6/30/22

After Chicken, Ken and I had a long ride into Fairbanks. Another 279 miles thru Tok, Delta Junction and finally Fairbanks. Ken and I roll into Fairbanks at 11:30 PM without any hotel reservations. I kept checking my phone expecting my lower 48 cellphone plan to come back into play. I checked in Tok - no service, Delta Junction - no service and finally Fairbanks - still no service. That's when I discovered that my lower 48 cell plan has zero service up here.

We went to the parking lot of the local McDonald's to use their free WiFi. We haven't had any dinner yet and only the drive thru was open so while I got on their WiFi to sort out a hotel, Ken rode thru the drive thru to get us some food. I found a Holiday Inn but it only showed us military discount options. Ken came back with food, we ate and decided to just ride there and sort it out. Thankfully even at midnight, it was still light out. I was busy following the GPS directions and did not fully realize we were riding into a check point - a military check point. We stopped at the gates and told the Army guard I'm trying to find the Holiday Inn. There was a bit of confusion as they tried to explain that we needed a pass to enter the base. "What base?", I thought to myself. That's when Ken pointed out that we entered Fort Wainwright.

Apparently this Holiday Inn is inside Fort Wainwright and that's why they only have two military options for reservations, The guard was actually quite understanding and nice about the whole affair. He had to take down our info but was very friendly about it. After 20 minutes of gathering our info, the guard let us out the exit and we still have to find a hotel.

We sucked it up and got a hotel room at the low price of $185. Everything is outrageous expensive up here. We rode downtown, checked in, unloaded and finally got into our rooms at 2 AM. I showered and was in bed around 3 AM. This is the longest day I've had on this trip so far. Good day but long and tired but I'm glad the midnight sun was up. It really helped with these long days.

7/1/22

Ken and I woke up the next day and had to pack up again since we're moving to another hotel. We also had to go to the local BMW, Harley, Honda dealer in Fairbanks. I had a set of new tires waiting for me and Ken was hoping to get a new rear tire. We go to the dealer around 10am and there was already a line of people there waiting for service for their various bikes. At least half the people there was prepping their bikes to go up to Prudhoe Bay or had just come back and need service so they can get home.

(I forgot to mention this earlier: since arriving in the Yukon, I've noticed that most motorcyclists at this point was either going up the Dalton to Prudhoe, the Dempster to Tuk, or returning from either. So much so that most conversations starts with, "You going up or down?" or just "Up or down?" I felt like I was in some sort of secret Fight Club and this was our secret magic word to vet who was in the club.)

I had to leave my bike at the dealer overnight for my tire and oil change. Thankfully, they had a TKC80 that fitted Ken's CB500X. So we were going to be in Fairbanks for another day. We spent the day uber-ing around town to hit the Verizon store so I could buy another prepay phone plan just for Alaska, Walmart to shop for misc crap, and back to our new hotel for some rest. Later in the day, Ken actually got his bike back with a new rear tire. Mine was still not done and was gonna take til the next morning. We grabbed some local seafood dinner and noticed the smoke and scent of burnt after dinner.

7/2/22

I woke up deciding if I will have to go up the Dalton solo. Ken wasn't sure if he had enough time to go up and back and make it back to Toronto in time by the end of July. As we were leaving the hotel to head to the dealer, I saw a guy with a motorcycle walk by the front door. I asked if he was riding the Harleys I saw parked since the previous day.

He said, "No, we're on GS-es."

"Are you going up or down?"

"We're going up to Prudhoe Bay tomorrow."

"Oh really? Do you mind if I ride with you guys?"

And that's how I hijacked these two Brazilians to include me on their ride up to Prudhoe. Turns out that they were riding two up with their wives as well. Two couples, two up, on two 1200 GSs. We traded Whatsapp info to make plans for the ride up the next day.

I was lucky enough to hop on the hotel shuttle for an unscheduled ride to the dealer. Ken rode there on his bike since he got it back the day before. And who was there at the dealer parking lot? None other than Curtiss Jackson! He and Steve had finished up their gold panning at Chicken (without any success) and was in town so Curtiss can get his service and oil change here. Steve was doing his own oil change at the parking lot of the local Auto Zone.

We caught up over the last few days and then Ken went off to get a SIM card that will work in the US for his return to Toronto via the US. Curtiss had to go ship some stuff back home. I waited in the parking lot for my bike and then Steve rolled up. He and I caught up and then my bike was finally finished. Curtiss's bike was also rolled back out. I was shocked at how fast they finished the service and oil change but it turned out that the dealer declined to work on his bike at all due to his third party accessories - long story but as you can imagine Curtiss was not happy. Here's the thing that you realize once you're up this far north - there's not a whole of options for anything up here. Customer service is not the top priority at many businesses. Not to say they all suck. I had wonderful customer service at the Aurora Hotel in Dawson City but let's just say it's pretty hit or miss - perhaps more misses than hits.

Curtiss was going to have to do his own oil change later. We all made plans to meet up for beers and dinner later. Now that the band is back together, Ken and I decided to stay in Fairbanks another night. We had a great BBQ dinner in town, drank more beers, Curtiss ordered more food than he could ear, Ken got hit on by a stripper named Brandy on the way out, and she got to pet his sheep skin. Curtiss and Steve went back to their hotels, Ken is heading back to Toronto tomorrow, and I'll be heading up the Dalton with a pair of Brazilians I've met for two minutes.