MegaWatts has started his Epic Journey to Alaska!

[wheatonFJR]

Have a great time on your trip to Alaska.

I presume you are going to make it all right with Bob over the incident. That It had to suck when that all happened...but if you are going to make it all right, I'm sure all will be forgiven. Glad nobody was hurt...and hope you get a good replacement in a timely fashion.

 

[MegaWatts]

Have a great time on your trip to Alaska.

I presume you are going to make it all right with Bob over the incident. That It had to suck when that all happened...but if you are going to make it all right, I'm sure all will be forgiven. Glad nobody was hurt...and hope you get a good replacement in a timely fashion.

Yeah Bob and I are cool, he was great. I told him to call me if he discovers something later and I'll set it straight.

 

[MegaWatts]

A few pictures from NAFO:

[Rainy Departure Day/b]

 

Waiting for the Ferry

 

 

 

[majicmaker]

Wow! That reminds me of SFO 09. It was raining buckets the whole time. But, with cold beer and BBQ going all the time, no one was complaining. We still had a Blast! :clapping:

 

[MegaWatts]

Wow! That reminds me of SFO 09. It was raining buckets the whole time. But, with cold beer and BBQ going all the time, no one was complaining. We still had a Blast! :clapping:

Yeah, it would have taken more than rain to keep us from having fun and riding, and...

 

[MegaWatts]

Yesterday I made it to Dawson Creek, which is the beginning of the Alaskan Highway. For whatever reason, yesterday was the first time I've actually felt road weary, where the miles were going by slowly and I wasn't really enjoying the ride. I think the main reason is that the scenery has changed from mountains and twisty roads to flat and straight and windy, and also I'm not hanging out with anyone from here on.

At the end of a 6-hour or so day, I was cranky and just got a hotel. Everything was bugging me, and I just wanted to take a shower and a nap after camping the previous night. Well, while I was checking in I had left the light on the bike on. When I came out to unpack, I discovered it wouldn't start--just what I freakin' needed. So instead of a shower and a nap I had to track down a place to charge the battery, and then try to find a place to buy a new one.

In the course of this seriously annoying quest I encountered the nicest people on earth next to Mormons--the Canadians. I walked, with my battery, to a nearby muffler shop to see if they had a charger. They were happy to help me, and in fact gave me a ride back to the motorcycle, waited for me to reinstall the battery, and then gave me a jump just to make sure it started. He said if I needed anything else, anytime, I knew where they were.

With the bike running again, I started out to all the snowmobile dealers to find a new battery, with no luck. But, everyone was bending over backwards to help, including customers in line behind me. They were recommending places to check, calling other places in nearby towns to see if one was in stock, and in general people were actually eager to help me. What the hell? It was so foreign to me to be the object of so much friendliness and trust and care from strangers that it made me uncomfortable. So I went back to the hotel and took a shower and a nap. I think I also ate a couple candy bars.

As for the battery, now that it's charged I can start the bike no problem, as long as I don't leave the lights on. I still need a new one though, because 10 minutes with the lights on shouldn't have drained it. I'm going to try to find one in the next town, Fort St. John. Towns are getting smaller and smaller and further apart as I head north and west, so I want everything to be whole.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Interesting, I was wondering if the magic lights on my Gen II were the same on the Gen I but it seems not to be so. I kind of like that the headlights don't come on till the bike is actually started and not just the key in the on position. I know I've done the "Leave the lights on" thing once or twice and it sucks, but to do it so far from home would really suck.

Nice to see you had help up there though. It's nice to know that you aren't completely on your own so far from home and always good to find friendly helpful folks.

 

[MegaWatts]

As it turns out I'm a dumbass and my battery is fine. I had it tested at the Yamaha dealer in Whitehorse and it' checked out. Apparently 10 minutes with the lights on (ok more like 30) will drain the battery even if it's good. So anyway that's good news.

Interesting, I was wondering if the magic lights on my Gen II were the same on the Gen I but it seems not to be so. I kind of like that the headlights don't come on till the bike is actually started and not just the key in the on position.

Yeah on my Gen I the lights don't come on until you start it, but they don't go off until you turn the key, even if the engine is off.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Hrm....good to know. Hadn't tried that one yet, but I always shut down the bike with the key anyway.

 

[Intech]

Have a great time on your trip to Alaska.

I presume you are going to make it all right with Bob over the incident. That It had to suck when that all happened...but if you are going to make it all right, I'm sure all will be forgiven. Glad nobody was hurt...and hope you get a good replacement in a timely fashion.

Yeah Bob and I are cool, he was great. I told him to call me if he discovers something later and I'll set it straight.

Andy,

We are home now after three long days of scourching temps. I may get to cleaning the bike tomorrow and I may not. The only thing I have to take off the bike is the hitch to see if it can be bent back. Other than that tweaking the right can back in place and all should be good.

I hope the rest of you journey goes well. We will have to get together when you get back.

Bob

 

[MegaWatts]

Andy,We are home now after three long days of scourching temps. I may get to cleaning the bike tomorrow and I may not. The only thing I have to take off the bike is the hitch to see if it can be bent back. Other than that tweaking the right can back in place and all should be good.

I hope the rest of you journey goes well. We will have to get together when you get back.

Bob

Bob,

Glad you guys made it home. Yeah I hear the weather's been crazy out there, hope you have power. In any case let me know how things go with the hitch. Will definitely give you a call when I get back.

Andy

 

[MegaWatts]

I made it to Fairbanks today, and have a long way to go. From here to the town of Coldfoot is 254 miles, and from Coldfoot to Deadhorse is 241 miles. Weather will probably be the determining factor--if it's sunny I'll probably make it, but if it's raining I probably won't. It's sunny now in Fairbanks at 9:49 pm, but the weather in AK is too dynamic to predict what it will be like along the haul road, so I'm just going to go forward as if it will be sunny.

Tonight I'm staying in a dorm room at the University of Alaska. No! That's not why! It's because they rent rooms out during the summer, and they are particularly motorcycle friendly, and very inexpensive--my room is only like $57 and there's wifi and free laundry. It's become an ad hoc meeting place for bikers riding the Dalton. I met Joe and Fred (BMW guys) who had just finished the ride and they gave me a lot of valuable information about conditions and camping and such. They said there's a tour you can do in Deadhorse of the oil fields and the Arctic Ocean. In fact it's the only way you can see the Arctic Ocean because they won't let anyone out there for security reasons, or so I'm told.

 

[Niehart]

Andy, take care and be safe. Things can get iffy quick up there.

 

[Canadian FJR]

Wow, what a fantasic ride. Keep the updates coming.

Canadian FJR

 

[majicmaker]

I made it to Fairbanks today, and have a long way to go. From here to the town of Coldfoot is 254 miles, and from Coldfoot to Deadhorse is 241 miles. Weather will probably be the determining factor--if it's sunny I'll probably make it, but if it's raining I probably won't. It's sunny now in Fairbanks at 9:49 pm, but the weather in AK is too dynamic to predict what it will be like along the haul road, so I'm just going to go forward as if it will be sunny.

Tonight I'm staying in a dorm room at the University of Alaska. No! That's not why! It's because they rent rooms out during the summer, and they are particularly motorcycle friendly, and very inexpensive--my room is only like $57 and there's wifi and free laundry. It's become an ad hoc meeting place for bikers riding the Dalton. I met Joe and Fred (BMW guys) who had just finished the ride and they gave me a lot of valuable information about conditions and camping and such. They said there's a tour you can do in Deadhorse of the oil fields and the Arctic Ocean. In fact it's the only way you can see the Arctic Ocean because they won't let anyone out there for security reasons, or so I'm told.

Wow! I'm looking at the map and it doesn't get any more north than Deadhorse except for Prudhoe Bay which looks like minutes away! You Da Man!! :clapping:

 

[MegaWatts]

It took 14 hours, but Monday July 2nd I rode from Fairbanks and made it to Deadhorse/Prudhoe Bay. It was an exciting and beautiful ride on the dirt through magnificent expanses of uninhabited mountains and valleys. I don't have any pictures really because I knew it was going to be a long day and I didn't feel I had the time to stop.

On the way up I passed through the Arctic Circle.

In Coldfoot I ran into this amazing character named Jim. He's 76 years old and is doing the same Iron Butt ride as me, only he had only been on the road for only 13 days! We wound up riding together for the last 100 miles or so, and split a room together in Prudhoe Bay. Here he is gassing up at the weird gas station. See the blue door? The credit card reader is inside there. I guess it's designed that way because of the harsh winters.

The Prudhoe Bay hotel is wild and awesome. It mostly houses oil field workers, and a lot of bikers stay there too, but during our visit only saw 1 other bike guy. But anyway the room was $110, but included dinner and breakfast, and you can pack a lunch for the day you check out. And the food is delicious and plentiful, served out of a central giant cafeteria.

Shots of Deadhorse:

In general the ride up was pretty good. Hit some rain early on, but then it cleared up and was sunny most of the way. While the road definitely had some tricky spots with gravel and rocks, I felt the ominous reports about the road were a little overblown. NOT! Then again, I had pretty good weather. The main problem is that my radiator is caked with mud and might cause an overheating issue on the eway back. There aren't any car washes or anything like that here, it's all industrial space for oil field operations.

 

[FJRBandit]

Congrats on making it to Deadhorse Mega! Was supposed to be there myself about this time, but plans were derailed, I should say delayed 'till another year. Keep it rolling dude, you are doing a great job with the updates. It's tough to do on the road and I applaud your efforts.

 

[gixxerjasen]

Great stuff sir, glad you made it! Thanks for sharing the pictures.

 

[MegaWatts]

Andy, take care and be safe. Things can get iffy quick up there.

Thanks, Niehart.

Well, the ride back was hell compared to the ride up, and things were definitely iffy. I dumped the bike once in some soft gravel with huge rocks, and it was raining making the hard packed roads slick as snot. Luckily a road grader operator was there and helped me lift the bike, although that made it all the more humiliating.

The rain and the mud caked in the radiator and I started overheating. I tried cleaning it off by scraping the wet mud with sticks but it didn't really work, so the only alternative was to ride until the bike got hot, then park and wait for it to cool off. I went through this cycle about 5 times before I finally found some water to wash it off more thoroughly. That did the trick and I made it back to Fairbanks after 400+ miles of this, but not until 2 am.

And, I guess it's a dirty switch somewhere, but the bike only starts in neutral now, whereas I used to just be able to hold the clutch in and it would start--anyone know how to remedy that?

So, although I made it on the FJR, I understand more clearly why I didn't see any other street bikes on the Dalton besides mine.

Today I finally got to a car wash bay and hosed the radiator off completely as well as some of the other spots where the mud had accumulated.

 

[majicmaker]

Dammit Andy!

I'm Drooling Again. :dribble: Deadhorse looks like a whole in the wall and that's an insults to real hole in the walls but, I'd give anything to be riding through that hole with you! This is a Most Excellent Adventure of a life time. :clapping: hope you reach a car wash soon! :lol: