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RayJ and Billy to Alaska

21K views 181 replies 19 participants last post by  MotownWing 
#1 ·
Tomorrow at O Dark 30, I will leave here headed due north of two day before I turn left in Minneapolis headed for the AlCan. Been planning this one for about 8 months or so. Tomorrow is the start. Right now we have mapped out a little short of 11k miles for the trip. Riding with my good. old, long term friend Billy from East TN. I will meet Billy in Salem, IL tomorrow afternoon if our plans hold up.

I have a pic of my Wing loaded for departure. I am sure Billy's Harley looks something similar. Won't get to buy much stuff on the trip unless I ship it home. It is a little tough to pack for both 35 deg mornings and 105 deg days. The joys of multiple latitudes and elevations.
 

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#104 ·
I'm not sure of your route south.

Looking at Alaska wildfires; if you are going down to Anchorage then you will see a large fire between Danali and Anchorage. I know there are some fires near Tok, but they aren't large enough to show up on the incident page I look at.

In Yukon; no new fires, but you will still see the same as on your travel north.

In British Columbia; I see a large wildfire west of Hwy 37 in the Mount Edziza Park. It's almost 300,000 acres so probably lots of smoke around there. South of that nothing large shows up. But there are a number of small fires before you get to the border.

Back in the USA it looks clear right now in Washington.
 
#111 ·
I'm not sure of your route south.

Looking at Alaska wildfires; if you are going down to Anchorage then you will see a large fire between Danali and Anchorage. I know there are some fires near Tok, but they aren't large enough to show up on the incident page I look at.

Back in the USA it looks clear right now in Washington.
We came down the Alaska Highway to just north of Watson Lake. Turned on hwy 37 and ran thru BC to get to WA and Ron's house. More on that later tonight. We did have smoke at Beaver Creek and others but by Haines Junction the night before all was clear. We are in southern BC now and no smoke. However, just so I can compain some more it is still raining on us. At least some rain for 11 out of 15 days. Today was a frog strangler.
 
#113 ·
On July 12 we left Fairbanks going south. Decided to forgo Denali and other rides due to the smoke and the rain. Of course we left Fairbanks in rain. Rode t Tok and got fuel and lunch. Heavy rain started during lunch and lasted until about 3:00 or so. With the construction sites being wet the bikes were a mess. Rode to Haines Junction and before we arrived the skies cleared and we actually saw mountains, glaciers, and all the stuff we expected to see. It was a good ride after the rain and our hope was the rain and smoke was behind us. As you will see, the smoke is done but the rain continues. More on that will some later posts.
 

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#114 ·
On july 13 left Haines Junction for Hwy 37 just north of Watson Lake. This road will get us toward WA where we will go to Ron's house for a couple of days. Rode thru Whitehorse and got breakfast at McDonald's. They didn't have biscuits nor iced tea. Oh, well. It was good.

Crossed the bridge at the Teslin River again. Didn't post that for some reason on the first pass. This is the longest bridge on the Alaska Highway. It is of course one of those grates and the ridges are larger than the others. It was scary.

Arrived at the intersection of the Alaska Highway and 37 around noon. Got fuel and a sandwich for lunch and hit the road. Thought we had made an error. The first 20 miles was gravel or something like that and rough. Later it got a lot better. This so far is my favorite part of the ride with Jasper being a close second or equal. It was remote - very remote. Got gas ever time we saw a pump. Lakes, hills, curves, mountains, rivers, creeks. Everything. Oh I forgot trees. This place has the trees. WE stayed at a "resort" just south of Iskut, BC for the night. Tatogga resort. It was on a lake with a restaurant. Resort is a stretch but the people were great and all was good. However, no coffee the next morning and no breakfast. Dang!!!!
 

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#117 ·
Yesterday, July 17, we arrived at Ron and Betty Robertson’s house in the land of tall mountains. Visited, went to eat Mexican food, and ate Betty’s pie. Very good. Today we will be servicing the bikes and washing them if we get a break. It is raining here. Great to see them and catch up. More on the rides later. Hope to catch up today.
 
#120 ·
On July 14, we left Tatogga resort on Hwy 3 and rode to Hyder, AK. We went there to see the bears eat salmon. There were no salmon and thus no bears yet. Some were coming to investigate, but they were not there when we were. So. We took a pic of a pic of a bear eating a salmon so you would know what it looks like.

It was a wonderful ride. Beautiful scenary. Hwy 37a to Hyder is amazing. It is a bucket list highway. Glaciers near the road. Waterfalls. Raging rivers beside the hwy. Very steep mountains and places where the valley is only about 100 yds wide. Amazing views. Things I had never seen before. We rode it back to hwy 37 and turned south to New Hazleton, BC and stayed at a motel called the Robbers Roost. Nice place. Nothing spectacular about the afternoon ride. It did start to rain just before we got to the hotel. Unloaded and cleaned our bikes in the rain. That part is getting a little aggravating.
 

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#122 ·
On July 15 we rode from New Hazleton, BC to Clinton, BC. The morning started beautiful. The scenery initially was similar to the day before. Some big mountains with glaciers but the land flattened out. In the later part of the day the rain came. Big time rain. About 50 miles. Clinton is a nice little town. When we got there, people were everywhere. We had reservations at the Cariboo Lodge and it was full. Didnt know what was happening. Turns out there was a land slide about 10 miles south of town - we came in from the north. It shut down the road out of town. Glad we had reservations. The restaurant was crazy. They didnt know how to deal with all the business. Don't order a steak if you like it rare when the kitchen is over loaded.

We didn't take many pics this day.
 

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#123 ·
On July 16, we left Clinton to go to Sumas to see Ron and Betty. It was a good ride and the slide was cleared. We rode CA 1 thru the Fraser River Canyon. Very impressive. Not sure I have ever seen a longer grade. All down hill the way we were going. Very nice.

We crossed the border and had lunch and took off to Mt. Baker. I wanted to do that last time I was here but the clouds were too thick making it a waste of time. This day was nice. No rain for a long time. Look at the pics off Mt. Baker. I did almost bite the dust on a 10 mph climbing right hand turn. I was not paying attention and almost dropped the Wing. I saved it but it was not pretty. Looked a lot like a beginner. It was steep and it was sharp. No excuse. I have no pic of that or of me cleaning my pants later. I was a little busy and Billy was too avoiding running over me. All turned out good.

Got to Ron and Bettys and had a great visit, dinner, a few drinks, and one of the best berry pies I have ever tasted. Judy has to get with Betty for the recipe for that one. I think all in all I ingested about 6000 calories. Slept good that night.
 

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#132 ·
Great photos! Although you wouldn't catch me in one of those ice caves...stomach problem with that: "no guts".:wink2:
Can identify with the food at the Robinson Ranch, satiated and sleepy seems to be the evening hours. I missed a glorious photo op of Mt Baker one afternoon as I tried to keep up with a couple Geezers (dang kids at heart LOL) on a ride. Seems there was an ice cream emergency happening...
 
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#133 · (Edited)
They dodged the second Ice Cream Emergence, but I'm not too sure Billy was all that happy about it!!!!:laugh2:

Seemed the Hurrier we went the behinder you got.>:)>:):wink2:
That will be the day when you can't keep up with me.

And remember you and the Lady with the BIG Scary Knife are Welcome at the Robertson Ranch Anytime.
 
#136 · (Edited)
It is July 20 and I am behind. I will try to catch up tonight.

On July 18, we left Ron and Betty's for the east side of the Cascades. We rode WA 20, The Cascade Loop. Great ride. beautiful when we left the house, but alas, it rained on us again as we went up the hill. After the crest the weather changed and the clouds went away. I will say that is the last rain we have seen, praise the LORD. On the west side a forlorned damsel flagged us down and it seems her bike was low of oil. We put a half quart in it and all was good. It started so I guess she was ok.

We rode from there across the Loup Loup pass to Omak and down to the Grand Coulee Dam. Hwy 155 goes thru open country, thru a pass, and then down by the Columbia River below the dam. Then we rode cross country to Spokane and to Cour d' Alene, ID. I had potted a route along the east side of the lake down to Lewiston. The route along the lake was a snake and I was worn out from the other driving. Didn't get to see much as I had to concentrate on the riding. We decided to spend the night in Moscow and arrived safely but worn out. The scenery was awesome all the way.

New rule. Don't plan a 500+ mile day with 50 miles of twisties at the end. Not safe and not sensible for this old man.
 

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#138 ·
On July 19. we left Moscow very early riding US 95. This coupled with ID 55 to Boise was one of our better rides. Numerous big sweepers, significant elevation changes, big farms (way big), rivers by the highway, and beautiful scenery. One note, going into Lewiston there is a sign warning of a spiral highway - never seen that before. It was an amazing road. Winding for several miles off the ridge down to the city which is on the Snake River. Very cool, but I took it slow and careful. Didn't want the locals reading about a fool going to fast and launching a Goldwing off the cliff.

We had lunch at a Cracker Barrell in Boise. For those of Southern heritage reading this, I was in heaven. Had the first good veggies since I left home. Had a big veggie lunch. It was great.

We then rode to Twin Falls, ID and turned south for Wells, NV. Nevada finishes my map west of the Mississippi River except Hawaii of course. I have had one of my bikes in all those states. Hope to finish the others next year. The ride was Ok but not spectacular but the roads were good and traffic was light. It was a really good day of over 500 miles.

When I get back home, I plan to post of these pics on my bike at the bridge. Lord knows I have several shots of bridges that I think are interesting.
 

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