Lessons of a half liter single in a three liter world

[lazeebum]

I see a camp and drink and listen to the Arctic Bound Bama bums in the future. This is cool!

[Chitza]

Lessons from Day 6: 470miles

1. The Canadian DOT: I LOVE these guys and gals. It took me a minute to adjust to their traffic patterns. It's only a little different than how we do things but seemed to flow so much smoother. They have functional merging lanes that allow the flow of traffic to continue while you merge onto or turn off the road. And I found Canadian drivers to be very courteous. I did not have OR see any road rage episodes. Pretty amazing. People would move far right in the lane, (enough room for a motorcycle in the same lane!) to allow us to pass. They also mark all road hazards. Yes. Even the pot holes! Each pothole is marked with a cone and flag at the roadside and dips are marked with a sign as well.
2. The Canadian DOT: I HATE these guys and gals! Well, not really. The harsh winters are hell on the roads. When the weather breaks, it's a mad dash to repair the damage. Over the years, there has also been construction to straighten out the AlCan with a loss of almost 400 miles of the original highway.
3. Six long days on any motorcycle seat will begin to wear on you. Melony and I both need some cushion. We stopped for dinner at an A&W. There were 2 guys from Monterey, Mexico, who had been riding for 2 years. We drooled on their sheepskin pads and asked lots of questions(in my broken Spanish) about the comfort farkles.



4. Don't bother driving tent stakes into a gravel bed in the Rockies - We camped for free that night at Laird River Hot Springs. They have a campground but it was full. The overflow parking was a gravel parking lot across the highway. If you arrive after 8:00pm, you camp for free. We were masters of the after 10:00pm arrival.
5. A dip in a hot springs at 1:00 in the morning is better than the smell of clean laundry.


Photo credit: Lincoln Stewart

At the far right of this photo is the spring. The water is almost too hot to tolerate. If you make it to the end, there is a small tower of rocks. You add one if you made it there.

6. When camping near a hot springs where a bunch of "young adults" hang out, check behind the trees for the beer stash.

What the group learned about me: at this point, with rising fuel costs, the guys started to notice that they were paying a lot more for gas than I was. I rarely put more than 2 gallons in my tank at any stop. I think my highest fuel bill was $12.

Take aways: I hate the unexpected when riding. I'm a planner. I had mulled over the gravel ride on Top of the World for months. Some may call this anxiety, but it's a weird way I prepare my psyche. I didn't know that road construction on the Alaska Hwy meant sections of dirt and gravel. Sometimes miles of dirt and gravel. Okay. Heart in throat, head down, barrel through. The first section was deep gravel and I wobbled a couple times. The remaining sections weren't too bad. Hard packed and no elevation changes or deep spots. But I was on edge. The DOT had already surprised me 8)

Everything on the AlCan costs more. It really is a desolate place. It's not like being in the states where there are other routes you can take to get to the same place or 4 gas stations and a dollar general on every corner. Transit of consumables is expensive and the consumer pays the price. Most fuel stops had the old style pumps with rotary numbers and many were full service. Don't get in a hurry at a fill up in this area. No. They didn't check my oil and wash my windshield. What "full service" means is that you go in, find the proprietor, who may be cooking, being cashier at the gift shop or cleaning the bathrooms, and tell them you need fuel. You then wait at the pump(sometimes there were two). They come out and pump your gas and hand you a paper with a number written on it with a "x2" beside it. I finally figured this may be because the old pumps don't register the current price of fuel so they post it at half price. You take your paper inside and pay with the other items they hope you buy....when they come back inside from pumping for the line of bikes who rode in with you and the large RV who almost plowed your bike trying to get close to the pump.

For me, riding the Canadian Rockies was a welcome relief, even with its construction woes. The scenery was incredible and the rivers and lakes were the most clear, blue I have ever seen. For the most part, this land is untouched and the Alaska Hwy is the secret passage in to lives that are lived there without our knowing.

[matthew.j.riley1]

Nice write up!

Sent from my SM-N910P using Tapatalk

[griff]

Man you guys really make me want to take a trip up there. It seems like you guys felt rushed to get up there as quick as you could. I'd like to do it at a bit more of a relaxed pace.

[Chitza]

I haven't really mentioned the rain. Suffice it to say, if we rode 14 days, it rained 16 of those.

[klaviator]

I haven't really mentioned the rain. Suffice it to say, if we rode 14 days, it rained 16 of those.

[Chitza]

Lessons from Day 7: 440miles

1. When Canadians flash their lights at you...SLOW DOWN - No. It doesn't mean the Royal Canadian Mounted Police are running radar. We actually didn't see much LEO presence the entire trip. It does mean there is wildlife in the vicinity, most likely IN the road.
2. WIFI service in Canada sucks - and that's on the rare occasions it's available.
3. Texting while driving is not a problem on the AlCan. There is NO cell service. One hour before dropping in to 3 days of near non-existent service, my dog sitter emailed me and said she was about to leave the house and would not be back the next day. She had somewhere she had to be. My dogs were going to be alone, in my newly remodeled house, on my new floors for 36 hours. Kris came to my rescue.
It was a definite distraction.
4. Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon Territory Province - they have cell service and wifi. Sigh of relief.
5. Don't judge a restaurant by its name -  Ricky's BBQ was decorated like a Chinese restaurant and had a Mexican cuisine and sushi inserts in the menu. I never did find BBQ on the menu.
6. Lincoln can actually survive on Fish 'n Chips at every meal.
7. Let Melony find the campgrounds. We were about to leave Fox Lake, Provincial campground, because it appeared full, all RVs, when she shouted at someone about any potential empty spots. He led us to tent paradise up in the woods behind the parking lot campers. "No one knows about these spots," he said. Their loss was our gain. Soft ground and a babbling brook.





What the group learned from me: I may ride into an area that terrifies me, but they may have to get me out. I didn't actually ride every mile on my bike. Allen turned my bike around and rode it out of the woods the next morning. I guess he figured that was easier than helping me pick it up 5 times. He actually fit in my cockpit with luggage loaded! Thanks Allen!

Take aways: When we left Whitehorse, we left the AlCan to travel the Klondike Hwy to Dawson City. I knew the Top of the World was looming. I asked every rider we encountered who was going in the opposite direction what condition the road was in. I had them look at my bike and my tires to see if they thought I could make it. It wasn't like I had a choice. There was no way around. Again, preparing my mind is a weird process. It wasn't increasing my anxiety. That wasn't possible. It was more building my resolve to what I was gonna have to do. I was already becoming more comfortable with gravel. There was no brick in my gut when I encountered road construction or had to turn around in a gravel parking lot(every parking lot outside of populated cities was gravel. No point in paving when winter would destroy it). But the top of the world was 120 miles of the unknown. I am an information junkie. I needed my fix.

[Chitza]

Lessons from Day 8: 290 miles

1. Only 290 miles (?) - I sneezed and the ride was over. 
2. There's only one way in and one way out of historical Dawson City - okay, more than one way. There is an airport. If you pull up Dawson City on Google Maps, you can see there is only one road. The Klondike Hwy. you turn around or ride the ferry across the Yukon River and begin the Top of the World Hwy. How did all these people get here?








3. Bama fans are everywhere - When we walked in to Klondike Kate's for dinner, we heard a "Roll Tide." Tony was wearing his Alabama hat and a couple there noticed. They were from Tuscaloosa and she is a retired professor from the university.
4. Wait. What? -



Tony and I went to the bathroom at the same time. When we came back to the table, we were laughing and looking at our phones. We had snapped the same picture in the bathroom.
5. Ferry decks are slick - We pulled in line to board the ferry. This was my first bike ride on a ferry, btw. I had no idea what to expect. They herded us into a corner. As I put my foot down I slipped. Thank goodness there was a metal box bolted to the deck by my foot and I wedged my boot up to it and straightened myself up. But how was I gonna get out? No traction to maneuver my bike back to get a clear path to the off ramp. (These are the things that go through a short riders head in situations that tall riders don't even notice).






6. The border checkpoint is only open 12 hrs a day, 8am to 8pm. Customs is open 9am to 9pm. That's two different things. Oh, and the time zone changes when you cross in to Alaska. Alaska has its own time zone. We had planned on making it to Fairbanks that evening. No go. We were too late for the border so we camped just across the river at another Provincial campground.

7. "It'll be fine," is Allen's favorite phrase. - Don't expect Allen to have your back when preparing for bears.

If you can't tell from the video, Allen tied a rock to the end of the rope to help him throw it over. He either hit the limb with the rock or, if he got it over, the weight would wrap the rope around the limb 4 or 5 times. That's my tent under the 20# food bag. But "It'll be fine." His tent was on the other side of the campsite 8)

Take aways: Lincoln really does have a heart. Either that, or he was tired of my anxiety about the Top of the World. We stopped just east of Dawson City to fuel up and my anxiety was a thick cloud on my demeanor. When I came back to my bike, there was a message written on my windscreen.



He said it was a quote from one of his firearms instructors. "Let it do!!" The bike is gonna do what it was built to do if I would just relax and let it perform. By the time we crossed the river I was mentally ready. And kinda disappointed when we realized we would be delayed until the next day. 

[Chitza]

Lessons from Day 9: 390miles

1. The Carpenters - There is no way (for me) to ride the Top of the World Highway and not sing "I'm on top of the world looking down on creation..."
Having survived being bear bait for a night, we packed up camp and headed out. Dread was gone and was replaced with excitement.
2. Don't get too comfortable - the speed limit on Top of the World was 50mph for the most part. The road was nice, hard packed dirt and gravel. The rain in the few days before hadn't really affected the surface. I got comfortable pretty quickly, repeating in my helmet, "Let it do," and "power to the rear."  I relaxed and let myself enjoy the view. So comfortable that I didn't notice an upcoming uphill left hand turn. No biggy, except the deepest gravel on TOW was in that curve and I had so much speed I was gonna have to lean more than the gravel wanted to allow. I wobbled bad. No joke, in my head I heard Slede say "Shower on the throttle. It will solve the problem or end the suspense." By the time I stopped laughing I was still upright and had control.
3. Foxes are unpredictable(or maybe coyotes; it's not like I was studying for an animal husbandry test) - coming out of the afore mentioned curve, there was a furry animal on the right side of the road. He looked dead at me and took a step further to my right. Then decided he wanted to go the other way. I missed him by about 2 feet. Good thing I was still puckered from the curve. Saved a little energy that way.
4. Back on US soil - we had kept the same line up over TOW, but Lincoln was out of site. We caught up with him because he had stopped for pictures and a little off road fun. I had had all the excitement I could stand so I waved and carried on. I found a good stretch of terra firma and stopped for some pictures.







I reached the border before the group. The border patrol officer looked at me and said, " You came up here by yourself?" To which I replied "no, but I haven't seen the DS guys I came with in about 30 minutes. They're kinda slow, ya know." He laughed, knowing they had stopped for pictures. He also told me I was about to ride the 13 best paved miles in Alaska with some really nice curves. He made no promises for the road condition after the pavement ended.





5. Chicken, Alaska, Population 7, has no electricity or plumbing - Chicken, Alaska is one of the few remaining mining camps from the late 1890's. Everyone uses generators and outhouses. On any given day during the "summer" season, there will be a couple hundred tourists there. Don't ask to fill your camelback there. Unless you want to buy Dasani by the liter. Or catch rainwater...yes, it rained on us from Chicken to Fairbanks.



6. Fairbanks had a heat wave - The week before we got there. Now they were on their 3rd straight day of rain with no change expected in the forecast for another day or so. We stayed in a hotel with a laundromat.

Take aways: Fairbanks is a typical city with all the amenities. Tony and  I rode the bus to Fred Meyers(their version of WalMart) and bought better rain gear.  Over pants and a cool pair of ice fishing gloves that fit over my summer mesh gloves.
But it was the people in the small towns, like Chicken, that caught my attention. They live in relative seclusion most of the year, I assume, by choice. There are precious few opportunities to earn money. Like the gas stations in these remote areas. They are do it all places. Restaurants. Gas stations. Groceries. Lodging. Hospitality businesses. Yet most of these people didn't seem to be "people" people. There were some who were very congenial. But there were many who seemed only to tolerate the intrusion of the tourist and some who were openly frustrated by our presence. I guess I would do the same. Get while the gettins good...and have my solitude for the next 8 months.

[klaviator]

Karla, I'm really glad you are doing this ride report.  I know it's a lot of work.  It was interesting looking at the pics Ya'll posted on FB while on the trip but this is much better.  You're doing a great job on the writeup

[Chitza]

Thanks, Win. It is nice to know others are enjoying my convoluted thought process :)

[VWCarlos]

Thanks, Win. It is nice to know others are enjoying my convoluted thought process :)

I am certainly enjoying it...

[Nice Goat]

^^^ Definitely.

[IceCold4x4]

loving reading all this. Actually starting to think this might be fun on the ZRX...

[Al Goodwin]

loving reading all this. Actually starting to think this might be fun on the ZRX...

Its be fun on ANY bike......

I saw a nicely restored Puch scooter for $650..... Now, there's an adventure.