Return of the Dalton Highway

In the morning it was about putting back on my muddy jacket, pants and boots, and getting on my muddy damaged bike. Not my favorite thing to do … right Brent ha ha ha.

While we were sleeping a group of motorcyclist had shown up and were tenting outside the hotel. One of them was Jeremy Kroeker who authored Through Dust and Darkness, Motorcycle Therapy, and Motorcycle Messengers.

We saddled up and took off into dark clouds.There was scattered showers until we got close to Fairbanks when it poured. We took our time and only I couple of times there were sections that made me say, “Oh Crap!” But nothing like I experienced the day before.

The next gas station was Yukon River. A tour guide also parked in the lot said we must be the toughest people in Alaska right now riding in this mud and rain. An exaggeration for sure, but I’ll take it. We kept going.

A while later I noticed Brent had slowed behind me. I thought he was stopping to take a picture so I slowed and waited for him. When he caught up he honked for me to pull over. It turned out his warning light came on that his engine was overheating. We looked for the cause and found out that both our radiators were caked in mud. This made it next to impossible for the air to get in there to cool the water. We attempted to take sticks to clear it but it was caked in hard. Brent wished for rain.

His wish came true as moments later it poured. The rain cleared out the mud somewhat and the engine temperature went down.

First thing once we got to Fairbanks was wash our bikes to get some of the mud off of the bikes.

Then off to the University of Alaska Fairbanks where we stayed in dorm rooms for the cheap price of $41 US. They were very nice. Clean, lots of electrical outlets, awesome Wi-Fi, free laundry, and a tent to park our motorcycles under.

I was finally finished the Dalton. Except for repairing the motorcycle damage Grrrrrrrr.

Route for July 18, 2016