Ride To Alaska

[cyjo]

Good luck to you all. I can't wait to see the trip report. I would love to go to Alaska on my bike. I still have a lot in the lower 48 to see though.

[Redfox]

Found you at last!
I'm at the stage of deciding what gear to ship with the bike and what to take on the plane to Seattle. For now it looks like riding gear and tools go with the bike along with whatever camping gear we decide to take. BTW I have a three helmet helmet bag that I used to carry gear in to ride NZ a few years ago. That bag could go on the pallet while containing helmets and then be shipped home when empty.
This whole shipping thing is new to me but it will save about a week of actual ride time, fuel and hotel bills and heck I've mostly ridden the part in between anyway.
For that matter most of this trip is about new stuff, new place to ride, new way to get there, new (to me) bike. I love the idea of flying off to some distant place, meeting my bike and then riding home across increasingly familiar turf, Its all quite exciting!

[Scratch33]

Finally got our bikes ready for shipment.   We dropped them off at Annapolis Motor Sports yesterday evening for pickup by Allied today.  Here's a pic of Tam Redfox's '04 Tiger, aka "Hobbes":




And my '06 WeeStrom, aka "Faust":

[servicerifle]

Cool trip guys, keep us updated!

[Scratch33]

Thanks - can't wait for the actual ride to begin.  Been hassling over getting those bikes prepped for weeks; glad to be done with 'em.

[alphabet man]

Thanks - can't wait for the actual ride to begin.  Been hassling over getting those bikes prepped for weeks; glad to be done with 'em.

 heres a little something to wet your appetite, from my ride last June

       http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=5531699035922812024&q=Johnny+Horton

[Hulked Up]

Those bikes will never be that clean again.    I'll be following this thread with a lot of interest as I've set a goal to do Alaska in 2008.

[Scratch33]

I just got a call from Jim Ackerman, the Service Director at Renton Motorsports (http://www.rentonmotorcycles.com/) advising me that our bikes have arrived safely, and will be stored and well looked after until our arrival a week from tomorrow.

Got them pre-trip jitters...

[Redfox]

I just got a call from Jim Ackerman, the Service Director at Renton Motorsports (http://www.rentonmotorcycles.com/) advising me that our bikes have arrived safely, and will be stored and well looked after until our arrival a week from tomorrow.

Got them pre-trip jitters...

Yeah my bike made it!!!!!!!Yes Yes Im packing right now!!!! I am soooooooo ready for this trip.  :

[SWriverstone]

Hey Scratch---will you tell us how much it cost to ship your bike to Alaska? (I'm dying to know!) And did you arrange it one-way or round-trip?

Thanks,
Scott

[Scratch33]

It cost us $1405, one way, for our two bikes (WeeStrom and 955i Tiger) from Annapolis MD to Seattle.

Both were shipped on open pallets, and are loaded with camping & riding gear.  Dealt with motorcycleshippers.biz -- refer to 1st post for link.

[Scratch33]

Greetings All from Tok, Alaska!  Tam RedFox & I are 8 days into our trip; everthing going well though both us and our bikes are caked with dirt, mud and insect parts.  So far since leaving Seattle on June 2nd we've stopped in Vancouver, Cache Creek, Prince George, New Hazelton, Stewart (with the obligatory ride down the road to Hyder, aka "a part of Canada that got named wrong" according to a local), Watsons Lake, Whitehorse, and here.  

Longest day so far for us Flower Sniffin' types has been up the Cassiar Hwy from Stewart BC to Watsons Lake - about 410 miles.  Whitehorse to Tok was just about 400 miles.  We've had a couple days of rain riding (bad floods in the Smithers/New Hazelton area), and lots of dirt & gravel stretchs.  The most wildlife we've seen so far has been up the Cassiar - lots of black bears, two grizzlies (a young 'un that stopped to admire a bridge we had to cross over, and a huge older one on the roadside).  We also encountered a herd of horses on an uphill dirt/gravel curve - that was innaresting to negotiate through, and I missed a frikkin' moose that bolted from the underbrush and went loping across the road in front of me by literally a couple inches.  

Scenery the whole way has been absolutely fantastic -- pics can't do it justice IMO.  A check of the weather indicates our best route will be to Anchorage today.

That's all for now - will post again in a couple days.

[Rincewind]

Great to hear from you up there, Scratch!  Ride safe and watch out for them bears.  

[1moreroad]

   When you get back, I'd like to hear more about the gravel stretches -- how much is it tearing up the fairings, etc.  Starting to plan for my 2008 trip.

[Cricket]

Glad you’re having a good time wish I could be their maybe next year. Be safe and have a great time.

How is the wee Strom holding up?

Ken

[UFO]

I'd like to do the Prudhoe bay trip in 2008 or 2009.  But I'm not sure my job will afford me the luxury of an entire month off.  My next available window to do this (without possibly quitting my job) is 2011.

Good luck guys.  I'll be looking for your ride report.

[1moreroad]

I'd like to do the Prudhoe bay trip in 2008 or 2009.  But I'm not sure my job will afford me the luxury of an entire month off.  My next available window to do this (without possibly quitting my job) is 2011.

Good luck guys.  I'll be looking for your ride report.

  It would be nice to have a month, but it's a 6000 miles round trip, or a litte under 400 miles a day if, like the rest of us, you only have 2 weeks of vacation.  Add an extra weekend and maybe the July 4 holiday and it's down to 325 miles/day.

Or ride up to Prudhoe, back down to Anchorage, and ship the bike home for 3600 miles.

Maybe we should schedule an FNRM (Far North Regional Meet) for Fairbanks in 2008?

[crispiegee1]

I'd like to do Prudhoe Bay as well.  Don't know that I'll have that kind of time to commit in '08.  Maybe if I started from Vancouver or something.  I'd love to hear more about your trip planning, Neal.

Scratch!  Good luck.  Ride well... can't wait to see the photos!

[TuffguyF4i]

Very cool.

I plan on doing this when i move jobs...not sure when that will be.  But i would like to take 30 days to do it.

[Scratch33]

Hullo again, posting from Fairbanks.  Since Tok we've done the 'loop' down to Anchorage, where we took a couple days of 'down time'.   Tam Redfox's "touring" windshield on her Tiger got some impromptu surgery to add about 5" more height and cure the helmet buffeting, props to the guys at AK Cycles for taking the time out to do the procedure.  

Then we rode further south to Seward; back to Wasilla; then Denali, and now here.   RedFox got a new rear Tourance today; I think mine will last 'til we get back to Whitehorse.  Current plans are to skip the Coldfoot/Deadhorse thingie, and instead ride to Dawson City, then go up the Dempster Hwy to Inuvik.  That way we'll be able to knock out both the Arctic Circle & the NWT in one deal.

Hope all's well with everyone...