TRAVELLING COMPANIONS
We had a great time riding together. We did a pace that allowed us to take lots of pictures (something in excess of 4,000 between the 4 of us). The game of bear bingo was really fun and allowed each of us to lead for some portion of the the ride.
WEATHER
The weather was simply fabulous! It was over 75 degrees on most days and was in the 80's on several days. It was hard to believe that I would don my vented clothing and ride to the Yukon, Alaska and beyond.
CRITTERS
We were able to see quite a number of bears, moose, bison, goats, caribou, one ugly deer and a number of pretty ones, one squirrel, some undocumented foxes, & a lynx or bobcat. The critters generally didn't want to have anything to do with us with the exception of the deer. I would have liked to see a bull moose.
FUNNIEST STORY
Hands down, the fox and 3 grizzlies account on day 5 remains as the most memorable story of the trip.
MOST SCENIC ROAD
The Haines Highway, hands down. Yukon 8 between Jakes Corner and Carcross was second and the Frazier River Canyon road in BC came in 3rd. Of honorable mention was the last 15 miles of the road into Skagway.
KNARLIEST ROAD
The 1 mile bridge repair between Liard River and Ft. Nelson. Second place was the marble sized gravel on the ALCAN highway west of Watson Lake.
BIGGEST SURPRISE
For me the biggest surprise was the sheer quantity of pavement. We only had about 50 miles of gravel in over 4,000 miles of riding. The second biggest surprise was the weather that I noted above. In third place was the Woodlands Hotel manager's kindness in putting us up in the conference room when there was no room in the inn.
ROUTING
Neil did a fabulous job of creating the route and giving us very doable daily distances to ride. Doing the Cassiar Highway for the route up, the Skagway/Haines/Whitehorse loop and the ALCAN highway for the return was an excellent routing.
GEAR
My FirstGear Kilamanjaro vented jacket and Tourmaster Convertible pants worked very well as did my vented gloves. In the few instances of rain showers, the Frogg Toggs and the Aerostitch Lobster Claw gloves performed well. My Cruiserworks boots kept my feet dry and my riding socks from SoundRider.com worked very well.
TECHNOLOGY
Using the satellite messenging service (SPOT) was possibly the best piece of technology we brought along. It allowed those at home to follow our every move (that can be bad as well)!
Having SKYPE to phone home was really special. SKYPE is an internet based telephone service that provides inexpensive calls throughout the world. WIFI was readily available throughout the ride.
The GPS' came in 3rd as the roads are pretty predictable and there really aren't a lot of options. It was good, however, to save the track and judge riding distances.
I used my new www.bikeMP3.com player for the first long ride. It is a device that plugs into the GL1800's audio system and allows one to play music from SD cards through the Wing's audio system. It worked flawless. My only drawback was that I didn't load enough music on it.
For me, I really liked my XM Satellite Radio when we were not in canyons or in the far north. During the ride south I especially liked listening to the coverage of Music Fest in Nashville.
BIGGEST ANNOYANCE
The lack of card readers at gasoline pumps in much of BC coupled with a legal requirement to walk in and give them a credit card before pumping was a huge annoyance.
WHAT WOULD I DO DIFFERENT ON A FUTURE RIDE?
I'd really like to take my wife with me and take a bit more time to visit some of the museums that we didn't have time to visit. Our Escapade trailer would come with us. The balance of camping and motelling it was perfect. I'd also extend the trip to include at least Anchorage, Homer, Portage, Seward, and the Kenai Peninsula. Adding Fairbanks would be a real treat. I'd also bring a bit more Canadian currency. I'd bring my small camera tripod to make it easier to do self pictures.
WHAT WOULDN'T I TAKE ON A FUTURE RIDE TO ALASKA?
I'd leave my thermos bottle behind along with my thermals. I'd probably leave one of my 4 pairs of gloves behind.
MOST IMPORTANT THOUGHT
Live the dream. I'd been seriously dreaming about riding to Alaska for 3 plus years. There's really something about living the dream that makes it very special. To do it with Neil, Tom, and Tim2 made it extra special. Thanks for the memories, guys.
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