Day 27

 We pulled out of Thompsons Eagle Claw motorcycle camp about 8AM. Walked over and took pictures of the motorcycle shop set up and the sauna. Sauna was awesome last night after the cold day we had. 

Motorcycle shop has everything you would need in case of a breakdown. Even used tires that still have plenty of tread if needed.

 

After breakfast at Fast Eddy’s, we are rolling to Haines Junction. I Have to admit I am a little uncomfortable heading there. I am trying to push the memories of this place out of my head from 2018 in July. If you read my blog from that trip up here than you know what I mean.

We were forced to ride for at least 180 miles in massive rain and horrible road conditions and road construction.

Temperature stayed right at 43 degrees most of the day. Road was so bad that it ate my chain guard. It snapped the weld and rolled up into the tire fender well. Thank the lord it did not go into the chain and sprocket or that would not have been good. Motorcycle angle was on my shoulder for sure.

Not many pictures as we couldn’t see much, and we were trying to read the road. Road construction was about our only pictures.

BTW, this cold rain is getting old already!!!

We got a break in the weather, so we pulled off into the Thechal Dhal visitor center. It is a big horn sheep viewing area however the sheep didn’t like the weather either. Very interesting place about the native Eskimo life.

 

 As we got to Haines Junction we got a room in a very favorable dump, as most of the places here fall under the unfavorable dump class! We pulled the bikes under the cover for smokers outside the side bar door. I have to admit I already met interesting cast members of the “Smoke Me Up Scotty” club. Sheila is fantastic even with her teeth. She is native Eskimo and already teaching Boyd the language. I love this.

Now dinner in the bar and Shelia is our waitress.

How can you love this? 

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

 

Day 26

We woke up at Lulu’s camp to a little rain and 47 degrees. Fog laying on the river. It was beautiful even though I am not thrilled to see more rain.

 We are heading to Valdez and then turn back around and head up to Tok. As we move further east the rain and cold pick up. We pulled off to see the big glacier we saw on the way to Anchorage last week. We got a break in the weather, and it was not raining, and it was visible.

 

 Boyd has been having issues with his bike in the backend. We put it up on the center stand and discovered that his chain needed to be tightened. So, we fixed it right there since the rain let up. What a great place to fix a bike. Right by the glacier.

 

 We went up and over Summit Pass and it was pouring rain and 44 degrees of course with some nice wind!!!

Man, it was cold. We pulled into the Glenn Allen junction and went into the Visitors center as they have free coffee. We decided after talking to the staff in there to skip Valdez and head to Tok. It is about 140 miles to Valdez from here. We would hit it and then turn around and head back up through here on the way to Tok. Weather is showing possible snow on Thompson Pass along the way down. We said BS to that and pointed the front wheel to Tok.

As we are heading north, we are driving out of the Sevier storm, and it is warming up to 51 degrees. Feels like a heat wave for sure.

We are following the Gakona River. It is huge and muddy as it is glacier fed which puts a lot of silt into it.

 

As we get closer to Tok (About 50 miles to go) we roll up to a mommy and baby moose. Well, what do you do? You cast them as stars and give them a leading role. They performed perfectly. After we gave them a Grammy Award we pegged up and throttled back into Tok.

We pulled into Thompson’s Eagle Claw Motorcycle campground for the night. We love this place.

We found a laundry mat and thru all our wet cloths and gear in the dryer. Then rolled over to Fast Eddys for dinner.

Boyd is checking his chain again and adjusting it a little more at camp while I work on this blog.

How can you not love this?

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

 Day 25

 

Woke up this morning and it was raining. We were going to go flying in a bush plane with my buddy Kyle however mother nature had a different idea. Well Kyle had to scratch that and I don’t blame him. We would have been able to see or view anything as the clouds with the rain were on the ground.

We are heading to Seward today and that is a beautiful ride. Well, the rain and fog made it seriously tough to plow forward on the bikes. We took cover at a small town called Moose Pass. Pulled the bikes under someone’s barn with a cover. We figured if they told us to leave we would but let’s take the chance. Fog lifted a little bit here and the one restaurant had homemade pie. So, it was pie and coffee for breakfast. It was fantastic as were hungry, cold and wet. We never were confronted for parking where we did, awesome. With the food void in our bellies, we pegged up and throttled back in route to Seward.

 Massive rain as we could not even see the mountains and we were riding right along them.We pulled into Seward and again found shelter. We walked around a little, but the rain convinced us that we needed to keep moving.

We will back track our route in route towards Anchorage.  

When we stayed at Lulu’s four days ago a lady there told us to check out Hope, Alaska north of Seward. When we saw the junction for it we took it. She said the road to it was beautiful with some nice glaciers. Well guess what, massive rain and fog. Couldn’t see any of it.

We pulled into the one restaurant/bar. Man, the food here was out of this world. We ate like kings, and they were fantastic people.

 We headed out and plan to go through the Whitter tunnel to Whitter. Massive rain!

Again, the rain and fog make it very serious to see the road and traffic. We pull up to the tunnel and must wait. They stage the vehicles as this tunnel is one way. Motorcycles are in the pack of the pack. A railroad line goes through it and we must stay between the tracks. If you wander and your front wheel goes into a track you and your bike will go down. No big deal right except this tunnel is two miles long.

As we are waiting, we take refuge at the restrooms as there is cover in front of it. I am telling Boyd and pointing out some glaciers, but we can hardly see them.

Really there is a big glacier behind Boyd.

Look I am pointing at it.

We are given the thumbs up to head out. We get through with no issues. 

When we come out the fog and rain are worse on this side. We couldn’t see anything, so we turned around and wait our turn to back out. Now we must sit and wait in the massive rain. Have I mentioned it’s raining?

We have about an hour to go to get to Anchorage and we are faced with massive rain.

We get there and gas up. We take shelter under the canopy of the gas station and start the hunt on our phones for a room and camping is out of the picture. Did I mention the massive rain?

Boyd finds a place for $89. I said let’s go. We get there and it is called Mush Inn. WOW!!!

We pulled under their front check in cover and wondered if it is going to cave in on us. This place is a dump in the worst part of Anchorage. Cars are sitting all over the parking lot broken down. One car is parked on a slight incline with two big rocks wedged behind the back wheels. Well hell we are not staying here!!!

We sat under their cover and started the search again. Did I mention the massive rain going on?

Everything in this town is outrageous in price. Anything from $280 to $400 a night. Some of them I called were booked up. I finally found the Econo Inn, two beds for $140. Let’s go. We get there and it is in the middle of downtown Anchorage. How bad can that be?

Well, I think it a rent by the hour place. Junkies and deadbeats everywhere. I get us checked in and pay cash as I can see my credit card fraud going to happen if I lay a card down. I give him two $100 bills and he gives me back three $20’s. He is behind a bullet proof window!

As we are unpacking our bikes a junkie comes over and asks for a lighter. We swat him off like a mosquito.

We get into the room and the smoke alarm is chirping. I go tell the dude up front. He makes an attempt to fix it. Well, that’s a bust. So, he is going to give us a different room. I went with him to his jail cell. He says “I have one, but the heaters don’t work."

I said “Just give me my money back and I will go somewhere else!”

He says that they do not give refunds.

Well that’s it with junkies all over the place I pulled out the three $20’s he gave me as change at check in. Set them on the counter under his glass window and said “Well tonight you are going to give a refund and it’s going to happen Right Now! Give me back the two bills and here’s your 20’s.”

Well, he did and was pissed off.

 I go up and tell Boyd, we are out of here.

We are packing the bikes back up as I call Lulu. She is about 40 miles away and it is now 8:15pm.She didn’t answer so I left her a message and told her who we were. She immediately calls me back and tells me she has our tent waiting. We headed out in the, did I mention massive rain.

Man, what a blessing it was to see Lulu again. We felt like we came home as she welcomed us with open arms.

We spread out all our wet gear and turned the heater up to high. Yes a great heater in the tent. Now for some shut eye.

How can you not love this?

Let’s see what tomorrow brings.

Day 24

Before Boyd and I laid our heads down last night we did a boat trip on the Kenai river. Our buddy Clik hooked us up with a friend of his so we could have the full Kenai experience. WOW, what a blast.

 We landed to boat on a gravel edge and the started Flip'n the rods. What a different way to catch salmon. It was a really great experience. Couldn't thank Steve and is wife enough for taking us.

 

We got to bed about 11Pm and were up at again at 1:30 AM to be on the river at 2:30AM.

When we got to the platform we are fishing from Dr. Irvin is there with a bunch of buddy's. He was my Dr for about 30 years in Albany. Now retired he loves to fish Alaska. What a small world for us to show up at the same place at the same time.

We had another very successful day as we loaded up on the salmon.

This is just one of the many stringers of fish we filled up. Scott is taking them to the filet table.

Once we got back the to Clik's the man needed to be groomed up. Man he was looking scary. So what do I do? C'mon you know what I am going to do.

We have had such a great time with these three great guys. I am thrilled that I have been able to share a piece of their lives. 

Dave, Scott and Click I will be Forever grateful.

How can you not love this?

Let's see what tomorrow brings.

 Day 23

We got to Chik and Wendy's place about 7:30PM. They welcomed us with open arms. I love them already. 

We met up with an other buddy's of Boyd's that he did not know were here Dave. Also Scott who lives in Maine now but lived in our area of Oregon for years. We all know a lot of the same people. This is too cool.

So Chik calls this fish camp and we are all here to fish. 

We hit he sack as we found out we will be up at 1AM and be fishing by 2AM. So nighty night.

Sockeye salmon and Coho are in and the limit is 6 per person per day. I mean, you know I fish a lot in Oregon having a home on the Alsea river with salmon and steelhead. However this is a different game. WOW.

Check it out.

Between the 5 of us we hauled in 30 fish. Let's see how tomorrow morning goes.

Check out his double hook up.

Took us about 2 hours to vacuum seal all the fish and get it ready to fly home.

How can you not love this?

Let's see what tomorrow brings.