2012 Ryding Adventures with Akspyderlady and Akspyderman

[ARtraveler]

We were going to call you folks Satruday but Linda thought you would be too tired from your travels. We must have just missed you. We stopped at the Grandview (milepost 109) for lunch and got home a little after 5:00.

I will have Linda get in contact if you want to do something next weekend. The Wasilla Goldwing riders meet at the Denali restaurant in Wasilla on Saturday morning. I was going to check with them and see where their ride is headed. I was also thinking about the possibility of going to Hope or Talkeetna if that does not work out or as an additional ride on Sunday if it does.

Glad to hear your back from Texas.

 

[ARtraveler]

I posted some pictures from last Saturday's ride in the 2012-Alaska Gallery

 

[ARtraveler]

Weekend of June 10th

The Alaska weather was cool again; hovering in the high 50-to low 60's. Mostly cloudy. We got drizzzle on Friday, just missed it on Saturday, and no precip. on Sunday.

We did another driver training weekend for Akspyderlady so did not go on any trip of note. Linda got in another 270 miles of driving the :spyder2:. This makes about 700 miles driving now in three weekends. It's looking like next weekend will put her over a thousand miles on driving the :spyder2:. Once again, I followed along on the Vulcan.

We took some local roads with twisties and altitude. Hiland road, Eagle River road, the Old Glenn, Knik River road, and also ventured up to Hatchers Pass. There was still some snow up at the pass, and the gate allowing access over the pass was still closed because of snow on the road. It seem a little late this year for the pass to still be closed. We are so fortunate to have such nice places to go--all very close to Chugiak.

I did take some pictures and will be adding them to the 2012-the Alaska Album later today, along with some teaser pictures here.


New Pictures added to 2012-the Alaska Gallery from our June 8 weekend rides

 

[ARtraveler]

More pictures added to 2012-the Alaska Gallery

More pictures added to the 2012-The Alaska Gallery

 

[REMEMBER]

Enjoyed riding with you guys today. Only was able to get a couple pictures with the Iphone.

 

[REMEMBER]

Another great day of riding, thanks! A few pictures here and Jen will send you a few more, don't like to post pictures of other people without their permission.

My awesome wife and her pride and joy.

 

[ARtraveler]

Permission granted about the pictures.

Akspyderman and Akspyderlady went on two separate rides with Jennifer (FreedomRings) and Dave (Remember) this weekend. We had a great time with them and look forward to many more rides this season.

I am going to write up our weekend ride post later this evening and add a few pictures. I will also have about 20 more pictures for the 2012-The Alaska Gallery covering our weekend rides.

 

[REMEMBER]

A couple more pictures from today.

Thought I had better throw one in of the Harley. Looking a bit lonely, but really enjoyed the ride with the spyders.

 

[ARtraveler]

Wow! What a weekend! June 14,15,16, and 17

June 14th. We picked up the new Spyder RT for Linda. I got to test drive it for her the first 50 miles and then turned her loose. We drove a little over 100 miles on local roads the first night.

June 15th. We drove another 150 miles or so and ended up going to Hatchers Pass. The snow had melted by about 1/2 since the previous week. The pass was still closed and there was snow across the road. They are expecting that part to be opened somewhere around July 1st.

June 16th. We joined up with the Anchorage Gold Wing Riders for breakfast and a ride. We also joined up with Jennifer (Freedom Rings) and Dave (Remember) from Spyder Lovers site. There were about 12 bikes that morning. 7 Goldwings, 3 Spyders, 1 Electra Glide, and one other Honda. We took a group ride down Turnagain Arm as far as Girdwood. Linda, Jennifer, Dave, and myself continued a ride to Turnagain Pass, a few miles down the road. We took a sidebar to Portage to see Portage Lake and the Glaciers. There were still icebergs floating in the lake. I always like to get a June picture with the bikes, the lake, and the icebergs. We then drove back to Palmer and had supper. We covered 270 miles on Saturday.

June 17th. We joined up with Jennifer and Dave again and went on a ride down the Glenn Highway--destination Eureka--a small town in the middle of nowhere. We ended up at the Grandview for a great lunch. The pictures in the previous posts are from our two rides as a group.

The four days of rides are some of the most scenic rides you can find in Alaska. I rate Hatchers Pass, Turnagain Arm, and Glenn Highway to Matanuska Glacier as top 3 out of 5 in the whole state of Alaska.

The new RT performed flawlessly. It was set up well and did not burp once. Linda took to it as though she had been riding :spyder2:,s for years. Since Thursday night she has put 717 miles on the new :spyder2:. We are ready for break-in service as soon as the new lights come in. Driving lights, and ESCI trunk light bar. I am also installing purple glo ryders, a brake pedal extension, and Seal Pup floorboards. Then we will wait and see about more farkles.

Jennifer's bike was also a show stopper wherever we went. The patriotic wrap is a real scene stealer. We met and talked to a lot of people wherever we stopped. There were people asking to sit on our bikes and have their pictures taken at Portage Lake.

I will be adding another 20 pictures or so later today to our 2012-the Alaska Album with pictures from all the weekend rides. I will add another post when that project is completed.

We are planning some additional rides with Jennifer and Dave in the weeks to come.

Life can sure be fun on a :spyder2:

 

[ARtraveler]

I added 20 more pictures to: 2012 The Alaska Gallery. Hope you enjoy them.

 

[REMEMBER]

Another good ride with akspyderman and akspyderlady, appreciate the company and tour. Here are a couple of pictures from today.

 

[ARtraveler]

Weekend Rides--June 22-24th.

On Friday Linda and I went for a shorter ride. We ended up going to Lake Eklutna and then out the Knik River Road. A total of about 80 miles. I had just installed the new Seal floorboards on Linda's RT and she was eager to try them out. She was very pleased with the comfort that was added to the RT's ride, with the new floorboards. The ride which is one we do a lot, covers elevation, and twisties along with beautiful mountain vistas and scenery. I added a Lake Eklutna destination picture and the new floorboards to the 2012-the Alaska Gallery. I tried to post them here--but was not able to.

On Saturday the 23rd, we joined up with Jennifer and Dave and took a nice ride to Hope Alaska. Hope Alaska is about 5 miles across Turnagain Arm (as the crow flies) from Beluga Point. To get there, you have to drive about 65 miles down and around Turnagain Arm, over Turnagain Pass, and then drive the other side of Turnagain, down to the end at Cook Inlet. The ride was a little over 275 miles for us round trip and was very enjoyable. The weather for both days was in the mid to high 70's with lots of sunshine. One of those "special" Alaska summer days. We had to go through Anchorage and down Turnagain Arm, up and over Turnagain Pass, and onto the Hope Junction Road. Dave posted some Turnagain Arm pictures and I posted some Hope destination pictures in the 2012--the Alaska Gallery. Once again--I could not get my pictures to copy into the thread here. Interesting thing happened in Hope. When we arrived at our destination road house--there was not a single customer there. We parked our four bikes outside and other bikes started arriving in groups. By the time we finished our lunch, there were another 6-8 bikes parked outside next to ours. Mostly H-D's an Indian, and a Gold Wing or two. The place looked like a biker restaurant with all the bikes lined up out front when we left.

Neither of us stopped to take a lot of pictures this trip--but we had posted some Turnagain Arm and Turnagain Pass pictures from the previous week. I purchased a new camera on Sunday--one with a 25X Zoom and Wide Angle lens. I hope to be taking some sharper and better pictures of the scenery on our next ride out. The next time we go to Hope, I am going to take some pictures of the homes and the "main street" area. A lot of the buildings are 100 years old and look every year their age. We did not feel we had the time to "do it right" on this trip. That will give us incentive to return a couple more times this summer.

The weather tuned again Sunday--cool, 60's and some rain showers. So, we left the bikes parked for once and did something else.

 

[ARtraveler]

Weekend Rides: June 29--July 1st

We kept our Friday ride local and did a little over 80 miles on Friday. The weather was in the 60's for the weekend with a lot of clouds again and a few breaks with sunshine. We did not get rained on though.

On Saturday, we decided to drive up to Talkeetna. About an hour and a half up the Parks Highway. Talkeetna is a tourist stop about 15 miles down the Talkeetna Spur Highway--just off the Parks Highway. It is a starting point for many of the Mount McKinley (Denali) climbing expeditions. Mount McKinley is the tallest peak in North America. Talkeetna draws a lot of tourists from the cruise ships and they arrive by bus or train to spend the day. The downtown is full of quaint shops that have soveniers, and various types of food and treats. The town also offers flightseeing tours that will take you to McKinley or guided fishing and sightseeing tours up the Talkeetna river to fish for that big salmon of a lifetime. It was quite busy when we arrived there on Saturday afternoon.

We stopped at our favorite restaurant on the outskirsts of town, Lattitude 62. Then we got on the Spyders and took a slow tour up and down mainstreet and took several pictures. I will post them on the album 2012-The Alaska gallery in a couple of days. I have a new camera and have to figure how to transfer from the camera to the computer and then the album.

Did not get a picture of Mt. McKinley since it was shrouded by clouds. McKinley makes its own weather, so the days when you can get a good photograph are few and far between.

 

[ARtraveler]

Welcome to eb pope

:welcome: and :congrats: on your new RT.

I got your PM and answered back. You are welcome to join us for rydes. I sent contact information.

 

[ARtraveler]

July 6, 7 & 8

Another cool, rainy weekend cropped up. This has been a very cool and wet summer--similar to the summer of 2010 where it rained mostly every day and reached 70 degrees only a couple of times. I am hoping that the pattern does not continue.

We took a break from the :ani29:'s this weekend. Drove to the Nikiski area of the Kenai penninsula and stayed at Daniels Lake. A very quiet and picturesque lake very similar to a lot of the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness lakes that I went to for 20 plus years while living in and near Minnesota. We stayed in a nice log cabin in the woods, soaked in the hot tub and just vegged out. I will add a few pictures to my 2012 album later this week.

Driving through Cooper Landing, on the way to our final destination, the devastation caused by the lack of a good salmon run was very noticable. The Kenai River is known for its great salmon catches near Cooper Landing and the confluence of the Russian River. Tourists from all over the world come here to catch that "salmon of a lifetime"--20# to 50# are not uncommon. There are so many fish and fisherman that they refer to this as "combat" fishing. There has been a ban on the catch so the tourists have stayed away in droves. The Sterling Highway, in that area, is usually bumper to bumper. No such case this trip. Most of the businesses in Cooper Landing only had one or two cars at them. Many were closed, and it was not hard to find a lot of for sale signs on houses and various properties. It looks like a very bad summer for those who rely on tourist business to make their incomes on the Kenai.

We will be back on the road next weekend and have talked with some new people. Perhaps they will join our little group.

 

[ARtraveler]

July 13, 14, & 15th

We were back to doing some riding on the Spyders this weekend. We went through another week of cloudy with rain almost every day. Temperatures in the mid 50's. The normal for this time of year is mid 60's.

Friday the 13th--we did a local ride. We got drizzled on by the rain a couple times.

Saturday the 14th--Based on the local weather radar, we went back out the Glenn Highway past Matanuska Glacier and stopped at the Grandview Restaurant. The weather was mostly cloudy with a patch or two of sun. Temps right around 60. No rain, and hardly any traffic on the 80 mile stretch between Palmer, AK and our destination. We just took it easy and enjoyed the sights. I took and posted pictures of the area a couple weeks ago. Another high mpg trip. Akspyderlady got 36 mpg and I got 34 mpg. We kept the speeds under 60 on the "fast" areas--but there is a lot of sub 50 mph driving due to twisties and hills.

Akspyderlady now has 2000 miles on her new RT, and almost 3000 miles driving the :spyder2:'s so far this year. It's looking like she will have at least a 5000 mile summer season. She had 5000 plus seat miles last summer--her first introduction to the :ani29:.

Sunday the 15th--it pretty much rained all day--so we left the :ani29:'s parked.

Weather is supposed to be on the mend--mid 60's this week--(normal)--but still partly cloudy with a chance of rain.

I am hoping the weather makes a turn for the better for the people that are coming up the first two weeks in August. Time will tell.

 

[ARtraveler]

Weekend of July 19--July 22nd

Another on again off again good/bad weather weekend.

July 19th--Thursday--Sunny and beautiful. We went for about 80 miles on local roads then stopped for supper. Weather in the low to mid 70's.

July 20th--Friday--the weather was threatening to rain all day but we still went out on local roads and put another 100 or so miles on the spyders.

July 21st--Saturday--we had planned on attending the GWRRA poker run--but it rained constantly the night before and continued through all day Saturday. We left the Spyders in the garage and worked around my house getting some small stuff done.

July 22nd--Sunday--another mostly cloudy day--but we hit the road anyway. Explored several side roads that I had not been on before--no spectacular scenery--so I did not pull out the camera. Went another 145 miles.

We covered 325 miles for the weekend with temps in the high 50 to low 60 range for Fri, Sat, and Sunday.

 

[ARtraveler]

Weekend of July 27 through July 29

We had a great weekend for riding--put over 700 miles on the :spyder2:'s. Akspyderlady now has over 3000 miles on her new RT. Not bad in my opinion for one month of driving. We had sun and 70's Thursday through Sunday. I am officially calling it our Alaska Summer.

Today, (Monday) its raining and back down to the 50's. I guess Mother Nature is gearing up to welcome our SL friends from Cheyenne--who arrived in Fairbanks yesterday.

We made two road trips during the weekend. First to Seward, AK, down on the Kenai Penninsula. We also took a side trip to Exit Glacier and noted that the outrun has melted about 50% just since last summer at this time. I took some pictures to add to my album. Seward is very reminiscent of the fishing villages you see along the coast of Maine. Cruise ships dock there and drop off tourists for bus rides to other parts of the area for one to two day jaunts. You can also go on glacier tours or on charter fishing trips. The downtown area is back to back tourist shops with high and low end goods for the tourist market. Gas was $4.37 for regular compared to $3.85 for regular in the Anchorage area. Add: .20 per gallon for premium gas in either location.

We also went north out towards the Matanuska Glacier. A regular ride which we like because of the majestic scenery and the twisties. Once again we had the road almost to ourselves. We found another Alaska roadhouse to stop at for lunch or whatever. I have been driving by the place for years and never ventured in because of customer loyalty to another roadhouse about 5 miles down the road. I am glad we tried the new one. It is a beautiful lodge style building with all the rustic lodge furniture and tables. The whole place has stuffed critters around the perimiter. A couple bears, a musk ox, mountain goat, beaver, and others which now escape my memory. I did take pictures of these because I am planning on sharing with those who are interested through my posted gallery on the site. The dining room overlooks the Matanuska Glacier and offers the best view I have seen. The pulloffs on the road to view the glacier are not as good. Yes, I took some pictures of the glacier from the Longrifle Lodge. I am going to try to post the pictures to my gallery this week. New camera and I have to figure out the mechanics. I will have pictures from the last three weeks or so.

We also took local rides on Thursday and Sunday.