To Alaska and Back...

[Raptor]

Bump again. Gotta keep this up top!

[Yazz]

Enjoy the heat. Fairbanks and the interior area are usually the warmest in AK. Can reach high 80's in the summer. As you go North though?---You are now 150 miles or so from the Arctic Circle.

Great pictures--you are capturing AK for all the readers.

We are enjoying the heat for sure! It has been in the mid 70's today. Tell you what though... In the winter time it usually gets down to between -30 to -50 degrees F. There's some mighty tough people up here.

I'm trying to get bits and pieces of this great land that Alaska is.

Yup! We're going north.

Look forward to your post everyday

SpyderLovers has been a great comfort to me in troubled times. Just hoping to pay it forward.

Perhaps you will get lucky and see another wild animal somewhere on the journey. At least with the Spyder you have the ability to try to get away quickly if something goes wrong.

Have dodged two moose and spooked some bear. The hard part is getting them in the picture with Spydee. Could have had an easy pic in Denali, but the trip isn't over yet.

Yazz now that you are running in warmer weather, Every pic we have seen of you, you are smiling from ear to ear, we know that you have been froze for the last few weeks is that smile a permant ficture or does it go away. If there is a walmart up there or something like it. They make a fold up tri pod that fits in the trunk of our RT and its great cuz you can get a pic of you and hubby in the same picture. Just a thought! Have fun and keep safe and keep those big smiles coming. Thanks Carol and John in sunny Fl 99 degrees yesterday Did we say hot

Even when its cold, with electric underwear turned up, we're toasty warm enjoying incredible scenery.

As for the smile... I love a good road trip. The longer the better. Space is at a premium so Hubby will have to do as the tripod.

Hope there's no serious problem with hubby's GS. Or is it just in for new tires and oil change?

He went in for an oil change and new tires. A check engine light flicked on during maintenance and it turned out that we got bad gas along the way. A sensor was set off and changing the fuel out solved the problem.

Spydee used the same gas and no sensor has gone off yet. Sigh of relief.

Everything is bigger in Alaska even the mosquitos!

But the mosquitos up here are slower!

RE: the mosquitos--the locals refer to them as B-52's. They are big--but they are not fast--smuck! In the Anchorage/Eagle River area, they come in early May and the majority seem to be gone by the end of June. That is just fine with me. Not so, North and in the interior. I have heard the insects try to eat you alive in the tundra areas.

Picked up my nice collection of mosquitos going through the trundra. In the cities, they aren't that bad. Just slow.

Bump.

Bump again. Gotta keep this up top!

You Da Man!!!

[Yazz]

Hubby got his bike out of the shop early in the day so we needed something to do. Chena Hot Springs was the place to go.

Sixty miles down the road is all.



We found some interesting signs along the way.



Made it to our destination.
http://www.chenahotsprings.com/



This is what we came for. The Ice Museum!



What is inside needs a new page to discover!

[Yazz]

http://www.chenahotsprings.com/ice-museum-renewables/
In an antichamber before we went in, we were given one size fits all coats to wear.

They tried to make it an ice hotel, but the Fire Marshall said they needed a sprinkler system.

The Christmas bedroom.



A wedding chapel. To the right is an igloo with an ice xylophone inside. Awesome acoustics!



A jousting knights ice sculpture. The picture doesn't do it justice. Magic!!



Had a little something at the bar out of ice martini glasses. Everything was made out of ice. Even the bar stools. With reindeer hide insulation of course...



There's more pictures in my album.

We're heading up north all right. Put the trailer in storage and running on the skinny. Don't know if there will be Wifi for four to five days. Taking lots of pictures and will post when we can.

[SethO]

that is outstanding trip, will have to take a pic of my spyder to compare dirtyness levels, I am sure you are hitting different bugs and I have heard that AK is worse than even MN when it comes to bugs but I don't think you can ride as long in the year there.

This is the best picture adventure to date on spyderlovers by a ton.

if you get down mn way I would put you two up for a few days.

[SpyderWolf]

That ice musueum is awesome. That is definitely an experience of a lifetime as well.

[draboo]

That ice hotel is awesome!

For obvious reasons, I ll bet there is no Honeymoon Suite!

[DynamoBT]

This is fantastic!!!!! I get chills every time I open this thread! How I envy you guys!!!

Hope you continue to have a great time!!!!!!!

[Phil]

Joy / Jeff- It's a slow, pre Memorial Day Friday morning here in Tyler, Texas. I just took the time over coffee to read the entire set of posts about your journey thus far.

I've had the privilege of traveling the world with my business several times, and have always wanted that to include Alaska, but it hasn't happened so far. For the last 30 minutes I was transported to a land that I have dreamed of seeing first hand. It will happen one day, but for now... I need to find a tissue. The beauty is astounding.

[Marker]

Have been reading trip blog and have enjoyed the pictures very much, visiting Alaska has always been on our bucket list .

[ARtraveler]

Once again--I have to say that you and Jeff are really capturing Alaska for the readers.

I had the chance to visit Chena Hot Springs in 2009. The ice hotel was melted by the time we were there--so never got to see that. Your pictures are fantastic. That place has been shown on the travel channel.

I can see that you are enjoying our beautiful state. Keep the posts coming.

[ARtraveler]

bump back in the queue

[Clicker1944]

WOW just WOW!
Thanks for doing this!

[Yazz]

that is outstanding trip, will have to take a pic of my spyder to compare dirtyness levels, I am sure you are hitting different bugs and I have heard that AK is worse than even MN when it comes to bugs but I don't think you can ride as long in the year there.

This is the best picture adventure to date on spyderlovers by a ton.

if you get down mn way I would put you two up for a few days.

The mosquitoes up here are big and plenty of them. Don't worry, you will always win the overall always dirtyness award!

If we're in your neighborhood, we'll give you a call!

That ice musueum is awesome. That is definitely an experience of a lifetime as well.

Some guys down the road told us it was the go to place. It was a bit of a ride but well worth the time.
They also told us to look down Hurricane Gulch.
We have gotten good advice from good people.

That ice hotel is awesome!

For obvious reasons, I ll bet there is no Honeymoon Suite!

I beg to differ... There is a Chappel AND a Honeymoon Suite! There is an ice bedroom that comes with fur sheets and blankets.

They don't have plumbing in there so you have to go outside for the powder room. The tour guide says most couples don't last the night.

This is fantastic!!!!! I get chills every time I open this thread! How I envy you guys!!!

Hope you continue to have a great time!!!!!!!

Thanks for being on the ride with us!

Joy / Jeff- It's a slow, pre Memorial Day Friday morning here in Tyler, Texas. I just took the time over coffee to read the entire set of posts about your journey thus far.

I've had the privilege of traveling the world with my business several times, and have always wanted that to include Alaska, but it hasn't happened so far. For the last 30 minutes I was transported to a land that I have dreamed of seeing first hand. It will happen one day, but for now... I need to find a tissue. The beauty is astounding.

We've been transfered many times and been many places. Never have we chosen to go somewhere we thought might be cold. This has been an eye-opening experience for us too.

Have been reading trip blog and have enjoyed the pictures very much, visiting Alaska has always been on our bucket list .

Hey, we're not getting any younger! Decided to do this trip while we still can. Start checking off that bucket list early. You never know whats down the road...

Once again--I have to say that you and Jeff are really capturing Alaska for the readers.

I had the chance to visit Chena Hot Springs in 2009. The ice hotel was melted by the time we were there--so never got to see that. Your pictures are fantastic. That place has been shown on the travel channel.

I can see that you are enjoying our beautiful state. Keep the posts coming.

The tour guide told about different ways of trying to keep the ice motel all year long. The one they have now has been around for a couple of years. They use energy from the hot springs to cool the ice hotel. Know that sounds kinda backwards but it works!

This state is so large (Did I tell you we've been told on more than one occasion that Alaska is more than twice the size of Texas?) and Alaska has so many faces to its character. Its fun discovering as much as possible.

bump back in the queue

Thanks for the Bump!

WOW just WOW!
Thanks for doing this!

Happy your enjoying the ride!

[Yazz]

We were headed up North. Nobody stopping us!

The road heading out of Fairbanks. Beautiful weather!!!



Finger Mountain. Can you see the finger?



Did I tell you we passed the Arctic Circle?



Comfy accomodations en suite at Coldfoot Camp.



It hasn't been easy, but who says life is.
Oh yeah! Its all the way north or nothing!!

[dave711]

bump..

[Lamonster]

I went to a BBQ yesterday and one of the guys there has been following you on this trip and he doesn't even own a Spyder but he loves the story. Keep it up

[SpyderAnn01]

Looks like you are enjoying gorgeous weather. Keep the stories and pictures coming I know I am. always looking forward to your updates

[Yazz]

bump..

Thanks for the bump!

I went to a BBQ yesterday and one of the guys there has been following you on this trip and he doesn't even own a Spyder but he loves the story. Keep it up

The more people on the ride, the merrier! There's alot of folks we've met along the way who are on our road trip too.

Looks like you are enjoying gorgeous weather. Keep the stories and pictures coming I know I am. always looking forward to your updates

The weather has been unbelievable! Clear sky's mid 70's. Excellent riding weather.

Right now in Deadhorse, its foggy and 35. Funny thing though, you go 20 miles inland and the fog is gone. Keep heading south about a 100 miles and its warm again. Go figure...

[Yazz]

Just want to give you an idea of what the Dalton Highway is like. Its mostly a dirt road. The fastest speed we reached was 45 mph.
Sometimes the road's so rough going 15 was still too fast. Spydee chattering all over the place.
Sometimes there were construction crews who watered down the road turning it to a chocolate pudding like consistency. Slick as snot!
For whatever reason, they like to put a six inch layer of gravel on the steep hills. Felt like Spydee and I were going up WidowMaker hill!
Yup, some of those hills are steep. One felt like we were going vertical riding up it.

Spydee did well through it all until 70 miles outside of Deadhorse. We were back on paved road but full of frost heaves. Think we hit one too fast and Whammo! Nanny decides to make her presence known. Out in the middle of nowhere in limp mode. (Not going to say what I thought or said.) The good news was we couldn't go much over 40mph due to the road conditions, the bad news is how bad of a hissy fit is Nanny throwing?

We find a turn-out, take the key out, calm down, massage Nanny's ego, give Spydee nutrious gas, put the key back in, turn it and hope for the best. Nanny had been appeased and we were back on the road again. No drama here!

The Dalton Highway follows the Trans-Alaskan Pipeline.




Atigun's Pass



Coming into Deadhorse is a desert marsh. Its a desert because it only gets about three inches of water a year. A marsh because the permafrost is so close to the surface, it doesn't let the water soak into the ground. Its a very boggy area.



More pictures to come!

[Yazz]

It was foggy and 35 degrees F when we came into Deadhorse Camp. They have converted crew quarters into a clean and cozy place to spend the night. Lots of good food! Its the yellow building with all the windows behind me.



The parking lot.



A view out the back door.




You can figure out exactly where we are.



Kinda kept this leg of the trip quiet because we both got tired of people saying we couldn't ride up here, for all sorts of creative reasons. One reason was there was snow on the road at the tops of the passes. At this time of year, not the case.

Best advice we got was from an old white-haired biker in Fairbanks. He'd been to Deadhorse a few times on a Harley. "Just take it easy and you'll get there." We took it easy, and we got here.

You can do anything you want, if you want it bad enough.

Trip B mileage - 5,780.0

[dancogan]

...Best advice we got was from an old white-haired biker in Fairbanks. He'd been to Deadhorse a few times on a Harley. "Just take it easy and you'll get there." We took it easy, and we got here.

You can do anything you want, if you want it bad enough.

Trip B mileage - 5,780.0

[ARtraveler]

You and Jeff are doing a spectacular job of showing us the nether parts of Alaska.

I will admit that I have not been brave enough to take Spydee or any other motorcycle where you folks are. You two are something else, when it comes to road tripping.

You are chalking up some memories that will last for the rest of your lives. I am proud to say I have met you folks.

RE: AK size--laid over the US, they are saying it takes up 3/4 of the size. I believe there is an overlay map on the beginning pages of your Milepost that shows and explains it.

Looking forward to more of your postings. Can't wait to see where you go next.

[SpyderWolf]

Another great update. If you didn't have Seth beat on the dirty Spyder contest before, I think you got him this time. Did you lose one of your gas cans on this leg of the journey? One picture shows 3 and the next only shows 2.

[JJW SpyderRider]

I just looked at the map, if you go any further north you will need a Seadoo! Say hi to Santa for me.

Stay safe!