Operation AK13 ; 2UP 2 Alaska on a Wee

June 11th Why did we want to come here? 179 Miles Valdez to Seward



Our original plan was to drive to Seward and backtrack but our host told us how awesome the ferry was to Whittier with Whales and glaciers so we dropped a few bucks and up early for the ferry after one last real breakfast of eggs and delicious coffee. ( The chief owned a coffee shop and some amazing coffee beans from Ethiopia. Rolled up to the ferry and the attendant ask us as we roll in if I have any combustibles on the bike, “yea about 5 gallons of gasoline in the tank” he gives me a look and ask about my fuel cans on the back so I tell them its alcohol and he demands they be locked in a secure locker. That doesn't really make any sense to me.



You know what else doesn't make sense to me is that they crammed 3 motorcycles and a Canam into the space of one car; we were literally on top of each other. So how come I pay the same as a car but take up way less weight and space so if I am paying for this space I shouldn't have to weave around the other bikes to get out. I should just find somebody with a truck and put my bike in the bed for a few $.

Anyhow met a nice couple on moto’s who’s name I of course forgot but they had an amazing journey and were thinking about moving there from LA. We traded adventure stories and watched the amazing scenery roll by with a few whale tails popping up but no breaching. Sorry folks thats the best I could do , must have been Free Willies day off.





The boat and staff were no where as nice as the Canadian boat but we had took but the scenery made up for it.
































I found this cool map on the wall and when I got home was able to track down a copy and order it for a nice place on my wall.




Whittier is a neat little odd town that has a mile long tunnel that connects it to the rest of the world , one way in and one way out. This tunnel is also shared by a train so you better time it right. When it was time to leave they wouldn't let us down to our bikes until the last minute. That's great if you are in a car and all you have to do is turn a key but we all had to gear up, untie out bikes, and get ready so everyone is gone and we are getting the stink eye from the staff. The guy told us we were going to be late as the tunnel is only open for another 5 minutes then its a two hour wait. My lady snapped a bit and said “maybe if you let us down here earlier we would have made it.” We hauled ass out of there to the tunnel and barley made it. We saw a few others doing the same but got tickets by five O. Mind your speed here folks. Nice scenery by the tunnel entrance as well.










We were told we had to go last which was fine by me because the tunnel ride was all by myself basically and felt like I was James Bond going into the underground base.( I am easily entertained)





We popped out the other side to a beautiful lake and met the most amazing couple who had driven their Land Rover from South Africa to the top of Norway then had it shipped to Argentina and drove it from TDF and were almost to their destination of Deadhorse. Incredible people are everywhere, give her a blog a read if your interested

http://overlandsphere.com/overland-travel/author/panamericalandy









The drive to Seward was gorgeous and we passed a few beautiful amazing campgrounds along some rivers. I suggested that we should just camp here for the night and have a relaxing day with some hikes. My lady said that everyone told her we “had to go to Seward” so off we went with some beautiful country along the way.














When we arrived it was a fishing town and I forgot my pole, we could care less about touristy crap, trinket shops, old timey pictures, or fudge. The campgrounds in town were nasty and there was no way we were staying there. We found a spot at Millers Landing down a dirt road just out of town which was ok but nothing great. We were both disappointed in Seward and told our selves we need to ask people “why” we must go someplace as we all have different taste. This is my opinion so if your from Seward or you loved it, great. Im just saying thats not my kind of thing is all so don't flame me. We came on this trip for being in nature and needed to avoid towns, next stop Nature. Seward wasn't all bad we found a goat and dog who were friends and my lady spilled all the noodles in the dirt. We just rinsed them off a few times, good as new.











Our entertainment for the evening was taking cheesy high school style senior photos. Not sure if everyones school did this but in you r senior year lots of people would get pictures and for some reason they were always in unnatural poses against logs or tree stumps. Anyhow here they are, did I mention we were easily entertained.






Ferry for Moto $75!!!
Ferry tickets for two of us $180!!!!!
Gas $22
Camping $26
Groceries $45

Total $ 348 Ouch

Really enjoying the RR! Alaska looks amazing. I definitely want to do a riding tour of Alaska.

You might have said it earlier, but I may have missed it, why no Dalton?

Also, you look really familiar, you ever live in FL?

As you said, they are posting a really great ride report. Having never been to Dalton, I can only go by other people's reports....to me, and please don't flame me either, it doesn't seem worth the trip. Bad roads with a destination of an oil refinery. Some grand scenery I'm sure... I'm leaning toward the Dempster Hwy. Better roads, better destination, and still across the Arctic Circle, again just my opinion.

So to answer your questions I will start with the easier one, No I have never lived in Florida but many people say I look like The Transporter Jason Statham and in Asia they really think I look like him due to cross cultural identification issues. Anyhow here is a very long answer to a simple question.



Why no Dalton? I wrestled with this one for a while because thats what everybody else does who rides up there. I have also answered that question numerous times when people ask about my Alaska trip. I read the Texans go to Alaska ride report , a very good one by the way that helped me decide on the strom, give it a read

http://www.advrider.com/forums/showthread.php?t=668295

They only went as far as the arctic circle on the Dalton and had this to say " We hung around for a bit, and tried to eat some lunch at the picnic area. The mosquitoes were so bad here that if you stood still for a second they would engulf you. So we paced around and ate a sandwich, then turned back south."

So now back to my long round about answer. When I was in Europe several years ago traveling for the first time I bought one of those Rick Steves books which tells you all the things you are supposed to see and do. Well I was in Ireland and the book told me I had to see the Book of Kells



The book of Kells is the oldest book around or something. You have now seen it so you can skip it when your in Dublin. Anyway my point is that while I was standing in line to see it and saw it I thought , humm old book, I don't give a shit, Why am I here?

I am here because some dork who wrote a book told me to go here. Now if I was in to old books or religious artifacts it would make since to see it and perhaps I might even get excited about it. I on the other hand cared neither about those two things.

Still forgetting my Irish lesson in tourism a year or two later I was in Amsterdam and went to see paintings by Van Gough in particular the painting Sunflowers.



Now you have seen it and can skip it when in The Netherlands next time. So while going to a lot of trouble to see it I stared at it for a few seconds and thought humm old painting, I don't give a shit , hey why am I here? I am here because I thought I was supposed to see it so when everyone ask "You went to Amsterdam and didn't see sunflowers, OMG".

I don't care about paintings or Van Gough and for that matter if every work he ever made was two blocks away I wouldn't go see it in Portland but I am in Amsterdam and I felt compelled to see it because its something your supposed to do. I then signed up for a bike ride to check out buildings because I like bikes and architecture and no ever told me to do that.

Now the Dalton is no old ass book or water color painting its a challenge and has some beautiful passes like this one.



I didn't do it as I didn't really care about telling people I went to the Arctic Circle or to Deadhorse. I would have liked to see the cool passes and diverse landscape yes but not for all the hassle, expense and time. I am NOT saying the Dalton is stupid, a waste of time, or boring. I AM saying before you do something ask yourself is this something I like, I want to do, or am I doing it because I think I am supposed to. Again I am not knocking it , heck I went to the first atomic reactor in Idaho because I think that shit is cool but I am very sure that I am in the minority. You like what you like.

On the other hand the Dempster has a fishing village at the end and that would have been cool to see native people cutting up whales or something.

Up and Atom and on the way out of town see a sign for Exit Glacier and make our way there. Turns out a way better campground was here and should have stayed there. Anyway this was worth the trip to Seward in the end.
















We decided to skip Homer and try our hand at the Russian River Campground just down the road which was the same idea everyone else had, it was very popular and sold out. Luckily we found a National Forest spot just down the road that was awesome.





Great dinner since we had supplies from the big city and right on the river, I gave my best shot at a Tecate adventure advertisement. Nothing says adventure like a horse cock of Tecate!








This is just what we wanted and even had our own little mote and drawbridge to keep folks out. I loved this place, its just east of the Russian River Campground, tomorrow Anchorage. O the mosquitoes were coming out full force, we used a Thermacell device and that crap works a must have for the trip I believe. This is my lady as we wait for Thermacell to warm up






Cheap day
Camping $17
48 oz of premium imported beer $7.00
Groceries $10

Total $34

looks like a one bad to the bone trip!!! I'm planing heading up north next year two up

Awesome read so far!

I can completely understand that. I went to Boston once while I was younger and we pretty much hauled ass form one "must-see" to the next. When I left I felt like I really didn't see Boston, just a bunch of tourist spots.

I think I would want to ride the Dalton because I feel like that gives me a chance to see more of the wild, undeveloped, Alaska. A little more off the beaten path, and away from any cruise ship docks. Now, in truth I haven't done a ton of research into travel in Alaska, so I may be completely and utterly wrong in my opinion and you can see all of the wildness of Alaska from any major paved road.

Although it might not be "Alaska" the Cassier hwy was the most remote , no traffic, wild animals area we drove. If you have the right bike and the time I believe that a dirt track big dog adventures style ride is the way to go for more remote adventure up to Alaska. The Denali hwy was pretty cool run I much preferred that and one of the highlights. Glad to have you along for the journey

The drive from the Russian River to Anchorage was Beautiful!!!





















We planned on taking a short trip to Chugach State Park for a nice day of hiking and relaxing but when we got to where we thought the campground was we couldn't find it. Its the largest Sate Park in the USA so I though at least I would see a sign. I drove back and forth along the route getting very frustrated over an hour until after the third pass I realized it was under construction and closed. No mention of that on the website or maybe I am just an idiot and missed it. O well plan B Eagle river is part of the same park system north of Anchorage so off we went. Quick stop in town at the grocery store and man o man we were not missing the city life at all. Dont miss the turn or you'll be camping someplace you may not like.



I was very impressed with the park for being so close to town, I later learned we could have camped at the Harley shop in Anchorage where they have showers and a grassy area for tents for free, also a nice place.

Anyway we find a nice spot and I set up my tent when some lady comes over and says she has just pre paid for the spot and starts showing me her paperwork. Lady you were leaving here when I was in the spot why didn't you just say I'm going to pay for it. Grade school rules apply , she was here first so I moved all my stuff to another spot in walking distance.

We thought we would go for a little hike to see the waterfall and our walk turned into a run as were experiencing the worst mosquitoes of the trip. Clouds of mosquitoes so bad we started running back to the tent. I made my lady stop so I could take a pick of all the mosquitoes on her back, probably cant see them but trust me it was bad.



We sought refuge in our tent and I got a a message from my friends wife who said he died last night but was brought back. Excuse me my buddy is 38, physically fit, doesn't smoke, picture of health, WTF.

I gave him a facetime call on my iPhone and he was in a hospital bed with his daughter and family around him. He said he had a bad pain in his side that got worse and felt like a hot poker and a tazer all at once so he went to the hospital. He started feeling better so he walked around the floor and then dropped dead! Doctors said he had a blood clot floating around in him and it made it up to his heart. They brought him back to life and he was in good spirits. Holy crap man

This reaffirmed my belief that I had to do this trip now because you never know. Ive read the comments on ADVrider about some day, its on my bucket list, maybe one day. DO NOT DELAY this is an amazing trip you will not forget; you never know when life is gonna hit you with a curve ball.

I guess my lady felt she needed to wash her feet in the cooking pans, I bet I would get yelled at for that. Yuck! After washing the pans we had a delicious meal and fell asleep watching funny you tube videos on the iPhone.



Campground $20
Lunch $15
Dinner supplies $20
Total $55

WARNING: This will be the most boring post of the trip but to keep continuity Ill post it anyway. I am sure y'all are really interested in our dinner and my haircut so here ya go.



We packed up and were excited for our first shower in a few days as we set out for the unbelievably priced Mirotel inn at $179 a night! The motel 6 was $140 or something to give you an idea. Alaska prices are crazy, if I had known about the Harley shop with showers I would have gone that route to save the $180.

The idea of my lady trying to pack up and get on the plane out of a tent seemed silly so we dropped the coin and each got out money worth in hot water and laundry facilities. We had to make a stop at the Alaskan Leather shop for my own furry but pad and talked the lady into one also. Who knew a little bit of lambs wool could make such a difference, Nice folks there. Then it was off to get a haircut at a place recommended by the Alaskan Leather folks,



We grabbed some BBQ and thought we should treat ourselves to a nice dinner. We luckily found a nice little hole in the wall on Yelp “Kobe Teppayaki House” awesome place ; small and friendly and the cook puts on a show ( Benihana style ) all at a very very reasonable price. It looks shady on the outside and we almost didn't go in but in the end we were glad we did, the food was great.





We were not missing much of the city and wish we were back in the woods. Bit o laundry and to bed early so she could make her flight back to Portland. Tomorrow its solo for the rest of the trip and off to Denali.

Lunch $28
Dinner $57
Hotel $179

Total $ 264

I just read your response to my Alaskan wife and she says, "Cool! I am so glad you went on the trip despite what people were telling you before you left, what a good experience!" I appreciate it because I've been trying to get her to come with me on an overnight trip. She has not yet, not on the bike, which is unfortunate. I usually ride down to America and she usually flies and then we meet someplace to visit family. But I can ride from Skagway to Bend, Oregon and back on $422. That is a lot cheaper than flying or taking the ferry.

Glad to hear it , I eagerly await your guys next ride report together. I don't think she will regret it one bit on the back of the bike, heck my lady got to sleep and I had to do all the "work"

Well it was time to say good by as the lady packed up her stuff in the top bag and boarded the hotel shuttle to the airport. Little excited for losing 130 pounds thinking the bike would be more nimble, Little nervous when you look at the map and realize you have to drive all that way back. Anyhow I though packing would be a breeze since I was losing lots of stuff but at the same time she was taking the top bag so it was about the same. I headed out to Denalli National Park which I had read gave me only a 33% chance of actually seeing the mountain. I thought about bailing on it but decided well 1 out of 3 isn't bad odds. :eek1

I was very surprised that the Strom felt pretty much the same, it handles so well two up I couldn't tell much a difference at all minus the lady. The road up most of the way was pretty crap but 1/2 wayish up there in the distance you get to see the big boy in all its grandeur. Man o man I don’t think I could have asked for a better day to view it, clear as could be out there.



I pulled over for my first round of too many photos of Denali and the mosquitoes were in full force so I just walked around like the man on the moon in full gear snapping away.

Back on the road and it wasn't to long before I pulled over for another round of pictures.














Not thinking anything could eclipse the sight of the tallest mountain in North America I was shocked to learn that :stoned Chip Benford is a thieving crankster!! This is taking bathroom graffiti to another level and for those not familiar with what a “crankster” is I will explain. Cranksters are Crystal meth addicts since methamphetamine used to be called “Crank”. Why crank, well in the days when outlaw bikers ran the meth game they would smuggle it in their bikes crank case supposedly.








As I got closer to the park I saw my first couple of Moose or is it Mooses, anyhow I made it to the park and grabbed a site and was lucky to get it as the next day they were sold out.

One thing I didn't realize was that you cant ride into the park and have to take a bus tour in. Although I wasn't thrilled with this I think its the best way to keep the park the way it is. Yellowstone is a f’in zoo with bumper to bumper traffic and more like Disney land than nature. One thing you can do is get a camp site deep inside the park which would allow you to travel 1/2 way into it and if I could have done it over I would have gone this route. Once your in you have to stay there but that would have been fine by me as their is nothing really in the close in camp sites.

One beef I have is the bus tour, the showers, the grocery store, and everything they had was pricey. This is land owned by the American people and just because Aramark got the contract to run it doesn't give them the right to gouge folks. This place is for families and you shouldn't have to be rich to go here. Our “leaders” should require those with contracts to offer services at fair market prices.

Anyhow they did have wifi and showers at the camp store so I played a bit on the net and with no one to play with hit the hay for tomorrows bus tour into the park. Man the mosquitoes were in full force also which made the decision to get in the tent early an easy one.

Two nights camping, park entrance, and bus tour $80
Groceries and beer $35
Gas $12
Total $127

I think for 80 bucks you did alright.......

This is great stuff. Awesome bike and a pretty gal... sweet. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks man glad your along for the ride remembered. Should be able to get a few more days posted this weekend

Well got up and headed off to the school bus into Denali and got in line with a lots of other folks. Couldn't ask for a nicer day at that



I landed in the back of the bus next to Diamond Jim and his wife. What a character with a diamond in his front tooth. Great folks who travel around the USA and Canada with a jet car doing shows. In the winter they live in Cabo San Lucas Mexico. Great folks living a cool retirement from being an iron worker. Been married for 30 years and appearing to being having a blast . I hope I am that lucky.











Not much to say just Ill just drop a picture bomb. I will only say that riding a bus with a schedule really makes you appreciate the freedom of being on a bike. Being cooped up in the bus felt weird and being allotted 5 minutes outside of it to soak in the beauty of this place before being ordered back inside was not ideal for me. I think to handle the amount of visitors here without ruining it , this is the only way to do it.
































After the bus ride there wasn't much to do around there since you couldn't really go into the park so I bought a 6er of beer and polished it off at my camp site. Tomorrow it was the Denali Highway which according to guidebooks was made out to be hardcore, tough, and super isolated. We will see about that I guess.

Keep us updated on the Denali. Man, this looks like one hell of a great trip so far. I also have the exact same Wee. Great bike.