So jealous! This trip will be awesome!
So jealous! This trip will be awesome!
"With every broken bone, I swear I lived."
John, WELCOME HOME. Hope your statement "bike is trashed" doesn't mean anything too serious.
Can't wait to see photos and hear about the details!!!
'09 Duc Monster 696
'00 Suz SV650 (Dad's, garaged with mine)
I like mountains because they make me feel small.
Thanks for all the interest.
Got in on Sunday afternoon and chilled plus the 4th.
Sad thing is it is now back to work, I am swamped catching up, transitioning my replacement, and getting ready to retire from the Army.
When things slow up in a few days I will be back with a report and some photos.
Just shy of 8000 miles (7980) in 22 days....Bike has minor Haul Road damage ($400ish) plus a fairing that is missing paint (odd bubbling that I hope will warranty otherwise rattlecan) and needed a major cleaning to remove a ton of bugs, mud, filth.
John
Glad to hear you made it back John! Can't wait to see the pictures.
Imma girl....so what! What's your next question?
OK here you go folks. I have lost the motivation to post much but will post some photos and report!
Trip was 22 days and 7982 miles door to door. The trip was part of a deal me and a buddy (traveling bud) had to cruise the US over the next couple of years and knock out the four corners. NW was to be AK and specifically the Arctic Ocean vic Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. The town is actually Deadhorse and the associated oilfield if Prudhoe Bay.
Other corners coming are: SW - SoCal and then Baja to party with Sammy Hagar in Cabo; NE- somewhere to be determined in the northeast area of Maine; and SE - Key West. Not to diverge too much from this thread but I think a party is in the making for Cabo this fall and then Key West in May when I get back from a job over the winter in the Dominican Republic. But that is all a different story....
Intended goal of the trip was the journey and getting into the Arctic. Due to my work, I was only able to scrounge 23 days off. That was a limiting factor. We did very little touristy stuff when it was all said and done. For our purposes, the time allotted was probably two days too long for a journey. BUT it would have been nice to have 7 more days to play in the Kenai Peninsula in AK, Glacier Natl Park in British Columbia and a couple of other stops. But it is what it is.
Route was from COS north through eastern WY and MT then across Alberta. The first few days were boring as hell.....We then cut across BC and into the Yukon knocking out the Alaska Highway from milemarker zero all the way to Fairbanks. In Fairbanks we had an oil change and tire change from street tires to a more offroad tire. AK highway was mostly paved with some minor gravel and construction areas. This route was totally doable on a street bike/street tires.
After Fairbanks we headed north on the Dalton Highway to Deadhorse. This road is called the Haul Road on Ice Road Truckers and allowed us to cross Atigun Pass. The road was mostly dirt and gravel for the 400+ miles. Add the fact it rained quite a bit on us made for FUN on the bikes but created massive filth with the dirt and calcium chloride they put on the roads or whatever it was. On the way up, we camped overnight just north of Coldfoot in a BLM campground that was very nicely maintained. Then got to Deadhorse the next day around dinner. The only way to get to the Arctic is via a tour bus at that point. The road is controlled by the oilcompanies and have a gate guard so you are forced to a tour bus. By the time we arrived we could not get a tour that night and next was at 7 in the morning. I was ready to head south back to Fairbanks but my buddy kicked me in the ass. We had not rolled the entire distance to NOT see the Arctic so we paid the $190 for a hotel in a crappy modular oilfield hotel, paid the $45 a piece for the tour bus, and another $22 a piece to eat the hotel buffet....but this was a large portion of the journey. Get to the Arctic Ocean.
After the Arctic, we headed back south to Fairbanks, cleaned the bikes, and then rolled to SW to Denali, then SE to the seaport town of Haines, took a one hour ferry ride to Skagway, headed toward Prince George BC and went through Glacier Natl Park, Banff Natl Park and into Yellowstone. We camped in Yellowstone, rode the perimeter and made our way back to CO.
The route was littered with a ton of MC folks and we actually saw the same little groups along the route which was pretty cool. The route was also packed with RVs, mostly old people. I think this is because they have the easiest ability to take extended time off for the trip and it is fairly expensive if you dont go full tilt into saving money mode.
We actually thought we would camp 3-4 days then get a hotel and clean up for the night. Hotels were actually fairly easy to come by just winging it and we hotel'd more than camped.
Photos to follow - forgive my incompetance on resizing to any kind of standard......
John
OK - issue with uploading photos....they are sized in limit but "no go".
Will try later.
John
John,
Make a photo bucket account (and its free). You can upload all the pics and then copy links for the ones you want to post.
WOW. After almost a month, I gave up with the idea....and figured everyone else had also.
Now you call me on it.
I'll mess with the technology and give it a go. But it is easier to fall into a saying my buddy has: "For being in charge of so many smart people, you sure are an idiot."
John
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