to see the entire mountain this time of year...we have seen it clearly two days in a row!!!

Much better view than we saw yesterday in the park. Pictures still don't convey what it was really like to see this monster!

We were a bit in awe! Took a LOT of pictures.

On down the road, nice road, nice curves, great day for riding!

Had to stop again for another pic! Panoramic

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Continuing on our way toward Anchorage.

Mary and I typically average 500 mile days, and will pull a 650 to 750 mile day every now and then. But since we hit Canada and Alaska a full day might be 200-300. So much to see....and then the gravel. lol

Not sure if you can tell from the pic, but this is a pretty steep, and long, hill. Lots of these.

You can see it is warmer...Mary is not wearing any gloves!

Getting closer...the signs are in miles now, not kilometers.

Not sure why it was a surprise, I guess we thought being closer to Anchorage the gravel was over. NOT.

We were about in the middle of 50 cars going thru this 5+ mile stretch.

We have seen more than a few dropped bikes along the way.

Yep, Evangaline is still back there!

There were some nice mountains right outside of Wasilla. I thought we would be riding thru them, but the road turned a different way to Anchorage.

The road to Anchorage out of Wasilla was the closest we've seen of interstate/freeway type road and traffic in a few weeks.

We arrived at the motel in Anchorage and Mary was very interested in the millions of cottonwood seeds flying around everywhere. They would bunch up in places and look like snow.

I had some computer work I had to do...so we were in Anchorage a few days. The last day we were there Mary and I took a ride around. Will post up those pics, plus the glacier boat ride pics in the next day or two.

 

[Lucky]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Great looking trip.Thanks for the pics.RIDE SAFE

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

One day in Anchorage we spent a few hours just riding around. (Alaska is a free choice state on helmets, that was nice for a change)

It's the largest city we've been in for the last month.

Stopped at the park. Went and did a little tourist shopping. Sent a box back to the home. They are doing a fantastic job of taking care of everything while we're gone.

Heading down to the Pacific Ocean, Mary got an interesting pic.

All the locals we spoke to said the best way to see the ocean is to go down to the end of the Northern Lights Road. A bit gray, and not the same as the beaches in California.

Mostly rock, some glacier silt....AND Mary.

Looking at the hill I gotta walk back up! lol

What's left on an entire car that is mostly buried on the beach.

Dunno if someone drove down there and got stuck, if it got washed up on the shore, or what. It looks like it has been there awhile.

Just a bit down the road from the "beach" we saw this big guy on the side of the road.

More in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

In 1964 there was a big earthquake in Alaska (2nd largest earthquake in recorded history), changed A LOT of the terrain. Some places are 24 feet LOWER than they were previously, some 30 feet HIGHER.

We went to Earthquake Park to look around.

Read one of the signs.

Headed into the woods and we were immediately surrounded by hundreds of mosquito's. I wasn't having any part of that on my lazy tourist day off. Ran/walked (as fast as my foot would let me) back to the bike. Mary was cracking up the whole time! lol

Just down the road a bit saw this guy...even larger rack than the last one!

At the Anchorage HD Dealership.

Took a look around. They had a softail there with similar paint to ours.

While there I got a quote on a new front tire. They wanted $440.00. This is the same tire that goes on all the touring bikes.

I had a new front tire put on 1700 miles before leaving on the trip. But in Anchorage it was 1/32" away from the wear bars...3/32" away from being a slick. I got varying opinions from the folks around on whether I could make it back to the lower 48 or not on the tire. Most thought I could. lol

In any case, I just could not spend $330 for the tire and $110 for mounting it.

Our motel was just a mile away from Lake Hood.

There are over 700 float planes docked around the shore.

It was a sight to see them lined up taking off and landing.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

When we first starting talking about this summers trip, we were going to ride around the North-Eastern USA.

Then Mary said, "let's go to Alaska".

I had never thought much about riding to, or around, Alaska. So I asked her to make a list of what she wanted to see/do there.

Top on here list was a day cruise around Prince William Sound.

What she lined up was a train ride out of Anchorage to Whittier, from there we got on a boat (ship?) and went for a 6 hour tour.

At the train station in Anchorage.

It's been many years since I was on a train. It was comfortable and we never had a lack of scenery out the windows.

Playing around.

For some reason we don't seem to have a pic of the boat we rode on. It was nice, had indoor seating, good food, and plenty of room out on the deck. Also had complimentary binoculars for us to use.

Amazing land up here!

Couple of glaciers going right up to the water.

I never really understood what a glacier was, even though we've seen hundreds of them over the last few weeks.

Basically a glacier is a frozen river, moving very slowly, but always moving.

When a chunk of it breaks off at the end, called calving (which we were able to observe) it is pretty dadgum loud!

We came in pretty close to the "Surprise" Glacier. Yes, those are BIG chunks of ice floating in the water...15% above the surface and 85% below. They are BIG! And the boat was hitting them pretty regular, although they did maneuver around some of the bigger ones. Could not help but think of the Titanic.

I think this is Mary's favorite day on the trip so far.

Another panoramic shot.

More pics in next post.

 

[DK Custom Products]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

We saw a lot of sea otters while out. Here is a raft of them.

Close up-

Waterfalls everywhere!

Back at the train taking us back to Anchorage.

A momma moose and her baby thru the train window.

Another shot thru the train window...he looks like he's looking for trouble. lol

The tide is out. That "sand" is glacier silt. Dangerous to walk on, can be like quicksand.

Last shot of the day...getting close to Anchorage.

 

[CCrider]

Re: Ride Report- Mississippi to Alaska & Back - Pic Heavy

Kevin and Mary, you guys are doing an awesome job of making us feel like we are on this trip with you. Thanks so much for taking time and pics to allow us to enjoy your trip too.