Having enjoyed great success with the Saturday morning sleep in to 0930 I further negotiated a Sunday morning sleep in going all the way to 1100. OK, that was actually the departure time, but quite the change from 0900! As it turned out I was up at 0800 to blog anyway. I would suggest the daily time commitment to the blog is in the 2 - 4 hour range. I wonder why that is and then I see the length of tomes I am writing! While I hope my readership enjoys my manusc...

So today was the big day! After all the talk about the drive and wading in the Arctic Ocean, today was the day I would actually begin my drive on the Dalton Highway, or the haul road as it is somewhat more accurately known. Driving northbound out of Fairbanks the first part of the day was on the Livingood Mining Company highway which was a perfectly smooth new asphalt with fresh perfectly straight yellow lines. Certainly not what was to be expected for the balan...

I leave Tok on Day 7 with the goal of riding to Fairbanks which is the gateway to the Dalton Highway. Calling the Dalton a highway is a stretch considering it is really a gravel road. My first thing in the morning roadside interview is somewhat stilted, I recall being a little reluctant in my quest. It was kind of like I said I was going to Prudhoe Bay and then had to follow-up, but riding in Alaska is pretty lonely with vast stretches of nothingness between sca...

That morning after doing some math I determined my bike had 100 000 miles on it, a major feat for any vehicle, more so for an air cooled V-Twin. This was my 16th year of ownership so I was averaging about 10 000 km a year. I guess you could say I was a pretty enthusiastic motorcycle enthusiast! I had done annual maintenance on her every summer in preparation of a bike trip. One year I also zero timed the chassis, which involved a complete disassemble of the ...