June 30 - Wednesday

Made it to Wall, SD today. Total of 398 miles. Hit 110 degrees F this afternoon. Also had high winds from the south in SD. Made it a struggle to ride! Hope the winds die down tomorrow! Visited the Little Bighorn National Monument this morning where Colonel Custer met his fate.

Really impressive place of American history! Met a man there that had owned an Indian motorcycle and had served in WWII, Korean and Vietnam Wars.

Really neat talking to him. He liked my Ultra but said his Indian was a better looking/riding motorcycle. I am sure it was!! He regretted selling it years ago! His favorite movie is "The World's Fastest Indian". I have a picture of him with his walker in front of my motorcycle, That was special today!! Also met a Crow Indian at breakfast in Hardin, MT and he blessed me and my motorcycle!! That was neat! Maybe he was a medicine man, I don't know, but it can;'t hurt!! Walked downtown Wall this evening and had a buffalo burger for dinner. Then to Wall Drug Store for a piece of huckleberry pie and coffee (their coffee is only 5 cents a cup!!)

June 29 - Tuesday

Had a 494 mile ride today from Whitefish to Billings, Montana. Had breakfast this moring at the Huckleberry Patch in Hungry Horse, MT.

They were very good. Had to have a piece of pie and ice cream too, so my breakfast and lunch were combined!! hehe!  Keith and I had visited the Huckleberry Patch restaurant 3 years ago on our cross USA trip of 2007 (hard to believe that was 3 whole years ago!). It was exactly the same! Headed down RT 35 on the east side of Flathead Lake (based on the advice of another Harley rider I met at the restaurant). It was a beautiful ride.

Headed on down US 93 to I90 at Missoula and east to Billings. Nice road for interstate all the way and nice scenery. Stopped at Billings as there were dark clouds ahead. Just as I finished unpacking the bike, the rain stated. Even had some pea size hail!! Hope that is all gone by morning. Plan to visit the Little Bighorn National Park in the morning to see where Custer met his fate!! Looks like I have about 2,500 miles to go!

June 28 - Monday

Well, I am back in the good ole USA tonight. Started this morning waking up to a beautiful view out the bedroom window at the home of Hermann & Joann in Hinton, Alberta. Hermann and I did a lot of motorcycle talking, with him showing me all the customizing he has done to his Deluxe to make it into a great touring bike for he and Joann. Wow, it was a lot more fun and easier talking to Hermann in person then on the internet through the HD Forum!! : >)  aid goodbyes and I headed out to Jasper and the Icefields Parkway along the Canadian Rockies. Started out with beautiful weather but the clouds and rain moved in near the Columbia Icefield on the Parkway. Temperature went to 50 degrees F too!! Could have taken a lot more pictures of the beautiful scenery had it not been for the rain and fog! Did see a group of elk up close along the road and a herd of bighorn sheep in a field.

There were a lot of RV's and tour busses in the park today (apparently the speed limits do not apply to the tour busses as they were flying around me many times - a little messy in the rain!).

This reminded me of Yellowstone on a midday in August!! Was going up to Mount Edith Cavell Road but it was closed completly due to construction. Hit a looong line of major constructuion on the south end coming into Banff. Had plenty of time to check my motorcycle out and eat lots of snacks!!!

The weather cleared after I left Banff. Did 489 miles and make it to Whitefish, MT. Nice motel, the owner brought out clean rags for my motorcycle and put them on the seat before I had everything unpacked.

Then he offered their water hose out front to wash my DIRTY bike, which I DID!! (Gees, I hope I don't as obsessed as Keith on keeping my bike clean!!). (Speaking of Keith!!) I am planning to be at The Huckleberry Patch restaurant in the morning for some Huckleberry pancakes and Huckleberry coffee!! They open at 7 am.

June 27 - Sunday

Left Chetwynd, BC around 8 am. Weather was sunny and in the mid 50's. Thought I would go by Prince George, BC and visit the Harley shop there. I arrived there at 12 noon and checked at the service desk if the service dept was open today. The guy there said there was no one in the service shop today but asked what I needed. I told him where I was from and was close to needing my tires replaced. He said, "well I think I can take care of you, pull your bike on around"! Ended up, he was the owner of Prince George HD, Len. He did all the work on my bike himself, replaced the front & rear tires and changed the engine and primary oil. That was GREAT service. By the time I left, the sky had clouded up and it was starting to rain. That is why you don't see an pictures until I arrived in Hinton. I spent the night with Hermann and Joann in their home in Hinton Alberta. Met Hermann on a Harley forum on the internet. He had invited me to come by on this trip. They are super nice folks and are great hosts!!

Heading out to the IceFields Parkway on Monday.

June 26 - Saturday

On down the Alaska Highway for 488 miles today IN THE RAIN and FOG!

 It never rained real hard just pretty steady until this afternoon. Really used the rainsuit and heated gear today! Did see my first elk, although they were small and I got their picture. Stopped at the Toad River Lodge for coffee.

This is another unique place (every place on the Alaska Highway is unique and that is one of the things that makes it interesting!!) They have over 7,000 hats that people have given them since 1950. Pretty cool! Did see two more black bear and one was standing on its hind legs! I was going 70 mph, it was raining and I just knew it would be down on all fours by the time I turned around, so NO picture (except for the one in my head and I like that one!!). I gassed up just north of Fort St. John and saw some blue sky to the west, so I headed down RT 29.

 This was a beautiful road down the Peace River valley and a nice curvy motorcycle road too. The sun came out, the rain clouds went away and it warmed up to around 80! Off came the rain suit and heated gear! I ended up in the town of Chetwynd, BC. This is a tmber/wood manufacturing town. It is also home of the international chainsaw wood sculpturing contest!! Took a walk downtown and there was a great display walk with many of the sculptures.

It was really interesting. Got photos of many of them posted. On to Prince George, Jasper and Banf National Parks tomorrow. (Note that I have rode 8,001 miles now on the trip)

June 25 - Friday

Had a 449 mile drive down the Alaska Highway to Muncho Lake, BC. It was raining in Whitehorse when I departed so the rainsuit was on. I left it on all the way but it never rained again!! Had a great breakfast at the Teslin restaurant and met a couple of riders from Seattle. Also, met several nice folks at roadside stops. Interesting, I would stop by myself and then a RV would stop and the folks would get out and ask where I was from and so on, then they would get back in their RV and take off. It was kinda fun! One couple from Saskatchewan mentioned they had just stopped at a roadside place and had the greatest slice of rhubarb pie they had ever tasted! Wow, I had to know where that place was. It was only about 10 more miles down the highway so I stopped and they were right!! They even had the rhubarb plants growing beside the restaurant. (Reference to today's photos!)

Met a couple from Switzerland at the restaurant. They had shipped their BMWs over to Anchorage and were riding to Calgary where they were to put their bikes in storage for a return trip in 2011 to ride on to the US! (That had to be expensive!) Did see another black bear and got some nice pictures as it walked right beside me.

Stayed at the Northern Rockies Lodge again. A bicycle rider from Germany was in the room next to me. He was riding from Whitehorse to Calgary on a vacation trip by himself. He worked in a telecommunications business call center in Germany. Met another couple from North Carolina at the lodge. He was a retired lawyer. He and his wife had moved from Kentucky to Pine Knoll Shores, NC when he retired. This was their 50th wedding anniversary so they decided to drive together to Alaska. I didn't ask, but they had to be at least 70 years old, based on their looks and the 50th anniversary!! I hope they make it! Anyway, another great day!

June 24 - Thursday

I am back in Whitehorse, Yukon today.

I got up at 4 am Alaska time this morning and left the motel by 5 am, since I would "lose" an hour as soon as I crossed the Canada border.  It was another chilly morning. Around 47 degrees, so the heated gear was on and it felt good! Made a gas stop and tire air check and headed the 100 miles to the border crossing.

This time crossing in to Canada was quick and easy. Took all of about 30 seconds and the border guard waved me though! I guess they make a lot of safe assumptions on the US citizens crossing on the Alaska Highway. I stopped in Beaver Creek, Yukon to have breakfast from a neat little place run by an interesting Canadian guy.

 He made a very good bacon, egg & cheese sandwich. We talked for a while and I even bought something from him for my wife (hehe, Libby, that will make you curious!) Took a few more pics of the great scenery as it really does look different coming the other way!!

Weather was nice and stayed in the upper 50's. Made it to Whitehorse. The motel I stayed at before was already booked up so I ended up at a different one. Had a great dinner of fresh halibut!! 398 miles today.

June 23 - Wednesday

Well, today marks the official start of my return trip to Virginia! I have ridden a total of 6,415 miles since I left on June7. I left early before breakfast at the lodge and stopped to gas up in the very little town of Fox, Alaska. Asked the gas store clerk where a good place for breakfast and she said go out to the end of the parking lot and a lady in a little log house cooks out there. Sure enough a lady who calls herself Granny was there. I got the homemade sausage gravy and biscuits. It was very good. The kind of gravy you can almost cut with a knife. She perks her coffee in a large "chuck-wagon" style peculator on her stove (I told her that the coffee was good, so she showed me the pot and how she made it. That was cool!) Several other guys came by on their way to work and ordered from her too. It was great and I got to meet and talk to several of the locals. One guy was orginally from North Carolina, near Wilmington. He came to Alaska several years ago to find work. He drives a big dump truck for the Fort Knox Gold Mine near the lodge I stayed at. I went on to visit the Fairbanks Harley Davidson shop and buy a tee shirt from the most northern Harley shop in the world!

Saw and talked to a lot of riders there. Stopped, took a few pictures and had lunch in North Pole, Alaska. All the street lights are designed like candy canes. I had lunch at the Country Cafe in North Pole.

This restaurant was visited by Guy Fieri a couple of years ago on a Christmas time special. They had picture of Guy in the restauarant. It was excellent and quite a lot of food for lunch. I think I included a pic of the lunch!

Headed on for Tok for the night. About 30 miles away from Tok it started raining and the temp dropped from 75 to 49!! I pulled over to put on the raingear at a wide spot and a guy on a bicycle was there too putting on his raingear. We started talking and he was also from North Carolina (Pilot Mountain)!! He was about my age and had retired last year. He decided he wanted to do something special for retirement so he just started training on bicycle riding last year after he retired. He then decided to ride a bicycle from Alaska to North Carolina!! So this was the start of his retirement trip. He had shipped his bicycle and had just flown to Fairbanks. Gees, made my little ole retirement motorcycle trip not seem that big of a deal (then I thought after I left him, hey, I rode all the way to Alaska and now I am riding all the way back!! Heck, he flew one way!! hehe!) Anyway, we suited up and parted. I doubt I will see him again. Wish I had asked if he had a web site/blog for his trip as I am sure it would be interesting! I did 251 miles for the day.

June 22 - Tuesday

Well, this was the day for the famous Dalton Highway and the Arctic Circle. Wasn't sure I was going to make it, BUT I DID!!!! This was the most challenging & grueling motorcycle ride I have ever done. It was 410 miles round trip and took me 11 hours. Glad I did it, but I don't plan to ever do it again!!! It was over 100 miles of mud, dirt, gravel, rocks, ruts, humps, sways, you name it! The "paved" sections was real stretch to even call it paved! This and constantly watching in  front and the mirrors for the huge trucks coming up behind you and toward you! (these trucks are not your normal eighteen wheelers either, that have at least 30 wheels!!!!) Hugh tanker trucks spraying water mixed with calcium chloride all over the road, which made a soupy, slimy mess up to 6 inches thick!! Get the picture? (You can see the pics of my motorcycle covered in all the mud!!)

I got to the Arctic Circle and there was not a single person there! I had to set up my short tripod to take my pic. After that two guys from the University of Alaska at Fairbanks came by and took a better picture of me! Made it back to the gold mining lodge for another night. Had a great dinner of fresh Alaskan halibut!! I was very tired from the trip, actually exhausted!!

June 21 - Monday

Got up at 4 am and was on the road by 5 am.

Rode to the town of Seward, am Alaska seaport town. It was severely damaged in the great 1964 Alaska earthquake. There are tsunami warning sign all along the downtown area today!

Visited Kenai Fjords National Park and walked up to the Exit Glacier.

This was a one mile hike and was very scenic and refreshing for early in the morning. Had to watch close for bears as there were warning signs everywhere!! Found out that you need to play dead with a grizzly and fight back with a black bear, Good stuff to know up here!!

The glacier was beautiful.

Could have hiked up for another 3 miles to the ice field, but one mile was enough for me. Headed back to the Sunrise Inn for a great breakfast of Reindeer Scramble ( it was reindeer sausage in it!!).

Started the ride back up to Fairbanks as the weather looked good to try the Dalton on Tuesday. Rode up the Parks Highway (interesting every road in Alaska has a name in addition to a number!). Came by Denali (Mt. McKinley, the highest mountain in North America at 20,320 feet). The clouds cleared out enough that I could see the summit for about 5 minutes!

A flag-lady at a road construction stop told me she had been there since April and today was the first time she could see the summit. It was impressive and the pictures of it does not do it justice!! Made it 607 miles back to Fairbanks and guess what today is the summer solstice and I stopped at 4 hotels and everything in Fairbanks was booked up!! The last one I stopped at the desk clerk said I think a lodge at Chatanika, Alaska which was about 20 miles outside of Fairbanks has a few rooms. So off I went and I did get a room. This was an experience as it was a true Alaska back country Lodge.

It has been owned and managed by a couple, Ron and Shirley, since 1974. I posted some pics so you can see. Also had a common bathroom and showers in the hall. An old gold mining dredge was across the road. This thing was huge and was in operation into the 60's. Very interesting and a lot of gold mining still going on in the area. Had dinner beside a local resident at the bar. He was a gold mine prospector. He told me about some of his past finds and current claims. Pretty cool! Stayed up to 12 am to see and get a picture of the famous midnight sun (and yes the sun was still shining on the hillside at midnight!!)

June 20 - Sunday

Did 442 miles today. Rode to Anchorage and the Kenai Peninsula in southern Alaska. Very scenic area with lots of snow covered mountains and glaciers.

I learned a lot about glaciers too. Stopped at a lodge and had a homemade cinnamon bun on the way.

The lady asked me if I wanted it warmed up with hot butter on it!! Duh, I gave a real quick answer!! Boy was that good with hot coffee. It was chilly the entire day with temps in the upper 50's. Saw a moose cow with her calf in a pond next to the road. Beautiful ride coming out of Anchorage around the inlet to the peninsula.

Everything is BIG in Alaska. It was about 50 miles just around the inlet!!! Even had a train along the way! I stopped in the town of Cooper Landing and got the last room at the Sunrise Inn.

 A really neat place with great food, of course!! For whatever reason I could not get my netbook to connect to their wireless internet. They had a 10 digit hex passcode!! My old handheld palm connected just fine. Go figure!