That certificate is MINE

It took 14 hours, but yesterday I rode from Fairbanks and made it to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. It was an exciting and beautiful ride on the dirt through magnificent expanses of uninhabited mountains and valleys. I don't have any pictures really because I knew it was going to be a long day and I didn't feel I had the time to stop. On the way back today I hope to take more time to photograph the landscape.

On the way up I passed through the Arctic Circle.

In Coldfoot I ran into this amazing character named Jim. He's 76 years old and is doing the same Iron Butt ride as me, only he had only been on the road for 13 days! We wound up riding together for the last 100 miles or so, and split a room together in Prudhoe Bay. Here he is gassing up at the weird gas station. See the blue door? The credit card reader is inside there. I guess it's designed that way because of the harsh winters.

The Prudhoe Bay hotel is wild and awesome. It mostly houses oil field workers, and a lot of bikers stay there too, but during our visit only saw 1 other bike guy. But anyway the room was $110, but included dinner and breakfast, and you can pack a lunch for the day you check out. And the food is delicious and plentiful, served out of a central giant cafeteria.

In general the ride up was pretty good. Hit some rain early on, but then it cleared up and was sunny most of the way. While the road definitely had some tricky spots with gravel and rocks, I felt the ominous reports about the road were a little overblown. Then again, I had pretty good weather. The main problem is that my radiator is caked with mud and might cause an overheating issue on the eway back. There aren't any car washes or anything like that here, it's all industrial space for oil field operations.

Fairbanks, AK

I made it to Fairbanks today, and have a long way to go. From here to the town of Coldfoot is 254 miles, and from Coldfoot to Deadhorse is 241 miles. And these miles will be ridden on the North Slope Haul Road, also known as the Dalton Highway. It's mostly dirt, and in the winter has been on the show Ice Road Truckers. My motorcycle is not particularly suited to this road, but I know FJRs have made it up this road before, so I'm definitely going to try. Weather will probably be the determining factor--if it's sunny I'll probably make it, but if it's raining I probably won't. It's sunny now in Fairbanks at 9:49 pm, but the weather in AK is too dynamic to predict what it will be like along the haul road, so I'm just going to go forward as if it will be sunny.

Tonight I'm staying in a dorm room at the University of Alaska. No! That's not why! It's because they rent rooms out during the summer, and they are particularly motorcycle friendly, and very inexpensive--my room is only like $57 and there's wifi and free laundry. It's kind of weird being in a dorm again, but news about this place has spread to all the motorcycle forums so it's become an ad hoc meeting place for bikers riding the Dalton. I met Joe and Fred who had just finished the ride and they gave me a lot of valuable information about conditions and camping and such, and how to handle all the big rigs that regularly use the road. Basically, you pull over and let them pass. They said there's a tour you can do in Deadhorse of the oil fields and the Arctic Ocean. In fact it's the only way you can see the Arctic Ocean because they won't let anyone out there for security reasons, or so I'm told.

I need to clear something up about my destinations in Alaska. Palmer is where my Sportsmobile is, on my friends Don's property. Don and his wife Tina own Mica Guides, which is about an hour north of Palmer in Glacier View. Glacier View is where most of the action is, and where I camped out last night. Here's a picture of the operation--he also just opened the espresso stand:

The white blob behind the trees in the picture is the Matanuska Glacier, where all the ice climbing happens and where I spent the summer taking pictures in 2010.

Run to Deadhorse

I made it to Mica Guides today, which is in Glacier View, AK and where my friend Don is who owns the guide service that takes climbers out on the glacier where I took pictures in 2010. I came straight here without going to Fairbanks because I thought I had already blown my timeline for getting my Iron Butt certification--you have to go from Key West to Deadhorse (Prudhoe Bay) in 30 days. Well I left DC on May 29th and mistakenly assumed I'd blown it already. But I didn't leave Key West until June 3rd. So I have until July 3rd to get to Deadhorse, which is about 24 hours of riding from here, or 825 miles. I've come this far so I'm going to go for it and leave tomorrow morning. The Dalton Highway which leads to Deadhorse is mostly dirt and gravel. I'd be better off on a dual-sport bike rather than my street one, or at least have better tires for dirt, but I'm going to try anyway. I may not make it, but I won't know until I get up there.

Glacier View (A) to Deadhorse (B): 825 miles

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Back in the USA

I crossed the border into AK earlier this morning. I'm at a cafe with internet access right now drinking coffee. I may even make my destination of Palmer today. The weather is still crappy, but not like it is back in VA from what I hear.

Toad River to Whitehorse

I camped last night and it rained. The rain stopped long enough this morning for me to break camp, and then it started raining again. According to weather reports, it looks like I'll be facing rain the rest of the trip. It's kind of cold, too--maybe 50 degrees.

I went to the Yamaha dealer in Whitehorse to sort out my battery issues. I had them test my battery and it checked out fine, leaving me feeling like a bit of a dumbass. I thought the battery should be able to power my lights for more than 10 minutes (ok it may have been more like 30 minutes), but according to the service tech that could easily drain the battery. So that's good news.

Outside the Yamaha place there were a couple of BMW guys changing their tires from dirt to street. We talked for a bit and then a couple of guys rode up on Yamaha Teneres, which is Yamaha's new dual-sport. We had a mini rally in the parking lot talking bikes and weather and road conditions. I'm thinking my next bike might be a Yamah Tenere.

No Cars

Dawson Creek, BC

The last couple of days since leaving Castlegar have been pretty low key. Although the drive to Banff and Jasper was awesome, it was cloudy and rainy so I didn't get to really experience the parks the way I wanted to, and I didn't want to wait for the sun so I kept going. Also, there were traffic jams even in these parks. I camped out again and really enjoyed it--it was in the Pocahontas forest outside of Jasper, which by the way was a super cool, laid back town.

Pocahontas Campsite

Banff to Jasper

Leaving Pocahontas

In addition to the elk, I saw a momma bear and her cub and later on a moose. I didn't stop to take pictures.

Yesterday I made it to Dawson Creek, which is the beginning of the Alaskan Highway. For whatever reason, yesterday was the first time I've actually felt road weary, where the miles were going by slowly and I wasn't really enjoying the ride. I think the main reason is that the scenery has changed from mountains and twisty roads to flat and straight and windy, and also I'm not hanging out with anyone from here on.

At the end of a 6-hour or so day, I was cranky and just got a hotel. Everything was bugging me, and I just wanted to take a shower and a nap after camping the previous night. Well, while I was checking in I had left the light on the bike on. When I came out to unpack, I discovered it wouldn't start--just what I freakin' needed. So instead of a shower and a nap I had to track down a place to charge the battery, and then try to find a place to buy a new one.

In the course of this seriously annoying quest I encountered the nicest people on earth next to Mormons--the Canadians. I walked, with my battery, to a nearby muffler shop to see if they had a charger. They were happy to help me, and in fact gave me a ride back to the motorcycle, waited for me to reinstall the battery, and then gave me a jump just to make sure it started. He said if I needed anything else, anytime, I knew where they were.

With the bike running again, I started out to all the snowmobile dealers to find a new battery, with no luck. But, everyone was bending over backwards to help, including customers in line behind me. They were recommending places to check, calling other places in nearby towns to see if one was in stock, and in general people were actually eager to help me. What the hell? It was so foreign to me to be the object of so much friendliness and trust and care from strangers that it made me uncomfortable. So I went back to the hotel and took a shower and a nap. I think I also ate a couple candy bars.

As for the battery, now that it's charged I can start the bike no problem, as long as I don't leave the lights on. I still need a new one though, because 10 minutes with the lights on shouldn't have drained it. I'm going to try to find one in the next town, Fort St. John. Towns are getting smaller and smaller and further apart as I head north and west, so I want everything to be whole.

Sportsmobile's Daddy

I want.