In the back of my mind I’ve always had a desire to venture to Alaska at some point in my life and to visit this remote area. It is my generation’s “Wild West” – a frontier of sorts. When I was younger, my brother-in-law Dave told me that when he drove up there it was a dirt road most of the way. Now, you can get to Fairbanks on all paved roads.
But there is a stretch that is still a dirt road for 500 miles, and that is the Dalton Highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay – a remote area that is for the support of the Alaska pipeline.
I’ve heard stories and tales of other motorcyclists who have ventured up this highway. Some of the stories tell of mud building up on your radiator and causing your bike to overheat in 20 degree temperatures, other tall tales tell where the road is so rough and potholes so big that it just eats up and destroys your bike.
There is only one way to find out if these are just tall tales or truths and that is to just go and find out.
I’ve been putting this ride off for years now and when I turned fifty, I asked myself when was I going to do this ride? “Time is moving so fast, I’ll be sixty soon.” So the mid-life crisis caught up with me and I made the commitment.
You could do this ride on a Harley – others have, but I just bought a new Hog and I didn’t really feel like trashing a new bike on this trip. A GS 1200 BMW Adventure bike would be great, but I wasn’t in the financial position to lay out $20+k for a bike I would not ride a lot. Dean Tanji turned me onto the Japanese version called a V-Strom. Heavier and not as much clearance and travel as the BMW GS, but a lot easier on the pocket book
March 2008 I picked up a used 2006 V-Strom with only 6k miles and told Big Steve I was going to Alaska in 2009. Next thing I know Big Steve shows up a few weeks later with the same V-Strom. Now I’m committed to go……………….