Alaska: 2 Cylinders to Alaska...

I'm in. Looks like a great trip. Sorry to see the misfortune but it looks like you all have recovered from it in fine fashion.
Good luck and a great adventure to you....
Stay safe out there...
Ken

Wow...just, wow...

Tagged, I'll be watching from out here. Great report so far (wow...) and I look forward to living vicariously.

I'm in! What a start, hope Natalie is healing up fine?

Wow.
Normaly I would not bother to read any ride report about a trip on a big BMW, but replacing the clutch in a parking lot on that bike is impressive.
Natalie is even more impressive!

Umm, holy crap. In.

both of you are a couple of bad mamajamas ...

Great report, I'd like to do this 2 up someday. Very interested on how this turns out

Glad to know you two made it back safely. I met you two at Thompson's Eagle's Claw in Tok on the 28th. I was camped next to you. I am the grey haired old guy who was on a silver 1150 GS.

I too am in awe of your ability to replace a clutch in a parking lot in the middle of the night with limited tools. Makes me feel like a pansy for dreading this winter when I'll replace mine in a garage with a lift and all the tools I'll need at hand.

I may try to write up report someday, but right now I am back at my business trying to sort out 5 weeks of me not being there. I got back home on 8/10.

Good luck and way to go. Tough lady you have beside you and not something to take lightly. If you are going through Alberta look me up..... Showers and a hot meal for you both.
Stay safe

Day 6
This is the day where we leave the good ole USA and head into Canada.

We get up in the morning and leave deception pass.



Our clothes are still wet, so we head to a laundromat in the next town. The same harley couple told us about a road called chuckanut dr. We went along that road and it was a pretty cool road but it was foggy.





Natalie is using on of my old cameras because I dont trust her with the new camera we got. We trade cameras half way through the trip because she didnt destroy the test camera.

We get into town and put our clothes in a dryer. The laundromat has a Russian lady that warns us about going through Canada and saying we were going to die from a bear attack. She seems super frightened for us. We just try to brush her off nicely.

We head north to the border.



We are waiting in line and I see Natalie with the camera out. I yell at her to put it away......sigh.....

We head into Vancouver



They have a couple suspension bridge parks in North Vancouver and one of them is free. We go to the free one of course. We pull into the parking lot and I get off the bike. I didnt park the bike very good because.......well...... the bike goes over on the opposite side of the kickstand....... the same side as Natalie's 4 broken bones......she now feels sick and in pain again........oops.



I get another guy to help me pick up the bike. The right mirror came off, but you can just pop it back on.

So we regroup a bit, Natalie is mad at me. We head to the suspension bridge which is like 100 feet away.



So Natalie feels nauseous and probably going on a swinging suspension bridge just makes her madder at me.



So we head back to the bike and get on the freeway to head to the Sea to Sky highway up to Whistler.



Sea.



Sky.

The ride improved her mood and was happy when we got to Whistler.



Whistler was a pretty cool town and we went to the grocery store there to resupply.

We ask the information about a campsite and they are all too expensive. We head out of town to find a stealth camp spot.

So we are heading down the main road looking for a good campsite. We see a bunch of abandoned buildings and decide to take a barley used road and camp behind them. After I get off the bike to check it out, a native guy (looked like an Native American, but were in Canada?) drives up in his car and says this is our land. I complement his land and ask him if we can camp here. He says no. I wasn't surprised with our history with white vs indians. White people stealing land and all. So he gives us some camping advice and I go find the old campsite that he is talking about.

I find a dirt road and decide to go down it. It turns into a swampy land fast and we sort of slide out at a slow speed. Due to the luggage and cylinder we were still on the bike, just fallen over. We pick it up and take this picture. It was a pain to pick up because it was hard to stand on the slimy mud. Drop #2



So we manage to turn it around and I lose the backend when trying to get it out.



Drop #3, I am dead tired and we pick it up again and I managed to drive it out again without wiping out.



This is the road we went down to the swamp. Natalie is catching up after, I ride it out.

We then go a mile down the road and find a truck run off area that has a clearing for a tent site. We stop and look around. There is a couple of bones and a full vertebra of an animal that I don't recognize. It also has compressed ground coverage about the size of a bear. I have to turn around the bike and I drop it again. Drop #4. (no pics, we are dead tired) I am completely beat picking it up. We head down the road and find a clearing and just camp there.


Cook dinner and go to sleep.

Miles:200

Glad you made it back safe. Didnt that road from the border to whitehorse suck or did the GS handle it fine?

You were right on about how bad that section of the Alcan from the border to about Burwash Landing. I bottomed out twice on the frost heaves in the road. At least I could dodge the pot holes. Those driving motor homes and pulling trailers had it really rough. Plus, they could not drive much faster than 35mph or they would be destroying their vehicles and trailers.

Get your lady and that RT on the AK Ferry at Prince Rupert and once again after the ferry ride to Haines Jt. you will again be her Knight in Shining Armour. The wild life, scenery , relaxing hours is very healing.

Those road tires you have on will get you to the Artic Circle and back just fine but not really too good in the mud and the "soup called CAl Cloride " on the Haul Road.

Best of luck

If only women were as easy to fix as an RT clutch.

Day 7
We wake up to a logging truck so we get up and get out of there after eating breakfast.



We head up north and go through all the miles houses. 100 mile house, 150 mile house, ect. We hit Prince George and head west. We hit some wet weather and found an RV park to camp in right when the sun came out.



Miles: 381

Day 8

We start making out way to Hyder, AK. Natalie supposedly sees a moose and a bear.

Pictures are going be a little scarce the next 3 days because it rains.....




The comment made me chuffle.


We make our way down the road into Stewart and Hyder.

It clears up a tiny bit on the way in. It was an amazing ride.











Bear glacier in our rain gear.



We head into Stewart and and go to the visitor center. The visitor center tells us about a free camping spot outside of town. We head into Hyder and go to the first bar we find. We met Roger outside the bar, he is on a GS. He followed us into the bar and we had some drinks. We never took a picture of him :/ but he is a lurker on ADV.




Roger hyderized both of us! You have to go there to know what that is. We talk to a hippy looking Canadian and he tells us to eat at the school bus.





One of the best-er seafood we have on the trip. We have halibut and shrimp.

We talk to another couple there, Greg and Melanie and chat with them. They are on a trip on a BMW with a dog. (http://www.wandrrmotorcycletours.com/Eldridge-Ride.html)

Roger shows up at the bus to eat. We are getting ready to head out and Greg, Melanie, and Roger offer to pay for a motel room for us! They felt sorry for Natalie (having to deal with me Im sure). We appreciated it a ton!!!


Greg and Melanie


We make a mess of the motel room. It was comfy!
Miles: 350

Looking forward to more of your adventure! You are very inspirational on just get going and do what it takes to get there! Thank you!

Next time you have an issue like that clutch post up. I have a garage and cold beers and was close by. And always room for a traveler coming through.

Day 9

We wake up and leave all of our gear in the motel. This is going to be our first real dirt road that we take.



They have a fish viewing platform for when the fish come up. You can see the bears catching the fish, but we were a week early so no fish. Plenty of bears around the town of hyder, but we didnt get any pictures.

We head up to the Salmon glacier.


No problems on the dirt with street tires.


Salmon glacier


We cook oatmeal next to the glacier.


We keep going and it just gets to foggy so we turn around to head back to the motel before checkout time.

We head up north on the Cassier and it rains the whole time.

We find a campsite outside of Dease lake.



Miles: 250

Day 9
Well that night, it rains a lot. Our first time camping in real rain. We dont push the ground tarp far enough under the tent and our tent floods. I am find in my sleeping bag, but Natalie has a memory foam pad that sucks up the water. She isnt happy. We pack up around 4 in the morning and head out.



There is construction around Dease Lake and after going through it my bike smells like burnt rubber. I am thinking that the alternator belt is having a bad time. We then just try to get to watson lake as fast as possible to get a motel room to dry out. During the ride my heated grips turn off and I am brainstorming through my mind about what happened and how it relates to the alternator. I am thinking the belt broke or something. It turns out that natalie blew a fuse on a bike when she was messing with the heated gloves and there is no fuse on our plug into the bike.

We stop to get gas at a resort and the gas pump attendant invites us in for a free coffee and to warm up. It was just what we needed.





We get into Watson lake and go to the visitor center to find the cheapest motel. We head to the cheapest and we check out the one cheap room they have. It is a conference room with a king bed and 3 bathrooms. PERFECT!



We lay out all our gear and tour the city! Not much there.


Natalie found some gold.


Checking out the sign post forest.

I am sure the Cassiar is a nice highway, but we didnt see any of it other than fog and rain.

Miles: 150

Great Ride Report you two are Pretty Tuff in my book, but your Natalie is tougher than Woodpecker Lips, took me 3 months to get back on a Bike after a bad Horse wreck in Colorado's San Juan Mountains, that broke my right wrist, left shoulder blade, left collarbone and 2 left side ribs. I had no choice, but to ride 10 hours down the next morning to my truck & trailer to get to the hospital in Durango.
Now for a little humor, at 65 years old and after 30 plus years of service to My United States Navy, many long distance rides months on end on both Horses & Motorcycles, I know how to fix a clutch, Women/Wife and to keep them both purring to my personal satisfaction. This little trick may work for other women/wives too, okay Sergeant first we go back to Day 8 and edit one just word from the Bear, Moose & Squirrel part of the adventure.
Always happy to beat, wire, weld, duct tape or rawhide anything needed to get back to the ride.
JT

Daaang! Hard core adventure! Keep it coming.