AK '09 - Day 19

I woke up before the alarm clock today. It was a good night's sleep. I think it was the fan that made sleep so good and easy.

We were supposed to be on the bikes by 7am but we were all ready to go before then. I took the lead today and didn't see much of the guys in the rear view mirror. That little Spyder can boogie.

The first part of the morning was wet but once we crossed the border the sky seemed to clear and the sun started to shine. Unfortunately there was too much smoke from the brush fires in Alaska.

The route was simple, we went from Delta Junction to Destruction Bay. We stopped in Tok for breakfast. Unfortunately that was a little late for breakfast so we didn't have lunch. By the time we made it to Destruction Bay I was pretty hungry.

Tomorrow we are supposed to head to Teslin, but we may ride farther depending on the room situation.

So what about the Spyder. It hauls butt! It sticks to the road really well, you just have to have faith. The distance between the seat and the foot pegs is a little short so my hips cramp up quickly. There's no throttle lock yet, so the wrist gets a little sore after a while. And the handle bars are a little long to reach. All of these things are fixable, but I want to let Reagan check out the bike before we start adding the goodies. It really is a fun machine. And of course, it needs some paint for Reagan.

AK '09 - Day 18

Back on the road again!

It was too dang hot to sleep last night. Without a fan I couldn't get the room comfortable enough to sleep in. I probably managed to get a few hours of sleep though. I rose early and got my shower then watched a little hulu. I took care some of business stuff and packed up. By 9am I was checked out of the room and headed to the Can Am dealership.

I took care of some paperwork and the Spyder was mine. The salesman went down to the DMV office to transfer the title while we started working on the GS. The plan was to strip the GS and then start putting everything on the Spyder. John and Jerry started working on the rear end while I started working on the front end. Eventually I got every off, even the gas tank. At first I was just going to pull apart the stuff I needed for the Spyder but then it just made sense to go ahead and pull all the wires so it doesn't have to be done when it  gets to Wild West in a month.

After everything was off and we put the bike back together, then we moved the Can Am up onto pavement  and started taking it apart. I took all the plastics off on the righthand side and the rear. Jerry started working on the antenna for the CB, John started to work on the J&M Radio mount and I starte working on the GPS mount. I'm pretty sure I had the easier item to mount. Jerry left for some hardware and then John realized he needed some parts for the radio. Finally Jerry returned and we sent him out again. Meanwhile I started working on running the cabling.

Finally the radio was mounted, the antenna was mounted and the gps was done. Jerry soldered up the cigarrette plug and we had to do a little troubleshooting since the dealership didn't bother to troubleshoot their work. It turned out they didn't plug a fuse into the accessory spot. Once we added the fuse we had power and everything worked.

The only thing left to do was button things up and install the tank bag and the tank paniers. It took a little effort to get the tank bag positioned correctly so it didn't interferre with the seat or the steering. Finally the bike was ready to roll.

I settled up with the dealership and for $1,390 my GS will get to Texas in about 4 weeks. Then the fun begins. I'll have to fix a broken gas tank connector, add some fuel and connect the battery. Then it'll be ready for Wild West to tear apart and fix the transmission. It's probably going to be 2 months before I'm riding it again. That's sad.

So we left the BMW shop and went to Wendy's for a late lunch. Then we pulled out of town and went down Highway 2 toward Delta Junction. It was only a hundred miles but it gave me some real time in the saddle with the new ride. It's different, steering works different. But it accelerates like crazy. It's a fun bike. The seat isn't very comfortable and it needs bar risers to put the rider in a more upright position. But the bike is FUN.

Tomorrow we are headed to Destruction Bay for the night. A grilled cinamon bun for breakfast will be great! I already know the road is gonna be crappy tomorrow because it's lots of construction but with the trike it shouldn't be a problem.

AK '09 - Day 17

What a wild day. I've had disappointment, excitement, frustration and more. I'll start at the beginning.

I awoke around 6:30 after a decent night's sleep. No A/C made it a little warm but I slept fine none the less. I discovered I could log onto history.com and stream Ice Road truckers on the computer just like turning on the TV. So that's what I fell asleep to and it did the trick just fine.

After I awoke I watched a few episodes of Kings on Hulu then showered and ate breakfast. I was trying to give the shop a few hours to look at the bike and call me. Well they didn't open until 9 and by 10 I was really ready to go up there. Finally I got up there just after 11am.

When I arrived there were lots of people in the service area all trying to get service. One fellow, his name was Rich, who I met on Sunday evening at the Super 8 had gone to the Arctic Circle after hearing me talk about the road. On the way back his bike's transmission failed to run in 4th or 5th gear. No it was not a BMW but a Sporty. I overheard the service manager tell him that they didn't have the staff to tear transmissions apart and rebuild them. Crap! I new that's what my transmission needed. Why didn't he tell me that yesterday. Grrrr.

The mechanic hadn't ridden my bike when I got there but the mechanic and my bike were no where to be found so we figured he was out test riding it. A little bit later Scooter called me from Trails End to say he had checked out the bike. I told him I was in the service department so he came on up and we talked. He's a pretty cool guy from Waco, TX and seemed to be pretty genuine. He told me he simply didn't have the time or man power in the shop to tear down my transmission until the winter and doing so would take weeks even if he could. So my choices were to ride the bike until the tranny locked up or ship it home. I was sick to my stomach. I called Reagan to give her the bad news and being the wonderfully supportive wife she mentioned if there was a GS on the showroom floor that I could always buy it and ride it home then sell one of them. That was tempting but a stock GS for 6,000 miles just didn't seem like something I wanted. So I was going to get the quote on the shipping and Reagan would help me with the flight home.

Since it was going to take the rest of the afternoon and maybe tomorrow morning before I knew what the shipping cost would be I decided to leave and possibly go get drunk waiting on the guys to come into town. Of on a whim I went across the street to the Can-Am dealership to see if they had any Spyders. As luck would have it they had an '08 demo unit with 2,100 miles in silver. It  had a larger windshield and the passenger backrest. And it was priced to sell. At first I blew off the salesman but then I got to thinking that in it's stock form it could probably work for the rest of the trip. Maybe...

I left the dealership and called Reagan while I was in the car. She seemed genuinely excited about the prospect although it wasn't the automatic version. She was going to check on the prices while I went back to look at the storage trunk and talk the salesman again. While I was talking with Rodney, Reagan messaged me with prices and it was clear I was getting a fair deal. I told him I needed to be able to get through Canada and back into the US on my way home without issue and he agreed to investigate how to go about doing that. Then he told me he would call me back by 4pm with an answer. This was the sort of can-do attitude I was missing in Alaska.

Just after leaving the dealership I got a call from Fred saying they were in town and having lunch at a taco place. I drove over and had lunch with them while talking about the state of the GS and the possible new acquisition. Afterwards we ran to the grocery store for alcohol and tried to check them into the dive they were going to stay at. I should have taken pictures, it was pretty bad. Things didn't go so well and the clerk tried to rip Fred off with an extra room charge. I'm sorry $129 for a double was ludicrous. You could get a Super 8 room for that and that's what they did in the end.

Just about 4 o'clock I got the call from Rodney saying he had things figured out. So I went over to test ride it and complete the sale. After the ride I knew I didn't have much bargaining power since I was grinning from ear to ear but I casually asked if he could install a power outlet on the bike before I got it. He said he could if I'd pick it up in the morning. So we did the paperwork and he knocked off a few hundred dollars and included the installation of the outlet to boot. I felt like it was a good deal over all. It turned out he was from Wisconsin and even after 10 years it still bugged him that people in Alaska didn't have a Can Do attitude when it came to things getting done.

I went back to the Super 8 to visit with the guys and go to dinner. The Denny's next to the Super 8 in Fairbanks.... STAY AWAY!!! Piss poor service and that was with the manager waiting on us. After dinner we went back to Fred's room for some libations and a little route planning. It was decided that John and Jerry will stay behind to help me pull some things off the GS and mount them on the Spyder so I have GPS and comms. Fred and Dick will ride down the road to Delta Junction and secure some rooms. Then we'll ride down tomorrow evening when we are done with the bike and have the GS crated up.

So by Thurday morning when I wake up we'll be right on schedule just as if this whole debacle had never occured. Except I'll be on 3 wheels instead of 2 and I won't have my comfortable Russel Day Long seat. But I'll be riding again and Reagan is getting a new bike out of the deal. In trip presents, I think this just might beat the Rolex she got when we went to Germany. At least in size it will.



It's not bright yellow as I would have liked but the black and silver combination should lend itself nicely to some pink accents. Maybe some ralley stripes down the middle or something. One thing for sure, there is a massive aftermarket for this thing. It's almost as bad as a Harley.

AK '09 - Day 16

Today I was up early with a headache, so I took the bike to the car wash to get a layer of dirt off. $11 dollars later I had a semblance of a normally dirty bike. It was clean enough to work on but not too clean. Then it was back to the hotel for breakfast. I was really surprised to see the pitiful "Super Start" breakfast at this Super 8. It was as bad as the hotel in St. Petersburg. I got some oatmeal and 2 little muffins and went to the room.

I wanted to get to the dealership before they opened so I could hopefully get them to look at it today. A rider rode up on a Harley that had a high idle. The place was still closed and this guy was in a bad mood. Then a tech walked out, asked if it was carberated and grabbed a screw driver. A few minutes later he had the bike loping along like a Harley is supposed to. I thought this was a good sign. Then Jerry, the guy, walked over and surveyed the line of folks waiting. He went inside and got everyone to open a little early and got us taken care of. I thought this was a good sign.

Since my problem was big, they shuffled me to the back so they could get the tiny problems written up and out of the way. While waiting I discovered Jerry was transitioning from Service Manager to Finance Manager due to some medical issues and that his replacement Demetrius wasn't very qualified at his new job just yet. This was the first bad sign.

Finally, Demetrius wrote me up and took my key. I asked how far it was to the airport and if it was in walking distance. Demetrius started telling me how to get there when Jerry stepped in and said he would be happy to take me over there as it was too far to walk. Another great sign for Jerry, bad sign for Demetrius. I asked when I might get a diagnosis and when they wanted me back to remove the wiring work I had done. Demetrius said he would call me this afternoon so I left with Jerry and went to the airport for a rental car.

With rental car acquired, the next step was to get out of the Super 8 and into some more affordable housing so I called up the university and took advantage of their summer guest housing. It turned out to be $36/night since I was staying for at least a week. For that rate I can put up with the community bathrooms, no A/C, and no TV. It does include a fast Internet connection so I was happy. I found out later that I needed a parking pass which costs $15 a week but I'm still ahead of the game. Heck, the rental car cost me more than my lodging for the same period.

I checked into my new digs and started catching up on picture uploads. Pictures have been posted through today. As it got closer to 5pm I decided to go pop-in on the dealership to see how things were going. Just before I got there I realized I didn't have the keys to my bike so I couldn't get into my top case which I needed to do. So I called instead and Demetrius told me he was so busy today and short staffed that he didn't even get a tech to ride the bike. That didn't set well with me but instead of blowing up at him, I just explained that I'm sitting in his city alone, spending money that I had worked hard to save to make this trip and see parts of the country I haven't seen before. Not to sit in a room waiting on people to fix a bike that they are too busy to worry about. He was genuinely apologetic and promised that he would have it test ridden in the morning so they could start diagnosing the problem. That's all I can hope for now. He's really my only option for saving the trip, otherwise I end up contacting a shipping company and have the bike shipped home so it can be fixed locally. That too will take time so I'm hopeful I've made the better decision.

Since I was almost to the dealership when I called I stopped in at the Fred Meyer instead. This is equivalent to a Wal-Mart, Rice Epicruian, Circuit City, Home Depot all rolled into one. OMG! It was huge and  there were so many people. I got some bottle water, bagels and peanut butter for breakfast along with some snacks. I figured I'd eat breakfast in the room each morning and then I only had to figure out lunch and dinner. The total grocery bill for 6 days of breakfast plus water and snacks was $19. $3 a day for 1 meal will work. If I can find the microwave and kitchen I'll pick up some soup and crackers and that will take care of another daily meal. There just isn't much in the way of decent dining establishments here and I don't see any reason to waste money when I can save a few bucks while sitting around waiting for the bike. I make check out the Alaskan Salmon Bake one evening though, that looked interesting.

Hopefully, they'll do as promised and the bike will get looked at tomorrow morning. Then the tear down process can begin and I can do my part. That should free up Wednesday and Thursday for site seeing. I'd like to drive down to Denali and maybe run back down to the little town where Northern Exposure was filmed. If I'm really lucky and it's just a bearing then they can get it back together by Friday so I could rewire things and leave on Saturday. That would be great. I'll cross my fingers.

Well, I guess I'd better catch up on my Internet shows some more, I've got a few of them in my Hulu queue.

AK '09 - Day 15

I didn't get much sleep last night. The sun doesn't set above the arctic circle and the shades in the room weren't very good at blocking out the sun. I awoke at one point in the night to look outside and it didn't look any different than when I had arrived. My alarm clock was set for 7:30 but I was up before then. I took some time to work on my blog and upload some pictures. I'm still behind on the pictures but should be able to catch up in the coming days.

My mind was preoccupied with one thing, getting back down the Dalton Highway. The transmission was obviously failing and it was unclear if I would actually make it back to Fairbanks or if I'd be stranded on the side of the road. Then there was that horrible gravel and the slick mud to worry about. There was a lot on my mind and nothing looked good at breakfast. I had some oatmeal and bacon. Then I took some banana nut bread for the road, I figured it could be a snack when I started getting hungry from the small breakfast.

Fred called to give me a recommendation from his mechanic buddy so I went in search of some special grease. The idea was that the extra thick grease would help to hold the bearing together. I checked 2 different mechanic shops and neither had what I was looking for so I went to Napa and told them what my problem was. They sold me a small tube of grease and said it would probably get me to Fairbanks if the bearing wasn't too far gone. They took my money and wished me luck.

In my focus to get the bike back I forgot to stop by the gift shop and to mail a post card home. At least I got a picture of me and my bike in Deadhorse. Even with my slow start I was back on the Dalton by 8am and hoping for the best. The first 10 miles didn't seem so bad, the gravel seemed thinner and there were even hard packed sections. Then I got to the deep gravel, but it didn't seem so bad either. Apparently getting some rest made the road seem a little easier.

Around 50 miles out, I reached the hard packed surface again where I could relax a little. As I went south I would come up on sections of the road that had been watered the previous afternoon or evening which helped to keep the dust down. And since it had time to soak in things weren't slick at all.

I reached my first road construction just south of Ice Cut and it was on an uphill section. They had watered it down really well and started dumping gravel for the grader to spread. I moved as far over to the right as I could and just crawled up the hill in 2nd gear trying to keep the throttle steady and not strain the transmission any more than necessary. One of the crew made a comment about the motorcycle probably not liking this work. I quickly came on the radio and said that indeed I didn't like the work but they were doing a fine job of it none the less.

That was really the only nasty wet construction I faced the whole day. I got stopped for some construction north of Atigun Pass where they were spraying oil and dropping gravel. The section I was riding on had already been packed down so it wasn't bad, it was just annoying to sit there and wait for 10 minutes because the pilot truck was at the other end goofing off.

Because of the construction hold up, I ended up with an 18 wheeler behind me going toward Atigun Pass. I put some distance between us as I went up the pass but I knew he would be on my tail coming back down so I pulled over and took a break. The transmission was getting a little noisier but it was still working. I ate some of the banana nut bread and looked over a ledge to see a small creek caused by the snow melt. It was sort of calming to just listen to the running water. Then it was back on the bike to get down the other side.

The south side of the pass is 2 miles long and pretty steep. I kept it slower than I normally would and tried to use the rear brake occasionaly to keep the transmission loaded. When the transmission was loaded in a forward manner the noise went away, but when I put slack in the driveline or introduced engine braking the noise was very pronounced. My reasoning was that if I heard the noise I was accelerating the demise of the bearing so the goal was to minimize the noise.

On the south side of the pass the road got better. The gravel was less and there was more stretches of a sandy hard packed surface. The challenge was to keep my speed steady and smooth. I  could easily go 60mph on such a surface but I wanted to keep the rpms at 3,000 or less. Again, I figured lower rpms meant longer bearing life. Even with the reduced speed I ended up passing a fellow rider on an older GS R80. The guy seemed totally in control but comfortable to take it at a slower pace.

Finally I arrived at ColdFoot. I only had 172 miles of the highway left.  I went in the store to get the pump turned on and visited with a fellow rider on a Honda dirt bike that he had made street legal for doing dual sport rides. He was contemplating whether or not he would go up to Deadhorse or not. He wasn't impressed with the $200/night rooms in ColdFoot. I suggested he could try Wiseman just up the road or that he could make Deadhorse in 6 hours or so from the conditions that I had experienced. But I told him that up to ColdFoot the road was really pristine compared to what he would find north. After filling up the bike and getting my receipt, the R80 GS rider had arrived. Apparently he gave a similar report and the Honda rider decided he'd just head back south. The GS rider was a British gentleman. We talked about the challenges of traveling the road alone and he told me about a guy who had wrecked on Friday and had to be evacuated by air. Ouch! He also had a tip over when pulling off to take a break. His handlebars got turned in the gravel and down he went. No harm to him but it broke his windshield. Bummer.

Time was ticking so I got back on the bike and asked it to hold together just a little bit longer. The GPS had a mileage count down to the next turn which happened to be the end of the Dalton. I kept doing math in my head to figure out just how long it would be until I was off the road. I was also trying to figure out what it would cost to get a tow and how close I was to the 100 mile tow with AAA. The Honda rider and I passed each other along the way as we each took our respective breaks. It was sort of reassuring to know there was another rider out there that I could waive down if things went wrong.

Once I got passed the Artic Circle I was certain the transmission would just give up. The road had progressively gone from long straight flats to rolling hills. It sounded like I was really stressing the tranmission every time I would go down a hill. Before I knew it I was down to the Yukon River and crossing the bridge. Just before the Yukon I crossed paths with 2 Harleys wearing half helmets and wife beater shirts. I felt sorry for them because the first time a big truck blew by them they were going to learn the benefit of propper gear. It was late enough in the day that I figured they were just going up to the Artic Circle.

South of the Yukon I was back on some decent pavement but with the rolling hills I had to work to keep the speeds in check. And then it was the last 20 miles which is small gravel. I passed the Honda rider as he was loading his bike into the back of his truck. That's how he managed to pack so light on that bike.

Just before I got off the road, I passed 2 riders on Beemers. One of them was happily riding along in a T shirt and ball cap with his helmet strapped to the back of the bike. I couldn't believe someone could be so foolish. Forget about falling down or crashing, it's those big flying rocks that can put a hurt on you.

Finally I began the mile long descent to the beginning of the Dalton. I knew the end was in sight. When I reached Highway 2 I pulled off the road to rejoice over my accomplishment. I had gone up and come back down the Dalton Highway without dropping the bike or having an accident. And now if I needed to call for a tow it would be free. I took some pictures of the road signs, dusted off my tail lights and headed toward Fairbanks. I had 80 miles to go and my only concern was whether the rear wheel might lock up if the transmission decided to croak.

I arrived in Fairbanks and went straight to the BMW shop to see what time they opened. Secretly I was hoping they might still be open but they weren't. I looked at a nearby motel for $69/night but decided better of it. As a rule, I won't stay in a motel near a strip club and there was one just around the corner from the motel. So, although it was next to the dealership I passed. If there had been a place to eat and if they had Internet I might have reconsidered though.

I checked into the Super 8 and visited with some riders out in the parking lot. Seeing a motorcycle that was totally covered in mud it was pretty evident where I had been. There were all sorts of questions about road conditions and such. I told them all they would be fine going to the Artic Circle and even up to Cold Foot but they needed to realize their bikes could still get missed up with flying rocks and all the dirt. Go slow and be careful was my advice.

I called Reagan and then Fred and John. I was really happy to be off the road and 'home' so to speak. The past 2 days seemed like a really big adventure. The bike was still running and the transmission hadn't really worsened much since getting off the Dalton.

It took me 11 and a half hours to go from Deadhorse to Fairbanks (500 miles). If I didn't have the transmission worries I probably could have saved an hour or so but maybe not as I could have enjoyed the road a little better. Going from Tok to Deadhorse the day before took 17 and a half hours (700 miles). Going up I took a slower pace because the road was an unknown, coming back it was easier because I knew what to expect. I think I want to break up the ride into 4 days the next time I go up to Deadhorse to get that sticker I forgot.

In the morning I will take the bike over to a car wash before I go to the dealership.  I really wasn't planning on spending a week in Fairbanks so I'll have to wait and see what the dealership comes up with. If I'm able to get on the road by late Tuesday (7/14) or early Wednesday then I should be able to salvage the portition of the trip with Reagan. Otherwise this vavaction, which has been in planning for the past year, will be a disaster.

Obviously there won't be any daily ride reports for the next several days but I'll still try to make some entries. I think I might go down to Denali National Park and check out the bus ride tour. It's an easy day trip and it's not like I have much else to do. I'm going to have to do something about lodging too as the Super 8 is costing me $141/night and I could be here for a week or more.

And I'm not ready to sell my bike for another brand just yet either. The GS has a feature set that just fits me. The shaft drive, heated grips, great torque and dual sport nature are things that I like. It's my do anything bike. I just thave to work out these kinks so I can take a long trip without interruption.

Time for some rest