Today I woke up at 6:30, checked out and rode home. I was on the road by 7:30 and home by 11am.
It was in the 80s by 8am in the desert, but cooled down significantly when I got to the Cajon pass. Then I was pretty cold because I was only in my mesh jacket. It stayed that way all the way home, but I didn't want to pull over to put on a heavier jacket. I just rode a bit faster, between 80 and 85.
Traffic was going at a pretty good speed and there was a biker looking like he was trying to catch up to me, but then he just kept his distance. He was probably about 200 yards back and hung out there for a couple miles before he caught up and lit me up.
He asked for the usual stuff, license, registration, insurance, and I had it all with me. He asked "Were you watching your speedometer at all?" I just shrugged and said "Well, I guess I just let it get away from me, no excuses here". He took a good look at the bike and asked "Where are you coming from?" I liked that question, "Deadhorse Alaska".
He's still staring at my bike. It looked pretty ragged with my broken mirror, lots of bug juice all over the windscreen, and dirt in every crevice. "Is that a car tire??" I told him I use it on long trips, it's nice for traction and my motorcycle tire would not have lasted the ten thousand miles I just rode. He wasn't really looking at me, he was just looking at my bike, so I started telling him about the Dalton Highway, how the slippery stuff is, and how I fell in it. His next question was "How fast were you going?" ... I hesitated because I wasn't sure if he was truly interested or if he was trying to figure out if I was speeding then too.
We started talking BMWs and how nice the GS Adventure would be for a trip like that. He advised me of the new dealer Larry bought his RT from and that they have a lot of demos in stock because they are new. He gave me my stuff back and told me "OK, well you were doing over 80 the whole time I was pacing you." There was no "and" or "slow down" ... although I know he was implying slow down. I thanked him and rode on home at the 70 mph I usually rode the whole trip.
It was nice to get home and see Ashley and the furry welcoming committee. I'm looking forward to a vacation from my vacation before I get back to work and take care of the insurance claim.
This is the last post. I'll be adding pictures to the posts that don't have any over the next week or so.
Thanks for reading.
You lucky dog!
ReplyDeleteI'd say a man hasn't made good use of his freedom until he longs for home.
Thanks for sharing the ride with me, Mike. I enjoyed every post.
Im planning on doing an Alaska trip in the summer of 2012. Im not going to ride the haul road, but how many miles of gravel roads are there staying on the main roads? Im not much of a gravel rider on my K1200rs. Your trip sounded great, an inspiration for all of us reading.
ReplyDelete"I'd say a man hasn't made good use of his freedom until he longs for home."
ReplyDeleteSounds like some good wisdom. Thanks for reading and I appreciate the comments.
Anonymous: Most of the gravel you will encounter on the main roads are road construction zones... and you can anticipate on running into a lot of them. They are usually anywhere from a hundred feet to a miles or two long.
There was also a couple miles of gravel at the border where Canada 1 enters Alaska. The last 40 miles or so of Canada had heavy frostheaves, which are just as nerve rattling as gravel in my opinion.
The route out of Tok, up through Chicken, over Top of the Word Highway, and then into Dawson has a lot of dirt sections. I'd say anticipate on 70 miles or so, off and on.
My advice for that piece of road is that if it is dry, just do it. It's not that difficult compared to the haul roads if you just go at your own pace. You will not regret it.
We did it after a little rain, and had light drizzle in a few places. That made small sections a little muddy, but nothing compared to the mud I encountered on the Dalton.
Thanks for the kind words.