Canada/Alaska Tour August 2008

[MCRIDER007]

Note: This is not an FJR event.

A couple of my friends (Jim-S and Charley-M) are planning a trip to Alaska in August 2008. Jim lives in the San Antonio area, is semi-retired, and spends his winters leading Mexico motorcycle tours for MotoDiscovery Tours. Charley is retired, lives in Toronto, and seems to have ridden everywhere. The latest itinerary Jim has sent me is:

Day 1 Aug. 2 San Angelo, TX

Day 2 Aug. 3 Taos, NM

Day 3 Aug. 4 Littleton, CO

Day 4 Aug. 5 Buffalo, WY

Day 5 Aug. 6 Great Falls, MT

Day 6 Aug. 7 Cranbrook, B.C.

Day 7 Aug. 8 Cranbrook, B.C.

Day 8 Aug. 9 Jasper, B.C.

Day 9 Aug. 10 Prince George

Day 10 Aug. 11 Dawson Creek (Meet Bonnie & Charlie)

Day 11 Aug. 12 Ft. Nelson

Day 12 Aug. 13 Watson Lake

Day 13 Aug. 14 Whitehorse

Day 14 Aug. 15 TOK

Day 15 Aug. 16 Anchorage (Glenda flies in)

Day 16 Aug. 17 Kenai Peninsula-Tentative

Day 17 Aug. 18 Kenai Peninsula-Tentative

Day 18 Aug. 19 Anchorage-Tentative

Day 19 Aug. 20 Fairbanks-Tentative

Day 20 Aug. 21 Dawson City

Day 21 Aug. 22 Whitehorse

Day 22 Aug. 23 Skagway-Take 3-hour train ride and overnight in Skagway.

Day 23 Aug. 24 Skagway-Alaska Ferry-Check in 6A for 7A ferry-Arrive Juneau

1:30 P same day-check in 3:15P for 4:15P ferry-overnight on ferry.

Day 24 Aug. 25 Alaska Ferry-overnight on ferry.

Day 25 Aug. 26 Arrive Prince Rupert at 1:15 p.m.-Check into hotel and explore.

Day 26 Aug. 27 B.C.Ferry-check in 5:30A for 7:30A ferry to Pt. Hardy-arrive 10:30P.

Overnight in Pt. Hardy.

Day 27 Aug. 28 Vancouver Island (Buchart Gardens)

Day 28 Aug. 29 Vancouver (Gordon Parke)

Day 29 Aug. 30 Seattle

Day 30 Aug. 31 Seattle

Day 31 Sept. 1 Seattle (Glenda flies home)

I am going to meet Jim in Cranbrook, BC which is about 350 miles from my home in Kennewick, WA and I am taking my camping gear. Jim is planning to camp until he meets his wife in Anchorage and I expect Charley to be staying in motels the entire trip. This trip is at a pretty relaxed pace (300-400 miles a day) and it is not necessary to ride as a group since the destinations are pretty small towns and it will be very easy to find each other at the end of the day. I am not real excited about going all the way to Anchorage and may spend a couple of days goofing off in Whitehorse, Skagway, and/or Dawson City. A side trip to Inuvik, NWT might be an option if I had a travel partner. I also am not that excited about a Alaska ferry ride and may ride to Prince Rupert via the Stewart-Cassiar highway.

If anyone is interested in participating in all or just a part of this trip, post up or send me a PM.

 

[beemerdons]

MCRIDER007: If this is Jim Schulz of Marion, Texas please give a big hello to Big Jim from Don Stanley and Rena Leverence.

Rena and I rode with Jim and Glenda on the New Year's PVMT Ride to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico way back in 2003.

Please give Jim our e-mail addresses: [email protected] & [email protected] Rena now lives in Katy, Texas

 

[MCRIDER007]

MCRIDER007: If this is Jim Schulz of Marion, Texas please give a big hello to Big Jim from Don Stanley and Rena Leverence.
Rena and I rode with Jim and Glenda on the New Year's PVMT Ride to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico way back in 2003.

Please give Jim our e-mail addresses: [email protected] & [email protected] Rena now lives in Katy, Texas

Yep, same guy (and he never changes) except he lives in Schertz, TX now and he is in San Miguel de Allende for PVMT's New Years ride again this year. Send him an email at [email protected], I am sure he would like to hear from you.

 

[beemerdons]

MCRIDER007: If this is Jim Schulz of Marion, Texas please give a big hello to Big Jim from Don Stanley and Rena Leverence.
Rena and I rode with Jim and Glenda on the New Year's PVMT Ride to San Miguel de Allende, Mexico way back in 2003.

Please give Jim our e-mail addresses: [email protected] & [email protected] Rena now lives in Katy, Texas

Yep, same guy (and he never changes) except he lives in Schertz, TX now and he is in San Miguel de Allende for PVMT's New Years ride again this year. Send him an email at [email protected], I am sure he would like to hear from you.

Yes sir, Jim and Glenda are great people! If you go to www.motodiscovery.com you'll see the four of us in the trip pictures.

 

[SockMonkey]

Wow. This is incredibly tempting... I've got 2+ weeks to work with this next summer and it's a toss up between a trip such as this and NAFO. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

 

[user 6393]

If you are coming back thru the coastal area, there is a ferry between Prince Rupert that would put you on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Great roads here, including one of the top rated 'twisties' roads in BC right at our doorstep. We'd be happy to show you around, and, depending how many there are of you, put you up for a night on your way down island and thru Victoria...

barb

 

[MCRIDER007]

If you are coming back thru the coastal area, there is a ferry between Prince Rupert that would put you on the northern tip of Vancouver Island. Great roads here, including one of the top rated 'twisties' roads in BC right at our doorstep. We'd be happy to show you around, and, depending how many there are of you, put you up for a night on your way down island and thru Victoria...

barb,

Thank you for the suggestion/invitation. I am assuming that we would get off the Alaska Ferry and board the BC Ferry at Prince Rupert -- which sounds like a lot more fun than riding the ferry to all the way to Bellingham and having to ride another ferry back to Victoria. I will pass your suggestion on to Jim.

 

[MCRIDER007]

Wow. This is incredibly tempting... I've got 2+ weeks to work with this next summer and it's a toss up between a trip such as this and NAFO. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

If you would like to get a taste of the Canadian Rockies and the ALCAN and only use one week of vacation, you could ride with us as far as Watson Lake and then take the Steward-Cassiar back which would be a big circle without any backtracking.

 

[MCRIDER007]

I have updated the itinerary for our 2008 Alaska ride in the original post. Some dates have changed slightly but the biggest change is that we are going to follow barb's excellent suggestion to catch the BC Ferry at Prince Rupert and take the Inland Passage ferry ride Port Hardy, which is at the north end of Vancouver Island.

This is a pretty long trip but if anyone wants to only ride part way they should send me a PM to discuss options.

 

[Stephen]

This sounds very cool! May I assume that MOST of the roads will be paved? :dribble:

My FJR does NOT like gravel or back roads. The plastic tends to come loose and fall off or worse! Don't ask, I'll never tell! :blink:

I will camp a LITTLE bit but my old bones scream "motel"!

I'd love to come back on Vancouver Island.

I need to be back in time for the Soundrider.com event at the gorge in SE Washington (late August).

 

[MCRIDER007]

This sounds very cool! May I assume that MOST of the roads will be paved? :dribble:

The only parts of the trip that are not paved is a 50 mile section west of the US-Yukon border between Tok and Dawson City and 3 sections totalling 48 miles on the Steward Cassiar highway. The ALCAN has been totally paved since 1992 but there will always be a few construction zones that can be up to 10 miles in length.

 

[KSFJR]

Petey and I are going to Alaska on our KLR650's, leaving the FJR's for other trips. He is leaving Oklahoma and coming up to Kansas City on the 24th of May, leaving Kansas City Sunday morning the 25th. If the roads are open we are going through Glacier Ntl Park and then heading up to Banff. About the only thing scheduled is the ferry leaving Haines, AK on the 19th of June arriving in Prince Rupert, B.C. at 3:15 in the morning on the 21st. Then we will work our way back home.

Over on the KLR site and the ADVrider site there appears to be a number of people heading up to Alaska this summer. Hell, we should probably just go to L.A. and avoid the trafiic. :lol:

Chester

 

[FJR_pig]

Wow. This is incredibly tempting... I've got 2+ weeks to work with this next summer and it's a toss up between a trip such as this and NAFO. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Alaska is not going anywhere. NAFO 1, however, is a once in a lifetime event. Skip it and we'll laugh and call you names forever...

Cool looking itinerary, though. 31 days is a long time.

 

[SockMonkey]

Wow. This is incredibly tempting... I've got 2+ weeks to work with this next summer and it's a toss up between a trip such as this and NAFO. Decisions, decisions, decisions...

Alaska is not going anywhere. NAFO 1, however, is a once in a lifetime event. Skip it and we'll laugh and call you names forever...

Cool looking itinerary, though. 31 days is a long time.

Nope, the decision has been made: NAFO 1 it is (this year). An Alaska trip will definitely be the priority in '09!

 

[thegunslinger]

You've got a good relaxed pace trip there. Look me when you get here.