Bluestreak and MCML Ride to Alaska

[madmike2]

Wow! I'm in awe of what you two have done. I can't even imagine myself doing what you have accomplished.

Wow!

 

[MCML]

Did you ever fall in love with those grader's berms of spongy gravel cleverly left exactly where you had to cross them to avoid the truckers?

I fell, alright, smartass! Not in love....in gravel.

MCML's Spot Tracker From Start to Finish

We left Wiseman, AK the next morning, crossed Atigun Pass and continued north. While I am certain that Steve, who has something like 40 more years riding experience than I do (and a lot of off-road riding experience) had his moments, he made it up and back without incident. Twenty miles south of deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay, however, I got knocked a bit sideways into one of those very berms at around 35 mph, experienced my first tank slapper and went down. Freakin A, 95% of the way there, too. Next life, perfect (what's the emoticon for sarcasm?).

Makes a reasonable bookend for Michael's (ShinyPartsUp) picture don't you think?

The gear worked perfectly and, except for a small bruise that is located exactly at the gap between the Cycleport chest armor and back armor, I was unscathed. I walked back to the bike to get Steve on the radio. "I'm down. I'm down." By the time Steve was able to double back, one of the Alyeska pipeline security guys, Jim Rau, had pulled up and offered to help in any way he could. We lifted up the bike and I assessed the damage. Side case ripped off, clutch lever bent, mirror broken off, foot peg behind shifter snapped off, muffler knocked loose at clamp, muffler (and pillion foot peg) bracket badly bent.

And the bike won't start. Oh Lord stuck in Deadhorse, again. But wait, the kickstand is down. Hold the bike up, retract kickstand. Still won't start. Can't shift into neutral. Steve says to rock it. We've got neutral and we have a running machine. It turns out the the clutch lever "I'm in gear but it's okay to start 'cause I have the lever pulled in" switch was screwed up, too.

Rau put my side case in his truck and followed us to Deadhorse. That was really the only option as we did not have enough fuel to get back to Coldfoot and, besides, we're motorcyclists, right? I was riding very slowly, shifting by stomping down and kicking up. Made it to town, thanked Mr. Rau, crammed gear from sidecase into whatever other storage space I had (tankbag, other side case, top case, duffle), checked at hotel about where the local machine shops were and ended up at GBR Welding which is located at the stop sign as you pull into town (for those of you who have been to Prudhoe Bay, are planning to go there, or watch Ice Road Truckers).

I parked the bike, walked into the shop (a large building with concrete floors, high ceilings, large doors and a number of people who were all wearing two or three sweatshirts). Mostly GBR builds and fixes really, really large metal stuff. I spoke to Jose who told me I had to walk over to the office and speak to Ken. Ken was on the phone and the two whiteboards behind him listed dozens of what had to have been very well paying jobs that were underway. Ken got off the phone, asked my business, and, after I explained the situation, said simply "Tell Jose that I said to fix you up." I passed the message to Jose, who is now my great friend. Turns out Jose used to work in my present hometown of Tarzana, CA!

I do not know the story of how Jose ended up in Prudhoe Bay but I am glad he did!

With an application of heat, Jose straighened the muffler bracket enough so that, with a longer than stock bolt (custom made to length) and a spacer we could secure the muffler. I moved the pillion foot peg down to where the rider's peg had snapped off. It drooped so we jammed, first a welding rod and then a wedge-shaped piece of scrap that Steve had found, in place to keep the peg level. Of course, all the way home if I brushed the peg and lifted it the wedge would slide down and the peg would re-set higher, and higher. That wedge would lock itself in pretty tightly and it was located pretty close to the exhaust pipe, too. Do not ask how I know this, please.

When the job was complete, I asked Jose what I owed. He said to talk to Ken but to tell him that Jose could not fix it! I did talk to Ken. Told him that we had patched up the bike and asked him "How much?" Jose had worked on the bike for at least an hour, likely more (I was not paying close attention. Preoccupied, I was, at first certain that I was stranded, then, as the realization that I was not stuck but that I had to ride 200 miles back down the Haul Road many hours later than we had planned, almost wishing I was stranded). In any case, Ken rubbed his chin, and told me to send Jose a T-shirt when I got back home. He said that they appreciated people coming to see what they were doing up there and that they believed in treating their visitors hospitably. Both Jose and Ken are going to receive something from me and it decidedly will not be T-shirts!

Here is where I wish that I had kept my wits about me a bit more. Crash or no, I was at the end of the Dalton Highway. We had just ridden the entire length of the Haul Road - on top heavy, fully loaded street bikes. Knobbies? Nah, Pilot Road II's for us (okay, not the smartest approach, I agree). We were at the Arctic Ocean for goshsakes! I had never been able to say that before and did not know if I would ever be able to say it again. I wish that I had remembered to take a deep breath and savor the moment. I guess that I will just have to go back again someday. Anybody have the phone number for Alaska Airlines?

We rode off to the local "gas station" which was "a trip" as we used to say back in the '60's. The pumps were in a shed in a large yard filled with various and sundry above-ground fuel tanks. Inside the shed were several gasoline pumps, similar to those you would find at your local service station, and the most elaborate credit card reading machine I have ever seen. You had to select which type of fuel you wanted while you were inside and then you went outside and grabbed the appropriate hose/nozzle. Then, if you wanted a receipt, you went back inside, swiped your card again and pressed a few more buttons. The entire set-up probably made a lot of sense at thirty below.

Next, on to the Arctic Caribou Inn for a meal. It was steak night. Those oil/pipline workers eat well! $20 for a steak buffet with all the trimmings, beverages, desert, etc. I called the Boreal Inn, where we had stayed the night before (and re-christened the Mosquito Lodge by Steve). They had a room for us, would likley be in the office until 2 or 3 a.m. and would leave room number 4 open for us if we arrived later than that. Piece 'o cake! Of course we still had to ride another 200 miles of the Haul Road (back over Atigun Pass, to boot) but what the heck. I ain't hurt. I ain't stranded in Deadhorse and the bike is ride-able. I do confess, though, that my ride that night was far from relaxing even though it was completed in the daylight (duh). We did not get stuck. We did not get eaten by grizzlies or kicked to death by a mother moose.

I did have the presence of mind to snap a photo of the bikes parked outside the Arctic Caribou Inn, just in case any of you think that I am making this stuff up. Note how "uncluttered" the left side of my bike now looks.

Approaching Attigun Pass from the north.

At the pass.

On the way down I got splattered with slimy ooze from a passing truck. Almost lost it again, too, in some of that slimy mud, Alan!

The bikes at the Boreal Lodge. I was tired, dirty and very, very happy to be swatting mosquitos.

The next day we rode the 200 or so remaining miles of the Dalton back to the main highway. A few miles before the end of the road, on a dirt section, I saw yet another water truck making slippery mud. As the distance between us closed, I slowly shook my head from side to side and, I swear it's true, the driver turned off the tap! Thank you! Didn't make much difference, though, as he had already soaked several miles of the road I was about to traverse (without incident). When I got to the intersection, Bluestreek was waiting. Now, he claims the entire run up and back was, for him, a breeze, but look at his expression in this next photo and tell me that the man was not happy to be off the Dalton.

Bye-bye, Mr. James W. Dalton!

When we got to Fairbanks we found a high pressure self-serve car wash. The mud was on the bikes like Gunnite. Many, many, many quarters later the bikes were, well, not clean by any stretch of the imagination, but at least the moving parts, and radiators, could function. We rode on to Tok and, the next morning, wind and weather permitting, we would ride the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City in the Yukon. Sergeant Preston and his faithful dog King. Who remembers that? Probably the same gang that recalls Sky King.

We were heading south to the Yukon. How odd was that?

 

[FastJoyRide]

Awesome work guys - I'm hoping to tag along with Senor Don and Carverman in 2010 so I'm just eating this up!

 

[Silver Penguin]

I can't get over reading stuff from Ice Road Truckers in a report about motorcycling! Glad you posted pictures Joe because I'd think you were making some of this stuff up otherwise.

What an awesome adventure. The tale is good now, but will get better and better for the telling, right? And the next time we see you, around a camp fire with a bottle of something wonderful, the story will be better yet.

Well done to both of you, for living the dream, and coming home safely to tell about it.

 

[MCML]

Well, fortunately it wasn't freezing cold and it did not rain. I can only barely begin to imagine what the ride must be like when the weather is bad. I hear-tell that Alan overcame those challenges when he ventured up to that neck of the woods (and tundra). Skill, fortitude, and courage far beyond what was required on the little jaunt described above. Now, that is amazing.

 

[What Next]

I'm glad you made it, we must have passed some where. I was at the Artic Circle June 30. Glad we didn't go farther. I was on an 04 FJR my buddy was on a Wing. We got tickets coming back from Valdez 73mph but he knock it down to 64 so we wouldn't have to go to court. My buddy was leading he had cruise and was suppose to be keeping a reasonable speed. The white Tahoe had me my buddy never looked back the Crown Vic had a roadblock set up for him. We were # 14 and 15 for the day, and the Crown Vic got 16 and 17 while we waited. Boy our sleeping rooms in Glenallan smelled terrible . Got back on the 10th 25 days and 10,060 miles. Boy just being acouple of days ahead of you we had very litle rain and Gerbings always keep us warm. Oh we did the Whittier Tunnel and took the Top of World Highway on the way home.

 

[MCML]

Sounds like we took almost ths same trip, Whatnext! 2004 ABS, Arctic Circle, crummy accomodations in Glennallen, speed trap on way to Valdez, Top of the World on the return, 10,000 miles and home on the 10th! Separated at birth, no doubt.

Did the cop tell you his count for the day? Do you remember his name (it's also on the souvenir)?

 

[Bluestreek]

Sounds like we took almost ths same trip, Whatnext! 2004 ABS, Arctic Circle, crummy accomodations in Glennallen, speed trap on way to Valdez, Top of the World on the return, 10,000 miles and home on the 10th! Separated at birth, no doubt.
Did the cop tell you his count for the day? Do you remember his name (it's also on the souvenir)?

I got officer Steen on my souvenir. He told us he was doing us a favor by knocking our ticket down to 65

Now I find out that the points are the same. So he did no favor for us. the prick even misspelled the name of the town he works for twice.

Joe check your phone messages

 

[Cello II]

Fabulous, Joseph! What a wonderful tale. So sorry about the berms and what I thought was an obvious observation for anyone who has seen the Dalton. How can you ride that road without suffering the results of the daily grading? I'm glad you weren't hurt.

Aren't the guys who work for that road some of the kindest problem-solvers you have ever met? They are used to helping out people in tough situations, and they do it so well.

My main memories include dropping the tire pressure to 20lb, dodging puddles(potholes) and riding the "wrong" side of the road for miles, when it was better than my side. I was met at the top of Atigan Pass with slush, rain, snow and miserable weather all the way to Deadhorse where I spent 40 minutes refueling(it was hard to find the gas and harder to make the machines work) and headed south immediately before the road was impassable. I remember 1-2 inches of snow caked on the windscreen most of the way. I had to open my face shield to get some visibility in the first quarter inch over the windscreen. My cheeks froze, as did my hands in spite of the heated grips. I plugged ahead at 50mph as anyone would, grinning and bearing it!! And I did see 3 separate grizzlies on the Dalton.

Thanks for reviving such amusing memories of a singular riding experience not to be forgotten. My hat goes way off to the two of you. Thanks for sharing!!

Alan

 

[MCML]

Not to worry about the berm comment. Unintentional though it was, it was actually a pretty good setup for what I needed to write when I continued the story.

In my best John Lovitz, "Amusing memories, yeah, that's what they are!"

Steve, check your messages here on the Forum.

 

[Ric in Sac]

What an adventure! I am surprised anyone gives a rats ass about the speed vehicles on the road to Valdez. I would appear to be strickly for revenue collection.

 

[MCML]

Mosrt assuredly they are only in it for the money. I learned yesterday that I could likely obtain the court's permission for what they call a Defensive Driving Course for Dismissal. If the court grants my request there will be no conviction on my record. The catch? I have to pay for the course and I still have to pay the full cost of the ticket! Oh, well.

Sorry we missed you in Skagway. Let's go back.

 

[tcfjr]

Sorry we missed you in Skagway. Let's go back.

I'm in. When do we leave?

Joe - you may remember that we talked in the frozen food section of the market across the street from the Kuskanax at CFR, mostly about bug protection. Did you have many problems with bugs?

 

[MCML]

Brian, I do remember talking with you at the market. If I remember correctly, you recommended using mesh full face bug hats when we were stopped. For some stupid reason we didn't take your advice. There were a couple of times when we were stopped at construction zones where after ten seconds the mosquitos had discovered us and after a couple of minutes we were under full scale attack. Once, while we were waiting, the man holding the stop sign walked over to his truck and donned a mesh bug hat! Wiseman was so bad that the act of opening the door to the hotel room took on the look of a Marx Brothers routine. I sprayed deet on the headboard and on the top sheet before turning in.

I look forward to riding with you soon. You're just east from me on the 101/134/210.

 

[Bluestreek]

What an adventure! I am surprised anyone gives a rats ass about the speed vehicles on the road to Valdez. I would appear to be strictly for revenue collection.

We were tagged 27 miles out of town and very little traffic. We were on a road that you could easily do triple digits on. I think its all part of the trap. A really great road in good condition and a ridiculously slow speed limit equals

much $$$$$$$ for the local economy

 

[tcfjr]

I look forward to riding with you soon. You're just east from me on the 101/134/210.

You guys coming to WFO? You should do a slide show at one of the dinners...

 

[MCML]

Sfortunatamente, WF0 falls at a time when I have other obligations here in Socal. Of course, so did CFR - but I called in my markers to be able to make that trip. After being at WFO 2 (Santa Rosa), WFO 3 (Moscow), WFO 4 Skagit, WFO 5 (Reno), WFO 6 (Park City) and WF07 (aka NAFO Golden) it looks like I am going to break my streak.

Maybe Bluestreek can do the slide show.

Besides, I have to finish the Ride Report! So......

After leaving the Dalton Highway, we headed for Fairbanks. We found a do-it-yourself car wash and pressure washed the heavy coating of mud/concrete from the bikes. The bulk of it came off but when the bikes dried we both realized that getting rid of the calcium residue was going to be difficult. To date, I have used, water, vinegar, CLR, and elbow grease. Six or seven more passes over the bike ought to do it.

I then rode over to the local Yamaha shop looking for a rear view mirror that would mount in the threaded hole next to the clutch reservoir. It’s tough riding when you cannot see what’s next to/behind you to the left. They had one. Great. Install. Ride off. Adjust. Only problem was that the ball socket was worthless. The mirror would not stay adjusted. I tired match sticks, electric tape and other stuff and finally, when we reached Prince George, replaced it with one that functioned and tossed the original temporary mirror into the trash.

After deciding that we would ride some more that day, we ended up back in Tok, AK once again staying at the Snowshoe Motel and dining at Fast Eddie’s (we did consider a return to the Grumpy Grizzly but, since we were already geared up we rode to dinner). That day's ride was just under 500 miles with the first couple of hundred being logged on the Haul Road. Not a bad day’s effort.

The next morning, we headed for Dawson City via the Top of the World Highway. Mostly paved, some dirt, some gravel. The weather was dry, and there were no water trucks, so we did not have to deal with mud. Being the 4th of July weekend, however, we had to deal with many RV’s. While the road is narrow, I only felt in danger once, and that was when some yahoo in a pickup truck coming in the opposite direction came skidding around a corner.

On the way to Dawson City we stopped in Chicken, AK an old gold rush town. You would be correct to assume that they have the Chicken theme rev’d up pretty high in the curio shops. If you are into Chicken kitsch then this is the place for you. It is also charming, BTW.

We then continued on toward Dawson City, YT. Much of the Top Of The World Highway is above tree line so the vistas were grand and the vegetation a bit boring. It was fun crossing the border back into Canada at Little Gold Creek the most northern point of entry for the US/Canada.

"As per the Rules for Half-masting the National Flag of Canada (Section 14), the death of Corporal Nick Bulger of the Canadian Forces, on July 3, 2009, will be marked in accordance with the protocol established by the Department of National Defence."

We stopped a bit further on for the last TWN drop off and rode to the Yukon River just across from Dawson city. This was an interesting ferry because the approaches, on both sides are merely graded off with a D-9 or some such earth mover, and are not paved. They place a couple of cones on the riverbank and the Ferry Pilot aims for a spot between the cones. When he approaches the shore, the ramp goes down and the piles of dirt get pushed up. Bikes first, on and off, so no compaction from the cars. On you go. Off you go. Hey, at this point in the trip, it’s not a problem. Still, it was something to be aware of.

We rode into town, registered at the hotel and wandered around a bit. I walked, Steve rode. The town is a lovely, restored gold mining town. The buildings were great and the ambiance was a mixture of Wild West and Yuppie

Many bikes parked outside a hotel. Most of them dual sports. All of them clean. What were these people thinking?

A typical Dawson City street scene.

A typical tourist?

Do not say that I had not given fair warning that the Yuppie influence had reached the Yukon Territory. Hey, I love shushi but I cannot begin to picture Sgt. Preston tossing King a scrap of Bluefin tuna.

We rode out the next morning unsure of where we would stop for the night. On our way south we passed the sign for the start of the Dempster!

Should we?

Hell, no!

 

[What Next]

Sounds like we took almost ths same trip, Whatnext! 2004 ABS, Arctic Circle, crummy accomodations in Glennallen, speed trap on way to Valdez, Top of the World on the return, 10,000 miles and home on the 10th! Separated at birth, no doubt.
Did the cop tell you his count for the day? Do you remember his name (it's also on the souvenir)?

The white Tahoe wrote us up Adams was his name Steen must have been the guy with the Crown Vic. They stayed at the Caribou Lodge saw the cars the next morning. My buddy is from Wisconsin so while he was writing us up Steen called to say he just got 2 more #16 and 17 from WI. saw them at the next gas stop actually live close to my buddy, that was the 25th we hit Dawson on July 2.

 

[BugR]

Joesph,

Looks like you had an interesting time on the Dalton, glad you made it out ok.

Looks like our plans for the Dalton are toast and the Dempster are in severe jepody

Currently stuck in Fairbanks,house guests of FBKSFJR waiting for parts, (a $100 seal replacement has turned into a $1000 fork replacement).

More coming in my next post

Chris

 

[MCML]

Chris -

Sorry to hear about your mechanical problems. I hope that you are not letting my experience on the Haul Road influence you unduly. I had almost no dirt bike riding experience before I headed up that road. Steve had quite a bit and his experience was different from mine. If the weather is going to be good for several days in a row then it would probabaly work out for you - especially if you have off-road experience. Also, note that the lower section (up tp Coldfoot) was, for me, not as challenging as the upper section. In other words, YMMV.

As for the Dempster, I have no first-hand experience. While I do know its reputation, I also know that it has been run by FJRs.

Ride safe and I hope the repairs happen quickly.