Alaska: 30 years in the making.

I'm in too...... like Pig-Bun said, "for self-preservation". I'm the one on the Road Star and the oldest one of the group. I think the ladies sent me along as a stability factor...

Anyway, the only thing SuperDuty has left out was how loud the the little cabins can get with a high rev'n snorer. Man can that man snore!

Doin' great, keep it rollin'

We finished Day three with a good meal up the street walking distance from the hotel. Was our last night together as Scott and Jerry would part company with us upth the Ice Fields parkway on Day four. We had a couple beers and talked about what a great ride that had been and got in no hurry to get to bed for the night. I really appreciated these guys more than I can explain. Anytime you get to chase down number one on your bucket list and three of your close friends get on board to help you achieve that dream, you better be grateful and I am. We started Day 4 about 6 am and had a free breakfast at the hotel. I swear we were the only english speak people there. What is up with that.? Oh well. We headed north to the "Ice Fields Parkway"
Honestly, this is prime vacation destination all by itself. This ride alone is worth going on as the focal point of any vacation. All of us would go back in a second. The IFP runs along the Canadian Rockies for about 185 miles if I recall correctly. Every turn and ever mountain and ice field is beautiful. Was raining pretty much the whole day, but never real heavy so no big deal. The traffic on the other hand was wild. Not only a lot of it, but fast and aggressive drivers. We saw 15 Bears and a couple moose on this stretch. When we broke for lunch together about 60 miles south of Jasper we parted ways. Scott and Jerry would cross the rockies west and head south for Montana. I was told later Scott got on the wrong hwy 90 something and they ended up going through Idaho rather than Montana...If pigbun wants to jump in here and defend himsel that's sure enough okay with me. I think he did it on purpose though to extend the trip, I have ridden with him many times and too far isn't far enough. Wayne and I continued North and for the rest of the day we tried to make some miles. Our goal was to get to Grande Prairie south of Dawson City. We had spent plenty of time sight seeing and were still wanting a 700 plus mile day. We got after it and got to GP about 10pm.
This getting in late would become the norm. Long Days, but with the sun staying up so late, why waste it?
Here is a big old bull elk north of jasper plus some pictures of the ice fields ride. Magnificent scenery

I seem to be able to copy and paste only one at a time. Surprising to my friends who know what a technology genius I am I am sure.

Here we are in front of Lake Louise just a bit north of Banff. I am the homely one in the red rain suit bibs

Here was a sow with two cubs. The great province of Alberta has "bear guardians". People in marked cars that protect the bears from us dangerous people. We stopped for pics and Scott and I were in back. The cubs started playing a little closer towards us in the weeds and these bear guardians shooed us off as we were stressing the Mom. Seriously, don't these people have anything better to do than protect the bears from me. I had no idea I was such a dangerous man

Anyway the two cubs are in the tall weed between us and mom, if you look close you'll see them.

they are all stunning.

They are awesome. GO!!!

We saw a grizzly shortly before this picture. We told some workers that were cleaning up the parking area. There were all these bicyclists riding along. This grizzly had ran across the road and sat down on the edge of the tree line. We then met this little 100 lb woman riding up the hill, not too fast either and on that shoulder of the road. Maybe 20 yards or less from this bear. Seemed like a bad idea to me. The workers said they'd let the authorities know. Not sure what else we could do but that was kind of unsettling.

sorry, I am going to keep putting them on....can't help myself

this guy ingored me, got stopped and took a picture and he never raised his head. Cars zooming by...He didn't care.

that pretty much covers Day 4. as mentioned we got to Grande Prairie about 10pm and got a hotel room and Burger King. I lost a screw from my Jesse bag hinge and a nice young man that had a remarkable tool and part assortment found soumething I could use in his helicopter parts bin in his truck. Was a short term rrepair but would last until I got to alaska in a few days. Everyone we met was very friendly and interested in our travel plans and story.
We are only 45 minutes of so from getting to Dawson City and the Alaska Highway. Tomorrow would be a big day, and I was so excited I didn't sleep well. Didn't help my roommate Wayne snores like the soundtrack to the Texas Chainsaw massacre. Honestly I don't know how Gina has been marrried to this guy for nearly 40 years and can still hear a cannon go off. Wish I had some ear plugs. Cotton balls from the aspirin bottle are not cutting it.

You probably know this but maybe they were protecting you from the bears? Sow and cubs = danger for humans.

Enjoying your report, carry on

I am just being a smart aZZZ. I realize the guardians probably save tons of photo takers from doing ridiculously stupid things like trying to feed the cubs or get a picture of themselves close to a bear. That they were called bear guardians, rather than "Stupid people guardians" amused me. I am a bit strange but you'll figure that out I suppose as the report continues. I am Glad you are reading it!

Nice write up.
Quick questions.
Did you have to use heated undergarments this time of year around glacier park?
What tires did you use on the BMW for this trip?
What did you need to do to cross Canada?
How did you budget this trip?
Thanks before hand.

Planning on a couple trips up to that area, from tampa fl.
On the Yamaha R1 around the US and up to Alaska on the KLR.

Let's see if I can remember. I had no heated clothing for the trip, and Glacier was very nice weather. I think I even had my liner stored most of that day. I put new Bridgestone Battlewings on the week before i left and planned on replacing the back tire only in Anchorage. The trip was 11K total and the front tire was still decent when I got home. Did replace the rear in Anchorage my last day before heading back. had quite a bit of tread left, but not enought o be confident in the tire all the way home. Canada crossing needs, well a passport obviously. We had a couple places that did not want to take American currency, but were able to use our credit cards almost everywhere. I would recommend you have a couple hundred dollars Canadian though as they don't do you any favors on the exchange and the American dollar was weaker than the Can dollar in July. Not sure about now.
I allowed 4K for the trip since lodging can be very pricey. I think I spent a little over 3100 for the trip including the new tire. I am within 100 bucks at that number I am positive. Sharing a hotel room is an enormous savings. I planned on camping 6-8 times but we were getting to our destination late so often it was great getting a room. When we realized we could usually find something for 70 bucks or so it just became an easy choice. No having to take down a wet camp was pretty nice. I think with all the info in the milepost and a little planning ahead you can shop for some decent rates. Later in the report when we get to Alaska I will try to remember lodging info and recommendations. I gave my milepost away so it might not come back to me.

Got an early start from Grande Prairie and were in Dawson City before breakfast. I can't tell you how excited I was to pull up to this sign.

A couple in one of those giant WonderLodge coaches pulled in as we were taking pictures and got one for us.
They were from Philadelphia Pa I think. I was so excited to reach the Alaska Highway. I had read so much about it. Seen A & E documentary on how it was built in World War II. It really is an engineering marvel. We had breakfast after the pictures and got on the road. Hard to explain how absolutely awesome the Alaska Highway is.
Scenery is remarkable, traffic was not bad at all. You Ride a hundred miles and it seems like you did 25 because it is so much fun. Our day would be about 700 miles again, our normal average I guess. We made it to Watson lake where we had reservations at the Air Force lodge. During the day we saw a couple BMW 650s a few times at our fuel and photo stops. When we stopped for lunch they pulled in the same place. So we asked them to have lunch with us. A couple from the Portland or Spokane area (I think Spokane) on vacation and going to Fairbanks. They had both recently retired, very nice people. He was retired airforce and she was recently retired from a Lutheran
college. Here are the bikes....

As we were leaving a couple rode in on KLR 650s. They were from Austria and heading back from Alaska and the upper Yukon. they had been unable to get to the Arctic circle as hoped due to too much rain and impassable roads.
We didn't talk a lot, but enough to learn they were on a 6 month trip and would end up in Florida.
Here they are.

The days travel took us past Toad Creek Lodge where they have well over 8000 hats tacked to the
ceiling. Had so good brownies for a snack. Only one gas pump was working which was a challenge.
Check out the hats.......

The best part of the day though is passing Muncho Lake. The 100 miles before and after Muncho are just stunning. I could ride that stretch over and over and it would never be boring. We saw a guy out in a runabout boat
on the lake as well. I thought water skiing at this latitude would not be for the weak at heart. That water stays cold
all year I would bet. Here is Wayne next to Muncho Lake...

We came across a guy working on his 1200 Adventure. He spoke very little English, and I very little Spanish but we determined he had some screws come out of his saddlebag and needed no help really. He was from Mexico City and on his way home from Prudhoe Bay. Nice guy it seemed. Got to Watson Lake about 9 pm at the Air Force Lodge. Thank heavens we had a reservation. While unloading the bikes we saw maybe 5 or 6 cars and bikes pull in and ask about a room. He was booked and so was the other hotel in town. I heard his say "there are 2 campgrounds here, The city one which has a bear problem, and the private one which is a little ways out of town......put on lots of insect repellent" The restaraunts were closed but the gas station with a grocery store and food bar was not closed quite yet. We went and got the last stuff they had in the Hot Food counter. couple slices pizza, a few cheese sticks, some chicken wings....and a quart of milk each. Not a great supper but you know what they say about beggers. They put all the food in a box and said.....5 bucks. SOLD!!!!
Here is Mike the owner of Air Force Lodge and he is very very proud on the place. He will happily tell you about all the work it took to restore the place. He put countless hours into bringing it back to life. This was the cleanest place I think we stayed the whole trip. It shined. You have to take your boots off when you go inside. There is a community mens and ladies restroom and shower room. Room has two twin beds, I am sure there are rooms with full beds too. Was under 70 bucks and we both thought it was great.

Mike lives in a "two story studio he is not done building. It is on a school bus Chassis and very cool

Slept great despite Captain Snoring King. Wish I had some ear plugs. WOW> Day 5 was awesome
can't wait for tomorrow.

This would be Day 6 I mean.......
Let's see, breakfast at the same place as supper. Not bad really. Filled up and stopped by signpost city eh'

We found a few from Missouri and Illinois and Iowa but nothing within an hour from good old Monroe City.
Our trip today was to take us to about 600 miles. By far the roughest road we would encounter so far. Quite a bit of road construction. On the Alcan they might have a sign saying "Road work" which translates, to "road torn all to hell in a little bit". but they don't tell you for how far. Might be a half mile, might be 20. We were just flying along when I hit the first one. Briefly I went airborne, not bad, but enough I was waiving hard to Wayne on the cruiser behind me to look out. Overall we had no issues....we slowed when we needed and really had no trouble. Went through Whitehorse about lunch time. Whitehorse I understand has half the Yukon population. Talk about a place you could live and never have a neighbor....the Yukon would be that place. We should have spent more time in Whitehorse. It is a very attractive down town area. We checked out the USS Klondike which was very impressive. We didn't buy the tickets to go inside because we did not want to take that much time.
Whitehorse is a really neat place....I regret we didn't stay longer. Next time we will!

nice mountains between Whitehorse and Destruction bay. Cant beat the views on the alcan.....

Destruction Bay is breath taking. Not much development but we found gas and a couple ice cream bars. Wayne made me eat one Scott you know how I hate ice cream. I was genuinely in awe of how remote this part of the Yukon is. You go for many miles between any sign of civilization. I really loved the Yukon and enjoyed the
highway stretches here immensely despite some pretty rough road. I wasn't worried about the gravel on the GS but worried Wayne's roadstar might have issues. I needn't be worried. His bike handled everything flawlessly and kept up very well.
Here are a couple of destruction bay. I could live here and be happy as a clam.

pretty aint it!!!!!

Coming out of destruction bay we ran into a bit of a delay for construction. I got to visiting with the flagger (I think this gal was about 6' tall) and she told me how much they were paid. Shoot, that's pretty good money, I took a turn to pay for dinner tonight.

Still waiting on the check. Dam customs must have kept it.
Crossed a bridge a ways later and the water was white as milk. We really loved this stretch of scenery.

I know......more mountain pictures, but come on. It's unbelievable up here. Writing this and looking at the pictures today for the first time in a while really has be wanting to go back.

We eventually got to Beaver Creek for our room. Again....no reservations would have meant no room. Booked solid at every place in town we were told. Ate supper at Buckshot Betty's. The waitress was from New Zealand. Came to the Yukon for a man, he was not around anymore she said but she was going to stay until the fall I think she said.
Buckshot Betty must of been one tough gal to build this establishment in an enviromnent of logger and construction workers. Had a couple cold beers and visited with a couple that was up from Oakland. They had flown up their bicycles and were doing a 6 week 1200 mile ride and camping nearly all of it. She said she planned to buy a BMW motorcycle when she got home. They were inspiring really. Neat trip and obviously very courageous young couple.
Supper!!!!

The bicycle riders from Oakland

And our hotel room. Probably our worst one of the trip. I think it was an old "barracks" type unit for road workers. It was old and rough, but clean and hot water so no big deal.
We got in our room at 5 minutes after midnight. Check out how bright it was outside.....

Here is our RITZ............







Slept pretty good. Still need to find myself some earplugs soon. I bet the people rooming next door wanted some too. Wayne you are amazing........Gina is most certainly a saint!!! How she can be such a pleasant and attractive woman when she hasn't got a good nights sleep in 39 years defies logic. Day 6 is done.

I'm heading to Alaska in a couple of weeks. Staying for 6 monthes or so. I'm getting some great recon from these reports. Thanks!

Great report. Looking forward to seeing the rest so don't stop now. Wife and I rode south last fall with ferry from Haines to Prince Rupert and we're riding back north in May on the entire alcan. I always enjoy the alcan (been on it more than a few times) and am enjoying your pics. Good to hear you liked it too, some don't. whats wrong with them anyway?