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Ready for Alaska

16K views 87 replies 24 participants last post by  Homesick 
#1 ·
Added a few things to my Vision for a trip from Key West, Florida to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.
Full trip should be about 11,000 miles. This is a southern coast to northern coast ride.

Added a Arlen Ness engine skid plate, Cee Bailey's headlight guard, front fender mud flap and I made a full length lower belt guard.
Also added heated grips and wiring for my heated jacket liner and gloves.

Also added body air deflectors, Tri-City Polaris floor board foot rests and a Happy Trails tour box and I cut 2" off the standard height windshield.

The rear tire is going to be a Dunlop Winter Sport run flat snow tire with a tire pressure monitoring system.

Can't wait to try this ride -

 
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#45 ·
Rollin', somehow I missed this thread. My hat's off to you.

I've been up there a few times, and done some traveling (on 4 wheels). Your narrative was well done and nostalgic for me.

Congratulations, man.

joe
 
#50 ·
Wow! Not sure how I missed this thread either. What an awesome trip! Congrats. I don't know what else to say.

I'm glad you found that picture you just posted or I may have never seen this. What a great find!

Incredible.
 
#51 ·
I made it to the Artic Circle, and turned back. Was planning on Coldfoot, but it was getting late.

Hit some mud on the Haul road.
 
#59 ·
June is a popular month. After it gets into the rainy season. I knew someone who lived there who said they got 3' of snow mid September and it never left.

I left with the summer solstice.
 
#63 ·
I kenneled three dogs$$$. I'd like to get back there, the trip pointed out other places I want to see. More of southern AK and northern Canada. Hyder Stewart, Dawson City.

I am thinking Newfoundland next, cause it can be done in two weeks, rather 3. Was nice to be gone for 3 weeks, but it was pricey and long.
 
#64 ·
There are some great videos of the Dalton Highway on YouTube.

This one shows the Yukon River Crossing. It's a wooden bridge. The Yukon River Crossing Camp is also the first of only 3 gas stops on the Dalton Highway.

You do not want to miss any of the gas stops and this one is easy to miss. I talked to three riders that had missed it. This is just south of the Arctic Circle. From the Arctic Circle it's another 300 miles to Prudhoe Bay.



.
 
#65 ·
This one shows the Yukon River Crossing. It's a wooden bridge. The Yukon River Crossing Camp is also the first of only 3 gas stops on the Dalton Highway.



.
No matter how remote, there is always a gift shop. We ate and bought a bunch Article Circle stuff.


Also at the bridge, easy to miss, is a tourism building where you can get a Arctic Circle patch. I missed it on the way up, and was closed on the way back. I ordered the patch though.


About 5 miles up the road is another gift shop and place with some food. They no longer have gas though.



Important to note the gas station closes at 9pm. I got there at 9:02. I had to go around and bang on the door to finally find someone to turn it back on.
 
#68 ·
I always wished I have the free time to make these adventures. Most notably a dream I have of going back to Germany, and riding an on/off road down the old 11th ACR east west Border trace. but any of the adventures that I see folks posting about would be very cool. A few local guys and I are talking about the big Pacific coast to across the northern states ride for next summer, but I'm not sure.. Anyway, keep us posted, since I can only live vicariously through you on this one..
 
#69 ·
I feel for ya. I'm in the same boat. Just can't seem to find the time to do a long ride. Hell, I'm lucky if I can get away for an entire day. Every now and then I'll decide to take the day off and spend it just roaming the countryside, but it always seems to happen that I'll get a call around noon with some client's childish dilemma that I have to deal with.
 
#72 ·
#74 ·
A little more detail -

North into the Sun

To me this was another unigue experience when riding north of the Arctic Circle.

It was 6:45 am (Alaska time) and I'm riding north and into the sun and had been for over 3 hours.

I kept looking at the GPS and saying "are you sure we're going the right way?"

Heading north to Prudhoe Bay, AK, 6:45 am -



Details

I take a lot of pictures and they really help to remember the trip details.
I like to start early. I had set the alarm for 2:00 am.

This picture - June 16th, 3:59 am (Alaska time).


It's 47 degrees and I'm 34 miles north of my starting point that day, Coldfoot, AK. (An earlier picture shows that I left Coldfoot at 3:00 am.)

An hour later the temperature would drop to 40 degrees (another picture) and then slowly would raise to the mid 50's.

A lot of detail in what was less than 1 second of a day -

 
#84 ·
The gadget that did the tracking is called a Spot Tracker. The Spot Tracker can do a lot of things.

http://www.findmespot.com/en/index.php?cid=102&referrer=Homepage_BannerBottomConnect

People can watch your ride in real time, the Spot Tracker updates every 10 minutes. It also has a Help and 911 button and it works everywhere. Uses satellites.
It will also show the time you were at a location which is helpful on an IBA ride.

You can mount it on the bike or wear it on your arm.

Plus it stores your trip info and you can make a map of your ride.

I paid $69 for my Spot Tracker but it also has a $150 yearly fee.
 
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