2 cents an acre - The Easy Way

[scott59]

Love the report. :) Waiting on the next one.

[Brian A]

Love the report. :) Waiting on the next one.

Thank you sir.

I think I will do the next one now.......

[Brian A]

Friday August 5, 2016. The last of seven days riding in Alaska.

The sun was up long before I was awake.

The weather was great. Perfect temps in the low 70's. The sun shining brightly. Azure blue skies with an occasional puffy white cloud. It was a perfect morning.

Somewhere.   I mean I know that happened somewhere. But it didn't happen in Valdez.
Nope. In Valdez it was cool. Low clouds and..... are you ready?


Drizzling rain!


Mill and I showered and got ready to head out. When we went to load our bikes I took this stunning photograph of Mill. I think he was awe struck and all he could manage to do was to point and make some "Ooooohhhh.... Ahhhh...Wow!" sounds.

Spectacular view!




Vladez, Alaska.  According to NOAA and The Weather Channel, it is the snowiest city in the United States. Averaging 300 inches per year.  If Mill and I had been there in the winter, it probably would have come a blizzard.

Valdez has a population of 4,000. The port of Valdez was named in 1790 by a Spanish dude, an explorer, Salvador Fidalgo. He named it after another Spanish dude, Antonio Valdés y Fernández Bazán. A town was established there in 1898.
I figure most folks know about Valdez from the 1989 oil spill that occurred as a result of the giant oil tanker the Exxon Valdez running aground on Bligh Reef, in Prince William Sound, about 25 miles from Valdez.

Today Valdez thrives on being a commercial and recreational fishing port, tourism, and serving as the terminal at the end of The Alaska Pipeline.


Mill and I mounted our hard cases on the bikes, checked out of the hotel and rode out of Valdez. In light rain.

Our ride would take us back up The Richardson, through Thompson Pass, back to The Maxi Mart at Glennallen (3rd visit) where we would turn left to hit The Glenn Highway for our ride back to Anchorage.

My general plan had been to stop a few times along the way, before getting back to Glennallen, to take some pics. Well..... that didn't happen. It rained and stopped and rained and stopped and the clouds were low and the views, well, there really wasn't a whole lot to see.
So 20 miles became 40.
And 40 became 60.
And 60 became 90.
And before long we had covered 120 miles and arrived at The Maxi Mart. And the rain had stopped!

We bought gas. We had not eaten anything for breakfast so we rode a mile or so down the highway, into the (small) town of Glennallen, and stopped at a little restaurant and ate. The food was good. It was there we saw a single rider on a big adventure bike ride by. We discussed the fact that both of us had noticed just how few other dualsport/adventure bikes we had seen in comparison to what we had expected to see. Neither of us had kept count but if I had to guess, I'd guess 20 -30 over the course of a week (not counting anything we saw in Anchorage). I had sort of expected to see a whole bunch of bikes. Folks riding and exploring Alaska. But, that wasn't to be the case.

After we finished eating we continued on west on The Glenn Highway.

The weather continued to improve. Lots of clouds still, but no rain. Just an occasional light shower.

We stopped for pics now and then.







We rode on and stopped for a few more pics.







It was at this stop that Mill picked up a passenger. I found this nipple lying on the ground. I wedged into the rear rack of his bike. (I later learned he had seen it first and had picked it up and thrown it at me. Apparently hit me on the back and I never even knew it.)




I bet this would have been a really nice view if not for the low clouds.



On we rode. We stopped to view another glacier.



And more moraine. Amazing stuff. It was hard for me to look at the glaciers, and see all that ice, and try to realize just how much rock and dirt is ground up and riding along inside the ice.



Later on at another stop. I appreciated someone's sense of humor.



And I now find myself having to say "That's it." That's the last of my pics.

Kinda makes me sad now that I didn't take any when we returned the bikes. Or something else, somewhere along the way. Yeah. A bit of a bummer.

Mill sent me all his pics on a DVD and I sent him all mine on a jump drive. I checked his pics and found one more, after the last stop.

So here it is. The last pic of the trip.  Sitting still at a construction zone.



Kinda anticlimactic wouldn't you say? But then again, maybe not. I guess it's as fitting an end to the pictures as anything else would be. After all, those stops were as much a part of our ride in Alaska as anything else. It was - as much as anything else was - part of the experience. And you know, looking back on it now, I wouldn't have had it any other way.

We finished out The Glenn Highway, right there in the middle of Anchorage. We stopped to buy gas (in what turned out to be a very shady area). I knew things were sketchy when I opened the cooler door to grab a soft drink and an alarm sounded. I only know of one reason to alarm your soft drink coolers. We finished off our soft drinks, donned our helmets and gloves and rolled out of the parking lot.

The GPS guided us straight to the Motoquest shop. I remember thinking when the front and rear tires rolled over the gutter and hit the asphalt of the parking lot "Well, that's it. Ride over."

And it was.

The folks there were all very friendly and we talked to them all the while we unloaded and got ready to go. I can't say enough good about the Motoquest experience. Aside from the one lost knob, the week was worry free and problem free. Actually I did have one fork seal leak, but given the miles and miles of riding on some really rough roads, I would not even consider that a problem. More a matter of wear-and-tear.

We had called the folks we were staying with and they provided a ride back to their house. We shook hands and said Goodbye to the folks at Motoquest.
Again, seriously top notch folks and a top notch outfit. You can plan a trip with them with the highest level of confidence based on my experience.

Back at our room for the night, we showered and were treated by our hosts to a fantastic meal. Grilled salmon. Vegetables and fresh bread. And TWO homemade deserts!  Flan and some type of Mexican desert salsa. Made with fresh fruits, sweetened with sugar and eaten on sweetened, toasted pieces of tortilla. It was great! Apparently they host quite a few Airbnb folks. They said this was just the second time this year they had served dinner to their guest. Lucky us!!

And so day 7 came to an end. Bed time came and I climbed in bed. But before I did, I closed the blinds and drew the black curtains.

It was dark. I was going to bed in a dark room. It was like being home. Soon I would be home.

But one more day in Alaska remained.

[Chitza]

Brian, you have shared an amazing report of your adventures in Alaska. It made me realize just how much we didn't see. The areas you rode were much more scenic than what we saw. Thanks. Now I have a burning desire to go back until I have seen it all. So much for getting anything else done next summer break...or the next 10 probably :)

[klaviator]

Brian, as with all of your ride reports, this is another great one.  You really know how to combine great pics, a great writeup and your interesting perspective on things to make for a thoroughly enjoyable report.  Thanks for posting this!

[Brian A]

Thanks much to the both of you. I really appreciate the kind words and am glad my friends enjoy reading my ramblings.

I'll be back within the next day or so to wrap things up.  A summary of Day 8 and some thoughts and oddball trivia (example: the souvenirs I brought home)

[Brian A]

Mill and I both woke around the same time Saturday morning. We showered and made some coffee and packed all our stuff in prep for the ride to the airport. Our hosts had some out-of-town obligations for the day and needed to be on the road before too long. We loaded up our gear and they provided a ride to the airport.

My flight left around 9:00 pm and Mill's was set to leave somewhere around midnight. That meant we had a day to burn waiting on our flights. There is a place there, inside the terminal, where you can drop off your bags and pay a small fee to have your baggage secure stored while you go off and do whatever until close to flight time. We paid the fee and had about 8 hours to kill.

The Alaska Aviation Museum is about a 15 minute walk from the terminal so we put one foot in front of the other and headed to the museum. It was a really nice museum. Lots of interesting stuff. It was a enjoyable way to spend a big chunk of the day.

The museum is adjacent to Lake Hood Seaplane Base. Lake Hood is said to be the largest and most heavily populated seaplane airport in the world. We watched a number of float planes come and go. Some were pretty spirited with takeoff occurring pretty soon after rolling on the throttle and gaining speed down the water runway. Others seemed to lumber along until the wings made sufficient lift to get the pontoons to skim along the surface of the water, eventually losing touch with the surface as the float plane began to gain altitude.

On in the afternoon we walked back to the airport. We looked at various exhibits there in the terminal. They had many full mounts of various Alaska wildlife. A Moose, a few Grizzly/Brown Bears, a Polar Bear, etc.

Eventually the time came for us to go get our luggage out of storage.

Mill's flight was still too many hours away so he could not go through security at the time. He and I shook hands. I queued up for security. Once through security, I got something to eat, looked at a bunch of displays of native Alaskan art and culture and before long I was on the plane and getting settled in for the flight to Atlanta and then my connection back to Birmingham.  I would arrive in Bham around 9:00 am Sunday morning, so obviously it was a night flight. 

We took off in the daylight and made the turn to head southeast. We were running from the sun and before long it was below the horizon and the sky was dark. The cabin lights were dimmed and folks settled in to rad a book or listen to music or sleep.

I dug the neck doughnut thing out of my backpack. "I'll get my money's worth this time. 7 hours flying overnight. I'll get some sleep!"

Nope. Well, not enough to count for anything really. I don't blame the doughnut. I just couldn't get much sleep.

The nose of the 767 dipped and the flight attendant announced initial approach into Atlanta. People stirred around. A few window shades here and there were raised. We were flying into the sun now and day was breaking.

Another bucket list item was behind me now. I had ridden in Alaska. And I had enjoyed it very much.

It's a dichotomy really. The emotions after a big trip like this has come and gone.
Real happiness. Really glad you did it.
But at the same time there is a certain feeling of disappointment. The dream has been realized.
Sort of reminds me of the feeling of excitement and happiness I had as a kid on Christmas morning when I ran to the tree to see what Santa had seen fit to deliver. And then it wasn't too long before I'd realize it was over. Christmas had come and gone.
The anticipation was over. Santa had visited. The presents had been opened.

And so it is with Alaska. The anticipation is over. The present has been opened.

And now, a few weeks post-Alaska, I'm feeling forever more blessed and fortunate to have once again been able to enjoy a trip like Mill and I just took.

But I know there is still a lot of kid inside me and I know that as the weeks and months pass, I'll be on the lookout. Waiting for the next trip that I start to think about, then decide I really want, and probably dream about. 

Just like a kid looking forward to Christmas morning......



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Final thoughts/observations/comments


* When Mill and I left Anchorage we headed down to Seward, then back through Anchorage for the big loop that would bring us back to Anchorage at the end of the week. We rode a total of 2050 miles. Not that much really, but a fair distance.
Outside of the greater Anchorage area, we did not see one McDonald's restaurant. No Burger King or Taco Bell or Wendy's. We saw a few Subway locations (I think all were attached to or in association with a larger convenience store/ gas station). No Walmart. No Best Buy. We saw a few True Value hardware stores but otherwise pretty much no big chain stores.

It sort of makes sense...... The Greater Birmingham-Hoover Metropolitan Statistical Area includes Bibb, Blount, Chilton, Jefferson, St. Clair, Shelby, and Walker counties. 
Population: 1,140,000.   Let's ballpark it and say the area is about 7,000 square miles total.
So, 1.14 million people in 7,000 square miles.

Then consider Alaska. The total population for the entire state is ~740,000 people living in an area of 663,000 square miles! 
And, approximately 40% of Alaska's population is in Anchorage.

Outside of Anchorage, Fairbanks and Juneau there is not one city with a population >9,000 people.

Alaska is vast. Sparsely populated and very much not inundated with all the chain stores most are accustomed.


* 65% of all Alaska land is owned by the Federal Government.

* The rain - We never saw what I would call "heavy rain". While I had a pretty substantial rain suit with me, I never broke it out. Lightweight Frogg Toggs with my standard DS/Adventure pants and jacket were all I ever needed. I will admit it would have been great to have been able to see Denali and many other scenic spots we were not able to enjoy due to low clouds/fog/rain. But, we knew going in there was a better than even chance we would see a good bit of rain. It was all part of the experience.

* Souvenirs: A friend asked me what I brought home as far as souvenirs goes.   Not much. I bought a small sticker that I put on the back of my helmet. I have one other small sticker sitting here on the desk beside me. Other than that..... 2 small rocks. One from the Denali Highway and one from the Klutina in Copper Center.


So that about wraps it up.  There have been several other Alaska ride reports over the last few weeks. Each of them different with all involving riding in Alaska.

If I had it to do over again, would I change anything?  Probably not. The "fly there - rent/ride -fly home" approach was great. I don't have 3-4 weeks vacation I can take all at once, and honestly, if I did, I don't think I would spend it all getting there and back. If I was retired and had 2 months, I'd be all over it.

Ask away if you have any questions.

ALASKA!   I give it  TWO THUMBS UP!!

[Nice Goat]

I give your report two thumbs up!

[Chitza]

I'm wishing I had more than two thumbs. Will big toes count?

And like you, I feel very fortunate to have made this trip. Something I hope I will never take for granted. Thank you, Brian, for taking the time and energy to wade through your experiences and share them with us.

[VWCarlos]

Great ride report... Thanks for sharing it. I think the fly/rent-ride/fly is a great way to maximize your ride time at your destination.

[klaviator]

Great way to wrap up your report.  I also agree that fly and ride is the way to go.  While I have a lot of respect for those who ride all the way there, there is no way I would do that unless I was retired and could take my time doing it.  Thanks again for sharing your experiences with us.

[Guidedawg]

Another excellent report.  More than anything else, this is why I am a member here.