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OldKneeDragger
Fri Jun 4th, 2004, 11:58 AM
After reading just about every travel guide available, paying attention to ideas from the various lists, forums, and a year of anticipation, it's finally time. I've made coast to coast and border to border rides before but this will dwarf them by comparison. Realizing that this doesn't hold a candle to anything related to the IBR, it still is a major trip for me and the longest vacation I've had in over 30 years. On Sunday I will embark on my FJR and head north via as many scenic roads as I can muster. The ride is far more important than the destination but I wanted to pick a destination that offered the prospect for an excellent ride. Artic Circle in Alaska, here I come!

http://images.sportbikes.org/alaskaroute.jpg
The route calculates out to be about 9,000+ miles depending on any diversions I come across along the way. Unless the weather is perfect and the roads in exceptionally good condition, I just as soon not destroy the FJR on the 300 miles each way on the Haul Road north of the Artic Circle to Deadhorse and I may chicken out on the 160 miles of gravel roads from Tok, AK to Dawson in the Yukon.

It's still a little early in the year but I have to be in Calgary for a couple of days next week and it didn't make sense to delay the trip on North and make two trips to Canada so close together. I'll be traveling alone and will maintain a lot of flexibility in the actual route and in the timing. Although I plan on staying in motels about half of the time, I will be camping out the rest of the time.

Not to pimp it too much but I will have a Star-Traxx unit with me setup to send my position into the system where my family and friends can see where I am at. More importantly, I have an "Emergency Push Button" mounted on the bike in case I get into trouble. If I push the button, a special message is sent to the cell phone of my wife with the time and position that I sent it.

She also has the ability to log on and send me a "page" which will cause a LED on my dash to start blinking. This is a signal that I need to call home as soon as possible. Besides this trip will be a good test of the ability for the satellite to work in very remote locations where cell phones and the like would fail.

If anybody is interested, you can monitor my progress by going to the
Link: http://www.Star-Traxx.com/customers/Find.asp?node=B19614B19049D7286EB147DD637CED

Or you are welcome to logon to the site at http://www.Star-Traxx.com with the user name of "Alaska" and a password of "trip" (all lower case).

CAMit...
Fri Jun 4th, 2004, 12:57 PM
Oh WOW!!!

I have always been very envious of those that can do this. When our kids are old enough, my wife and I want to start taking trips like this, each on our own bike.

Let us know how things go and GOOD LUCK on the the trip.

CAMit...
Fri Jun 4th, 2004, 01:11 PM
I just noticed the sat tracking link you posted. That is very cool, I will be checking it out as you ride....Be safe...

919pride
Mon Jun 7th, 2004, 12:47 AM
Thats really cool...good luck with the trip!!!!

riverock
Mon Jun 7th, 2004, 12:48 PM
green......envy.....green......envy


wish I was going.... :cry:

Slacker
Mon Jun 7th, 2004, 03:08 PM
That's insane :o . Good Luck and be safe! I'll have to check your progress. Bring back lots of pics.

CAMit...
Mon Jun 7th, 2004, 05:53 PM
If I remember right, this morning he was somewhere in Montana. Right now he's almost in Calgary...damn cool trip...

GSL
Tue Jun 8th, 2004, 07:08 PM
Hey Ron,

I hope you're having a great trip! 8) I see you're up just west of Calgary. Watch out for them mooses!! :o I came thru there just last week and almost "met" 5 along the way.

Cheers, take lots o pics!

Will

King Nothing
Fri Jun 11th, 2004, 05:54 PM
Watch out for them mooses!!


Should'nt it be meese?

GSL
Sat Jun 12th, 2004, 05:07 PM
Should'nt it be meese?

Are multiple choices ----------> cheese? ;)

Woohoo! Looks like OKD made it to Anchorage!

OldKneeDragger
Wed Jun 16th, 2004, 06:03 PM
Just 5 meese? I lost count of all the Moose, Deer, Mountain Goats, Buffalo, Sheep, and bears a long time ago. The Yukon is thick with wildlife. I divered my return trip back through Red Deer in Alberta to take care of a little business but I should be back on the road tomorrow afternoon if all goes well...

Congratulations to GSL on his little Trans Canada GOLD ride! Wohoo... my hat is off to you bro... :)

riverock
Fri Jun 18th, 2004, 02:38 PM
How's it going out there OKD? Give us a ride report with pics when you get back!

GSL
Fri Jun 18th, 2004, 02:47 PM
Hey Ron,

Lookin good! Looks like you just rode Lolo Pass this AM! Woohoo! :D

Keep it up man!

Nick_Ninja
Fri Jun 18th, 2004, 02:53 PM
Mmmmmmmmmm LOLO PASS :yes:

OldKneeDragger
Sun Jun 20th, 2004, 09:14 PM
Yes, I'm back home at last!

Since I wanted a fresh tire before I went to Alaska I called Blackfoot Cycle in Calgary and bought a new Michelin Pilot Road and had them hold it for me till I got there.

So on the first day I when up thru the back of Colorado on some fanstastic roads and headed into Wyoming. It was extremely windy in Wyoming but I headed over to Shoshone national forest to ride the famed Beartooth Pass...
http://images.sportbikes.org/shosone.jpg
At the top was frozen lakes and lots of snow on the side of the road. Still the wind was horable,,, so bad that I didn't notice that I had a slow leak in my rear tire till I reached Montana. About 140 miles to Great Falls, MT the rear tire gave out.. I was able to find a place to stay for the night. The next morning I plugged the tire and went very slowly to Great Falls where Steves Sport Center where I waited till he opened on Monday so I could buy a new tire.
http://images.sportbikes.org/stevesportcenter.jpg
All he had was a Dunslop 208 which I knew wouldn't last long so on to Calgary another 400 miles where I had another tire waiting. I stayed in Calgary on business till Tuesday afternoon. About 4:00 PM I was able to get away and headed through Banff and Jasper national parks. :) Very pretty and I saw my first Glacier...
http://images.sportbikes.org/jasperglacier.jpg
Next stop was Hinton, Alberta... Wednesday took me to the start of the Alaska Highway in Dawson Creek...
http://images.sportbikes.org/mile0.jpg
I kept on going till I got to Watson Lake where I stayed at a neat old restored air force bunker that was used to ferry planes to Alaska during the second world war.
http://images.sportbikes.org/airforcelodge.jpg
Watson Lake is where they have the sign post forest. It was huge.. the picture doesn't show even but a very small part. I think every city in the world has lost a sign to this place.
http://images.sportbikes.org/signs.jpg
The next day was another long ride to Fairbanks where I arrived at midnight with the sun still high in the sky. I would see darkness for a week! Next morning I got up and headed for the Artic Circle! The Artic Circle lies 200 miles north on the famed Dalton Highway otherwise known as the Haul Road. This is a dirt road that has a lot of truck traffic hauling supplies to oil fields and maintenance on the Alaskan Pipeline.
http://images.sportbikes.org/articcircle.jpg
The dust was worse than you could possibly imagine when a truck would come by. The first time it was so thick I was blind till I could come to a stop and let it clear. After than I would just pull over and wait it out. No way could you pass a truck, the dust was too bad to even get within a half a mile. Still the weather was great and the FJR actually makes a pretty good dirtbike :eek:

Getting gas north of the Yukon river on the Haul Road was interesting. You had to start the generator to power the pump that was fed directly from the tanker truck...
http://images.sportbikes.org/daltongas.jpg
Next day I headed south to Denali National Park. They say it is rare you can see Mt McKinley since it is normally always covered in clouds. I think it was a treat for me to see it soring over Alaska...
http://images.sportbikes.org/mckinley.jpg
I continued on around the south of Alaska past Wangell St-Ellis National park and several more glaciers before stopping at Tok for the night. Again, another 1K+ day.

The next morning I got up early and took off on the dirt roads again to Chicken Alaska.
http://images.sportbikes.org/chicken.jpg
I cross the Yukon going to Dawson City on the "Top of the World Highway" via a ferry that could just bairly keep up with the very swift flowing river.
http://images.sportbikes.org/ferry.jpg
I ended the day a short 700 miles later at Whitehorse where I inspected the tire again. It still had a fair amount of tread, I guess about 1500 miles but it was over 2,000 miles to the states again and I wanted to go on the Cessiar Highway which was again, a lot of dirt. Luckily, on a Monday, the local Honda shop was open and had another Michelin Pilot Road tire which I had them mount up.

On to Hyder on the southern most tip of Alaska. Described in the tour book, "Hyder is a Funky little town in a uniquely Alaska kinda way". Couldn't describe it better myself...
http://images.sportbikes.org/hyder.jpg
Hyder is where they film the bears catching the salmon. Something that happens just outside of town every year in late July and early August. It also is located in a very narrow canyon that is quite spectacular with Glaciers that come right down to the road.
http://images.sportbikes.org/hyderglacier.jpg
I continued my trip to Red Deer where I had some more business to take care of which took me a day and a half. I then headed south back to the lower "little" states and went thru Glacier National Park on the "Road to the Sun"
http://images.sportbikes.org/road2thesun.jpg
Next day I headed through Lolo Pass (another great motorcycle road) over to the Tri-Cities of Washington for more business. It was quick and I continued on back to Idaho. The last day took me over Flaming Gorge and Independance Pass back home. 13 days later and 9350 miles!

Anybody want to buy a slightly used FJR1300 only riden for a couple of rides?

Nick_Ninja
Sun Jun 20th, 2004, 10:48 PM
I’m so frickin jealous. Glad your tire troubles were negotiable! :up:

riverock
Mon Jun 21st, 2004, 08:53 AM
Well done!!!

Dr. Joe Siphek
Mon Jun 21st, 2004, 09:21 AM
Just 5 meese? I lost count of all the Moose, Deer, Mountain Goats, Buffalo, Sheep, and bears a long time ago. The Yukon is thick with wildlife. In your pictures it seems like you saw more wildlife than people...what an amazing journey. Congrats.

1000RR
Mon Jun 21st, 2004, 09:36 AM
Those pictures are absolutely beautiful.

Alaska, I have wanted to live there for years.

Slacker
Mon Jun 21st, 2004, 11:05 AM
Those are some great pictures. Sounds like an amazing trip. Glad you got there and back safe.

GSL
Mon Jun 21st, 2004, 08:21 PM
Hey Ron,

Nice trip report! 8) Thanks for sharing! :up:

I'm running off to Deal's Gap this weekend. Wanna go? :lol:

riverock
Wed Jun 23rd, 2004, 11:09 AM
OKD, on a long trip like that, the gear you bring along is extemely important. Was there anything you brought that you could have done without? Was there anything you needed but didn't bring?

OldKneeDragger
Wed Jun 23rd, 2004, 03:17 PM
GSL, deals gap :) I would except I think I am out of credits with the wife :o

As far as stuff that I took.. I had a lot of over kill with tools and such but nothing that I would have left if I was to do it over again. There was nothing that I missed while I was out either. Probally the first long trip I've made where everything seemed to be just right :D

GSL
Wed Jun 23rd, 2004, 03:34 PM
I want a RAM mounted Ho-Ho dispenser for my next long ride. :lol:

(understand about the credits there, Ron. ;) )

Hozerking
Wed Jun 23rd, 2004, 03:58 PM
How did the Star Tracks stuff work out?

did you get a chance to try some of its advanced features?

-al