if you get to Wasilla, Alaska stop by and see us

 

We left Brandon in the rain, and ran most of the day in light rain. By the time we hit Saskatoon, SK it was pouring. Stayed in a dump downtown. Left Saskatoon this morning and followed 16 to Edmonton, AB and took 43 North to White Court. We have a room here. We had planned to camp, but it was sprinkling when we arrived so we went for a room instead. We head out in the morning through Peace River and maybe Manning or High Level.

 

Internet connections lousy or non existent for last 2 days.
We made 547 miles on the 20th. We rode up to the NWT and then on to Dawson Creek and spent the night. We go up yesterday and left on the Alaska Highway. We at at mile 462 in a lodge. Road conditions, some rain, a lot of gravel patches, and a few bumps. Saw our first caribou and moose today. We head for Watson Lake today.

 

We spent the night in Whitehorse, YT last night. It rained all morning, but cleared enough to encourage us to ride over to Skagway, AK to eat supper and back to the motel this evening. It was raining and very foggy on the mountain pass.

 

Too bad the weather's not cooperating .

 

Thanks for the updates. I'm going up next year so this is really interesting. If you wouldn't mind, it would be helpful to know how much you are being charged at the hotels you are staying at.

Good luck and stay safe!

 

We have spent anywhere from $89 to $135 plus tax a night. The quality has been varied too. Price does not guarantee a top notch room.
Gas prices have been .87 a liter to 1.23 a liter of regular, premium if available is usually .10 higher.
The more remote, the higher the price, and the greater chance that the premium you buy is stale or may have just been regular anyway.
Carry additive and expect to use it if you have a harley.

The road conditions were somewhat expected to be austere.
We only went as far as Whitehorse on the Alaska Highway and the worst we encountered were long gravel patches and the occasional dips and potholes.

The highway we took out of Watson Lake home, Hwy 37 was another story.
The first 200 miles were potholes, not all are marked and some can damage a bike. Gravel patches, construction in several spots. One long stretch of them doing what they call seal coating ( looks like they till the surface, grade it, pack it and water it down with calcium something) Makes for some interesting riding in the different stages of construction, especially going uphill. Nothing you can not overcome, but expect delays, and make sure you allow for extra travel time.

 

Great thread!!

 

We spent the night in Golden, BC. Going through the park was interesting. No one can look at anything going 65-70 mph. At least 2 cages tied up close to the exit near Golden. Delays for 45-60 minutes. Still misting this morning, headed to Montana. Larry needs to get out of these mountains with his breathing problem. The tunnels in the park were nice, except for the one with an inch of water in the middle, wasn't ready for that! The one with the curve is a change too! I had my camera around my neck and was trying to get a picture or two. Hard to let go and feel ok leaning into curves and dodging cages at 65 mph with open air out there.

will try to post a pic when I get a chance.

 

We left Dawson Creek and rode to mile 462 and stayed at the Northern Rockies Inn for the night. At lot of gravel patches on the road, great views. We left there and made it to Whitehorse the next day and passed through Watson Lake, the home of the signpost forest. We didn't move the next morning because of the rain, but it cleared up by noon. We made a run over to Skagway, AK over the top of a mountain. The customs stations were over 12 miles apart on each side of the mountain. It was raining and so foggy that I was riding looking down at the white line on the side of the road to see where to go. We could not stop for fear someone would hit us from behind. Skagway is a tourist town for the folks getting off the cruise ships. We ate supper there and turned around and had to face the mountain again. We left Whitehore the next day and back to Watson Lake. I talked Larry into going back a different route than back down the Alaska Hwy. We turned south on the old Stewart/Cassier hwy. The first two hundred miles were much worse than anything we had experienced on the AK hwy. We spent the night 150 miles down it and got up the next morning and continued on the Smithers, BC. We had to pressure wash the bikes to get the gray mud, dirt off the motorcycles. We stopped the next day at the Harley shop in Price George where I finally found a fuel line for my Heritage. I lost one of my armour lens for the RH spot lamp to a bird strike. We spent the night in Williams Lake. We lift headed for Golden, BC and rode through a National Park where they had railroad tunnels, and several we had to go through toward the end. A couple had water running in them and one turned out to be curved. An accident involving two or three cages delayed our exit from the park about 45 min.
Doing my checks, the next day, I found that the key to hold the axle nut on the rear was gone. Repaired it with tie wire brought along for such an incident. We left Golden, BC for Montana and got to Whitefish and found the entrance to the Glacier National Park. The Going to the Sun Road is 50 miles long and is awesome. Tunnels, narrow roads, sometimes no guardrails. Meeting Chevy Yukon on the curves looks like a bus coming at you. A few delays for construction near the summit. We spent the night at the St Marys campground just at the east exit of the park. Stored what food products we had in a "bear box" that night. Seems the park has bear visitors daily. I changed the plugs in my harley that evening. I have never seen purple deposits on plugs before. Must have been the gas in Canada, the bike runs better since I started getting gas back in the states. Left the next morning and ran down to Hardin, Montana for the night. We stopped in Rapid City, SD at the harley shop so I could get a new back tire installed. In less than three weeks and 7500 miles it was into the wear marks. Going the speeds we were traveling and the weight I was carrying I was reluctant to trust it the rest of the way home. We had a very long day and spent the night in Beresford, SD. Another 500 plus day. We ran the next day until 9PM to get to the Drury Inn we stayed the first night of our trip. We spent the night in Jackson, Mo. Got up the next morning ran the last 450 miles through TN and MS in the heat and we are home.....
Three weeks, 9000 miles


picture is of the going to the sun road