Day 10, Beaver Creek, YT to Valdez, AK 391.3 miles

7 July 2015

We finally filled bucket 1, immediately by bucket 2.  That is, we reached Alaska via the Alcan highway.  Here is proof:

Buckets 1 & 2

Today we made a spur of the moment decision and decided to bag Fairbanks and go to Valdez.  We had already seen 4 fires this morning, ridden through some serious smoke, and heard that there are a lot more fires in the Denali area.  We can do that later.

The Spyder was getting plastered with bugs, which really stink and attract more bugs.  The radiators were about 1/3d filled with dead locusts and dragon flies (I even removed a dead bird somewhere in BC).  So when we arrived in Tok, AK we found a car wash and and gave the Spyder a little bath.  It wasn't too effective since the water was cold with no soap.

Our bug collection

The spousal unit would like  to make today's post.  But let me just say that we are now actualizing the full-on Alaska experience.

Everyone reading this blog must absolutely stop what you are doing, buy a plane ticket to Anchorage, rent a car or motorcycle (even better for viewing  scenery) and drive to Valdez!!!!It is so breathtaking it will sooo be worth the money spent. There are huge mountains that meet the road, glaciers that  produce waterfalls, rivers from the glaciers, green upon green upon green, steep walls carved out by water and then there's  the ocean which the glaciers flow into with the salmon spawning right now. Sea otters and seagulls and bald eagles are munching away and bears soon to come from what the locals say. The fishermen have their boats all lined up in the bay ready to start on the salmon run when word is given. All this and it is still light out at 11:00

Glacier view on way into Valdez

One of many waterfalls near Valdez

Weir preventing salmon moving upstream

Fishing boats lined up at 11:30 pm

We ran into our first rain today near Valdez and into Valdez and it didn't  matter with such gorgeous scenery. We rented a cabin for the night to dry out a bit. The new rain gear is working great. The Spyder got a bath today. Too many gross bugs and dirt.

Day 9 Tesin, YT to Beaver Creek YT 634 km

6 July 2015

Today was another day chock full of YAFRs, YAFLs, and YAFMs.  The  landscape just continues and continues, each view more fabulous than the last, as the road just goes on and on.

Having been across the US a number of times, I thought that I understood grand-scale landscapes.   West Texas.  Wyoming.  South Dakota.  But these landscapes are nothing compared to British Columbia and the Yukon.  I expect more of the same in Alaska.  The  vastness of these landscapes continues to keep us in awe.

Ok, so let's talk about the road.  Once past Whistler, BC, the road has been primarily a fairly fast two-lane road, mostly with 100 km/h posted speed limits.  This makes distance calculations easy;  100 km at 100 km/h means it will take about an hour to go the next 100 km.  Easy!

Few people keep to the 100 km/h though, with most pushing 110 to 120 km/h (if you want to know what that is in MPH, consult the Internet).  To protect the guilty, I won't say how fast I have the cruise control set (did I mention that the Spyder has cruise control?  This is a truly splendid feature, as it is the first motorcycle that I have ridden that has a real cruise control and not just a throttle stop).  Interestingly, we have yet to see a law enforcement officer monitoring highway speeds, which is probably why everyone is driving faster than 100 km/h, including the construction guys, one of which had his work truck airborne while passing us after his work shift.

Coming up on a slow camper is no need for concern (as it is in Colorado), for in just a short while there will be a passing lane into which the slow camper will move to let traffic pass.  Or there will be a passing zone that will allow for an easy view to see for passing safely.  Or even better, the camper will slow down and let faster vehicles pass.  How refreshing for a Coloradan used to camper drivers who ignore the road hog law.

The Alaska highway is well marked with good signage, including orange cones with flags on the shoulder indicating road dangers, such as a frost heaves.  If one ignores these cones, one does so at one's own peril, as some of these dangers are real doozys!

The roads are only bounded by the forest.  There arent't really any fences, or ugly signs.  And trash along the highway is nearly nonexistent.

One thing I learned today - What I would do for a Klondike bar:

I would go to the Yukon for a Klondike bar (and did)!

Tonight's accommodation is the Beaver Creek Motel/Campsite.  At $15CAD, it is an excellent deal and rather homey.

Now this looks like home!

They even have roof joists should one be in need of one.

Need a roof truss?

Sightings today:
1 Bobcat
1 Grizzly bear

So at this point I know what you are thinking:  "You did not see a bobcat, no one ever sees a bobcat".
Well here is the proof!

Told you we saw a bobcat!

Day 8, Tetsa River Campground, BC to Tesin, YT 691 km

5 July 2015

Up and out of the campsite we passed through a couple of construction zones.  Nice of  the road crews to place motorcycles at the front of the queues through the construction zones.  That way we don't have to deal with all of the dust from the other cars, and they think that it is safer for us.

Just after the construction zones we stopped for 'galactically famous' cinnamon rolls which were, in fact quite tasty!  At $5.00 each, a fair price

Continuing on, we watched the forest become almost pure deciduous and then back to mixed deciduous and pine.  Most of the day the air was heavy with the smoke from forest fires.  The smoke was so thick that one could smell it.  Just past Watson Lake we could see the fires from a distance, and passed a fire camp with something like 6 helicopters parked on the side of the road.

At Watson Lake we found the famed Signpost Forest.

People have placed signs here from all over the world.

Lots of YAFVs, YAFRs, and YAFMs (no pics yet).

Finally, we are now here:

Camped at the Yukon Motel near YAFL where we we met a woman from Oregon (who told us she is pushing 80) on her way from Oregon to Fairbanks and Anchorage to see her kids.  She was riding the red Spyder in the picture below.

See, we are not the only Spyder riders up here

Wildlife count:
5 Caribou
24 Mtn Sheep
1 Bear
5 Bison

Day 7 Dawson City, BC to Tetsa River Campground, BC 561 km

4 July 2015

Mile 0 Campground in Dawson City was very nice with a grassy tent area separated from the travel trailers and motor coaches.  Showers were clean and the laundry was convenient. Also, the WiFi was nice in the morning when people weren't competing for it as in the previous evening.  Definitely RECOMMENDED for $20.00/night.

Moving on from Dawson City, we began to fill 'bucket 1' by  starting our journey on the Alaskan Highway, which was built  by the US military starting in 1942.  Shortly out of town we drove over one of the original curved timber bridges built in 1942, now maintained as a monument to the original highway builders/designers.

Continuing on, we ran into a little rain and the temperature dropped to 55 degF for a couple of hours.  Running low on fuel at Pink Mountain we got gasoline and had lunch at the Buffalo Inn across the street where the spousal unit an I split a Buffalo burger and soup/bread combination.  We should have stopped at the burger, which was two 6-ounce beef patties + Canadian bacon + egg + the usual fixins and a mound of french fries.  We should have known what to expect when we walked in and saw the 'No Muddy Boots' sign, below which were tubs for muddy boots and rubber runways on OSB flooring.  Yes, this place definitely caters to the outdoors working man.

Keep yer guns and muddy boots at home, boys

There is absolutely no reason to leave hungry from this place!

Finishing lunch we continued north where we saw more YAFLs and YAFRs, as well as new YAFVs (Yet Another Fabulous View)s.  The sheer vastness of the landscapes continues to amaze me.  After about 1:00 pm, the weather cleared and started to warm up.  In a little while it reached 75 degF and we again started shedding clothes as the day turned into a beautiful one for motorcycling.

In Dawson City the landscapes were primarily agricultural.  As we moved north, we saw more pine timber with logging and oil/gas extraction operations dotting the roadside.  Continuing north, now all we see is forest and more forest, with the pines becoming more mixed with deciduous trees. 

We wound up at a lovely campground next to the Tetsa River, complete with mosquitoes at no extra charge.  At 8:30 the sun is still quite high and dinner is complete.

We had a nice conversation with a guy, probably in his '70s riding solo on a Kawasaki dual-purpose machine.  He said that he has made the trip to Alaska from California a number of times.  Good to see these guys on the road.

Things learned today:

* My jacket, zipped to the pants with a fleece is good to 55 degF, and with the hand warmers on (the Spyder comes standard with hand warmers) even my hands were comfortable with just leather work gloves on.

* Canada is vast!

* The people who built the Alaska Highway must have been very resourceful

Day 6, Clinton, BC to Dawson Creek, BC 803 km.

3 July 2015

The mosquitoes this morning were horrendous!  On the upside (that's me being Polyanish), this provided us an excellent opportunity to test out our new mosquito head nets.  Let me tell you that they worked admirably, but we still made a hasty retreat to escape the hungry little buggers.  For the first time we left w/o coffee by 6:00 am!

We quickly packed our stuff and headed down the road to find a Tim Hortons, where had coffee and the promise of Internet access.  However this was a broken promise, as their system did not play nice with Google.  Giving up, we moved on down the road.

This was our first really good day from a temperature perspective as it was mostly in the mid to high 70's. Cool enough to be comfortable to ride with a coat on, but not so hot as to be uncomfortable.

What can I say about today?  More spectacular lakes.  More spectacular rivers. More spectacular scenery.  Just more YAFRS and YAFRL (Yet Another Fabulous River and Yet Another Fabulous Lake, respectively).  One can't take pictures of them all.

We did actualize some wildlife sightings today though:
1 bear, color brown, possibly small grizzly
3 moose: two cows + one calf
1 coyote
3 bald eagles, male
1 deer sans antlers

Things to ponder:
Do birds everywhere start making noise at 4:30am?
Why do I always thing of something to add after posting?

One more thing.  We are now at the official beginning of the Alaska Highway:

At 10:15 it is still twilight, and now time to hit the sack.

Day 5, Larrabee State Park, WA to Clinton, BC 550 km

2 July 2015

We got out of camp fairly early this morning (at least fairly early for us) and headed up the coast to the border.  Just below the border is Bellingham, and just below that is Fairview.  This is the most picturesque little coastal town that we have seen to date. It is also where our ferry will drop us off when we return from Alaska.

Moving north, we spent a little time in Vancouver, BC.  My cursory observation is that the people of Vancouver are mostly younger, better looking, and more fashionable than the rest of us.  Maybe the fact that they are younger covers the other observations?

Out of Vancouver we got on the Sea to Sky Highway.  For a little while this road follows some beautiful coastal scenery.

A waterfall on the Sea to Sky highway

I don't know where this guy is from, but I really liked his ride

Couldn't id license plate

As the road moved away from the coast the weather got warmer, and the scenery began to look more like what we are used to from our mountain states (Colorado, Montana, Wyoming, etc.).  Even the ski town of Whistler looks just like any other ski town in the US Rockies.

Once past Whistler, the road was one continuous serpentine highway.  Up, down, right, left, over and over again.  The temperaturs climbed.  So did we.  Once again the temperatures reached over 100 degF near Cache Creek, also known as British Columbia's 'Arizona'.  The spousal unit says that is like heaven to ride into the shade and have the temperature drop down into the high 80's.

Now some words about the Spyder:

The Good
The more I ride this thing the better I like it.  Once one gets away from the idea that it is not a 2-wheeled motorcycle and doesn't try to be one, one can appreciate its nature.

Regardless of the road, regardless of the temperature, the engine just pulls.  It never complains by knocking/detonating and is quite predictable.  Even the 3-cylinder vibration is never obnoxious, and never annoying.  It just tells you that the engine is doing its job.

Getting into the rhythm of riding the machine on a twisty road means moving one's body right/left into the curve since the machine can't do it itself.  What this means is that the rider gets a bit of a workout on a long curvy road.

The fairing and windscreen provide terrific protection for both the rider and passenger.  In the rain one can ride with very little splash from the wheels or direct pounding from the rain.  It is also nice that the windscreen can  be raised/lowered by pressing a rocker switch on the left handlebar.

The Bad
The drive belt vibrates sometimes at high-speed at certain loadings.  Sometimes on the throttle, sometimes off the throttle.  This is quite annoying at times.  An aftermarket accessory called 'SmoothSpyder' is available for this.  Maybe this is something the factory should deal with.

The Ugly
The antenna is made of fiberglass and can be easily broken (as I did).  It could definitely be more flexible.
The drain bolt on the transmission is easily stripped (as I did) during removal. Apparently this is a common problem that other owners have run into during oil changes.

Eventually we made our way to Clinton to spend the night in our tent.  Fortunately when the sun went down the temperature dropped rapidly from 96 degF down into the 60's for a comfortable night's sleep.
The guy who runs the campsite is a bit of a character and has a BBQ buffet he calls the Road Kill Cafe.

Things I thought about:
BC is like Colorado only more, much more.
The lakes are bigger and more blue, and there are more of them.
The curvy road is as curvy, but it doesn't stop.
The endless forests look like lawns, with pine trees replacing blades of grass.
Why is there a picknic table on that knoll, no tree, shed, or road nearby.

Day 4 Renton, WA to Larrabee State Park, WA 148 mi

1 July 2015

After the last three brutal days, we decided today would be an easy exploration of the Seattle area.  We started out down at the newly reopened waterfront.  Since we were early it was easy to find a parking spot.  While purchasing parking permit for 3 hours, a guy struck up a conversation with me.  He said that he had missed his train last night, that his cell phone was stolen, and that he just wanted to get back home to Missoula, MT.  His story sounded plausable, but they all do.  So I gave him $5.00 to help him out.  He was looking for $25, but I figured that he was now at least 20% closer to his goal.

After paying for my $16 parking permit, I placed it on my headlight, as one is directed to do for motorcycles.  We then had a nice time wandering the waterfront, taking pictures, and having a nice lunch of fried oysters and clam chowder.  When I returned to the Spyder I found a parking ticket for $44.  Hmm... What rule had I transgressed?  Since it was timed for only 10 minutes earlier I figured that the officer who gifted me with it would still be near.  In fact he was.  He told me that while I had placed the sticker on my headlight, I had failed to attach the actual receipt with the sticker, which was in fact the backing of the sticker, which wasn't obvious from the tiny writing and tiny picture.

The evidence

This made our $15 lunch the most expensive we have ever had at $75.

[edit: When we returned home to Colorado I filed a request online to mitigate the amount of the fine.  My argument was that I had, in fact, paid the $16.00 fee, so the $44.00 parking ticket fee should be reduced by that amount.  On 31 July 2015, a Seattle Municipal Court decided that I do not owe a debt to society and dismissed my parking ticket.  SWEET!]


Of course this is Seattle, so we had to get the obligatory cup of coffee.  Not Starbucks. And we had to make the obligatory pilgimage to the Space Needle, which we didn't go in.  Because I am cheap - they want $18 each, just to ride the elevator.  Besides I was already in that thing back when it was new.

Some views of seattle:

The squid

Space needle from 1962 Worlds Fair

The clam girl

Next we made our way north toward Whedbey Island for a scenic drive.  Getting to Whedbey Island from the south requires one to take a ferry.  We found the ferry line and added ourselves to the queue.  In a short while a guy in a van leaned out of his window and shouted that motorcycles don't need to wait in line.  They are permitted to go directly to the front of the line.  Well, let's go!

It turned out to be correct.  We made our way to the front of the line, paid our $8.15 and waited to board the ferry.  First on and first off.  Sometimes it pays to ride motorcycles!  The drive was indeed scenic.  I even saw my first wild otter from a high bridge!

Larrabbee State Park turned out to be a very nice park for $25.  Cold showers are included, warm ones cost $.50 extra.  A cold shower sounds nice right now.  The trains with the noisy wheels are free.

Chuck a nut bay from Larrabee State Park

Tomorrow we enter a foreign country - Canada.