ALASKA AT EIGHTY - DAY 6

When I arrived at the terminal Friday at 8 am, as they open the ticket window, wanting to purchase my ticket on the ferry to Alaska, they put me on stand by. Said to return at 2 am.

My only two other times to buy passage on an Alaska Marine Highway ferry there was no waiting, no standby.... Oh oh... will I not be sailing today? Ok, assess the alternatives? One, wait a week? This ferry makes a once a week round trip, Bellingham to Skagway back to Bellingham. Leaving Bellingham every Friday PM. 

Or two, forget the ferry and ride up.

At 1:30 pm I could be found standing around the ticket windows smiling nicely....... trying to be friendly...
Finally they smiled back and granted me a boarding pass and a ticket to get my rig into the boarding queue. 

I pulled into line to join the other motorbikes: three Motor Maids from Texas, one guy on a KLR, and a couple on a Goldwing. Mine was the only sidecar rig.



The smile says it all, past security, happy to be in a boarding line, last, but in line.




Now relaxed, knowing I was good to go, so I thought...

Now visiting with my new fellow travels, we see these guys approach. Someone said that's the DEA drug dog. There to inspect every vehicle before it gets on the ferry. OK, no worries...



Why is that dog circling my rig for the second time????





Then the dog stops and stares, won't move. The K9 Officer loudly asks, "Who owns this motorcycle? I need to search it." 
Oh crap, not now. Will they refund my ticket?



This officer did not now that earlier, his supervisor approached me. He was in uniform, big badge, big gun, and all. He explained they had a K9 team in training and could he plant a training drug on my bike. Assuring me that he would be shadowing the team to make sure nothing would go wrong.

The dog was rewarded for finding the plant, I was relieved that that no cuffs were part of the training.
Everyone in line waiting were watching the dog with great interest. Only the other motorcyclist knew about the test. All the other vehicle drivers wondered why I was still allowed to board... me too. Is that why the other travelers are giving me a wide berth?

A second K9 team later came around with a different dog. That was the bomb sniffing dog and I had no plant.... 

Now onboard, and since I did not have a cabin, quickly I searched for a spot to set up camp for the trip. We, motorcyclists were the last to board so most good spots I knew of were taken. Finally found an open couch in the forward observation deck. A five foot for bed for my six and a half foot frame. The last time I slept on a five foot bed was sailing on a banana boat going from Panama City, Panama into the Darien jungle where I was working. Adventure riders all know of the Darien Gap. I lived in El Real de Santa Maria in the middle of the Gap in 1967-69. That's one of my many campfire stories, to which this drug dog story will be added. 



What I thought was a wall of mirrors, is actually the dark windows of the lounge bar area... in the evening I kept wondering where the smell of popcorn was coming from.

Looking out the front windows, the view of the Bellingham waterfront.



Short bed or not. Will be resting here for three days before the Alaska riding begins.

p.s. My red Honda/Harrigan rig is still without a name. Any suggestions? Red Dog

CCjon

ALASKA AT EIGHTY: Ride Day 5

Left Ontario, OR, heading North - Northwest on I-84. Temps were more moderate today. The high was 91.

Starting to see interesting places to stop and investigate for photo opportunities.

Deadman Pass rest area caught me attention.



The rest area itself was clean, some shade, But there, was a sign indicating an overlook three miles up a side road. Let's go check it out.



Since I was the only vehicle making its way to the overlook, hope I don't have a flat.



..parked near the boulders and walked out to take a look... guess a few too many people wanted to drive right to the edge of the overlook



OK, interesting sample of Oregon country.

Needing gas, Turned off at Arlington, only to be stopped outside of town by a slow moving freight train. Finally cut off the motor and waited, like everyone else. There are only two gas stations in town. One had its entry blocked while a crew was sealing the blacktop. Hidden a few blocks further away was the other station. 



Stopped to photograph the John Day Dam on the Columbia River.



Riding East to West, on I-84, did not realize how strong the winds would be. It really killed my gas mileage. My only previous experience riding the Columbia River Gorge was going West to East. That year I was told the more scenic side of the river, was Rt 14 on the north side. I have to agree, Rt 14 is a two lane, slower pace route with several small towns, vineyards, parks, etc. 

The large number of wind surfers and people kite surfing on the river was amazing. White caps on the water indicated a windy great day for those activities. A little too far away to capture any decent photos.

Here is my B&W photo for the day.



OK, the question to those who know the area. What is a the name of that mountain, maybe on the Oregon side, one can see in the distance?

A few minutes later, those fast moving clouds on the right totally wrapped the mountain, blocking it from view.

Am in Woodland for the night. Tomorow I'll meet up with a great friend who holds a new rear tire for me. We'll get it mounted before sending me on my way to the Alaska Marine Highway terminal in Bellingham.

Life is good, live like there is no tomorrow.

ALASKA AT EIGHTY - RIDE DAY 3-4

Time to play catch up with the trip...

RD -3 The tire had a roofing screw in it. Monday AM the local auto mechanic located and pulled it out, inserting worm plugs. Rode to Taos, bought a scissor jack the I hope to never use... and a bottle of Slime. The guys at the tire shop could not get much of the Slime into the tire. Left Taos at noon heading west on RT 64.

 

 

Here the High Plains west of Taos reminds me of US-50 crossing Nevada.




Checked the weather radar again in Chama, NM, decided to stay south of Southern Colorado and avoid the afternoon mountain rains. Could see all the dark storms on the horizon in Colorado while I stayed dry in northern New Mexico.



In Farmington, turned north to link up with CO-491 near Cortez that will take me to Monticello, Utah where I spent the night.





RD-4, since I lost a day due to the flat rear tire, I made a foolish decision to try to ride two days worth of miles from the planned route. Instead of the 350 +/- days, gp for 600 miles.

Left the motel at 1:30 AM. Temps a cool 58 degrees. 50 miles north, Moab is 81 degrees at 2:30 AM. From Green River to Spanish Fork, took Utah-6  across the mountains, the temperature drops to 42 degrees at dawn up there. Had to stop and pull out a thick top I brought to use in Alaska.

Morning interstate 15 rush hour traffic from the south going into Salt Lake City was white knuckle time. Once past SLC, the day warmed up, and up, and higher. Near Ogden, it was in the 90's. By the time I reached Boise, Idaho it was a sweltering 100, tagging 104 at times. The hotter it got , the more frequently I stopped to wet down the clothes. I had packed away the heavy riding jacket back in Utah. 

Every one has their own ideas and theory on how to stay safe and comfortable when temperature are this hot. I subscribe to the desert Arabian method; wear light colored, loose fitting, breathable clothes that cover the skin to protect from the sun rays, allow moisture to evaporate, drink lots of electrolytes and water. 

Having read all of Hubert Kriegel's sidecar tales, I learned you dress for the weather. Your chances of sliding across the pavement are much less likely than they are you getting sun burnt or frost bit.

By the time I reached Ontario, Colorado on the Idaho border, had ridden 679 miles, with a 62 degree temperature spread.

p.s. RD = Ride Day

Sidecars and Travel related blog
www.ridingthehorizon.com

ALASKA AT EIGHTY - DAY FIVE

This afternoon there was a crew laying out objects in a grid pattern in the empty parking lot behind the condo. They measure precisely each row, the distance between rows, and the distance between each object in that row. It was six person team doing all the work. 

When done, they had laid out twenty rows with ten objects in each row.  After retrieving the binoculars, I discovered these objects were drones. This was my first opportunity to witness close at hand the set up and operation of a drone light show. 

• 

Drone light shows are more common here as the danger of forest fires worsen each year.

 Now every thing is set, we wait for nightfall and the show.

When a 200 drone squadron launches...

When the drones rose quickly overhead, going above the condo building. They were soon out of sight, 

so I rushed outside to the front of the building to capture this video.

You are not seeing about eight minutes of the ten minute show. I was behind the drone so when images were made, it was hard to discipher it, plus the operator said it is a short show due to drone battery life.

That was so cool to see a drone light show this close to the behind the scenes action. I cannot begin to imagine the complexity of managing fleets of drones in warfare.

*********

The big negative of the day was discovering a flat rear tire on the Goldwing. Then my travel air compressor did not work... grrrr. 

No jack, no air compressor and no ideas what happened. 

First solution, install a new fuse to get the compressor working. The tire seems to air up some, at least rideable to town. Then found out no tire shops or auto parts... stores are open until Monday... this is a holiday weekend. Grrrr...

Without a jack of sorts, I cannot raise the rig to rotate the tire, to find what caused the air loss.

Sunday, True Value hardware opened. Darn, they sold their only auto scissor jack last week.  Next closest jack would be in Taos, twenty-five miles away.

There is a small, one man auto repair shop in Angel Fire. He returned my call to say he'll be back in town to open up Monday morning, 9 AM.

So that is where we stand on Sunday.

The adventure continues...

Ride safe, Ride far.

CCjon

ALASKA AT EIGHTY - DAY 3-4

Staying a couple of days in Angel Fire, NM. watched the small mountain village July 4th parade...





Next morning was the local Rotary Club Pancake Breakfast... $15 donation.



Had a nice chat with neighbors and locals, yet most "locals" are people from other states. Angel Fire is a ski resort village that attracts people mainly from Texas and Oklahoma. Why? Because Texas and Oklahoma don't have ski resorts.

The Texas Aggie joke is, if God wanted Texans to ski, he would have made bull sh*t white.

Then there are the Albuquerque residents who come up to the 8200' elevation to escape the hot summers.

Now that Colorado ski areas have gotten so expensive, more and more people from Colorado are buying here as it is their closest, still affordable, ski resort.

Tomorrow it's back on the road heading northwest.

ALASKA AT EIGHTY - DAY 2

Logged another 400+ mies today, stopping in Angel Fire NM for a few days to handle some chores.

Found the ranch of his dreams in NM. 

Most of the day was spent outrunning rain clouds. 



But in the end, they found me in the last four miles in the mountains.

Re the eight gallons of fuel, I removed the seat in the tub, making room for cold and hot weather gear, plus the eight gallons of fuel for that last stretch from Coldfoot to Deadhorse, 240 miles with no service, no houses, nothing, just follow the Alaska pipeline across the tundra.

On an earlier trip I met a BMW rider the side of the road without any fuel to make the last twenty miles . He said the winds were so bad it cut his mpg way down. Is better to have too much than not enough.

Alaska at Eighty Day 1

Got a late start, hot and very humid in Houston, the starting gas ticket, @ $2.539 a gallon

beautiful wet clouds follow me

Stopped to remove rain gear as looks clear ahead,

What I left behind

was in and out of rain all day. Temps from 101 to 72.

Took Rt 6 all the way from Cypress to Quana, then left to Childress for the night.