Haines Junction to Haines (Doug)

Probably our shortest day of riding so far from Haines Junction (Yukon, Canada) to Haines, Alaska where we chill until the ferry carries us and our motorcycles to Bellingham, WA...4 nights, 3 days of floating. The ride today was gorgeous despite the wet crossing through the mountains. We could see the rain coming before it hit, and it got so dark at one point that we both stopped to take sunglasses off so we could see through the fog...er, cloud. Only one construction stop for a long section undergoing re-paving. Only a couple of miles were gravel...not too thick and deep, so cruising speed of 50-60 mph was pretty manageable. The border crossing was nice and easy..."firearms?"..."no"..."welcome back." OK...there were a few more questions, and answers that a polygraph test may have contested, but nothing guantanamo-worthy ;-) Haines is kind of quiet on a Sunday but we found our home at the Thunderbird Motel...roomy, and the bikes are right outside the door for easy unpacking/packing. The Fogcutter bar seems to be the place to be for drinks (love Alaska Amber and Red!) and we're wishing we had a way to cook the fresh crab that can be bought off the boat in the harbor. But...mmmmmmm...is the smoked salmon good! We'll be buying some of that up for the ferry ride! We'll spend the day tomorrow doing laundry, organizing the packing for the ferry, and keeping our eyes out for the legions of bald eagles. It's been quite a ride...15 days, 4,839 miles...with 900 to go. Nice to be heading home.

Border Crossing - Top of the World hwy (Doug)

Just going through some older stuff and throwing out some eye candy. Here's a quick clip to give you an idea of Top of the World highway...although it was a gravel road before this section right before crossing into Alaska.

Day off in Anchorage {Wesley}

After the rainy finish on the freeway for the last 100 miles yesterday we decided to take the day off in Anchorage. Bought some fresh wild Salmon at the market today to BBQ. And picked some fresh veggies out of the garden for the salad. Apparently things grow really well up here during the summer because of the long sunlight. Looks like we are going to hang here another day and do some touristy stuff and photography. Kenai is looking bad for a side trip. Not recommended by the locals because of the storms down there.

Doug had some bike issues which we think are sorted out. Although he did burn through more than a quart of oil so far on this trip. Seems a little much to me. Took it to the "Motorcycle Shop" in Anchorage and they gave it the thumbs up so I think we are good. When riding together on a trip like this, your buddies bike problem is your bike problem as well...so a lot of incentive to make sure it gets sorted out.

Day after tomorrow we will head East towards Haines to catch the Ferry to Bellingham on August 10th. Going to take it slow and enjoy the scenery and take pictures. No desire to ride through the Yukon and BC again. A lot of boring and hot miles. The ferry will give us a chance to relax. And we are going to need it because we are planning to iron butt it back to SF from Bellingham (just to say we did it). 1000 miles with a little side trip in under 24 hours.

Smoke, Rain, Mountains (Doug)

It's a new variation to rock, scissors, paper ;-) We made it to Dawson City a couple of days ago, the smoke getting worse and worse. Dawson City still has the run-down, old west look...next to the not-so-run-down western look for tourists to be more comfortable in. When the "cheap" hotels went for $160 a night, the $12 campground across the Yukon River sounded even better. This picture is from the ferry you need to take to get across the river. First time the bike went for a boat ride! We had a few beers at the old hotel before getting back to camp for a freeze-dried dinner and crashing. The next day was all gravel road heading toward the Alaska border. Too bad the Top of the World highway was shrouded in smoke. We eventually had lunch in a funky town called Chicken. It's an old mining town, also with it's original buildings for that run-down western look. The original settlers apparently wanted to call the town Ptarmigan...the local bird they had for many a meal...but nobody knew how to spell it so they called it Chicken. We're starting to partake of the fresh salmon that everyone is pushing, and the salmon burger was dynamite! Next, on to the campground/RV park in Tok where we could finally do some laundry. Boring ride from there to Fairbanks. Fairbanks to Talkeetna...awesome views of Denali, but the clouds made it tough to get decent photographs. We had planned on crashing in Talkeetna but opted to move on to Anchorage. Riding in the rain is no fun and it looks like our plans to head south to Homer have been dashed with a forecast of rain for the next week. A leisurely day in Anchorage tomorrow with friends. It's finally getting dark at 11pm...bedtime. Click on the little slideshow to the right to see some more pics of the trip. Cheers!

Dead Birds, Gravel and Rain. {Wesley}

I was cruising up the last miles through the smokey haze of forest fires in Yukon to Dawson City when a beautiful black and white bird flew out in front of me. There was no time to react and I caught it on my crash bars and watched it flop dead onto the road in my rear view mirror. It left blood and feathers on the crash bar. I felt bad.

The next days ride was The Top of The World highway and the farthest North border crossing in the US at Poker Creek. A dusty, smokey gravel road for 150 miles.

Todays run was from Fairbanks to Anchorage. 350 miles through Denali Park. Beautiful views of the mountain. The last 100 in the rain.

The problem we have now is that we made too good of time to Anchorage and the Kenai is socked in with rain for the next week as is Valdez and Seward. We are only 800 miles from where we catch the Ferry in Haines...what to do for the next 6 days!

Top of the World

I'll have another update shortly after I sort through some photos and get a cocktail in my hand. But for now here is a little clip during a break on the Top of the World Hightway from a few days ago. This should have been a beautiful, scenic ride for a couple of hundred miles from Dawson City to the Alaska border, but smoke from forest fires hid the view. More to come!

Sorry we haven't been able to update much...Internet access has been spotty. Will try again later today. Heading to Talkeetna today. Still smokey.