This Two Brothers Exhaust just never had a chance against the Dalton Highway

Day 16

First off, I’m going to start off by saying “F The Weather”.

Hit rain just outside of Tok. Not bad, just enough to switch from summer gloves to my Warm and Safe for the added comfort and the little squeegee.

Then outside of Tok, it cleared up.

Then, about 10 miles before the border, WAM, worst rain I have ever been in.

Almost couldn’t see, water was running down the road like a river, and the wind was blowing so hard it was blowing the water UP HILL!

Then, to top it all off, there was some serious lightning going on.

Ok! That’s off my mind!

Slept in, no need to wake up, need to hit up Shawn and Dan at Adventure Cycle Works at 10.

Get up, get ready, packed, and head off.

Finally get my exhaust, put it on, and while taking off the old one, I got to finally see the abuse it took from the Dalton and other various roads.

There is nothing left. Chunks missing out of it, all the screws missing. If it wasn’t for the bracket, it would have fallen off. I’m guessing any much more of the Dalton, and it would have fallen off, as a crack almost encircles the whole thing.

I say my goodbyes to Geoff, he continues to makes fun of my over packing

With new exhaust on, I say my goodbyes to Geoff.

It really was a pleasure to ride with him the last week and a half, and I hope to meet up with him in his travels again, before he sets off home in 10 months.

I make my way out, and eventually hit the Alaska Highway, heading South.

I cruise at a comfortable speed, eventually getting to Delta Junction for some gas.

While at Delta, I figured I better lube my chain, since the night before we washed our bikes off, to get the calcium chloride off.

After lubing the chain, I checked my oil. It was a bit low, so I decided to fill it up some.

I just finished topping it off, put the cap back on, pulled the bike up to check the level one last time, and the bike came up… And continued to come over.

Jumping back, I let the bike fall, as I would rather it fall on the ground, than on me.

I quickly jumped up, and started to pull it up.

2 guys came running over asking if I needed help, but I already had a firm grip, and the bike was heading on its way up, and I told them I had it.

After dusting myself off, and my pride, I jumped on, and rode away towards Tok, my next stop.

Just outside of Tok, I hit some rain, so put on my warm and safe gloves.
In Tok, I fueled up, took a quick break to eat a couple pieces of jerky, and a cliff bar, and set off for the border.

That’s when I ran into hell. The storm was amazing though just in shear size. I rode in it for over 30 miles between the time I hit it, to the time I passed the Canadian Customs.

When I pulled up at customs, the rain was still coming down hard. I pulled my helmet off, handed over my passport, the lady asked a couple questions “Where you heading to, how long you plan on staying in Canada, yade yade”.

I answered I was heading home from a trip to Prudhoe Bay, and that I only planned on being in Canada for 5 to 7 days on my way home.

She looked at me, and told me to pull off into the covered area.

Damn, I’m going to be searched.

Not that I have anything illegal or whatnot on me. I pull over into the covered area, and start unlocking my boxes.

She walks out, hands me my passport, looks at me, and says “It looked like you needed a break from the weather. Your good to go, but the rain should let up soon”.

It was nice of her to have me pull over into the inspection bay. I waited about 15 minutes until the rain let up some, and then took off to Beaver Creek for fuel.

I fueled up in Beaver Creek, where a Harley Rider came over to ask if I had any Alcohol on me. Odd question, and I know he saw the bewilderment on my face, cause he then said “Oh, I mean for my gas tank, I think I got water in my fuel, and I cannot keep my bike running”. I responded I didn’t have any, and he told me not the fuel up at the gas station at the other end of town.

I left, heading towards Whitehorse.

Rear brakes work best when the lines are one piece

It was along this stretch of road, that I finally found out what Gus was talking about when he was telling me about the “Terrible Frost Heaves”.

This stretch of road is relentless.

Frost heave after frost heave, dips, cracks, holes, you name it.

I finally thought I was out of it, sped back up, came over a rise, and BAM. Hit a heave sharply at speed going downhill.

The KLR lifted from the ground, and for a moment, that pig flew. But without wings, it came down hard.

I shook it off, and decided to pull off the side of the road to make sure everything was ok.

As I pulled off into the gravel, I applied a little rear brake.

Nothing…

The pedal went all the way down without any resistance.

I down shifted down, lightly pulled on the front brake and came to a stop, and dismounted.

There, I saw my rear brake line busted at the fitting closest to the caliper.

My stomach sank, giving me that uneasy feeling.

I am more than confident that I can handle a bike without a rear brake, I’d just rather have one in case of an emergency stop than anything.

I looked the rest of the bike over, didn’t notice anything out of the ordinary, and pushed on, taking my time.

One thing I hate more than rain, is wind. I hate riding in the wind. I hate how it pushes you around, I hate how it slows you down, forcing you to consume more fuel.

I had lots of wind.

I finally stopped at Destruction Bay and fueled up.

While there, I asked the store clerk about the wind, and he said that it should die out around Haines Junction, another 66 miles down the road.

Noticing they had a cafe, I decided to grab a bite to eat. I was hungry, it was late, and I really needed the rest, as the other thing about wind, it fatigues you rather quickly.

Once finished with my dinner of Fish and Chip’s, I headed out. I knew I had enough fuel to make it to Whitehorse, another 166 miles.

The wind continued, but the sun was out, keeping me warm most the way.

Finally, after over 12 hours of riding since I headed out after putting on my exhaust, I finally made it into Whitehorse at around 11:15pm.

Tired, I opted against a campsite, and rode into town to the Stop Inn Family Hotel, the same hotel I stayed a week and a half prior, where I parted ways with Doug, and began my Journey with Geoff.

I was lucky, they had a room left, and with that, I unloaded my bike, sat down, and tried to unwind the day’s events writing this.

I’m going to post some pictures of my exhaust on facebook, and then hit the shower before heading to bed.

Returning to the Brooks Range

Day 15

Woke up early this AM, just after 5 to thick fog and 33 degree temperature.

Started packing the bike right away, and Geoff and I got some breakfast, before finally setting off back down the Dalton.

While leaving Prudhoe, I reflected on what Prudhoe is.

While I originally had picked to go to Inuvik, mainly due to it having some cultural heritage, I realized that Prudhoe in itself was a very interesting place.

A true “Company” Town, Deadhorse is by all means, a modern wonder.

How they built the town, how they prepare everything, and how they due their work.

The idea that we have inhabited one of the most northernly parts of the planet year round, is a wonder in itself.

After about 30 miles, we finally rode out of the wall of ice fog, and into the bright morning sunshine.

Looking back, it was almost a line had been drawn.

Brooks Range just North of Coldfoot

You could stair, miles to the west, and miles to the east, and see a great wall of fog, stretching hundreds of feet into the air. An amazing site to see, and looking back on it, I wish I had stopped to take a photo, however, today was going to be a long day.

We passed over the same roads as before, but to our surprise (And what we have heard from others) it holds true that the road changes day to day.

We pushed on without much trouble, and finally we stopped about 120 miles into our journey back to Fairbanks, at the same Atigun River Crossing we did just 2 days earlier where I had thought I had left my backpack stranded.

We dismounted our bikes, and both went straight for the DEET. Mosquitoes here are terrible. Within moments of parking, we had swarms of hundreds of mosquitoes around us. With DEET on, and my insect shield hat (which does work), we took our break, hydrated, dehydrated, and set back off towards Coldfoot.

The rest of the ride to Coldfoot was great, with little troubles. I stopped momentarily to take a couple photo’s after stopping to let a pickup pass me, who was in much more of a hurry than I was.

Waiting for the dust to settle, I noticed a cloud formation that looked interesting and so I took the photo.

Once in Coldfoot, we fueled up, took a break to eat some lunch of whatever we had on us, and set back off.

Holy Cloud!

The road just passed on by, as we finally made it to the Yukon Crossing.

Taking another break, we decided to not fuel up there, and instead just make it to fox. Both of us well within distance of Fox with our fuel reserves.

It didn’t seem like it took long, but soon enough we turned off of the Dalton, giving the bang bang hand signal to the Dalton Highway sign, hit the tarmac and rode to Fox, fueled up, before hitting McDonalds and finally the dorm.

A shower, Dinner, and Laundry later it was time to settle down for the evening.

Tomorrow I’ll head over to Dan and Shawn’s to pick up my exhaust and install it. I have a heck of a ride after to Whitehorse. I’m hoping to get in around 9.

Weather shows 20% chance of rain in Tok, with 20% in Beaver Creek, Haines Jct, and Whitehorse. Hope I make it through the 80%. I’m kinda getting “Rained Out” if you if know what I mean.

Only a few tree's remain of the once heavily wooded Prudhoe Bay National Forest

Day 14

I woke up this morning realizing it has now been 2 weeks since I left Washington on this trip, and today would mark the completion of one of the great adventures I have dreamed of completing for many years.

With being in Prudhoe Bay, the last thing to do is take the tour to get to the Ocean, to step foot in it, and say “I’ve Done That”.

Now, we went to bed a bit early the night before, and luckily we have darkening shades to our room that keeps the sun out. Being that the sun stays high in the sky here, it is hard to tell what time it is outside, and inside you depend on a clock.

The only clock I have is my phone, and while I keep it around me most the time, I seldom check the time on it.

So it was no surprise when I woke up, feeling rather refreshed from a nights sleep.

I put on some clothes and walked down to the cafeteria to grab some coffee before heading back to the room to get on my netbook and surf around until Geoff woke.

As I was leaving, I noted the time on the clock that was on the wall leaving.

2:30…

It was 2:30 in the morning…

I kind of looked at my coffee, not yet actually drinking it, and looked down the hall at the bright sunlight through the doors.

I kinda shook my head and walked back to the room, dumping my coffee in the bathroom sink along the way and went back to bed.

I awoke again at around 5:30am to the sound of a loud diesel engine outside my window I decided to just stay up this time, and headed down for a coffee, my second this morning.

Our tour was to start at 8, so that gave me plenty of time to get ready, have some breakfast, and get on our way.

Geoff was already up when I came in from coffee and washing up, and so we both headed down to the cafeteria for some breakfast.

What an amazing selection of breakfast foods.

There was bacon, eggs, sausage links and patties. Breads, French Toast, and Pancakes.

There was biscuits and gravy and all types of hot oatmeal, various brands of cereal and tons of fresh fruit. They really know how to feed their people here.

So I loaded up on some bacon, eggs, and sausage, along with a couple pancakes, and a biscuit with gravy.

After breakfast, we grabbed our identification, camera’s and set off to the Arctic Caribou for our tour.

The tour started off with orientation, discussing what and what you cannot do, such as plunging into the ocean. Boo

Next, we watched a 15 minute informative video on the discovery of oil in Prudhoe Bay, and the construction and how it has transformed over the years, including drilling practices and other safety and environmental precautions they take here. Basically a huge BP Infomercial with the message “We are not completely evil”.

Next it was time to verify Identification and load the bus.

Taking a seat right at the front so we could hear our driver (which didn’t matter, as he had a PA that he spoke in to), the tour began.

He explained each of the buildings, how they get water, and how they do exploration.

It was interesting to hear how they do it all. They do not disturb the tundra in the summer at all. Instead, they wait until everything freezes, which means all exploration and drilling actually happens in the winter.

He showed us around Prudhoe Bay, pointing out various pieces of equipment, and what they did.

Such as a funny looking transportation vehicle that they use to drive on the tundra.

It has several large balloon tires on it, each with less than 3psi.

Not only is the psi in these slick tires low, but the actual vehicle footprint is less than 3psi!

Telling us of a story of a guy who had parked one, thinking it was in park, he got out, and started to walk away, when it had dislodged and rolled over him.

He got up, and chased down after it, unharmed.

Next he showed us the various contractors, some names I recognized, others were new to me. He explained the functions of each company and each contractor at the base camp.

In front of the Halliburton Office was a few large cutouts of pine trees with a sign that states “Prudhoe Bay National Forest”. Our driver, jokingly said that at one time the whole area was covered in tree’s, but that it gets so cold they had to cut them all down to make a big fire and stay warm.

Everyone kind of gave a chuckle, except for one woman who exclaimed “That’s Terrible”. Not understanding he was joking, nor the fact that the treeline is some 150 or so miles inland due to the severe cold, preventing tree’s to grow.

Finally, we came to the checkpoint, passed through, and we were on our way towards the ocean. The whole time he pointed out area’s such as the first drill site, where the power is generated, how they transfer the oil down the pipeline, etc.

We finally came to the Arctic Dunes, an area of Sand Dunes before the ocean.

The Tundra does receive very little rainfall each year, enough to classify it as a desert, and this small, possibly ¼ mile swath is all that resembles desert. The rest of the tundra is a swampy marsh with a peat moss like vegetation growing on top of it.

The causeway to the Arctic Ocean at East Dock

Finally we came to a stop, the door opened, and outside us was the shore of the Arctic Ocean.

The fog was extremely thick here, and they call it Ice Fog.

He said that Prudhoe Bay only see’s a few days of sunshine each year, due to the thick fog that covers it.

Even the airport is setup with the latest in landing and takeoff systems for modern aircraft so that the planes can land and takeoff without the need of a pilot navigating it.

As we made our way towards the ocean, and the shore came into better focus, you could hear the birds in the distant fog.

We walked down the long causeway of rock and sand before finally coming to a stop at the edge of our northern most ocean.

I had arrived, I had made it. With that, I took off my boots, socks and rolled up my jeans, and walked out into the ocean, to feel for about 30 seconds the cold surround me feet, before they finally went numb.

I am pretty sure North is somewhere that direction

At that point, I just walked around, keeping an eye on the pristine crystal clear water for any metal objects that may have found their way to the shores.

My journey North was now complete, and as I hopped on the bus I realized that my journey had brought me to the furthest northerly point I could travel on this trip, and the rest of it would be heading home to the south, starting with the bus ride back into Deadhorse.

The rest of the day was spent just hanging out in our room, surfing the net, researching, etc.

About 2pm, I decided to go outside to walk around a bit, and to my surprise the sun was out.

SOB, I thought to myself, we should have taken the 5pm tour!

I went back in, grabbed my camera, and begun to take some photo’s of Lake Coleen. Mainly just for the hell of it.

Not long after, I hopped on my KLR, and went and fueled it up, and brought it back to the hotel where I saw Geoff talking to another biker who had just shown up on a KLR.

After talking for awhile, Geoff and I walked around front, and we found 2 people who had just come in.

After a couple minutes, another couple bikers came in (Popular place) and to our surprise one of them was Carl, one of the guys who stayed at the Hostel in Dawson.

We talked to Carl for awhile, then he went and filled up, came back and grabbed some lunch, before he took back off.

It was only a “To and From” Trip from Coldfoot, no sticking around, just a picture in front of the Hotel, and that was it.

It was around Dinner Time by the time everything settled, so we grabbed some dinner, and begun to go through our things to repack for the ride out in the morning.

I also decided to head out back and go over my bike.

The fog lifted and everything turned blue - Lake Coleen

So far, everything on the bike is good except the exhaust, which seems to be getting much worse, as a huge chunk is now missing. I just hope that the chunk does not get hit by an weary traveler and it causes a problem. That would make me feel terrible.

I went over it checking all of the fasteners and made sure they were all still snug, and also lubed the chain, and checked the oil level.

The level was down a bit, but not terrible. I added a little just to top it off, and went back inside to take a shower.

After a shower, I finally sat back down on my bed, and surfed some more, just looking at weather, and planning my route home.

As it stands now, It looks like we may do a full day trip to Fairbanks, at which point I will pick up my exhaust, install it, and be on my way to Whitehorse Saturday.

If all goes well, I’ll be in Lake Watson Sunday, then take a few more days to get home before the following weekend around Thursday or Friday.

Brooks Range - Alaska Pipeline in the foreground

Day 13

Woke up very early this AM. But went to bed very early in the PM.

4:30 I awoke to the rustling of Geoff already beginning to pack. I let the air out of my sleeping pad, and went outside to see what the situation looked like.

It had rained a bit the night before, it had woke me up around midnight with it’s loud thumps against the outside of my rainfly.

I am glad that I had decided to pitch my rainfly, although the sky was overcast, I wasn’t sure if it was going to rain. The forecast mentioned nothing of it for the Coldfoot area, but I take weather reports with a grain of salt, living in the Pacific Northwest, you soon realize that they are typically wrong.

It wasn’t bad, it seems that the rain was louder than actually fell. The ground, although not dusty on top, was still dry below, without much disturbance.

We packed up all our gear, and soon set off around 6am, when “quiet time” is over. With my exhaust the way it is, I didn’t want to completely piss people off.

We pushed on through the morning, coming up on some spectacular views, and while the road wasn’t great, it was good enough to sustain a comfortable 50 to 60mph.

We wanted to make sure we conserved as much fuel as possible, so even the area’s that we could push harder, we chose not to. It is 240 miles between Coldfoot and Deadhorse, with no Fuel Stops along the way.

The Northern Slope of Atigun Pass

Eventually, we came to Atigun Pass. The highest pass crossing on the Dalton.

As the tree’s thinned out, the features of the mountains were much more noticeable. The way they jig jagged across the terrain, their pointy rock formations pointing out every which direction in sharp contrasts to the smooth rolling hills below.

They looked so spectacular in the early morning sun that broke through the clouds in area’s, with the green vegetation that covered them from the valley below to the tops.

As I pondered it, and looked at them, it reminded me of photo’s I’ve seen of New Zealand. When Geoff and I finally came to a stop, Geoff said they are some of the most amazing mountain features he’s seen.

I commented to him, that it reminded me of the photo’s and video’s I’ve seen of New Zealand, and he agreed that they are very much alike. Having been there himself, he would know.

As we winded through the landscape, there always seemed to be a water feature within view. Not once through this stretch did my eyes not catch a small pond, lake, river, or even a stream.

The water is so clear, it reflects everything around it, standing at it, you can see clearly to the bottom of the shallow ponds.

A look back at the Brooks Range as we head North to Deadhorse

We finally came to a bridge, with a small turnout. We decided to take a break. We were just over a 3^rd of the way to Deadhorse.
Taking a break, I removed my Hydration Pack. I’ve been wearing this every day since leaving, as it is a easy way to access water when thirsty on the road.

We took some pictures, had a snack, and before long we set back up the road.

About 6 miles in, we came across another wonderful lake. We took some pictures, and begun to take off, when I realized I wasn’t wearing my pack.

I motioned to Geoff that I was turning around and for him to go on. The only place I could have left my pack was back where we stopped.

I raced back as fast as I thought safe on the roads, scanning the area for my pack.

About 5 minutes later, I came to the pullout, and no pack to be seen. I got off my back to double check along the bank, and as I walked back to my bike, there it was, hanging from my gas jug.
A strap had caught, and prevented it from falling off of the topbox, where I had left it.

Had I taken the moment to check my bike over before heading back, I could have prevented the waste of much needed fuel.

Now I was stuck with a 14 mile round trip, as speeds well over what we were traveling.

A small lake looking back towards the Brooks Range

I met Geoff not far up from where I had turn around. He was on the side of the road putting on a sweater, as the climate was starting to chill a lot more at this location. Much contrast to the warm weather we experienced in Coldfoot, we were actually dropping in temperature with every mile we traveled it seemed.

He thought I had went back for more photo’s, not realizing I had thought I lost my pack.

With that we pushed on again at our normal fuel ration pace.

As the miles counted down, I was constantly doing math, I knew how far it was to Deadhorse, how much fuel my tank held, and how much it had on reserve.

Figuring at the low end of my fuel mileage, I would have to surpass 170 miles before hitting reserve, and then eventually breaking into my 1 gallon spare fuel tank.

If I made it beyond 214 miles, it would mean I would just have to use reserve.

As we pushed on, 170 miles came up. Then 180, then 190. Still no sputter to reserve.

200 miles crept up, still no reserve. Then 214, 215. Still no reserve. At this point, I sighed a huge sigh of relief.

I stopped looking down what seemed to be every 5 seconds, and forced my concentration on the road, as we were now coming up to the hardest parts.

First it starts off as gravel, instead of the hard pack surface. The berms pull you from side to side, the washboards rutted into the ground shake you, while bouncing the bike all over. This reminded me of our roads in summer time on the farm after potato harvest.

Caribou!

The trucks in and out of the fields would just destroy the roads, making them extremely bumpy, but this situation was very common, and it did not make me feel uncomfortable once bit.
Then the construction area’s.

They put water down on top of freshly disturbed road bed. Your bike slides side to side, you feel as it pulls you, and your only defense is to hope it doesn’t pull you down, or off the road into the marshy tundra.

Then you come up on a small patch of Pavement near Happy Valley, you sigh a bit of relief as you dodge the potholes, but then the road goes back to gravel. Wait, no, this isn’t gravel, this is ROCK.

Huge pieces of rock litter the road. It is like they put down the roadbed and said “Ok, that’s good enough”.

You bounce side to side, hoping you do not catch one wrong and tear the sidewall of your tires. You find the best possible route, and scan ahead constantly for oncoming trucks. Large chunks of river rock the size of your head litter the road, and before long I made a game out of it. The most entertainment I’ve had in weeks!

As a truck was oncoming, and I began to move into my right hand lane, that’s when the sputter happened. Just 14 miles out of Deadhorse. I quickly turned the valve to reserve, and continued on.

I looked down, and I was now 240 miles in. (226 miles traveled on the highway)

I was in good shape, the calculations came that I was in excess of 48 miles to the gallon. Much higher than I have ever achieved before.

Lake Coleen - Deadhorse, AK

I also realized, that had I not had to make the high speed detour, I would have made it to Deadhorse on my tank alone without the need of its reserves.

We finally pushed on through the last of the rocky road, and were back into a mixture of hard pack and gravel.

At this point, we also hit Road Construction. It looks as if they are widening the road, and they were running water trucks up and down, while dumping dirt, rock and calcium chloride down.

This mixture made a rather sloppy top layer that was a bit squiggly on the overloaded KLR, but reminded me of making a mess of the irrigation holding ponds after we had let them start to go dry at the end of the year. Again, nothing that made me feel uncomfortable, as it was something I grew up riding in.

Soon, the outline of massive equipment, pipes, and buildings became visible in the fog, as we inched closer and closer, the outline of a settlement appeared, and soon, we made a 90 degree turn to the left, and we had entered Deadhorse, the official end of the Dalton Highway, and the end of the road.

We first stopped at the Arctic Caribou Inn to make sure our Tour Reservations were scheduled, and to pay.

We then went to locate the Prudhoe Bay Mote

Dirty Bikes! - Deadhorse, AK

l.

After finally locating it and checking in, we took a moment to rest ourselves before heading out into the “streets” of Deadhorse.

There are a lot of Multi Purpose shops.

The Napa acts as a General Store, Automotive Supply, and Post Office. We walked to this part of town, getting the glance by everyone passing us in their pickups and other various vehicles. I do not think very many people walk the muddy dirt roads of this place.

A true “Industrial” Village, as there is no Grocery Store.

All staff live in the various residences that are provided to them, with meals round the clock.

For tourists, it’s 110 dollars at the Prudhoe Bay Hotel per person for a 2 bed room, that includes meals as well.
Dinner was much better than I had expected.

Strip steak cooked to your liking (Medium Rare for me) it was both cooked properly, tender, and tasty.

It is buffet style here, with fresh cooked meals. The food is actually damned good.

Reaching the "End of the Dalton Highway" - Deadhorse, AK

Other things I realized. Cell Service, and WiFi!

Although Wifi is at charge. It’s not free, but at 20 dollars a week, it’s not terrible either. There are longer term options, but the 20 dollars a week is cheaper than buying 3 days of it.

After Dinner, I went to the Post Office, and mailed out a few Post Cards, and came back to our room, sat down and started to go through pictures, and eventually type this.

I’m looking forward to our tour tomorrow, finally I will have made it to the Arctic Ocean, putting an end to a part of this incredible journey I have made. Although thousands of people have done it in the past, it is still an achievement I’ve wanted to complete sometime in my life, and finally that will come to an end.

Getting this far, has been an amazing adventure, and I hope that one day, I will be able to replicate it, in some other part of the world.

Geoff, Myself, Sara and the F8 at the Arctic Circle

Day 12

Woke up at 7am, and promptly began packing stuff on the bike.

Because of staying in the dorm, I had most everything packed the night before, so by 7:30 we were off to McDonald’s for some breakfast, and then soon afterwords on the road towards Fox, our last fuel stop before hitting the Dalton and the Yukon River Camp.

We fueled up in Fox, and set off, 42 more miles until the Dalton.

Soon, we pulled on to the Dalton, Geoff to the opportunity to have me take his picture at the Dalton Highway sign, but a busload of people who pulled in behind us, decided to jump right in before I could get to mine. Jackass’s, the whole lot of them.

With that, we pulled out. I made sure, with my blown exhaust, to pay them my respects by reving much higher, and for much longer than needed. Damn bikers and their ridiculously loud exhausts.

The morning seemed to go buy quick, and soon we were at the Yukon River Camp.

I stopped at the Information center while Geoff went and fueled up.

I questioned on the location of the fire, as the smoke filled the air, like a thick fog. They said it was off to the south east, and that it would not prevent travel, and that it should start clearing in about 10 miles.

It must have been the direction of wind, because the smoke did not seem to clear for awhile.

With that, we pushed on, until finally reaching the Arctic Circle.

The turnout is not marked until you come up on it, we both hit our brakes, and turned in.

It's hard to carry the world on your shoulders!

We had just shown up behind another busload of people, so had to wait about 20 minutes to be able to get a photo op.

Geoff got a bit impatient with the last 2 people taking photo’s. They just seemed to be hanging around the sign, once in a while taking a photo, so he decided to just pull right up on his bike and get in their way. That seemed to get their attention and Geoff and I took various photo’s at the circle. I’m glad that Jerome talked me into bringing a Tripod, as it became very handy for these photo’s.

As we finished packing back up our photo gear, it occurred to me. I had completed the first part of this Journey.

I had successfully made it to the Arctic Circle, something I had been dreaming of doing for years.

But now it was time to move on, now was time to go beyond the Arctic Circle, to above it, to where the arctic meets the mainland.

With the photo’s out of the way, it was a push on to Coldfoot for fuel.

Now, I didn’t realize that we would be in so much mountainous terrain. The mountains are rather unique in this area, as are the tree’s.

The tree’s, are skinny, with lots of branches.

Te Arctic Interagency Visitor Center in Coldfoot Alaska

I found out, that a 5 inch diameter tree is roughly 250 years of age. Due to the lack of precipitation, which is about 5 inches annually. This strikes me odd, that tree’s even grow here. That lack of precipitation reminds me of a desert. I guess that is why it is called the Tundra. Not hot enough to keep vegetation away, allowing moisture to collect and be able to sustain various plant life throughout the year.

Finally we arrived in Cold Foot, and with that, we stopped at the information center to find out where the Campground was located. I also took this time to fill out and stamp my certificate for passing over the Arctic Circle.

A bit corny, maybe, but it’s a milestone for this trip.

So with that, we fueled up, headed down the road a few miles, which we had to do behind a pilot car as their was construction going on, and setup camp.

Currently it’s about 75 degree’s out. Very comfortable, and there is light cloud cover, giving a slight silvery hue to the sky, with breaks of blue here and there.

The mountains are spectacular at this location, and I have taken several photo’s while walking around the campsite.

Because of the terrain, tent spots are platforms, that your tents are setup on. This is the first time I set my tent up without stakes. It took me a bit longer, and it is a bit weird not being able to have the vestibules firmly staked out, but it will due.

The Brooks Range - As seen from our camp spot outside Coldfoot

If I was more certain on the weather tonight, I may have opted to sleep without the rainfly. But the rainfly will help keep some light out, not much, but maybe enough to get some sleep.

The sun never sets here at this current part of the year, so sleeping will be tough.

I meant to pick up a sleep mask at Walmart, but failed to remember.

Oh well, I’ll make due.

This seems like a short update, but there is not much to really write about. The morning went fast, and we setup camp early, and will make the rest of our trip come tomorrow morning.

Hopefully I’ll have a bit more to write about tomorrow.

Day 11

Had a great nights sleep last night. Maybe it was the fact that I am actually on a mattress, or maybe it was the big dinner and the fatigue. Whatever it was, I slept great.

Morning went by fast. I called local business’s in search of a muffler, and had no luck.

My threads on Adv Rider and KLR650.net were dry.

So with that, we headed into town to get some breakfast.

Now, what I forgot to mention from the night before…

My bike is extremely loud right now… EVERYONE looks at me as I ride by. It’s damned embarrassing, and damned illegal. Not much I can do about it now though.

We ended up at a place called “Sourdough Sam’s”… It makes me wonder if they are related to Sourdough Joe in Dawson, the first nights dinner we had of fish and chips (Which were fantastic!).

Breakfast was Chicken Fried Steak and Eggs, with hasbrowns and Biscuits and Gravy.

Yes, they offer Biscuits and gravy as a side choice with there meals! You can have toast, pancakes or biscuits and gravy!

The meal was very hearty, and it filled me well, but the gravy could use a lot of work.

We then set out for Walmart across town.

Both of us having to get some supplies, I needed some laundry soap, as the dorms laundry room does not have a dispenser, and a couple other items.

Soon we were back on the road, and heading to the dorms to drop off our Walmart purchases and then off to Adventure Cycle Works to have my rear tire fitted.

While there, and talking with Dan, the owner, I inquired if I could have my Stock Muffler shipped there, so that I could put it on when I came back down from Prudhoe.

He was more than happy to let me have it shipped there, and so with that, on my return to our room, I got in touch with my roommate who grabbed the exhaust and shipped it off quickly.

2 day service to Fairbanks, is 96 bucks. Its well worth whatever fines I could pick up between Fairbanks, Prudhoe, and Home in the coming weeks if I don’t replace it.

After, we headed back to the dorms, and took the rest of the afternoon to rest and do laundry, while packing up what we can to make getting out in the morning easier.

For dinner we went to a Thai Place that is supposed to be the best in Fairbanks. I’m not a huge fan of Thai, but Geoff is.

With our tab at over 55 bucks between the both of us, and “terrible” Thai food, as Geoff says (I wouldn’t know, I just ate whatever), we headed back to the dorms for a nights rest.

Parked at the US Border Crossing on the Top of the World Highway Entering Alaska

Day 10

Awoke this morning and started packing the KLR right away.

Upon exiting the cabin, Geoff took notice of the long line of RV’s at the Ferry Crossing.

Given that the Top of the World Highway is a dirt gravel road, we wanted to get ahead of the pack, so we quickly packed and set off.

The ride on the road, which I have heard varying stories of its condition, was not bad.

We quickly made our way towards the American Border, not taking any time to stop.

A few reasons for our haste were we wanted to keep the RV’s behind us, we wanted to get to the border and have a good place in line when it opened (9am) and well, it was somewhat foggy and there were very few spots to pull over.

It didn’t take long, and eventually we arrived at the border at 8:30.

Extremely foggy, we sat second in line, only behind another single RV.

The border crossing went quickly and painlessly.

Geoff was worried that he would be held up, being from out of country, but they asked if he was with me, they checked his passport, took license number, and we were both on our way in less than a couple minutes between the both of us.

Now in Alaska, we were trying to keep an eye out for a “Welcome to Alaska” sign, but apparently Alaskans do not welcome people to Alaska.

Geoff was hopping to get a photo in front of one, being from down under, it’s a big deal to travel from the bottom of the world, to the top.

Interestingly, the road on the US Side was in a bit more rough shape than on the Canadian side. Also, it had rained on the US Side, where as the Canadian side was not wet.

A bit on the snotty side, we both continued on quickly, until hitting Chicken for Breakfast.

A little Cafe in Chicken - Open just 5 days, Sarah cooked us up a wonderful meal of Reindeer Sausage! She didn't believe me that I named my bike Sarah =(

We ended up stopping at the first Gift Shop/RV/Camp place along the road for breakfast. There was a small outdoor trailer serving up food, and Sarah, the young lady running it, was extremely polite, and even got Geoff’s attention for her Sunny Side up eggs, which she had never cooked before, but got perfectly right on her first try when Geoff ordered his eggs that way.

The meal was interesting. Reindeer Sausage was the main meat, and it was excellent.

Having eaten various other sausages and meats over the years, the Reindeer Sausage sits somewhere on the top of my list.

It had a slight flavor of blood sausage, and blood sausage is my favorite meal.

After breakfast, wondering around the gift shop and buying a chicken decal, we sat down and go on the net really quick, as they offered wifi.

Some emails, updates, and soon we were off.

Not far outside Chicken, the road turns to pavement once again, and we made our decent down towards the Alaska Highway at the Junction, just east of Tok.

We fueled up in Tok, and on our way we were towards Fairbanks.

Not long down the road, I noticed that my bike sounded different again.

After pulling over, we discovered that the entire end cap of my muffler had blown off, including all of the internals of it.

I think my exhaust is missing something...

Yes, the bike did sound much different, instead of loud, it was extremely loud.

I checked my air/fuel mixture screw, and to my surprise it was out several turns from where it should have been.

I screwed it back in, then back out a turn for the elevation, and we set back off.

Stopping in Delta Junction, I checked my screw again, and it had moved out again slightly.

I moved it back, and we made our way up to Fairbanks to the University where we would be staying the next couple nights.

We settled into our dorm room, which is actually very spacious, and soon after went looking for dinner.

Geoff had been craving pizza the last few nights, and so we ended up going to a local joint.

The service was friendly, but they had a huge breakdown in the kitchen.

Having a new pizza cook, things were getting backed up, and they had to soon call in the other cook.

Getting our pizza a whole hour and a half later, and the table next to us eventually ended up leaving they were so fed up with the wait.

A International TD35 - This is for you dad!

Some things the waitress’s should have done, although they were extremely friendly, they should have let all of the patrons know of the issues happening in the kitchen, offered something complimentary, such as bread sticks, salad bar, something, and that would have save a lot of grief.

The folks to the table next to us, who had left, the pizza was finished and so the waitress gave it to us.

Having extra pizza already, no where to store it over night (The pizza box did fit in my top box just fine though!) we ended up handing it over to a kid here on the campus. He kind of looked at Geoff funny over it, but I later saw him and he was enjoying the pizza.

After that, it was getting late, and so we set off to bed.

Another day gone, another to come.