Day 14 - June 28

Day 14 - June 28th

Barbara wanted to stay another day!

We didn't want to leave the comfort, the setting, and the hospitality of Sheep Mountain Lodge. We almost had to do a complete repack of all our gear. We brought into our rooms everything that was wet or could get wet overnight. We had things all over the room hanging on every possible hook, hanger, and on the floor in front of the heater. It rained steady all night and we didn't cover the bikes. The thought was why put a cover or a wet and dirty motorcycle?

Chuck getting ready for another hard day of work.

Chuck had rolled into the lodge last night with the fuel light on and said it had been on for quite a while. So, the agenda was to stop at the first gas pump. The host at the lodge said there was gas15 miles down the road. We passed a lodge that said they had gas at 12 miles so we figured there was another......big mistake. At 20 miles we pulled into a turnout to come up with a plan and Chuck's Honda died.

Scott filling his 8 gal tank to go rescue Chuck and Barbara

Fuel transfer in progress

Mission accomplished, ready to roll

Fortunatly I had bought a siphon kit from Aerostich Rider Catalog a week or so before we left. I had hoped we wouldn't have to use it. My BMW's fuel capacity is 8.8 gals but I was getting down low too. Our plan was for Shawn and I to go back 6 miles to see if the Lodge we passed had gas, to fill up, and return to our stranded partners and do a fuel transfer. The plan worked....kind of. The siphon hose worked great and was very easy to do. We got some great laughs out of the morning event. Here is a quote from Chuck as we were refueling his bike, "Drive and repeat as needed." My GPS said 27 miles to next gas so that influenced our decision how much to transfer to Chuck's motorcycle. We rode the 27 miles and the gas station was not closed - it was abandoned, with tarps over the pumps. Can you guess what happened? Yes, Chuck's words came true....he ran out of gas again 11.7 miles short of an open gas station. Yes, "Drive and repeat as needed"!

Repeating as needed

Handy dandy siphon kit

We arrived in Talkeetna an hour before our K2 Flightseeing tour over Denali National Park with a loop around Mt McKinely and a glacier landing. The weather did not cooperate and our tour was canceled. We will try again in the morning.

Talkeetna is a cute and funky little touristy town as we had heard from our friends Henry and Sharon. We had decided to make this place a stop and book the flight tour since it was a short riding day from Sheep Mountain.

Another great day with lots of unexpected fun to make it interesting.
Thanks to my brother Brad for posting the maps.
Down to the Kenai Pennisula tomorrow, hopefully after our rescheduled trip over Denali.