Fairbanks Alaska, Aug 21st
Fairbanks Alaska at the local bar, ok the basement of the Marlin owned by Rick with Liz tending bar, her first night on the job. First question of everyone coming in is whether they have their ID on them or not…good thing with Rick sitting there, but not on me, in my jacket if that works. Forgot to mention yesterday that I gained another hour when I crossed the Alaskan border which you’d think would help since I can sleep that extra hour, but right now as tired as I have been many nights after a long ride. Ok, the ride wasn’t too bad from Tok to Fairbanks, mile wise since it’s just under 300 miles, but in the cold rain it takes its toll. Kept looking out the window this morning waiting for the rain to stop, but it’s obvious that ain’t going to happen and after yesterday have to get to the Harley shop for them to checkout the bike. For some reason when coming into Tok it started acting up with the idle running high and the electrical system going screwy that want to make sure it’ll get me home. That reminded me of a couple I met at Whitehorse and how they bought their bikes. A couple of guys were returning from Alaska and didn’t’ t want to ride anymore that they were going to have their bikes shipped back, but when they found out how much that was going to cost, just decided to sell them to the shop…thus this couple bought them. That had me thinking for as cold as it is and the rain, will just have my bike shipped home and fly myself…now that ain’t like me – not a quitter so I’m going for it. The other thing I remember this morning is listening to the weather channel and how so many places need a break from the heat, but hell, they never talked about how this is one of the coldest summers around Alaska and a rainy one at that…has me longing for the heat spells I’ve had along the way.
Not a lot of pictures on my way because of the rain, not much to see and the camera is packed away, but did notice a mountain that wanted to get a shot of that looked for a stopping spot to share – share a picture with you that is. Was good timing when I did find a spot because it happened to be when Fred was walking by. Stopped and talked to him on what he was protesting and he left last Thursday from Fairbanks and is walking to Haines…not sure how far that is, but looks like a long way on a map. He’s protesting the government’s use of the tobacco money toward other special interests than cutting health care costs and like I told him, we have the same thing in Minnesota with the tobacco settlement the state got….health care costs just keep going up. Ok Fred, now your protest is on the internet, but that’d take a lot more people checking out my blog to make a difference. Oh, the other thing is the snow on that mountain which I did get a picture of, the first snow there this year according to Fred…it’s getting cold fast and I still have a lot of state to see.
Made it to Delta Junction and it’s a good thing I pulled into the visitor’s center, by accident, but it turned out to work out perfectly since this is the end of the Alaskan Highway and I better get a picture. Thanks to a family from Indiana for taking my picture and I was thru that state, over a month ago, but you can see how bundled up I am with the cold and rain, but still cold. Why by accident is because most visitor centers will not recommend a preferred place in town to eat since they are their to represent all of them equally that I thought I’d just stop and get gas and ask the attendant where they’d have lunch, but got turned around that thought, that’s what a visitor center is for, to make a recommendation. Again, the same thing, there are four places in town that would be good and not going to recommend one over the other. Ok, went to get that gas and asked them which pointed me to Poor Boys. Oh, and met some guys riding south from Fairbanks to Seattle on some Seattle rally that I heard about yesterday when I was going thru Chicken. They started with over 20 bikes, but lost a lot along the way that just headed home because of the cold and rain…ok; these guys are like me, not going to quit that easily.
Well, Bobby at Poor Boys makes a pretty good burger and moved here from Ohio, but Hanna and Abby are from here. Oh, and then there was Jack and Marcy who helped me with directions to the Fairbanks Harley shop and yep, Marcy’s hiding from someone that doesn’t want her picture taken…have run into that a number of times, someone hiding from someone else, but at least they’ve gotten away and left it behind them…that change of environment that some of us might need to move on with life. It just doesn’t want to stop raining around here, but still was able to make a stop and take a few more pictures to share. Ok, I’m seeing a lot of scenery, but probably not as much as I would on a clear day, but am making an attempt to share some of what I’m seeing along the way. Forgot to mention that when got going this morning the face was numb in a couple of minutes that when I do make a stop, it warms up a little, the face that is, but numb in a few minutes. Hope that can’t lead to frost bite, but the temp is about 40 degrees, so imagine a wind chill at 70 mph.
Made it to the Harley shop, the Farthest North Outpost and while Shane is trying to figure out what’s wrong with my bike, Jessica and Kathy are going to help me out. Jessica with gloves and a heated vest I’d like to buy and Kathy with where to stay, eat and how to travel the Denali Park. Ok, so no heated vest and found a pair of gloves that’d be perfect, but not my size that won’t be getting warmed up from here to Anchorage…Jessica did make sure that Anchorage holds on to a pair for me though. Kathy set me up with a bed at the local hostel and how to travel the park as well as any other travel information I needed, she use to be a travel agent before working here, but I may be in a little bit of a pickle. With all the rain they’ve been getting the road between Denali and Anchorage is closed that unless it opens when I’m done doing the park, I’ll be backtracking which’ll either add another 300 miles to get to Anchorage or at least 190 taking the Denali highway back toward Tok which might not be in the best of shape. Lets hope they get that road open, and soon. Ok, Shane found the error codes showing up on the bike, but can’t call Milwaukee this late, 3 hour time difference that no calls after 2:00 that’ll have to bring the bike back in the morning to find out whether they can fix it, how long that might take or whether I can ride on without worrying about being stranded…oh ya, have to get a new fuel filter that might make a difference on the poor gas mileage I’m getting and since Whitehorse which didn’t have one and Fairbanks doesn’t either, but Anchorage does, that will have to stop there for maintenance anyway.
So the hostel will be an interesting place to stay and took a blanket off from one of the other beds…kinda liked the yellow and pink that that’ll make me feel right at home tonight. Kathy suggested the Red Lantern for dinner so headed there and met Clarence and Liz at the hotel desk…yep the Red Lantern is in a hotel which we know is usually for tourists that asked them as locals where would they go for a good meal. Hey, not only is this another day I’ve met two people in the same day with the same name, Liz from Marlin’s, but this Liz is from Zumbro Falls, just south of the twin cities. Had to tell her about my story with the meat market in Zumbro and she knew the one, but that’s a whole other story that has me thinking I need to make another trip down there when I get home. So they send me to Aviator steakhouse, but guess what they’re not open that I’m right back here to eat at the Red Lantern…ok, and that’s all it was, just ok. Having fun talking to the locals hanging around in a bar, but what else is there to do around town but sit in a bar. Found out that a lot of people come here from the states to work and just don’t get that, but apparently the winters aren’t that bad. They do close down some things during the winter, like some of the roads I’ve rode, but told them how there are places in Arizona, Nevada and California that were closing because it was summer. Ok tomorrow morning lets see what Milwaukee says about my biked and, Rain, rain go away and where is the warm weather. Wet Pictures.
Not a lot of pictures on my way because of the rain, not much to see and the camera is packed away, but did notice a mountain that wanted to get a shot of that looked for a stopping spot to share – share a picture with you that is. Was good timing when I did find a spot because it happened to be when Fred was walking by. Stopped and talked to him on what he was protesting and he left last Thursday from Fairbanks and is walking to Haines…not sure how far that is, but looks like a long way on a map. He’s protesting the government’s use of the tobacco money toward other special interests than cutting health care costs and like I told him, we have the same thing in Minnesota with the tobacco settlement the state got….health care costs just keep going up. Ok Fred, now your protest is on the internet, but that’d take a lot more people checking out my blog to make a difference. Oh, the other thing is the snow on that mountain which I did get a picture of, the first snow there this year according to Fred…it’s getting cold fast and I still have a lot of state to see.
Made it to Delta Junction and it’s a good thing I pulled into the visitor’s center, by accident, but it turned out to work out perfectly since this is the end of the Alaskan Highway and I better get a picture. Thanks to a family from Indiana for taking my picture and I was thru that state, over a month ago, but you can see how bundled up I am with the cold and rain, but still cold. Why by accident is because most visitor centers will not recommend a preferred place in town to eat since they are their to represent all of them equally that I thought I’d just stop and get gas and ask the attendant where they’d have lunch, but got turned around that thought, that’s what a visitor center is for, to make a recommendation. Again, the same thing, there are four places in town that would be good and not going to recommend one over the other. Ok, went to get that gas and asked them which pointed me to Poor Boys. Oh, and met some guys riding south from Fairbanks to Seattle on some Seattle rally that I heard about yesterday when I was going thru Chicken. They started with over 20 bikes, but lost a lot along the way that just headed home because of the cold and rain…ok; these guys are like me, not going to quit that easily.
Well, Bobby at Poor Boys makes a pretty good burger and moved here from Ohio, but Hanna and Abby are from here. Oh, and then there was Jack and Marcy who helped me with directions to the Fairbanks Harley shop and yep, Marcy’s hiding from someone that doesn’t want her picture taken…have run into that a number of times, someone hiding from someone else, but at least they’ve gotten away and left it behind them…that change of environment that some of us might need to move on with life. It just doesn’t want to stop raining around here, but still was able to make a stop and take a few more pictures to share. Ok, I’m seeing a lot of scenery, but probably not as much as I would on a clear day, but am making an attempt to share some of what I’m seeing along the way. Forgot to mention that when got going this morning the face was numb in a couple of minutes that when I do make a stop, it warms up a little, the face that is, but numb in a few minutes. Hope that can’t lead to frost bite, but the temp is about 40 degrees, so imagine a wind chill at 70 mph.
Made it to the Harley shop, the Farthest North Outpost and while Shane is trying to figure out what’s wrong with my bike, Jessica and Kathy are going to help me out. Jessica with gloves and a heated vest I’d like to buy and Kathy with where to stay, eat and how to travel the Denali Park. Ok, so no heated vest and found a pair of gloves that’d be perfect, but not my size that won’t be getting warmed up from here to Anchorage…Jessica did make sure that Anchorage holds on to a pair for me though. Kathy set me up with a bed at the local hostel and how to travel the park as well as any other travel information I needed, she use to be a travel agent before working here, but I may be in a little bit of a pickle. With all the rain they’ve been getting the road between Denali and Anchorage is closed that unless it opens when I’m done doing the park, I’ll be backtracking which’ll either add another 300 miles to get to Anchorage or at least 190 taking the Denali highway back toward Tok which might not be in the best of shape. Lets hope they get that road open, and soon. Ok, Shane found the error codes showing up on the bike, but can’t call Milwaukee this late, 3 hour time difference that no calls after 2:00 that’ll have to bring the bike back in the morning to find out whether they can fix it, how long that might take or whether I can ride on without worrying about being stranded…oh ya, have to get a new fuel filter that might make a difference on the poor gas mileage I’m getting and since Whitehorse which didn’t have one and Fairbanks doesn’t either, but Anchorage does, that will have to stop there for maintenance anyway.
So the hostel will be an interesting place to stay and took a blanket off from one of the other beds…kinda liked the yellow and pink that that’ll make me feel right at home tonight. Kathy suggested the Red Lantern for dinner so headed there and met Clarence and Liz at the hotel desk…yep the Red Lantern is in a hotel which we know is usually for tourists that asked them as locals where would they go for a good meal. Hey, not only is this another day I’ve met two people in the same day with the same name, Liz from Marlin’s, but this Liz is from Zumbro Falls, just south of the twin cities. Had to tell her about my story with the meat market in Zumbro and she knew the one, but that’s a whole other story that has me thinking I need to make another trip down there when I get home. So they send me to Aviator steakhouse, but guess what they’re not open that I’m right back here to eat at the Red Lantern…ok, and that’s all it was, just ok. Having fun talking to the locals hanging around in a bar, but what else is there to do around town but sit in a bar. Found out that a lot of people come here from the states to work and just don’t get that, but apparently the winters aren’t that bad. They do close down some things during the winter, like some of the roads I’ve rode, but told them how there are places in Arizona, Nevada and California that were closing because it was summer. Ok tomorrow morning lets see what Milwaukee says about my biked and, Rain, rain go away and where is the warm weather. Wet Pictures.
posted by Dalej Webb at 1:37 AM
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