Sunday, May 15th.  Just walked around town.  Visited souvenir shops, had a reindeer dog, sat in the park.  The city has its history written on many walls and signposts.  I didn’t go to the museums because they appeared to be more art than history.  I wasn’t in the mood.

It’s clear the city is preparing for summer.  Three stores were training new employees.

Went over to the seaplane lake to watch some takeoffs and landings.  They’ve really got to put the pedal to the metal to get up.  The lake is adjoining the real airport, which must make air traffic controllers nervous.

Learned that the large mosquitos are preferred to the not-out-yet small ones.  Easier to kill.  It’s been years since I’ve had to deal with mosquitos.  I’ve got to say that this new bug repellent is vastly better than the old stuff.  They hover, but they don’t land.  The old stuff would smell bad and work worse.

Few pictures today.  Tomorrow I’m doing a train-boat-train tour.  I should be loaded with pics.

Made in Davenport, Iowa. I had lunch there last month!

Saturday, May 14th.  Marvelous day.  Packed up in a leisurely way in almost cool weather.  While driving along the edge of the National Park I’d see Denali and stop for a photo.  Five minutes later the view would be better, so I stopped again.  Repeat several times.  Fantastic war memorial at a rest/scenic stop.  Also a memorial to two military air crashes in Alaska, with the background stories.  I learned a lot more about the Park from the outside than in it.

The road was busy northbound.  This is a dusty state.  Too much gravel at gas stations and elsewhere, though not as bad as Canada.  A lot of ATVs on trailers.  Many ATVs driving alongside the road.  I’m not sure, but there might be a gas discount if you have a long beard.  Duck Dynasty wannabes.

Alaska Transportation Museum, which sounds fancier than it is.  Private.  A good start at something.  Old equipment rusting in fields mostly, but what they have on display is way worth the $5 admission.  They’ve certainly got the stuff, just need to organize it all.  Someone hang glided off Denali? A Department of the Interior “Mine Rescue” train car?

Camping at the air base.  A bear problem.  The camp host has actually used bear spray!  $12.  No showers yet.  Maybe Monday.  I’ll have stayed 6 out of 7 days in my tent.  Good on the budget.

Downtown looks promising for tomorrow.  Lots to see.

Quiet place indeed. Excellent idea someone had.

Sorta obligatory. Muddy.

I’d like to see someone put these on a horse!

This trip (by an 18 year-year-old) is so much cooler than mine. But makes me less crazy.

Caption said “Pupmobile”

Love this shirt!

This was a planned picture that turned out MUCH better than I expected. Scares me!

I’m too early.  The 92 mile road into Denali isn’t open yet.  The buses aren’t operating either.  I was able to drive 30 miles up the road, 15 on very dry gravel.  You can’t see the mountain during the second 15 miles, and the scenery is nothing spectacular.  At the endpoint scenic view I asked a threesome talking loudly about nothing important to take it elsewhere.  After a 15 mile gravel road, my patience was thin.  They did indeed take it elsewhere and everyone else expressed their appreciation.

The Mount Denali is extremely impressive, from any angle and any distance.  I put it up there  with Mt. Fuji for beauty and majesty.  The park is less so.  They may have wildlife, but it wasn’t present today.  The hills are brown.  The air is dusty.  The campsite, for the first time on this trip, is full and noisy.  Overall, it hasn’t been a good day.  I’m leaving tomorrow for Anchorage.

Fairbanks

Toured the Museum.  Very fancy, extremely professional layout.  A lot of nature, a little light on recent history.  A video about Aurora Borealis went a long way towards teaching me what it is, though I was surprised to learn that scientists aren’t exactly sure themselves.

A free museum downtown about dog sledding and the gold rush days was more to my liking.

Saw Mt. Delani for the first time.  Hope to see a lot more of it.

Worked briefly on the details of my trip home from here. I’m first going to visit Denali NP and Anchorage.  Then , just getting back into the US will require driving 2,300 miles.  From the border I’ll probably use the “Historic 101” as much as I can.  The entire trip will be about 3,700 miles, so it’ll take several weeks.  But much of this leg will involve retracing steps already tread, so my pace might be quicker.

That’s Denali in the distance

Very fancy outhouse

The Museum had a lot of artwork. This was my favorite.

UA is the only university with it’s own rocket range.

Incredible!

From here I’m returning home.  After much thought I’ve decided to hit the Northeast in the Fall, when children are back in school and the leaves turn color.  I’m not eager to search for available campsites/hotels.  I’m also not excited about sharing my fun with misbehaving kids or, more distressingly, parents that let them misbehave.  So sometime in September I’ll head to the Northeast.

I’m not going to rush my return home, though with Victoria Day weekend in Canada and Memorial Day weekend the following week, speed may be called for.  I’ll probably do the coastal route.  Been there, done that, but it’s worth revisiting.

Drove towards the Dalton Highway, also known as the Haul Road.  It goes all the way to Prudhoe Bay and is mostly gravel or mud.  Got within 46 miles of Mile 0, or 65 degrees North.  Far enough.  Nice view.  Lots of trucks, all extremely dusty.

Visited a viewing pint for the pipeline.  The technology is really interesting.  For instance, when above ground the pipe lays unattached to it’s support.  The pipe can slide around.  The posts have radiators to deflect heat from the permafrost so it doesn’t melt.

Learned a lot about mining gold.  (An Italian named Pedro discovered the gold near Fairbanks.)

Pioneer Park has a bunch of old houses and shops, which are mostly closed until the 15th.  One shop was open and I had a fun conversation with the operators.  They’re snowbirds from Florida.  They gave me several good tips.  The Park also has a rail car used by President Harding and a steamboat that was used in the area up until WWII.

Had fried cod for dinner.

I’m changing my itinerary.  The next post.

The upper beam is not attached to the lower one.

For those scientists among you.

The brown is almost certainly dust thrown off the trucks as they pass by.

Everyone needs wolf head mittens.

The first picture below is the scenery I had when I hit the road this morning.  Shortly thereafter a caribou (Moose? Elk? Whatever) crossed the road just a few hundred yards in front of me.  In seconds he disappeared into the bush.

The sun was out and the views were marvelous.  75 degrees at midday.  Arrived in Delta Junction, the end of the Alaskan Highway to have lunch.  Wrong.  The visitor’s center has a sign: “Closed for 2015!  See you next year!”  Most restaurants are closed permanently.  Others are open only for dinner.  Delta Junction is nearly defunct.

Proceeded onward to Fairbanks, again with a view to die for.  It was hard not to stop every few minutes to take pictures.  Briefly drove around North Pole, another city seemingly on its last legs.  Finally got to Fairbanks and discovered that I’ve arrived a week too early.  RV Parks and many other tourist locations open May 15th.  Found a State Recreation Area.  No showers, no wifi.  It’ll do.  The stress of finding a place to camp wore me out emotionally, so I took a break from tourism and went a movie.

Fun fact: In 1902 the community’s founders agreed to rename the place Fairbanks, to curry favor with Washington DC.  The name was that of Senator Samuel Fairbanks, of Indiana. (I’m thinking some town somewhere is thinking that “Trump” has a nice ring to it.)  The city has lots of historical markers and fun stories, which I enjoyed reading until 9:30.  (It’s now 10:45 and I’m not close to needing a flashlight.)  There is truly a lot of history here.  Among other things, it was the changeover point for airplanes headed to the Soviet Union in WWII.  Americans flew them in, Russians flew them out.  I’m looking forward to spending at least one full day here.  Maybe more.  I’m going to skip any kind of excursion to the Arctic Circle.  Too much time and money for too little reward.  I’ll save it for the cruise trip.

Mosquitos are out, but my repellent is doing it’s job.

The Canadian checkpoint is about 18 miles AFTER entering Canada.  The USA checkpoint is about a half-mile AFTER entering Alaska.  I could have entered Alaska and turned around before actually going through the USA checkpoint.  So much for international borders.  I love this about the USA and Canada.  Friends to the end.

There are various memorabilia at the Canadian/Alaska border.  Very cool.  The checkpoint was entertaining for me because the agent asked, “Where did I work before retirement?” I answered “NCIS”.  He says, “Really, that’s where I worked from 1978-79. I worked for Jack Guadalia.”  I knew Jack (crazy guy).  We could have sat down for a long talk, but there were cars waiting.  It was a nice coincidence.  Small world.

I continued on in minor rain to the town of Tok.  Tok is a minor town, but it has a miracle in its history.  In 1990 it was looking at extinction from a fire sweeping across the plains, when a sudden wind shift saved it. In 2009 it recorded an unofficial temperature of -80 degrees.  Which is partially why I chose to stay in the Golden Bear Motel tonight rather than it’s RV Park.  Really nice people.

I’ve now done that which was on my primary list of “Things To Do” on this motorcycle adventure.  Everything else is gravy.  Going to Nova Scotia is more about remembrance of things past, since my parents dragged the kids there in the 60s.  Basket weaving and leather belt making in the Bay of Fundy. I have fond memories, but I didn’t do it on a motorcycle.  I also want to enjoy New England and the New York countryside on two wheels.  A little bit of my enthusiasm is gone now.  I’ve got to get to Seattle obviously.  After that, I may go south to home or east to more adventures.  For now I’ve got some Alaska to explore!

Nicest people! Wifi works in the rooms behind the office.

A kodiak Bear. Doesn’t want anyone to change the channel.

Part 1 for the day: It was a cloudy day, but the mountains stood out anyway.  See the pictures.

The drive was not challenging, exactly.  It wasn’t fun, exactly.  Bumpy for sure.  Curvier than the past.  But the 30 miles of gravel was, for me, satisfying.  I’ve always been terrified of gravel, but somewhere today I got past that fear.  I guess I’d call it a zen moment. Instead of stressing out and tensing up, I started ignoring the minor bumps and began accelerating out of the tough spots.  “Trust the bike”, instructors would probably coach, and that’s what I did.  Even when an 18 wheeler walked right past me.  I wasn’t looking back, so when this monster sped past me while I thought I was doing so good, well, all I could think was, wow!  The driver gets big points for that.

Anyway, the drive was unforgettable, and the views, even with clouds, were sensational.  If I don’t find a ferry option suitable, I’ll be doing this ride again.  Even with the gravel, I plan on enjoying it.  But I hope the sun is shining.

There was a little more information about the Army’s construction of this road in 1942.  I continue to be in awe that it took just eight months.  Of course I think this is not exactly right.  The arctic permafrost threw a curveball in the spring when their roads began to turn to mush.  Today’s road rides in most places 30 feet above the surrounding ground.  I assume this is required to prevent the permafrost from melting and the road from sinking.  But the fact remains that 1,400 miles of road was created where none were before.  History shows that the road wasn’t actually necessary, but it sure was nice that they built it anyway.  As Jim Lovell has been fond of saying about going to the Moon: “It’s not a miracle: They just decided to go.”

Very nice day.  A few sprinkles, but mostly sunshine.  Easy drive.  Based on advice of fellow travelers I drove to Haines Junction, about 90 miles past Whitehorse.  Only 300 miles to the next stop, Tok, Alaska.  Road had no gravel stretches, but bumps were more common.  Most had warnings.  One really long steel decked bridge, but not an issue.  No animals seen.  Most markers were nature, not historical, based.  Camera was set wrong for most of the day!  The wheel on top gets turned and I don’t notice.

Didn’t visit Whitehorse.  Too many people.  31,000?  Capital of Yukon.  I might be driving past it again on the return.

Two Fairbanks natives flew to Seattle to purchase used Goldwings.  Driving them back.  Tough road to take for new riders of such large motorcycles.  But they’re well prepared and seem to be doing very well.  They’ve driven the road before in trucks.  Also met one couple of classic snowbirds pulling a trailer.  Nevada in the winter, Fairbanks in the summer.

Washed the bike tonight.  I feel much better, though I know she’ll just get dirty again tomorrow.

Memorial for an engineer who died during the road’s construction

Haines Junction

My best side