Lookin’ to get two bucket list items checked off this year.

♦  Qualify for the Iron Butt Association
♦  Ride the Haul Road to Deadhorse, Alaska

Time and equipment limited the north end of our ride to Fairbanks but the adventure was unforgettable!  Join me and a couple buddies on our journey.

Today was last opportunity to take my wife for a ride before I leave for Alaska.  I took Robin to Brophy Brothers restaurant at the Ventura Harbor.  I left the camera behind (I know, hard to believe – huh) so I had to use a “stock” photo, but it looks just like this & the food is VERY good.  There is another one in Santa Barbara if you’re in that area and looking for a bite to eat, not inexpensive but good – try the clam chowder.

After a bit of time spent in some traffic I made it from work (at LAX) to San Diego.  A bit of a disappointing stop in Oceanside, there is a place there that makes the BEST milk shakes.  You know, the old fashioned way with scooped ice cream and the whole deal.  I had a hankerin for one of those shakes since I left work and when I got to the place (I don’t even know the name) they had a line out the door…

We met Stephanie for lunch at Miguel’s Cocina, the food was good, and the margaritas were at least as good as the food.  All of the procurements have been procured & we’re just waiting for the rooster to crow & we’ll be up and at em & down the road.  My trusty steed is all cleaned up and ready for the start of this adventure.

We only had 15 minutes to spare but we made it the whole way in less than 24 hours.  It was quite difficult.  Check back for some of the details (after I get unpacked & cleaned up).

Here are the pictures that prove we were actually in Mexico.  The plaque in front of our bikes says this is the line.  Hopefully that will be good enough proof that we started in Mexico.  If not, I do have a video I took with the GoPro that I can send in.  I’m also writing a ride log that I’ll try to post somewhere on line just in case you’re interested in more detail I’ll let you know.  (look for The REST of the story…..)

As I said, I couldn’t believe what an ordeal this portion of the ride was.  We got a 35 minute delay just past Harris Ranch for a vehicle fire & that was both of us riding up between the cars & trucks to get to the front faster.  If Rich had brought his side car, it would have been two hours for sure.  Then there is the speeding ticket story, better let Rich tell that one.  More than once, I was sure we weren’t going to make it.  We could have easily done it in 36 hours but wanted to try for 24 because after all, we are Insane & needed to prove it I guess…..

That was yesterday though & after a few hours sleep (could have been a couple more if the cops didn’t have to show up to end the domestic violence down the hall) we are ready to get back on the road today.  Prince George is where we’ll likely be spending the night, possible construction could make the going slow but that should give me more time to take pictures along the way.  For those of you that don’t know, that’s Mt. Shasta in the background.  You’ve seen it before on cans of soda.  Wish I could have taken the time to move the bike to a better location and take the good camera out.

Today was another long day, although it didn’t start out that way.  We were just going to head up the road to Prince George (about 425 miles) and call it a day.  I did some research on the internet early this morning after the cops left and there were LOTS of hotels in Prince George.  So, I just figured there would be a hotel row and we would find something.  There probably is a hotel row but we didn’t find it & weren’t interested in looking for it any more.  Next town had a hotel but it was full.  Long story is (or will be) on the Ride Journal page, short story is that we left Abbotsford this morning at 8:30 & rolled into Chetwynd at 9:30.  What’s going to happen right now is some food & sleep.  I’ll get to the rest in the morning.

Today was a short day with more than the acceptable amount of drama.  We ran out of gas about 12 miles from town.  Seems the economy and the fact that it’s Sunday contributed to our plight.  One of the two gas stations where I had planned to stop was closed – as in boarded up – and the other one was closed as well, but it looked like it was still in business – just not today.  UGH!!  We nursed what fuel we had left until one by one we ran out.  We were close to town though and people up here know that once in a while someone might need a favor – and next time it might be them that needs the favor, so we were able to get enough gas to get to town.  Even though it was an early arrival, we were tired, guess that’s what the road does to you after while.  Hopefully we’ll be well rested in the morning – Whitehorse in the Yukon Territory is a long ways from here.

We didn’t quite make Fairbanks – 200 miles short, we are in Tok, Alaska.  Lucky us, we made it just in time for the clown convention – it’s always something……  I’m going to work on the ride log from yesterday and today and hopefully I’ll have them up in the morning.    Slainte’

False start this morning – we spent a lot of time getting ready for the 205 mile ride to Fairbanks in the cold rain but never even got into 5th gear.  Rich’s bike quit running and as far as we can figure, it’s the fuel pump.  John’s friend Ted brought a truck out with a trailer and picked up Bubba and his bike and about 5 hours later we were on our way.  Safe and sound at Ted’s house and waiting to go to the Harley dealer tomorrow to talk about parts for bikes and service for Bubba’s.  He said that if the repair is too much he’ll just buy a new bike and ride that home.

Oh yea, since we had a “chase vehicle” we threw everything off the bikes into the truck.  That included my satellite tracker so there was no track for this leg of the trip – sorry…..

Today we spent most of the time getting the bikes ready for tomorrow’s departure; time to get back on the road.  Tomorrow the plan is to go back to Tok for the night but via a road called the Tok Cutoff – that’s a right turn at Delta – towards Anchorage, then back up to Tok.  Supposed to be a very scenic route; we’re hoping for good weather.

Before we go anywhere though – we need to send out an extra special thank you to Ted, Marilyn, & Nick (not in the picture – he wouldn’t have any part of getting his picture took).  Without these wonderful people the three travelers standing behind them would be standing on the side of the road somewhere.  You guys are the greatest.  Thank You!!!

Getting started on the Tok Cutoff

This morning I wanted to take advantage of the good weather and see some of Alaska other than the ALCAN.

Ted & Nick pointed us toward the Tok Cutoff.  The road was pretty good and the scenery was amazing.

Alaska made us pay for our entry with broken motorcycles and inclement weather but she rewarded our persistence with a beautiful day for our departure.  It doesn’t get any better than this.

We survived a murder attempt today.  We were about 45 miles from our destination when a large cow moose and her calf came out of the trees to our right.  Since the trees they came from were well above us on the side of a mountain, they were coming pretty fast.  I was pretty sure they were going to end up behind me (just barely though) and was worried about John & Rich.  She turned away from the road & we were all wide awake for the last 45 miles.

John’s bike however, isn’t going to be able to continue.  It has had a tapping inside the rocker box for the past few days that’s gotten better at times but returns worse than before every time.  We all agreed, it’s so loud now that it should probably be taken off the road before it blows up.  John is having it towed to Smithers, BC where we will rent a U-Haul for the rest of the trip.

We put the rain gear on this morning and needed it all day.  There were a couple of 5 mile stretches of road that were dry – other than that, it rained all day.  I took a side trip to Stewart (if you’re following along on the Spot tracker you knew that already) to see the Bear Glacier.  It wasn’t spectacular but it was pretty cool.  Pictures soon I promise.

We also saw a lot of bears today, I only saw black bears but Rich saw a couple of Grizzlies; one of them stood on it’s back legs and waved at him from the side of the road.

Our bikes are at Smithers Harley Davidson getting new tires; it doesn’t take long to wear out a rear tire on these roads; over 5,000 miles to this point.

For those of you that ride you know how nice it is and what a huge difference it makes when you have new tires.  For those of you that don’t know – it’s like going from a VW Bug with worn out shocks to a Ferrari.  Okay, that might be a bit of an overstatement but not much.

We had to wait longer than expected for my bike to get out of the shop, but it came with the new rear tire it really needed, and some new brake pads – that they say it needed.  I’m not too sure about the brakes but whatever, cheap insurance.  And, it was nice of the folks there to get the bikes right in.

I guess I had some kind of idea about how late we were going to be able to leave because this was the shortest leg we’ve had – just over 200 miles.  I took the opportunity catch up on the blog and get some pictures up too.  Oh yea, my turn to do laundry too, that gave me some time with the computer.

Back in the lower 48 – wooo hoooo.  We crossed the border at the Sumas crossing and took the back roads into Bellingham, WA.  Those roads take you through very small towns and farm fields.  All of us really liked that tour of the countryside and considered it our welcome home ride.  We are very happy to be back on home soil.  Nothing against Canada but it just isn’t the same as being in the USA.

Today we started in the cold rain again but it actually warmed up enough that by the time we were waiting at the border, we were down to t-shirts, jeans & summer gloves.

John will go with us down Interstate 5 tomorrow through Washington but will cut off the interstate to Sisters, OR and we will continue to visit some of our friends in Winston, OR. 

This was the real welcome back to civilization day.  No longer did we need to dodge oncoming traffic to pass cars.  From here on, we will be on multi-lane freeways.  We started down Interstate 5 just after 0900 hoping to avoid the traffic in Seattle.  That plan actually worked out pretty well.  Everything was going well until we got to Portland.  There was some construction that had the freeway down to a crawl just before the bridge – that’s where my bike quit.  Just shut off like I’d turned the key off.  Got it over to the side of the road and it re-started; and we were off just like it never happened & hoping it would be the last time – it wasn’t.

We pulled over in Salem for some lunch and to put John on the road to his daughter’s house in Sisters.  Mexican food was pretty good as were the margaritas – John was off to his daughter’s with the U-Haul truck and Rich and I were off to Winston.  When we pulled up to our friend’s house they were sitting on the front step with a cold beer for Rich & a glass of Don Julio for yours truly.  Hard to beat that kind of welcome.

This morning we said good bye to our Winston friends and headed for Salinas for our last night on the road.  We really enjoyed getting to spend some time in Winston and hope it won’t be too long until we are able to stop by again.

I picked Salinas so we could get over to the 101 and hopefully escape some of the heat and traffic on I-5.  Additionally – I had planned for Robin to meet us at Dargan’s in Ventura for our last lunch on the road.  All those plans went by the wayside when the information came in that Salinas hotels were going to be VERY expensive.  So, in Redding we decided to just keep going down I-5 and see how things went; we would pull over and spend the night if we got tired – otherwise, we’d just keep going.  At that point the only thing I was thinking about was getting home.  Eight Hundred miles seems like a long way and don’t get me wrong it is; and fourteen hours is a long time to be on a motorcycle.  However, the thought of not having to spend the night in a hotel somewhere & being home made the miles go by fairly quickly “There’s No Place Like Home.”