Day 25

Today is the last leg of our trip. We are sad the adventure is over but ready to get back and see all our friends and family. We are glad we are safe and had no close calls or tip overs. Our bikes were maxed our with gear, luggage and riders. Of course we are a few pounds heavier from all the restaurant dining and a great food. It is truly amazing that we didn't have any mechanical failures or balancing issues.
When I rolled off the driveway 25 days ago I almost went down in front of the house with people watching. I had failed to set the ESA suspension settings to "Hard" and full preload. I made that adjustment a few blocks away at the first stop sign. It felt pretty squirrelly. We were a bit worried there for a moment. Are we were going have to go back to the garage and shed some pounds. . It rode smooth and solid the whole way. Thank you BMW for the quickness of the ESA button!

Todays ride started at 5:57. Departing from June Lake. We didn't have any layers on because we knew we would be hitting 100+ temps once we got down in the Owens Valley. One thing we could not have predicted when leaving this morning was that the crisp 58 degree morning would drop to the high 30's in just a few minutes. If I was from this area I may have known that the temp can drop drastically from June Lake Junction to the Mammoth Junction. We about froze to death!

We made quick business of the leg from June to Lone Pine where we had breakfast. In the Mount Whitney Coffee shop we ran into a group of motorcyclist on their own trip. It's is very cool when they ask where we are headed and where we have come from, to say oh... just headed home from Alaska.
It is instant jealousy in their eyes and expressions. We are not going be able to say that again any time soon.

The rest of the way is about a 3 hour and 15 minute 85 mile per hour ride through a blast furnace. Just 40- 50 degree difference of what we got very used to in the north. There were many days in Canada, BC,and the Yukon where I craved and maybe even prayed for some sunshine and 70-80 degree temps. Be careful what you wish for....God has His way of answering prayer, but it is His timing is not always ours.

How do we top this adventure? I am thinking about that already.......

Thank you for following us on our adventure.


Scott.C

Day 24- July 8th

I can't believe it's almost done. Today was our second day without Chuck and Barbara. That brings some thoughts I should share with our friends and blog followers.
Spending three weeks and a day with the same people, family or friends, could be a major challenge. Riding to Alaska can have many quirks and problems. What you don't need is personality conflicts.

Four people just getting started, good friends then...now closer friends

I can speak for Chuck and Barbara because we had this discussion while chatting in our room on our last day on the boat. Did I forget to tell you.....we requested rooms close to each other, even after 18 days?  The Purser obliged us with rooms next door to each other. The four of us are like peas in a pod. We get along so well. We understand each other, we appreciate each other, and we accept each other just how we are. I attribute it to we all know to put each other before ourselves, just like in our marriages.

We were truly blessed on this trip. We give that credit to all the people praying for our journey to be safe. No mechanical failure other than a worn out tire. We had not even a sniffle. We had no spills or tip overs, or close calls and most important we did not get any performance awards from the police. We did have one friendly warning from an Alaska State Trooper on our way to Whittier. He gave us a quick flash from his light bar to slow down a bit.

Chuck and Barbara were going to hit the northern California coast, maybe one of the reasons would be to beat the heat. Our day was nice for part of the way, down the 5 to 89 and then across to 44 and 36 to Susanville. It was a scorcher from there through Reno, Carson City, Minden and Topaz Lake. From there we started climbing to cooler temperatures like the 80's.

Two more days of wearing this cap and helmet!

 Our stop for the night was June Lake where we got to visit our in-laws, Ralph and Cathy. They own Cathy's Candy, the candy & ice cream store in town and peanut butter cup was our craving to satisfy.
Tomorrow we will leave early to try to beat the 100 plus heat of the Owens Valley.
Once we get home we are heading to see our grandchildren that we miss so much.

One more to stay safe and return to our busy but great lives. It will be great to sleep in our own bed and actually cook the food we eat.
Thanks for being with us on this awesome trip.

July 7th - 2nd half

Day 23- 2^nd Half – June 7^th

 

Men like to talk about how many miles they did in a day, women could absolutely care less. They actually prefer to brag about how few miles they did. I laid out the trip home in three equal segments of approximately 450 mile days. Because we had to stop for a tire in Seattle I figured we would be lucky to make Sutherlin, OR, our 1^st day off the boat. We stopped for a late lunch and then a quick gas stop, not getting off the motorcycle. Two hours later we took a short break in one of Oregon’s really nice rest stops. I asked Shawn how she was doing and that we only had 46 miles to go. When we got to the Sutherlin off ramp I asked if she was done or did she want to go further. She said "Let's continue" and I set the GPS on Grants Pass about 65 miles. When we got to Grants Pass I asked again what she wanted to do. She said "Lets do Medford", another 30 miles! She get’s it….more today equals an easier tomorrow.

Having some breakfast in Seattle

Rest stops can be interesting places

 We were turned away from my first choice of a Best Western Motor Lodge. I like my baby (motorcycle) right in front of my room on the first floor. I will sacrifice comfort, quality, and cleanliness for this small detail. Unfortunately, our wives don’t see it like we do. They sent us down the road to an independent motor lodge that was pretty nice. When pulling out of the Best Western to make a u-turn, we see Chuck. Now remember they were going to take it easy and do the coastal route. Wrong…. Chuck decided to go for Medford too, but without full consent from Barbara.

Kind of crazy we ran into him, but this trip has just been full of surprises.

Mileage today…..552, Temps in the high 80’s and mid 90’s. I remembered what it was like to sweat again.

Our final cruising sunset.

Day 23 -July 7 Lunch stop

Day 23 -June 7th  3:03

We got off the boat this morning at 8:15 without a hitch. Well..... maybe i was worried a bit watching Chuck try to cram all there stuff back on the bike. They have a complete library of novels and misc books on board. Maybe they will consider a couple of Kindles?
I need a tire because not confident it will make it the remaining  1350 miles to Twin Peaks.
The foursome decided to split up.....don't worry we are still friends. Chuck and Barbara decided to take a few extra days to get home so we thought our parting moment would be when we exited the freewaqy in Seattle to go to "Ride West BMW" for a new rear tire. All went well and we had a little breakfast down the street while waiting. In and out in an hour, not bad. Great folks, we were treated like a king and queen.
Back on the road now, blogging from McDonalds in Tigard, Oregon just south of Portand.

Keep praying.....

Poem by Barbara

North to Alaska was the vacation plan
With a round about tour through Canada's land.
Two up on motorcycles, packed with our goods,
Over vast meadows and through thickened woods.
Mountains snow capped and skirted in green,
Waterfalls weeping from rock walls in between.
God's vibrant pallet, His artistry proclaimed,
His majesty revealed in this awesome domain.

We've seen grizzlies and black bears--a mom and her cubs,
Horned sheep on the rock cliffs and deer in the shrubs,
Moose and grey wolfs abundantly stride
And bald eagles glide over the vast country side.
We've sailed the seas of  Resurrection Bay,
Where otters and seals and horned puffins play.
We were guests in the home of the great humpback whales
And they welcomed us in with a wag of their tales.
Then we viewed from the air all we'd seen from the ground,
The glaciers and mountains, rivers renowned,
And the final adventure before homeward bound
Is five days on the ferry through the Prince William Sound.

We started this tour shrouded in prayer
For our mode of travel, most would not dare.
To our faithful prayer warriors we are in debt,
Please don't stop praying 'cause we're not home yet!

The Boat

Day 19-23   The Ferry South to Bellingham

We met a lot of fellow riders on the trip up north. Some bragged of riding for two to three months! Now, Chuck and I love to ride, but that would get old. We spent 18 days on the bikes: some long, some short, some wet, some hot, some cold, and some a combination of two or three of these conditions on the same day.

We invited the Wolfes over to our place

Cruising wine drank from a Dixie cup, life is great

1

We have discussed if you are going to ride all summer we would need to have little vacations from the daily routine of riding. If you don’t do that the ride can go from fun to routine, to a grind. Although we have a system of only the essentials coming off the bike every night, this process of load unload can get old. Shawn and I have come up with a system that has been working well. Each of us has one side pannier that has a soft bag that conforms to its exact shape. In this are all our clothes and our Sanuk sandals. These are great travel shoes because they take up very little room and they can be worn for all après riding activities. On top of the panniers, or side cases, we each have a piece of soft luggage that carries the following: electric vest, electric socks, electric gear controller, water repellant hat, mosquito face net, bandana, wind and water repellant jacket, extra gloves. In the truck we have a combo bathroom kit , his and hers, Shawn’s very small travel purse, the laptop, tie down straps for the ferry, and all charging cords for cameras, phones, and computer. Strapped to the top of the trunk, is a soft bag that holds the motorcycle cover, extra face shields, some bungees, rags, and sunglasses.

In the bag on the tank we have cameras, binoculars, maps, flashlight, tire gauge, sunscreen, spare keys, and bug spray, etc.

When we arrive at our destination we remove our soft bag of clothes, and all the contents of the trunk. It’s pretty easy to get the room in one trip.

Unloading the day's catch of Sockeye salmon

If a multiple week or month or two long rides is the plan, we recommend rest days at least once a week. After two to three weeks a 3-5 day stop would be a good idea. We rode 18 days without a rest day mostly because of our limited time and what we wanted to see.

Shawn and Barbara liked the idea of the 5 day ferry ride after our 18 day schedule. I think this is the best way to do it. We are enjoying the casual schedule of boat life. Rooms are great, food is good and pricing very reasonable. We try to get off the boat, if not for anything but to go for a brisk walk. We have done this in Yakutat and Juneau.

We are getting ready to dock and hopefully find a wireless signal and post some stuff to the blog.

Thanks again for being a part of our adventure!

Scott, Shawn, Chuck, and Barabara

Day 18- July 2

Day 18 – July 2^nd

Waiting for our turn to board the ferry

One more day in a dream vacation…..

This morning was set to be very casual. The plan to leave between noon and 1:00 pm was the result of backwards scheduling. The ferry leaves at 11:45 p.m. so they want us to check in at 8:45. We will need to eat our last real meal before ferry cafeteria food at 6:45, keeping in mind that the tunnel to Whittier opens for our direction of travel every hour on the ½ hour – so 5:30 p.m. 185 miles, with a grocery and gas stop brings us to 5 hours travel time or 12:30 p.m. departure. Obviously we didn’t cut it too close; we had up to 8:30 to go through the tunnel. We will talk more about the tunnel experience later…..

Fact 1: If we miss the ferry the next one is one week later. Fact 2: If we can get on that ferry departing one week later we probably won’t have a berth to sleep in. Fact 3: If the above two things happen, Chuck and I will single men in six months.

Alaska loves their moose

I think Barbara is praying for safety through the tunnel passage

  

“Sleeping-in” meant 7:30. We usually meet for breakfast at that time. We had two great meals in Homer; both at the Sourdough Café, walking distance from our wonderful lakeside cabin. Last night I decided I had to eat halibut in the “Halibut Capital of the World”. Well, the plan went awry but with a bonus. As the waiter placed a salmon dinner in front of me he told me the chef had made a mistake and was grilling me some halibut too. I told him he should take the salmon and eat it himself and I would wait for the halibut. He insisted I keep it and he would be back with what I had ordered. I shared some of the salmon with Chuck and Barbara, but I had the best two pieces of fish I had ever had. Yes, I said that same thing about my salmon at Sheep Mountain Lodge. It was a great meal, with amazing friends, on a fantastic vacation!

Four people..still happy after all those miles

The reason you come to Homer besides the Halibut

Chuck..the negotiator

The next morning we returned for the best breakfast of the entire trip; sourdough French toast, sourdough pancakes, fried eggs, scrambled eggs with mushrooms, spinach, cheese and reindeer sausage. Since we had been wireless deprived, Shawn and I stayed to use their Wi-Fi and work on the blog. We had decided that Chuck and Barbara would go talk to some of the float plane pilots to try to arrange a short excursion. Chuck was successful and called my cell and said it’s now or never. The one hour flight in the Cessna 206 was awesome! We took off and landed in the lake right in front of the cabin. The pilot took us over the Homer Spit, across the bay over numerous glaciers and up on top of the snow capped mountains. We saw bears and mountain goats, alpine lakes, and waterfalls.

A different view of Alaska

Shawn giving our pilot some pre-flight warnings

Landing on the lake after an awesome flight

Our pilot, Jose, has over 21,000 hours flying in Alaska. We were in good hands. When we got back from our one hour float plane trip we packed up and hit the road at almost exactly 12:30 p.m. How could we have planned that better? We are professionals!

We have back tracked our route three times now. Wasilla to Talkeetna and back on the way to Anchorage; the road in and out of Seward, and the return trip from Homer to the Whittier portage road. Let me say, it’s not a problem since each time was unique and different.

Allow me to describe the Whittier Portage Tunnel. It is a one lane, two and half mile railroad tunnel. About twelve years ago it was modified for cars, buses, and crazily for motorcycles too. I guess they couldn’t discriminate. Motorcycles have to ride in the 3½ foot space between the tracks. On each side of the track there is a space wide enough and deep enough to swallow up a motorcycle tire and throw you down the road. The center is paved but has a convex shape for draining off the moisture dripping off the ceiling of the tunnel. Staying in the center of the tracks for 2 ½ miles is definitely not for amateurs or the weak at heart. It could be a vacation killer if you did our trip in reverse and took a spill in the tunnel on your first day in Alaska. Chuck reminds me to mention the confidence builder the tunnel control workers unknowingly offered. “You guys (motorcycle riders) will go last after all the cars, trucks and buses have passed through.” He didn’t say why but you know it’s because they have problems getting motorcycles through safely. They have a special tri-fold pamphlet packed with warnings and what you should do in the event you crash. We carefully read the instructions and then had to rely on our combined, 90 plus years of riding experience.

When it was our turn, we were the only two bikes, I told Chuck to go first and I was going to video the treacherous ride with my helmet cam. We were supposed to go 25 miles per hour and we stayed close together until the half way point where there is a speed sign displaying our speed. I was going 21 and tried to speed up but you can’t look at your gauges even for a second. You have to concentrate 100% on the narrow path. Chuck and Barbara had pulled away but I could see as they exited the tunnel Barbara throw-up her hands like she was at a Pentecostal church.

Barbara says she can't find the phone charger now...

We found the phone charger...

After a fabulous dinner we boarded the ship, tied down the motorcycles and checked into our cute little rooms that will be home for 5 days.

Total miles ridden to date: Chuck and Barbara- 4965. Scott and Shawn- 4932

We look forward to a change of pace.

Life is good, Chuck found the curling iron under the tie downs!