Day 8 - Service

Saturday morning we got up and headed to Outpost Honda/ BMW/ Harley Davidson and had the bikes serviced. As we have found over the last week, everyone was very helpful, knowledgeable and friendly. As we need to get moving today to Coldfoot, just a few pics of the morning.

The first picture is of Erik the Red, disassembled for an oil change and a new set of tires. Nick, the technician working on the bike, is reputed to be one of the best Honda mechanics in Alaska, and is a former race team mechanic. We hit it off well, and traded stories from years gone past. He had a few good ones about growing up near Watkins Glenn race track in New York. As I always have tried to be considerate taking pictures, he opted to not have a picture on the site here, but is a very friendly guy.














Daniel and Jerry, who runs the service department. Another great guy who was very welcoming and helpful getting the bikes ready for the 2 day run up to Prudhoe Bay.














Nick has about $45,000 sunk into tools and I didn't ask to borrow any. And another of the friendly people that work there.

Day 7, into Alaska

Day 7

So, its midnight and we are in Fairbanks and dead tired. Looking forward to heading north tomorrow to Coldfoot, Alaska, knowing that the conditions should be, to quote Geddy Lee of Rush, "Straining the limits of machine and man." We are prepared and optimistic, but also ready for the worst. After having the bikes serviced and new tires put on mine, we are off to The Top of the World. Sunday, we leave Coldfoot and head to Prudhoe Bay, the very north shore of Alaska and the Arctic Ocean.
Knowing that we need to get some sleep, I decided to just post a bunch of pictures of the last few days.

We saw this statue in Whitehorse, Yukon. It is in memory of all the prospectors that settled the area during the gold rush. And next to him, I imagine, is his trusty friend Buck, from Jack London's Call of the Wild.





















One of the many historic buildings in Dawon City, Yukon at the Dust to Dawson Rally from ADVRider.com. All the on road/ off road bikes are parked in front, and I got many funny looks showing up on my bright red Honda sport bike.















Another historic building, and where we stayed in Dawson City.




















As we arrived at the customs office at Poker Creek, Alaska (the most northern border crossing in the United States) I noticed that my odometer had hit exactly 10,000 miles.















After crossing into Alaska, we stopped in Chicken, Alaska (Google it) and had lunch here. How appropriate that I am standing next to a free Wifi sign.... This was after 110 miles of the worst road I have ever been on, in the rain, at 38 degrees. Good times!!