Sunday, June 14, 2015

North to Alaska - Day 6 - Banff and Jasper National Parks

Today we spent the day traveling through Banff and Jasper National Parks.  The scenery was so awesome that I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.  It had to be one of the prettiest days we've spent traveling!


One little burp as we entered Banff, Jim mysteriously runs out of gas.  Seems his fuel cell had vapor locked.  In the photo are Jim on the left, Barbara, Robert, and Jean and Mike Donnelly.


 Going up in the gondola at Banff.  Barbara loves heights!



Jim Puckett
 The view from up top.





Lake Louise




When Barbara's mom and dad were stationed in Alaska, they stopped here on the way to and from.  An attendant would go out on the frozen ice and cut chunks out for their coolers.


The following are just a sample of the views along the Icefields Parkways.  Amazing!









Athabasca Falls - the roar of the water was tremendous. 






More on Jasper and Banff to follow.  

North to Alaska - Day 5 - Canada

Today we would make it into Canada to being our trek through Alberta and British Columbia into Alaska.

Everyone was up early and excited to be on our way.  We had breakfast again at the diner and were rolling around 8 AM.  

It was a cloudy chilly morning but nothing the heated gear couldn't handle as we made our way NE across Montana.  

About halfway to the Canadian border, we encountered our first serious road construction.  We waited a few minutes for the pilot car and could see there was some serious rebuilding going on.  Pavement was gone and there was nothing but dirt, rocks, mud, and some sand.  

The pilot car pulled out and Jim Puckett on his lightweight BMW flew past the pilot car and was soon out of sight.  Nothing like a bike built for dirt to ride in the dirt.  The rest of us followed carefully picking our way through the mess of the road.  Sand is the only thing I fear with our behemoth touring bike and we got a good taste of that.  Luckily we all made it through without incident and Puckett was long gone.  

We stopped for a photo opportunity at some neat sculptures.  And managed to catch up to Jim Puckett at this point who related he enjoyed his little dirt ride.  



Of course, Barbara had to pose!


As we started our climb up toward Glacier National Park, we started getting those awesome snow covered mountain views. 



Glacier National Park is a true beauty but unfortunately for us it was still early in the season.  The Going to the Sun Highway was still closed due to snowpack but I did manage to get into the Visitor Center for a stamp to add to my collection. 


Now it is time to head for the border.  We were crossing at the Chief Mountain Crossing which is closed during the winter and they had only recently re-opened for the season.  As we approached the crossing we got our first moose sighting.  Barbara was screaming in my headset and almost stood up.  Sadly neither of us were quick enough with the camera, as the cow wandered up the middle of the road in front of us before darting back into the woods. 

Having heard horror stories of the interrogations received at border crossings and the absolute lack of a sense of humor of the officers, we were pleasantly surprised with the ease in which we crossed.  Basic questions like "Where are you from?"  "Where are you going?"  "How long would we be in Canada?" and the usual do you have weapons, drugs, tobacco, etc.  He asked if we were with them - pointing to the group that had just crossed ahead of us.  We said yes and he just shook his head and then asked if I had any wild women stashed on the bike.  "Just one" pointing backwards at Barbara.  He laughed and waved us on through. 

Immediately we were in one of Canada's many national parks.


The bike in the photo belongs to Jimmy Stevens and had just suffered an unfortunate tip over that broke his windshield OFF.  Luckily he would manage to find a replacement the following day in Calgary.  

The remainder of the ride into Cochran, AB was uneventful crossing the prairies and fields of southern Alberta.  We did have one lengthy detour due to an accident on a ramp ahead of us which added about 30 miles to our trip. 

At the Ramada in Cochran, everyone was checking their bikes over after a day of riding. 





Robert doing some tire pressure adjustments. 

We discovered a prominent chain restaurant that evening - Boston Pizza.  Not only do they have pizza but the most delicious selection of pastas you could imagine with huge serving sizes.  A couple of Canadian Molson beers made the day complete.  

Tomorrow - The Icefields Parkway. 

Saturday, June 13, 2015

North to Alaska - Day 4 - Miles City to Great Falls

Morning dawned clear and cold but thank goodness the winds had subsided overnight.  It was an easy 326 mile leg into Great Falls.  

Beautiful, lonely, empty country as we traveled across Montana on Montana Hwy 200.  Small towns dotted the route and ranch entrances were miles apart.  

Coyotes are classified as predators in Montana and can be hunted without license year round.  As we passed the entrance to one very large ranch, the carcasses of several coyotes were hanging by the entrance gate.  A warning to other coyotes perhaps?  A little research indicates that sheep and calves are especially at risk to coyote attacks and we saw lots of sheep and cows with calves.  There currently is no bounty in Montana but ranchers will protect their herds.

The ride into Great Falls was uneventful.  Our plan was to exchange money in Great Falls to have Canadian currency available while traveling through Alberta, British Columbia, and the Yukon Territory.  This proved much more difficult than we ever expected. 

The first two banks we checked were out of Canadian currency.  This was rather strange since Great Falls is a gateway city into Canada.  Our next stop was a Wells Fargo bank.  Yes, they had some currency available but it is only available to Wells Fargo account holders.  Strange but true. 

So, with little other option, we opened a Wells Fargo account simply to exchange currency.  The folks at the branch we initially stopped at were extremely helpful, fascinated by our trip, and the lady who helped us open the account was even married to an Auburn graduate.  I jokingly excused her for that and we got along fine.

About an hour later, we were directed to the downtown branch where the currency actually was.  I managed to clean out the one teller who had currency - there was more in the bank but it was in another teller's drawer and inaccessible since she was gone for the day.  

It turned out the host hotel was only a block away from the bank so we were quickly checked in and spending time chatting and greeting all the other riders who were already there and waiting for others to arrive.  

Dinner that evening was in a 1950's style diner just down the street.  Pretty neat little place and delicious food and huge portions.  

We linked up with friends who would be our riding companions for the next few days and planned our departure.  Riding along with us would be Jim Puckett, Robert Repkopf, and Mike and Jean Donnelly.  We would be pretty much constant companions for the remainder of the trip into Hyder, AK.  

Tomorrow we cross the border into Canada!

North to Alaska - Day 3 - Chadron, NE to Miles City, MT

While relaxing at the Westerner Motel in Chadron, we did some checking of the weather.  We had luckily missed all of the horrible weather that was pounding north Texas and most of the Plains states.  The original plan was to head to Dickinson, ND and spend the next morning exploring Teddy Roosevelt National Park before heading on to Great Falls.  

Weather forecast for the Dickinson area was for snow accumulations of over 2 inches with freezing temperatures.  We don't mind the cold, but snowy and icy roads do not mix with a motorcycle.  With that in mind, we cancelled the Dickinson reservation and altered the plan to head to Miles City, MT where there was no snow forecast. 

We have traveled this area multiple times and somehow have missed North Dakota each time.  Determined to check ND off the list, we opted to head north and catch the corner of ND before turning west for Miles City.  We believed we would beat the snow and be just fine.  

After a hearty breakfast, we donned our heated gear and headed north.  First on our agenda was to once again tour Custer State Park located in the Black Hills of South Dakota.  It was chilly but a pleasant ride up to Custer.  

Custer is filled with wildlife - especially buffalo.  Herds of them wander through the park and for some reason like to gather around the roads.  You know when they are in the area from the buffalo pies left in the road. 



We gave them plenty of room since we had no desire to be charged by a 2000 pound monster. 


For the most part they were totally oblivious to our presence. 

Hard to see but this is a thriving prairie dog town.  Cool to watch them scamper about and listen as they warned each other of possible danger.  

We skipped Mount Rushmore having visited on previous trips.  The Crazy Horse Memorial is in the area and decided it wasn't worth the entrance fee.  You can just make out the face of Crazy Horse from the photo.  Eventually the plan is to have a full sculpture of horse and rider.   



The day had been going just fine to this point but that would soon change.  

The GPS routed us onto the interstate just east of Rapid City, ND and the winds started to pick up.  As we zipped through Sturgis, we were fighting a pretty steady crosswind which also seemed to make the temperatures start to drop even more. 

Once we turned north and headed for Belle Fourche, SD we were fighting a constant crosswind from the west or our left.  Weather reports showed gusts of 40 plus and we believed it as we were dancing around the road. 


Belle Fourche, SD is the geographic center of the United States.  The actual location is about 12 miles east in a private pasture, but is marked by proxy in a park in Belle Fourche.  



Leaving Belle Fourche, we were headed due north towards Bowman, ND.   We continued to have constant crosswinds from the west and a sprinkling of rain added to the mix.  

When we hit the North Dakota/South Dakota line, the winds changed direction so that now we had crosswinds from the east.  


We made it!  North Dakota has been checked off the list. 

A stop in Bowman, ND for a quick snack and warmup was necessary before tackling the last leg into Miles City, MT.  We now had a 130 mile run due west.

This leg had to be some of the most brutal motorcycle riding I've ever experienced.  Winds were now gusting to 50mph which would blow you from one side of the lane to the other without warning and seemingly attempt to rip your head off.  Temperatures have dropped to 34 degrees with constant rain.  Our heated gear and gloves were turned up to the maximum - our right side was freezing from the wind and rain while the left side cooked.  

We stopped in a rest area about midway to Miles City and simply sat still on the bike in the rain to allow our frozen right side to warm up before finishing our trek.  

As we pulled into Miles City, we found a place to eat and enjoyed some still warm air.  After checking into our hotel, we were quickly asleep.  While it had not been a high mileage day - it certainly had been a high stress one.  

Tomorrow we finish the ride into Great Falls, Montana.


North to Alaska - Belton, MO to Chadron, NE

Day 2 on the road dawned and we were on the road around 7am.  The planned route for the day looked like this:


We had to deal with some interstate to get through Kansas City and into Nebraska before we branched off onto Nebraska Highway 2.  This road is highly recommended!  This southern section of Nebraska is filled with wetlands which are part of a migratory waterfowl path.  Every little pond seemed to have a resident family of ducks and geese.  The roads are in decent shape and lots of scenery to enjoy.  

We detoured outside of Alliance to visit Carhenge.  An exact replica of England's Stonehenge but built out of vintage automobiles.  You can read about it here:  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carhenge


Carhenge!


An old Sinclair station had a well preserved symbol outside the store. 


We ran between a couple of vicious looking thunderstorms as we turned north to Chadron.  One thing about being out in the plains, you can see for miles and miles and can adjust easily to avoid difficult weather.  We don't mind rain but those lightning bolts are a different story. 

We pulled into Chadron, NE for our stay at the Westerner Motel.  We love little Mom and Pop operations and have found many of them to be delightful stays.  The rooms may be a bit smaller but they are usually immaculately clean and this one certainly lived up to the standard.  What a cool little place!

Supper, shower and early to be after another 660 mile day on the road.  

The adventure gets more interesting tomorrow as we tackle the Dakotas. 


North to Alaska - Day One - Home to Belton, MO

One of the tough parts about starting any trip is getting away from home.  You have to leave on roads you are familiar with and simply make miles to get out of your home territory.  Today was no exception to that rule since we had traveled pretty much the same route within the last year.  

Today would see us traveling through Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas and Missouri to get to our first planned stop in Belton, MO.  

We launched early around 5:30 in the morning and made a stop in MS for breakfast.  Luckily we made it through Memphis without any issues.  

Eastern Arkansas is flat and nothing to see but field after field of rice, corn, cotton, etc.  

We entered southern Missouri and started to enjoy the rolling hills of the Ozarks.  A brief rainshower outside of West Plains, MO kept us cooled off.  

Some nice curvy roads and more interesting scenery was found between West Plains and Springfield and up through western MO to Belton.  

We grabbed supper in Belton and checked in to Comfort Inn for our first night on the road. I always read motel/hotel reviews on Trip Advisor before making reservations.  This Comfort Inn was given good reviews so we expected to find just that.  We were disappointed.  

As we pulled into the hotel, the desk clerk and several "acquaintances" were sitting outside the door smoking.  The clerk finally meandered inside for me to check in.   There were maybe 5 cars in the parking lot.  I always ask for a ground floor room but when we checked in she had us on the 2nd floor with no elevator!  The clerk was not the least bit interested in changing our room assignment even though the parking lot was virtually empty, so rather than being a total ass, I accepted and lugged our stuff upstairs.   That one won't get a good review!

Day 1 is in the books and we are looking forward to tomorrow as we tackle Nebraska. 

 

North to Alaska - Day Zero

The idea to take a motorcycle trip to Alaska has been bouncing around in my head for several years.  There always seemed to be something that would get in the way of actually making it happen.  

In December 2014, I noticed the Motorcycle Tourers Forum was hosting a Flower Sniffing Tour to Hyder, AK in May.  It only took a few minutes of contemplation to leap on the idea and take the plunge.  

The concept was very simple - riders from all over the US and Canada would gather in Great Falls, MT before starting the journey north.  The MTF organizers had planned routes, selected stops for each day, and generally done a lot of the basic coordination.  Each rider was free to travel however they wanted, simply meeting at the end point each day for the opportunity to share stories, tell lies, enjoy a good meal, and get ready for the next day of adventure.  Kudos go to anyone who had a plan in setting the trip up - it worked flawlessly.

I quickly made reservations at each of the planned stops.  However, getting to Great Falls and then back home from Hyder was each riders own responsibility so the planning began in earnest.  We did not want to simply ride the interstate system (oh so boring) so for the next couple of months, I studied maps, Googled more stuff than I can remember, and plotted scenarios.  

Everyone was to gather in Great Falls on Monday, May 18th 2015 to start the trek north.  The most direct route looked something like this:

Knowing that would be a pure interstate ride which we definitely were not going to do, we opted for this route:


Departure was planned for Friday May, 15th which would give us 4 days to travel the 2178 miles to Great Falls.

Bike prep was completed with new tires, fresh oil, and a general checkover to make sure everything was just right.  GPS's were loaded with routes, points to see, hotels, etc.  

Checklists were made to prevent us from forgetting something critical like passports.  Figuring out where to put all the stuff we would need was a bit more of a challenge.  Cameras, laptops, medications, clothes, etc., etc., etc. We got it all packed in somehow but there was little room left over. 

Good riding gear is an essential part of any motorcycle adventure.  We both were outfitted in Klim Gore-tex jackets and pants, waterproof boots, waterproof gloves,  Shoei helmets, and of course our heated jacket liners and heated gloves.  Hey, we are going to Alaska - everybody knows it is cold and rainy up there.  

Everything was checked and double checked until the decision was final - we were ready to go and if we forgot anything, there is a Wal-Mart around every corner.  

A restless night was spent on Thursday May 14th in anticipation but finally the day to roll was upon us.  

I'll try and chronicle each day in a separate report so stay tuned to this channel for updates as I get them written.  In the meantime, I've posted some of our favorite pictures online at: 

http://rikkitik.smugmug.com/Travel/Alaska-2015/North-to-Alaska/

More to follow!!!