2009 Alaska Motorcycle Trip

About another 100 miles since our last stop. We r just paste Grants Pass in OR. Very winding part of the freeway as it passes thru the hills- lots of slow trucks and yahoos on the road, so not much picture taking. The heat is on what do u thing Steve has done… Wants to work on that sexy tan…

Warming up fast! Quick stop to mark our territory and take the jackets off.

Got a text message while riding. Couldn’t read it so we exit. We had 100 miles in so time for a break and check the message.
It was a message from my sis, still bossing her brother around from some work desk in Michigan. I don’t know about this instant blogging!

Weather is great, not a cloud anywhere. Traffic is moderate but flowing. Enter Oregon- Still don’t know what route we want. I got coffee while still got his monster

First gas stop. Like I said, i’m testing this iPhone app and doing road reports.
About 80 miles and 14 miles from Oregon border right now. Weather is clear and warming. BS is ready for his shorts. Time for Monster!

Testing this iPone app. Might be able to post from the road!
bikes loaded…., Steve getting ready, and JV loading up…
Will be rolling soon .

Dean was able to update the blog by the photos we sent via the phone. It really helps to have Dean handy for those posts during the day. Thanks again.

And again, we really do enjoy reading all the posts even though we hardly responded to much of them, but we get a good laugh and a boost from reading them and it makes doing the blog worthwhile. It is really enjoyable. And that Video Allen, excellent!

I’m over the worst of the crud I caught earlier in the week– seem to last about a good 4 days. I cough up enough green stuff over those four days and left a trail so I can find my way back to Alaska next year.

This morning we got an early start around 7ish after talking to some other bikers from Pennsylvania who were on a 28 day trip for hitting all the lower 49 states. They were on their way for Hyder to get Alaska off their list (Dean and Lisa – you did that in 7 days???). You meet all sorts of other riders while on the road. Most are on vacation and some turn it into both business and pleasure, like these two from Vancouver who were riding their Beamers for both business meetings and then a pleasure ride yesterday.

This morning when we left Prince George there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the forecast did not call for rain.

And we did not hit any showers today. This is the first day we had with absolutely no rain. As the day progress it just got better and warmer.

The border crossing was rather short. Sure beats the TJ border crossing..

And as soon as we crossed, we called the nearest dealer to hook us up for some new rubber. We arrived at the dealership and 4:30, and at 5:30 we were done and ready to roll again. This happen because BS pulled the tires off the bikes, they would swap out the tires, and then BS would put it back on. By the time I paid my bill, the write up clerk said my tire is at the side of the building. I looked outside and told him I think it is already back on my bike – and it was…

We didn’t want to bother with rush hour traffic, so we hit a Sports Bar and Grill nearby and had an early dinner. We planned to ride to the other side of Seattle as to not be bothered by morning rush hour. That meant riding all the way to Olympia.

So it is 12:00 pm – Steve is already sawing logs, and I’ll try and find my ear plugs and get some sleep tonight. We figure we will be home in a couple of days. Not quite sure of our route yet. We may take I-5 through Mount Shasta region, then maybe cut over to Highway 101, or maybe I-5 to highway 101, or maybe I-5 and do a couple of mountain passes over the Sierra’s…. That is the fun part – not knowing yet and not really caring either.

Dean here:

4:30 PM:  The boyz started early and made a run to the border!   They encountered good weather all the way.  Especially loving how the day warmed up as they got closer the the US.  It took all of 15 minutes to cross the Sumas border crossing.

They are at Mt Backer Moto-Sports, Bellingham WA getting new rubber.

This puts them back on I-5 around 5:30 PM.  Peak Seattle rush hour.  Their goal is to spend the night somewhere between south Seattle and Portland.

We are back from “The Dead Zone” are now in Prince George BC.

Thanks again to Dean for filling in. We may want to enter more dead zones to have Dean do our posts…

I’m the one being sick, not Steve – he has been the one putting up with me. I have the classic soar throat, to head cold, to chest cold thing going on… It now has settled in my chest which gives me some great coughing attacts.

Plenty of rest would help, but what do you do when your on vacation, stay another night in a hotel? Naw, you have to keep moving. Unfortunately, the towns up along the Alaskan Highway close up early and open late, so I miss out on trying to get some drugs to help mitigate the cold.

This morning we left the Bell II on the Cassiar Highway. It was cold and it was drizzling for the next 150 miles till we hit 16 junction to take east to Prince George. Along the Cassiar I was able to see one bear scamper up the embankment.

At the junction we topped off our tanks and had breakfast and headed east. As soon as we got on the road, a fox appeared to scaveger some unfortunate animal on the road.

The rest of the day it started to clear slowely. We would continue to hit small showers here and there. Biggest problem for me today was staying awake. I was a bit over medicated from the night before (nyquil, some sleep aids from Steve, Day Quil in the morning, some asprin, ect… it caught up to me as I was sleepy all day.

We plugged along, stopping every 60 miles, then every 30 miles and finally we pulled into Price George at 7:30.

We noticed that we will need to get some new rear tires as we do not have much tread on them, so you slueths out there can try and determine when and where we get our tires….

Ok, short post because I’m told to get some sleep…

I;m too tired to do a spell check, so please excuse my spelling…

Dean again.  Talked to the boyz last night on Skype and briefly this morning.

They had a tough day yesterday morning coming out of Tok with very heavy rains and bone chilling cold.  So cold that both commented it was colder than any part of the Dalton Hwy/Haul Rd.  This combination of near freezing cold and rain causes the inside of the helmet faceplate to fog instantly.  The only way to clear the inside of fog is to open the shield but the driving rain kept their speed in the 40’s.  Their progress was slow until it warmed up in the afternoon and the sky’s cleared.

Last night in Whitehorse, JimmyV had a tough night with his cold.  He not get much sleep and was packed and ready to go at 6AM! They decided on Option 2, south on the Cassiar.  Their goal tonight was to stopped at the same place they stayed on the way up … Bell II Resort.  They had good things to say about this resort.  There is no phone or internet service here.  Bell II Resort is 155 miles from Kitwanga/Yellowhead Hwy.

Dean again … wheww!  We finally got our photo capability back.  The boyz are in Whitehorse and have a decision to make on tomorrow’s route.  Option 1 is to return exactly as they came up, down the western Cassiar Hwy.  Option 2 is to stay on the Alaskan Hwy on a route northeast to Fort Nelson and Dawson Creek (which has the famous sign of Alaskan Hwy mile marker 0).  And the bad news is there will be rain either way!!!

Now we are totally out of sync and everything is discombooberated. This post includes a couple photos that JimmyV sent and some photos from my ride 3 weeks ago.

Wednesday. Changing tires from the knobbies back to street tires.  Normal rates were in the $40/tire range.  Steve found a place that charged $10/tire. The best deal in Anchorage.

The following photos are from Dean & Lisa’s ride to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay May 31-June 1, 2009.  Three weeks ago.

June 1, Deadhorse – We talked the tow truck driver into parking in front of the Deadhorse sign. I’m on the back of the truck, my riding partner Lisa Landry is next to her bike.