Half way house and Check up

Well I am at the half way point, 3,500 miles and its time to check out the bike, the gear and myself and see how it's all holding up.

The bike V-Strom 650 has done extremely well, comfortable and caries me and the gear with ease. The V-Twin just sounds so good going down the road, power is excellent definitely on par with the bigger bikes, and it pulls so strong, i just love it!

The tires are the ones that came on the bike, they had 3500 miles exactly when I started the trip now with 7,000 miles they need replacement. (Not bald, just not going to make the return trip)

I found a set of tires at a Suzuki dealer in Anchorage (Anchorage Suzuki/Arctic Cat, 3054 Commercial dr) they also took care of my oil change as well as cleaning the chain!

Tires are Shinko E705 and they installed dynamic beads rather than balancing the tires !?

My last oil change was at 3,000 and the bike does not use/burn any oil and the level remains as it was when I left.

Chain is in good shape and did not need adjustment during the trip, I did lube it every morning before heading out for the day.

Everything checks out good on the bike though I did manage to bend a key, just slightly as I was opening the gas cap, and it would not work again to start the bike I am so happy my wife suggested I bring a second set of keys for everything, she saved the day!

I will work on straightening the key and see if I can get it to work again, if not I will look for a replacement before I head out for the return trip.

This is also a good time to reflect on riding gear.

Boots: see my post on bottom up boots, the alpine stares are great, I love them, they keep my feet dry and are comfortable for all day rides and for walking, I used them for everything, I never used my other shoes because the boots are that good. 

During the first few days it was hot, above 100 F, and though the boots are not a cool summer boot they did just fine, with just three pair of socks, I did have some smelly socks by the time I arrived in Anchorage.

Gloves: the light motocross style gloves worked the best for me, I just can't manage the thicker gloves for the long trips my hands get tired and I feel like I can't hold on to the bars. Any time it got warm enough I would swap back to the thinner gloves. I will try my glove liners on the way back and see if I can get away with just the thinner gloves.

Socks: the rev-it socks from revzilla work the best, they seemed to keep my feet at a more consistent temperature and just feel better, I will buy a couple more sets of these when I get home they come in right and left to the shape of your foot.

Jacket: this is a love hate relationship I love the jacket and its removable liner, vents for the hot days  work great with the liner out. lots of armor for safety in all the right places. You can adjust the fit of the jacket in the arms and waist and that is a great option as the jacket fits differently with the liner out.

OK so yes, hate....why did I have to get black, it attracts heat lots of it, and on a hot day all you can think of is, when can I take this thing off even with the vents open you can feel the heat on the jacket.

This is also a heavy jacket, and I do wish it could be a bit lighter.

I did get some rain but not the real heave rain that would test the jacket In the extreme, when it was new it worked well in the real bad stuff and i suspect it still will, the weather is looking like it might give me that test on the way back, so I will let you know how it does!

Helmet: Arai XD I do love this helmet, it's getting old and I can tell the liner is starting to suffer and the padding is getting a little tired too, but I still like it. The only down side is ventilation they just don't have the ventilation they could have for the hot days, if I'm honest I can't tell if the vents are open or closed when I'm ridding, and I always check them again when I stop to see if they are open.

Tim had a newer model Arai XD 3, it was equally as bad with ventilation, actually it may have been worse as he road with his shield  up at all times, my wife Stephanie has the newest one and she has had no complaints.

Having the sun visor is just amazing and I cannot imagine riding without it, we spent most of our days chasing the sun, and I could just tilt my head a bit and block the direct sun from blinding me.

Another alternative helmet worth trying would be the ICON they have a cool looking helmet with a visor and screen much like the Arai, and it looks like it has much larger vents.

Tires: I used the stock tires that came on the Suzuki Bridgestone's they did great, it was a 90% street trip and they do extremely well for that, and the dirt that we did ride about 100 miles, I was maintaining about 70mph with no issues, and that's great in my book for a street tire, and yes I would buy them again if they had them hear, they did not.

How about me! Well I was a bit tired from all the travel, my body a little confused to not be on the bike! 

Right now it's like I need to be some where but have no where to go. A short ride on the bike today did help that!

The half way house is, well the wonderful home of my father and mother in laws! a great retreat and home away from home, it's great to land in such great company.

My family will arrive tomorrow night and we will have a true summer Alaska vacation for a week, then it's back on the road again, and this time it really looks like I will be on my own.

Chicken Alaska day seven

As we leave our remote camp today we talk about an interesting thing we saw last night, about 8:30 we saw a guy moving his tractor, a very old tractor the type with tank type tracks on it, he could only turn by backing up stoping on of the tracks and swinging the tractor to one side. Also as we noted the tractor could only go about 1mph, that may be a little faster then he was actually moving, we kidded he would still be on the road to Chicken when we left in the morning. Lol

20 min later who do we pass....yes that's right big waves as he just made it to his destination, a new dig sight just down stream! Wow talk about pulling an all-night-er.

Chicken is an interesting place, great breakfast, from a woman that has been working there for 25 years, and has the skills to organize the largest US troops with a take no prisoners attitude for and organized kitchen, it was fantastic.

The girl working in the gift shop, Tim finds out is from France, is spending the summer with her boyfriend and working at the resort town of Chicken Alaska!?! What does chicken translate to in French.....

This sign above, is for the "new" chicken moving in on the old town, ah competition Is alive  and well.

This is the old one.....

A chicken bush!

You can get anything you want at allies restaurant... Well they have there song, but chicken has an emporium !

    

Some great people in Chicken, Tim and I both got a free Dust to Dawson hat just for riding a motorcycle into town! 

The trip from hear out was a bit of a rush to get to Anchorage, about 400 miles away, about 120 miles from Anchorage I made the decision to seek a spot to slow down and catch a nap, pushing too hard on the last day made little sense and I could tell the lack of sleep was catching up to me, I was stoping every 50 miles just to walk around and shake off the fatigue. It was time to stop.

 I pulled over and talked to Tim, then found the first RV park and set up my tent! Tim continued on to his home in Anchorage, 4 hours of sleep made the world of difference and I was soon on my way again! Arriving in anchorage at 9pm.

wow an amazing ride with some of the best views I've seen the whole trip, and so close to Anchorage it's no wonder so many people love this area so much!

Day six Whitehorse to Alaska

Headed to Dawson, you cover some unique county, lots of variation in very way, large forests, burn areas and great vistas.

Today we met more bikers than any other day, most with a common goal to make Dawson by sun down, I'm happy to report it looked like they all did.

Cool home built trailers like this one and other with tents that pop out the top, just how much you carry is only up to the limit of your imagination, I love it! Some great people on the road.

On our ride to Dawson we saw some grad vistas but largely we saw long long robins of asphalt and what looks like land untouched by man.

when you look out over the vastness of the Yukon you realize it would be easy to get lost in it. For the most part the small towns are made up of a single gas station selling no more than gas and a few candy bars, no real food to be had so we slogged on with out all the way to Dawson, there we were treated to a vlarge lunch/dinner of Philly steak and  fries gravy and cheese, something of a favorite of the locals and as our waitress stated not well know to Americans, it was so good, lets not worry about the calories on this one but I think you will agree it was big.

Next we jump on the free fairy and cross the Yukon river, flowing high and grand this year. They were building up the bank on the other side to accommodate they higher level of the river so it made of an interesting landing, three attempts getting a car or two off each time and then it was our turn, fairy still moving as we rode off, what fun...

On the other reside we are treated with the,  now add this to your list of MUST rides, trailer highway "top of the world highway" a dirt road longing the top the Moutan range that takes you back in to the US and Alaska, I say back to the US for two reasons one the road on the Canadian side is amazingly good and on the US side bad, and we are headed that direction if I could I think I would just ride the Canadian side up and back to Dawson , that would be epic.

We make it to the boarder by 7:55 they close a 8pm, I was thinking that last photo may have cost us an extra day in BC, but there is a time change at the boarder, now it's only 7pm!

US Boarder shot on the other side!

We take a camp in Alaska and fight the masketoes hear is our camp for the night

Day five Caesar to the Alaska highway

The Casear has changed quite a bit sence i saw it last, far better roads were a must for the gold rush! yes the gold rush is happining now, and corporate camps are teaming the highway with brand new first aid trucks, ambulance, gas and what look to be bunk houses. The road crews are busy keeping the road in tip top shape for how remote it really is.

During our trip through we only saw about 1/2 mile of gravel do to a large construction site and that should be compleat soon.

Today was much longer than expected, and I'm not sure why, did i miss calculate the miles to kilometers, it just seemed to go on for ever and ever, some good sites to see and a few photos were taken, but mostly just mile after mile of Tarmac. 

Some of the lakes are vary clear and colors are bright really a beautiful site to see 

We made the Alaska highway today and the speed seemes to pick up with the larger highway, we are on a roll now.

More traffic more people and lots of motorcycles headed south! I think we will keep chasing the sun, our shadows will just have to wait for now, on to Whitehorse.

It took us 12 hrs to reach Whitehorse and we were ready for the stop, seeing all the RV's I started to think, oh it's Friday, and the camp ground might be full... We are in luck and in for a treat/change of pase, we stay at the Robert service camping facility, and I'm thinking as we pull in is this an amusement park,     No,    The little plots are set up side by side and some are in the parking lot, don't run over the tents! We do get a nice little camp and have a good stay, with our bike in camp with us.

We meet a guy headed south, on a BMW GS 1100 delivering it for a friend, nice deal, and with the stipulation he got to ride the Yukon in exchange I think he likes the deal quite a lot!

We have opted for dead horse and the top of the world highway for tomorrow we may even reach Alaska ! Lets just hope it's not another 12 hour day lol.  

Day four Vandorf to dees lake, almost!

Today will be all about the Caesar highway.

Hear we Snap the mandatory photo at the start and head out.

Pavment is good and The scenery is mostly thick low woods and bush.

Lots of bear six sightings today along with two deer and a moose, it was a nice change of wild life.

We had some good photo ops later in the day, as far as gas really the only concern is your first leg of about 170 miles with no gas, and some odd in maned gas stations where you have to register with the computer system before you can see if your credit card will work with the system, mine did and Tim's did not, so I left him there to fend off the bears on his own, I guess this is a solo journey after all.

No, that's not right we just started switching off buying gas for a while, but it does make you think a bit cash will do you no good out hear, and that is a little strange. 

After first gas you will see base every 100 or so miles but the towns look prity bleak out hear, with the gold rush corporate supply camps and fuel stops ruling the county, it makes me wonder what will happen when they all leave, no stores no gas, it's going to be rough.

We stop early, after 11 hours on the bikes, and wow was that the right choice, best camp ever, $16 groomed sites Clean bath rooms a view that is just amazing and service? Along with our camp site we got as much split fire wood as we wanted some starter news paper and a loner axe, all delivered right to our camp site, outstanding, now if I could just remember the name of that site?