Anchorage to Fairbanks

We spent the next day sorting out stuff for the trip up to Prudhoe bay, we bought a heated jacket kit off Ebay which sews into the liner of a bike jacket and even with my dodgy wiring would finally work a treat. The temperature with the wind chill factor would touch minus 3 in a few days time.

We met up with Tony and Andy a couple of lads from the UK who were doing a similar trip to us but they have only six months to get to South America, in the evening a few of the local riders had arranged to take us out for a run down the peninsular for a pizza.

On the run down to Girdwood

Road signs are obviously fair game, and easier to hit than deer!

Our first leg of the trip North was as far as Denali National Park, we intended to have a nice easy run up, about 250 miles and camp the night either in the park or close by. On the way up we stopped at a diner/fuel stop in a small place called Cantwell, Sue got talking to a girl on a BMW F650 who was travelling down to Anchorage with a friend, the guy in question had run out of petrol about 20 miles down the road and was just filling a petrol can before going back to his bike. After chatting bikes and the trip etc. I offered to give him a lift back to his bike while Sue had a coffee and a chat with his friend, we eventually got his bike back to the truck stop and he kindly offered to pay for our lunch. I said he would have done the same for us and it was just one of those good deed, biker helping biker things.

Now I'm not one for all this good karma, what goes around comes around nonsense but the events a few days later would make me seriously think again. Travelling up to Denali we stopped at various viewpoints to try and get a look at Mt McKinley, North America's highest peak. Apparently the mountain is so vast it creates its own climate (usually cloudy) so we were told you might be lucky and see it if the conditions are right, they weren't! Mt McKinley has a larger bulk and rise than Mount Everest, although the summit of Everest is higher measured from sea level 29,028 feet (8,800 m). Everest's base sits on the Tibetan plateau at about 17,000 feet (5,200 m), giving it a real vertical rise of a little more than 12,000 feet (3,700 m). The base of Mount McKinley is roughly a 2,000-foot (610 meter) plateau, giving it an actual rise of 18,000 feet (5,500 m). hmmmm interesting, and impressive.

The picture in the foreground is what the view should look like, the view in the distance is reality


Here's some more mountains we passed earlier, that's Mt McKinley in the middle (it's not really but who'd know!)

We turned up at the Grizzly Bear campsite just south of the park and booked our pitch, I have no idea what sort of tents people use over here but the elevated gravel plot would not accommodate our luxurious 3 man home. This by the way, was my retirement present from all my work colleagues, thanks everyone it will get well used in fact it rained most of the night just to test the waterproofing.

Maybe we should just crawl into it and sleep.



This is what it looks like fully erect, Sue........fnarrr


The campsite carefully planned the location of the tents to maximise exposure to the f*^"ing mosquitoes!

The locals insisted we wear these devices to show who's dumb enough to camp in the first place, and with every campground pitch comes its own blood transfusion kit! The mosquito is apparently the State bird of Alaska. We took the bus tour round the National Park the next day as vehicles are prohibited past a certain point, presumably to stop people getting attacked by bears, Sue and I just made sure we sat next to an older couple who looked like they couldn't run much! The trip took around 5 hours and goes into the park about 50 odd miles, you get the usual running commentary and toilet breaks are free.

Please get out of the bus on the right hand side.



Isn't she pretty, What a guy!!

The scenery was as usual, stunning, from vast landscapes....

To the smallest detail (me being artistic)


A herd of Dall (mountain) sheep, I can just imagine our sheep back home saying "Ooh you wouldn't get me up there without proper gear on mi feet"

Our first grizzly sighting (or should it read our first sighting of a grizzly?)

As we said earlier the rain set in for the night but by the time we were ready to leave the sun was out and we were on our way to Fairbanks, Alaska's capitol. I had been in touch with people in Fairbanks through a couple of websites dedicated to motorcycle travel and they suggested we stay at the University where they rent out dorms for a nominal fee (40 dollars a night) apart from being good value it's also close to the city. We met up with Tony and Andy and went for a meal and discussed the benefits of travelling the Dalton Highway together, and hoped the weather would hold out for the next few days.

Greetings From Alaska

Well we've finally arrived, 20 odd hours after leaving Heathrow we touched down in Anchorage.
The flight was tedious as you would expect, with a stopover in Houston for 3 hours which allowed us to dispense with the process of entering the US before we got to Alaska. We used the visa waiver programme instead of applying for a B2 tourist visa so we know we've only got 90 days to get through the States.

This was taken at Mat's place just before we left for the airport, and right around the same time we told him we had sorted the will and should anything happen to us he and Rich get everything! which will enable him to buy shoes.

First views of Alaska - what's with all that white stuff?



By the time we got to Anchorage airport we were just about dead on our feet, but that didn't stop us taking the obligatory touristy pics!

That's one mean looking creature! (and the that polar bear looks fierce too!)

The next day we had to get back to the airport to get BOB out of customs, originally it was going to take seven days for the bike to arrive but the freight company managed to get it on an earlier flight this meant we would have transport in Anchorage straight away. The process of getting BOB through customs was fairly painless thanks to Keith from Lyndon International who handle things for James Cargo here in Anchorage, the whole process took around an hour.....First

They dump the crate in the parking lot.....



Then you find some tools.......


A few skinned knuckles later........

Welcome to Anchorage BOB

It goes faster without the palette

Ready to roll!

After we left the FedEx depot we took a ride downtown to see Barb at Alaska Leather and pick up a couple of their world famous sheepskin buttpads and generally hang around the shop looking like hardened tourists! We also spent an obscene amount of money after Sue found some riding gear which fitted (at last). http://www.alaskaleatheronline.com/

We had arranged over the internet to meet up with Tony and Andy from the UK who were flying out on Thursday, and on Friday some of the local riders were going to take us for a ride out and a beer.

As we had a couple of days to kill we decided to have a run down to Homer at the bottom of the Kenai peninsular. superb roads with no traffic, just lots of moose, these creatures are HUGE in fact no, they're bloody huge! as big as a cow but with another cow stood on it's back and so unpredictable. I couldn't work out why on stretches of open road there were great long skid marks everywhere, apparently the moose have no concept of road safety, and suddenly decide they want the vegetation on the other side of the road!.

You will get back on the bike!

Stunning scenery (you will get bored of stunning scenery)

The view overlooking Homer spit

Yeah, stand in front of another signpost........listen it's our trip and we'll stand wherever we want.

We had a drive along the spit which is as far south as you can go, it also gave us a chance to post a dollar bill in the Salty Dawg.

In the old days fishermen used to leave a dollar bill pinned to the wall and on the note the name of their mates who were still out fishing so if they came in without a good catch at least they could get a beer. So if your ever here, look up Graham and Sue (UK) gands2up and have a beer on us. Oh by the way its on the right as you walk in!!!

Homer's fishing fleet needed a lick of paint.

We stopped the night in a 1930s prefab motel with original furniture, but breathtaking views across Ketchemac bay. Ate in a local seafood restaurant and hit the sack.

An especially fine clam chowder.

10:45 at night

We headed back to Anchorage the next day calling in at Seward (nothing to see here,move along please!) On the way back we saw our first black bear, it decided to trot across the highway about 100 yards in front of us. It's a wierd feeling travelling in a country where you're not top of the food chain! I bet when we passed him he could smell the fear! well smell something... I had plenty of time to stop but by the time i got my camera out he'd disappeared into the brush.

Put a tick in the Ispy book of wild carnivores.....

The road back to Anchorage MSS (more stunning scenery)

Born to be wild....errr

What no send off party?

Here's the bike at 4 o'clock in the morning ready to go,we had intended to leave for London the previous night but as always we were scuppered with last minute jobs (nothing new there then!)
Sue refused to be photographed after 3 hours sleep and whilst the excitement of leaving was keeping us upbeat, the thought of driving to Heathrow with so little sleep was not going to be the highlight of our day. Fully loaded the bike weighs about the same as a small elephant and when driving slowly it handles as well as a pig on roller skates, of course the beauty of this machine is it's ability to carry those kinds of load at speed so once on the open road the ride characteristics are quite enjoyable because of this we have decided to christen the bike BOB (Beast Of Burden). we know it's cheesy and the last bike we simply called 'the bike', but the fact that we will be relying on it's mechanical good nature for the next 12 months means it's probably as well to personalise our relationship in first name terms, it's also more satisfying when something does go wrong to blaspheme at a name rather than an object, here's a few of the worst possible examples:

BOBs P***ing oil all over the place!
F***ing BOBs rear ends gone!
F*** me! BOBs been pinched!

Here's the starting mileage on the speedo, I have no idea what the final trip mileage will be but the chances are it will be closer to 30,000 than 20,000 with a 10% excess for getting lost!
The run down to Heathrow was uneventful, I took my final cholera vaccine before we set off which meant no food or drink for an hour before or after, so 60 minutes into the journey the indicator went on at the first available service station for a bacon butty and a coffee. Sue coped with the monotony of motorway miles in her usual fashion, sleeping, every so often she slumps forward and I get this knock on the back of my helmet, seriously! I've tried doing the same thing, but keep getting woken up as soon as I drift into oncoming traffic!

We are shipping the bike with James Cargo who are experts when it comes to moving motorcycles anywhere around the globe and have made the whole process relatively painless, we rode straight to their warehouse at Heathrow and after watching Steve crate another bike about to be shipped overseas we paid our money and left Steve to strip the dangly bits off BOB and screw him into the crate (see it works!)

BOB never did like confined spaces

Of course the moment of truth will be in a weeks time when we get BOB from the customs at Anchorage airport or when we open the crate and find a bloody Vespa scooter! (you'll hear the screams on this side of the Atlantic).

Seriously, thanks to Giles, Roddy and Steve at James Cargo.

http://www.jamescargo.com/

We are now relaxing for a few days in London, stopping with our youngest son Mat before flying out on Monday morning. The realisation of what we are about to do is becoming more apparent by the day, and whilst our time over the last 8 months has been occupied with house alterations, building work, decorating, and retirement the next 12 months have the potential to be life changing.

There are too many people to thank for their help in getting us this far, whether it was helping us sort the house, making my retirement memorable or just supporting us in the whole planning thing. We cannot thank you enough.

As the old saying goes........Wish you were here.