IronButtMills.com - Victory Vision

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...and the rest of the story..
Well, it was a short and easy ride down the Parks Highway to Cantwell, where we had hoped to see “the mountain” – we did not. The clouds were thick and there was no wonderful view of Mt. Denali to be had this day. After some excellent food at the “world famous” Denali Salmon Bake we turned onto the Denali Highway and on to the second great gravel section of our trip. The road was mostly in good shape, but a little more washboard than we saw on the Dalton Highway. Scott almost tagged a caribou about half way across, and then I almost hit the same one. It really wasn’t that close of a call – I am sure the caribou was more scared than I was. The riding here was awesome and the scenery was even better. I would definitely like to ride this road again. We spent the night at the McLaren River Lodge. This was a place that Scott had mentioned even before we left Roseau. It was a great place with good food and reasonable prices given the location. The next morning we got a slow start before riding the remainder of the Denali Highway into Paxson and down to Copper Center where we met up with Jack Gustafson. I knew, or should I say knew of Jack from the LD riders list and I wanted to stop in and put a face with the name so to speak. I’m glad we did, as Jack treated us to lunch and some great tales of motorcycle trips he has made and plans to make. It turns out his business partner was originally from Northern Minnesota and knew many people that both Scott and Tony had grown up with, which made for some lively conversations about life in Minnesota. We continued on down the road to visit some friends of Scott’s, Mike and Chris, who live in Chitna. I really liked this area, and wish we had more than just a couple of hours to spend there. Here we were treated to fresh “Copper River Red” Salmon and smoked red salmon as well. It would be difficult to describe how good that was. We checked out the fish wheels (now this is the way to fish) and we got a tour of the town in the “subway”, Mike and Chris’s suburban. We pressed on that evening to Valdez to be there for the ferry ride to Whittier the following morning. We rolled into town near midnight only to find that the campgrounds were not worth staying at and the hotels were a bit too expensive. Scott and I settled on sleeping in the gravel lot across from the ferry terminal, and Tony decided that he wanted a bed to sleep in. Tony found an inexpensive hotel on the other side of town, but he wasn’t to keen on the quality. I thought the gravel lot was just fine. Up nice and early the following morning, Scott and I grabbed breakfast and attempted to used the hot showers at the Harbor Masters Office, but no one was around to sell us the tokens required for the showers. Luckily, there are free hot showers available on the ferry boat. It was a six hour boat ride across Prince William Sound from Valdez to Whittier. Again we were lucky with the weather as the sun was out with a few clouds. The wildlife was out in force. If you were watching closely, you were treated to sea otters, whales, and all kinds of birds. We sailed right through the ice bergs from a calving glacier and even hit a few of the smaller ones. Once in Whittier, we wasted no time getting off the boat and in line for one of the longest tunnels in North America, which is the only way in and out of Whittier by land. It’s a 2.5 mile one lane tunnel that is shared by both highway and railroad traffic. Having the rails running down the middle presents an interesting challenge for motorcycles. We negotiated the tunnel without incident and continued on towards Anchor Point – the western most point in the North American Highway System. After taking a few pictures there, we made our way to the end of the road in Homer, Alaska where we camped for the night on Homer Spit (a narrow peninsula that juts out into the bay. We ate at the Chartroom Restaurant and I had some of the best fish I have ever eaten. Fresh halibut and fresh salmon – it just doesn’t get any better. The next day it was back north again to meet up with a couple from Roseau, Mike and Sue, that in process of moving to Alaska. We had an extended lunch at Sal’s where the portions were HUGE. From there we were on to Anchorage and up to Palmer to stay with Scott’s friend Donnie. The first order of business was loading Scott’s GS in the back of Donnie’s pickup for the trip in to Anchorage the next morning. This would give us wheels to get back after crating up our bikes. We had dinner with Donnie and his girlfriend Dianna before getting some rest. In Anchorage the next morning, we headed straight for the Polaris dealer there, Alaska Powersports, where were going to crate up our bikes for shipment back to Minnesota. The excellent staff there went out of their way to help us, and we were grateful for their help. Everything went smoothly, but it still took most of the day to finish the task. Afterwards, we had a late lunch and headed back to Donnie’s to get ready to go fishing for silvers about 80 miles north of Palmer. We fished until well after midnight before we headed back for a few hours rest. We had to be up early to get into Anchorage to catch our plane back to Minnesota. We ended up getting to the airport a little early, so we stopped in to the Alaska Aviation Heritage Museum to see some of the bush planes and history behind the bush pilots in Alaska. It was definitely worth the stop, especially if you like airplanes. A quick airplane ride later, and we were back in Minnesota, which brings this trip to an end. We rode a total of 5,235 miles and made it to both the northern most and western most points in the North American Highway System and we rode most of the roads in Alaska. Mission accomplished. Hopefully I’ll get a chance to post some of the 375 pictures I took on here sometime soon. - Andy
Andy - 08/25/2008-7:30 PM Comments (1)
Fairbanks, Alaska
Well, we're in Fairbanks, Alaska...for the second time. Since the last update we continued up the Alaska Highway to it's terminus at Delta Junction. From there we rode in to Fairbanks arriving Thursday evening. A friend of Tony's put us up for the night with excellent accommodations. The next morning we were off to the dealership to put on our new tires for the second half of the trip. We were headed north for Prudhoe Bay by around 1pm. The goal for the night was to make it as far north as Coldfoot, which is the world's furthest north truck stop and the last stop for fuel before the 250 mile run up to Deadhorse and Prudhoe bay. We stopped and took some photos at the Arctic Circle before fueling up and eating dinner in Coldfoot around 9 pm. There was a great campground about 5 miles north of there where we camped for the night. It never really got dark, only just not quite as bright as the middle of the day. We still got some good rest for our run the next morning up to the end of the road at Deadhorse. We got to see some musk ox, some caribou, and I even saw a wolverine. In Deadhorse we took the two hour tour to the Arctic Ocean which includes a tour of the oil fields. With good weather in our favor, we headed south again to ride 100 miles south before calling it a night. The next morning, Sunday, we headed up Atigun Pass where we encountered some heavy fog and rain. The road was a little slippery, but we had no issues. The fog broke on the south side of the pass and we had good riding all the way to Fairbanks. We rode through some rainy sections and some sunny sections, and the road was everything from smooth and dry to soft, wet, and slippery. The bikes were absolutely covered in mud and calcium chloride. Back in Fairbanks, today we washed our bikes and did some maintenance for the second portion of the trip. Our plan is to head down and see Mt. Denali (aka Mt. McKinley). - Andy
Andy - 08/18/2008-5:16 PM Comments (0)
Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory
We've made it to the town of Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory where we will be camping tonight. It's the western most town in Canada. Tomorrow morning we will be crossing the border into Alaska...again. Since the last update in Fort St. John, we have traveled over 1300 miles over mountains, through rain, hail, and fog, beautiful sunshine, and gusting winds. We even floated on the water. Monday we made it as far as Muncho Lake, BC where we camped right near the lake. It was a great night for camping. The next morning we were up early and on the road before 7:30 am. We wanted to make it to Skagway before the end of the day. This would put us in good shape to take the ferry from Skagway to Haines the following morning at 7 am. After getting off the boat this morning, we had a pretty easy ride here to Beaver Creek. Over the past few days we have seen a herd of buffalo, two black bears (a sow and a cub together), some caribou, stone sheep, and two elk. We've met some interesting motorcyclists while riding up to Alaska. Just this morning we met a guy from London, UK that is riding his bike around the world. He had already crossed all of Europe, and Asia and was now on his way across North America. Then at lunchtime today in Haines Junction we met a guy from Spain that is just starting an adventure riding from the Arctic Circle to Ushia (the southern tip of South America) We ate lunch with him and anther guy from Oregon. Another couple, from Australia are travelling the same direction as us and we keep bumping into them at gas stops. I think we have met more people riding from other parts of the world than from the United States and Canada. Tomorrow we will make it to Fairbanks where we plan to change tires and pick up some supplies. - Andy
Andy - 08/14/2008-12:40 AM Comments (0)
Update from Fort St. John
8/20/2008 The trip is going well. We have been extremely lucky with the weather so far - I wish I could say the same about the bikes (more on that later). We made it as far as Sandy Lake, Manitoba on Friday night. Tony had booked a couple of rooms at the Inn there. We rolled into town only to find that the "Inn" was the bar/restaurant/Inn/etc. There was a live Polka band playing when we arrived! Apparently it was the annual town festival - "Western Days". We had a couple of beers and promptly went to bed right after the band played us the "motorcycle polka" in honor of our arrival. The next morning we attended the Lion's Club pancake breakfast. We were the first one's there at 7 am. The blueberry cakes were great. We were on the road a little after eight. Not long after getting going, we stopped to put on some gas in Russel. Scott noticed Tony's bike leaking at the gas pump, and things went downhill from there. Turns out a coolant hose had come loose and was leaking coolant pretty bad. We found the offending hose (it only took a couple of hours to get to it) and got a new hose clamp to dry up the connection. Back on the road, we enjoyed a beautiful ride to our next stop where we got gas and lunch. While eating pizza outside along the highway, we saw four BMW R1200GS bikes roll in from the North. Tony and Scott quickly crossed the street to go talk with them. It turns out they were on the return leg of their trip from Florida to Inuvik, North West Territories. It was two husband/wife couples – each on their own bikes. From there we were on our way to Saskatoon, where we had a re-lapse of the coolant hose virus. This time it came completely apart right in the middle of the city. Luckily Tony pulled in to a Goodyear Tire Garage where the friendly guys there did what they could to help get us going again. After another round of motorcycle disassembly (we were faster this time) we used some Permatex to ensure that we didn't see this problem again. We suspected another source for the problem, but at this time we needed to get rolling again. We ended the day at Dillberry Provincial Park where we were invited to camp near a local couple (originally from Newfoundland) that frequent the park. After tents were set and camp organized we stop over to enjoy the hospitality of our neighbors who offered us a seat by their fire and some ice cold beers. The next morning we were up, broke camp, and on the road by 8:30 am. At our first stop Tony noticed his bike's radiator fan was not coming on when the bike started to get hot. We diagnosed the issue and found that he had a faulty temp switch. With no parts available on a Sunday, we just pressed on. We rolled in to Dawson Creek around 7:00 pm to take photos of “Mile 0” of the Alaska Highway before ending another great day of riding in Fort St. John. We had a little rain to ride through on at the end of the day today, but no complaints at this point. Tomorrow looks like a mix of weather, but we are just getting the best parts of the trip. - Andy
Andy - 08/11/2008-2:53 AM Comments (0)
Heading to Alaska for 2 weeks!
I am headed to Alaska for two weeks starting tomorrow evening. I will be riding with Tony Fichter and Scott Johnson. Here is an approximate schedule for our trip: 8/8 – leave Roseau, MN around 5 pm 8/10 – Arrive in Dawson Creek sometime before end of the day 8/13 – Arrive in Skagway and take ferry to Haines 8/15 – Arrive in Fairbanks and change tires to knobbies 8/16 – Head North to Deadhorse 8/17 – Arctic Ocean tour 8/18 – Return to Fairbanks 8/19 – Camp on Denali Hwy somewhere 8/20 – Stop in to see Jack and then ride to Chitina 8/21 – Take Ferry to Whittier 8/22 – Arrive in Anchorage for crating of motorcycles 8/23 – Fly home I'm not too sure what access we will have to internet for updates, but we should be able to post here every couple of days or so. - Andy
Andy - 08/07/2008-2:46 PM Comments (1)

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