OP
OP
Question was: are there motels up there or is camping the way to go?
If you have lots of money you can do motels. They run anywhere from $75.00 to $175.00 a night. The further remote you are the more expensive it gets. Where as camping ran us usually $18.00 a night. Lot of places to camp so no problem getting a site. Motels you need to get a room by 1 pm or there is no vacancies.
We ate in restaurants of cafes 15 times on our entire trip. We grocery shopped and fixed all our meals in camp. We stayed in motels 3 nights. One after a hard rain all day long. The second was on our way home and we stayed at a casino in Minneapolis(had their prime rib buffet)
and the last night of our trip we moteled it. We wanted to leave early and get hone.
The highest we paid for gas was $5.41 a liter. High demand and no where else to get gas. The rest of the gas was about what the U.S. was paying.
I am getting my notes together to give a detailed account of our events.
We did laundry every 10 days. $2.00 washer and $2.00 dryer for 20 min.
I took 3 pair of jeans and never wore the one pair. 3 shorts. 5 t-shirts . 10 pair of socks and 11 undies. 2 pair of boots , 2 pr tennis shoes, 1 sandals. I wore the sandals at camp daily. 3 long sleeves, pr of long john's which I used when sleeping, and I bought a stocking hat which was very useful. I would have taken 2 rain pants ( only took 1) as the picnic tables were usually wet and the rain pants got worn a lot.
Things I took and left behind included a 2 propane canister heater, a solar panel with light, a pair of tennis shoes, a coleman lantern and couple of other things. I had no room so things got left behind on purpose. Up there you need no lights as it is the land of the midnight sun.
The cb did not work out as the valk had no place to plug it in and really no time to get it plugged in. Yes time seemed like a lot but in reality you ride and get very tired. Leroy and I both said at the start of the trip we both would take 5 min to jot down notes of the day. Well we both missed a lot of days as we were both so exhausted and neither wrote down anything for a couple of days.
Le Roy never needed any extra gas on his 1800. my 1100 and valk both used the extra 2 gal of gas several times, that I carried and one time ran completely out of gas by 6 kilometers.
Here is what Don wrote:
Postby BGunner01 » Wed Aug 19, 2015 4:38 pm
In the previous post I like the photo of "Nebraska to Alaska" duct tape on the yellow GL1800 --- Oh wait a minute that's my bike!
I joined Wilcoy02 (Wes) and LeRoy as they left Glacier National Park and we crossed the US border into Alberta together. Our first night together we pitched camp at IAustin's house in Sylvan Lake, AB. All three of us were amazed at the wonderful hospitality of the couple and their family (thank you!) as Wilcoy02 had to make some minor repairs to his newly crafted pop-up camper. IAustin's posted photos were taken as we departed early the next day and everything went fairly well until after lunch. About mid-afternoon Wilcoy's trunk lid came open at highway speed and he lost a paper tablet and some other loose items on an already very windy day. By the time we discussed over the CB radio whether or not to stop/turn around on the four-lane and to finally do so, the papers were scattered everywhere and only a few pages were recovered. As Wilcoy and LeRoy attempted recovery of lost items, we decided that I should forge ahead to Grande Prairie, AB to get to the Honda Shop before they closed for a part that Wilcoy needed and to secure a campsite west of town at Saskatoon Provincial Park. I didn't see those guys again until almost midnite at the campsite when a local rider (found in the GWRRA Gold Book) in a pickup showed up at the campsite pulling Wes's camper and LeRoy riding his own bike pulling his camper. That's when I learned Wes's engine had seized shortly after he limped into Grand Prairie. Not a good day at all for Wes, and he was visibly unhappy and discouraged that some two years of thought, trip planning and effort may conclude with an expensive airplane ticket home.
The next morning, we (actually they) started checking out options and eventually concluded that a good used bike could be obtained locally and adapted to pull Wes's camper so their trip could continue. Of course legal paperwork (titles transfer, acquisition of funds, license transfer, new bike modifications, etc.) all had to be accomplished and I could see that it would take 2-3 days for this all to take place. I didn't have that much time budgeted so I had to part ways with these two great guys whom I had just met, but really liked, and continue the remainder of my trip "solo". They are long time friends with each other so they would stick together no matter what and the tribulations of this trip will certainly strengthen their friendship even more.
I made the Alaska border and on into Tok three days later and those guys hadn't even departed Grand Prairie yet. After Tok, over the next week or so I completed my planned "loop" to Delta Junction, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, Anchorage, Seward, Soldotna, Homer, Whittier, Anchorage (again), Palmer, and back to Tok (again) to officially start my return trip home. I checked daily on Wilcoy02 and LeRoy via this website and their tracker and found they hadn't made it to the AK border yet. Bad for them but good for me as I was able to somewhat surprise them late one evening at their campsite near Haines Junction (where I was "hoteling it") when I pulled in on my bike to say hello. It was great to see them again and to hear how everything had progressed since I last saw them. I forewarned them that the worst stretch of Alaska Highway rough road construction I endured (between Destruction Bay and Tok) was just coming up the next day for them. We parted ways and I've been monitoring their trip with interest since then just as others have. As of this writing, it looks like they're only a day or so from getting home to Ohio.
I had my oil changed midway in the trip at Alaska Cycle Center in Anchorage for about $100 and thought that was fairly reasonable for an OEM Honda filter and Pro-Honda HP4S full synthetic oil with a general check of physical condition of my bike. Nice folks in the Service Department too. There were two other GL1800 tourist bikes in for service at the same time. The first one had blown fork seals from the washboard roads but was able to get his bike repaired that day because they had replacement seals in stock. The second bike had an irreparably punctured coolant overflow bottle (located on the underside of the bike) which I was told is vulnerable to rocks kicked up from the bad roads. The dealer didn't have a replacement bottle in stock and had to order one which meant a 3-4 day stay in Anchorage for the bike's owner. The moral here is that my decision to install a louvered belly protector pan last year was a good one. Also, my new Dunlop E3 tires (inflated to 41 psi front & rear) performed admirably. I'd judge the remaining tread depth to be able to give me 5,000 more safe miles before requiring change. No noticeable tire cupping, handlebar wobble or unusual tire wear yet which I fully credit to the Centramatic wheel balance discs I installed the same time as the belly pan.
My round trip from east central Nebraska to Alaska started July 2nd, ended July 30th and totaled right at 10,000 miles. I now have been to 49 states on my various Goldwings and have just one more state to be able to complete one big item on my bucket list. Alaska was an unbelievable trip which I will never forget. I met so many friendly and gracious people and took in some of the most beautiful, unpopulated scenery in the world. I had a little apprehension before I started the trip but that soon faded as miles accumulated on the odometer. When in Anchorage, I looked at the map and it sure seemed like a lo-o-ong way back home, but that thought diminished too each day as I enjoyed the beautiful ever-changing landscapes and got closer to home. Going south on Interstate 29 from Fargo,ND was very interesting this year as I passed at least a couple thousand motorcycles heading north to intersect Interstate 90 in South Dakota on their way to the Sturgis Rally - not to mention all those being towed on open and closed trailers (shame on them). If you're one of the few bikers who didn't attend, I read they were expecting a million or more attendees for their 75th Anniversary celebration. I'm just fine with my 1-day visit to Sturgis 30 days prior to the start of the main meet.
After a full day of cleaning mud/bugs off the bike and waxing it upon my return, the main damage is a "rear" front fender half which has ever expanding spider cracks all around the three drilled holes used to attach a front fender extension. The cracking is obviously due to the incessant washboard road vibrations. Fortunately, there was no damage when I dropped the bike in slow-motion while making an illegal U-turn on the Going-to-the-Sun road in Glacier National Park. All those practice sessions in properly raising a fallen bike at the factory in Marysville, OH years ago and when changing my rear tire really paid off as I was able to upright a fully loaded, top-heavy bike in short order without getting run over or needing help.
If you have lots of money you can do motels. They run anywhere from $75.00 to $175.00 a night. The further remote you are the more expensive it gets. Where as camping ran us usually $18.00 a night. Lot of places to camp so no problem getting a site. Motels you need to get a room by 1 pm or there is no vacancies.
We ate in restaurants of cafes 15 times on our entire trip. We grocery shopped and fixed all our meals in camp. We stayed in motels 3 nights. One after a hard rain all day long. The second was on our way home and we stayed at a casino in Minneapolis(had their prime rib buffet)
and the last night of our trip we moteled it. We wanted to leave early and get hone.
The highest we paid for gas was $5.41 a liter. High demand and no where else to get gas. The rest of the gas was about what the U.S. was paying.
I am getting my notes together to give a detailed account of our events.
We did laundry every 10 days. $2.00 washer and $2.00 dryer for 20 min.
I took 3 pair of jeans and never wore the one pair. 3 shorts. 5 t-shirts . 10 pair of socks and 11 undies. 2 pair of boots , 2 pr tennis shoes, 1 sandals. I wore the sandals at camp daily. 3 long sleeves, pr of long john's which I used when sleeping, and I bought a stocking hat which was very useful. I would have taken 2 rain pants ( only took 1) as the picnic tables were usually wet and the rain pants got worn a lot.
Things I took and left behind included a 2 propane canister heater, a solar panel with light, a pair of tennis shoes, a coleman lantern and couple of other things. I had no room so things got left behind on purpose. Up there you need no lights as it is the land of the midnight sun.
The cb did not work out as the valk had no place to plug it in and really no time to get it plugged in. Yes time seemed like a lot but in reality you ride and get very tired. Leroy and I both said at the start of the trip we both would take 5 min to jot down notes of the day. Well we both missed a lot of days as we were both so exhausted and neither wrote down anything for a couple of days.
Le Roy never needed any extra gas on his 1800. my 1100 and valk both used the extra 2 gal of gas several times, that I carried and one time ran completely out of gas by 6 kilometers.
Here is what Don wrote:
Postby BGunner01 » Wed Aug 19, 2015 4:38 pm
In the previous post I like the photo of "Nebraska to Alaska" duct tape on the yellow GL1800 --- Oh wait a minute that's my bike!
I joined Wilcoy02 (Wes) and LeRoy as they left Glacier National Park and we crossed the US border into Alberta together. Our first night together we pitched camp at IAustin's house in Sylvan Lake, AB. All three of us were amazed at the wonderful hospitality of the couple and their family (thank you!) as Wilcoy02 had to make some minor repairs to his newly crafted pop-up camper. IAustin's posted photos were taken as we departed early the next day and everything went fairly well until after lunch. About mid-afternoon Wilcoy's trunk lid came open at highway speed and he lost a paper tablet and some other loose items on an already very windy day. By the time we discussed over the CB radio whether or not to stop/turn around on the four-lane and to finally do so, the papers were scattered everywhere and only a few pages were recovered. As Wilcoy and LeRoy attempted recovery of lost items, we decided that I should forge ahead to Grande Prairie, AB to get to the Honda Shop before they closed for a part that Wilcoy needed and to secure a campsite west of town at Saskatoon Provincial Park. I didn't see those guys again until almost midnite at the campsite when a local rider (found in the GWRRA Gold Book) in a pickup showed up at the campsite pulling Wes's camper and LeRoy riding his own bike pulling his camper. That's when I learned Wes's engine had seized shortly after he limped into Grand Prairie. Not a good day at all for Wes, and he was visibly unhappy and discouraged that some two years of thought, trip planning and effort may conclude with an expensive airplane ticket home.
The next morning, we (actually they) started checking out options and eventually concluded that a good used bike could be obtained locally and adapted to pull Wes's camper so their trip could continue. Of course legal paperwork (titles transfer, acquisition of funds, license transfer, new bike modifications, etc.) all had to be accomplished and I could see that it would take 2-3 days for this all to take place. I didn't have that much time budgeted so I had to part ways with these two great guys whom I had just met, but really liked, and continue the remainder of my trip "solo". They are long time friends with each other so they would stick together no matter what and the tribulations of this trip will certainly strengthen their friendship even more.
I made the Alaska border and on into Tok three days later and those guys hadn't even departed Grand Prairie yet. After Tok, over the next week or so I completed my planned "loop" to Delta Junction, Fairbanks, Denali National Park, Anchorage, Seward, Soldotna, Homer, Whittier, Anchorage (again), Palmer, and back to Tok (again) to officially start my return trip home. I checked daily on Wilcoy02 and LeRoy via this website and their tracker and found they hadn't made it to the AK border yet. Bad for them but good for me as I was able to somewhat surprise them late one evening at their campsite near Haines Junction (where I was "hoteling it") when I pulled in on my bike to say hello. It was great to see them again and to hear how everything had progressed since I last saw them. I forewarned them that the worst stretch of Alaska Highway rough road construction I endured (between Destruction Bay and Tok) was just coming up the next day for them. We parted ways and I've been monitoring their trip with interest since then just as others have. As of this writing, it looks like they're only a day or so from getting home to Ohio.
I had my oil changed midway in the trip at Alaska Cycle Center in Anchorage for about $100 and thought that was fairly reasonable for an OEM Honda filter and Pro-Honda HP4S full synthetic oil with a general check of physical condition of my bike. Nice folks in the Service Department too. There were two other GL1800 tourist bikes in for service at the same time. The first one had blown fork seals from the washboard roads but was able to get his bike repaired that day because they had replacement seals in stock. The second bike had an irreparably punctured coolant overflow bottle (located on the underside of the bike) which I was told is vulnerable to rocks kicked up from the bad roads. The dealer didn't have a replacement bottle in stock and had to order one which meant a 3-4 day stay in Anchorage for the bike's owner. The moral here is that my decision to install a louvered belly protector pan last year was a good one. Also, my new Dunlop E3 tires (inflated to 41 psi front & rear) performed admirably. I'd judge the remaining tread depth to be able to give me 5,000 more safe miles before requiring change. No noticeable tire cupping, handlebar wobble or unusual tire wear yet which I fully credit to the Centramatic wheel balance discs I installed the same time as the belly pan.
My round trip from east central Nebraska to Alaska started July 2nd, ended July 30th and totaled right at 10,000 miles. I now have been to 49 states on my various Goldwings and have just one more state to be able to complete one big item on my bucket list. Alaska was an unbelievable trip which I will never forget. I met so many friendly and gracious people and took in some of the most beautiful, unpopulated scenery in the world. I had a little apprehension before I started the trip but that soon faded as miles accumulated on the odometer. When in Anchorage, I looked at the map and it sure seemed like a lo-o-ong way back home, but that thought diminished too each day as I enjoyed the beautiful ever-changing landscapes and got closer to home. Going south on Interstate 29 from Fargo,ND was very interesting this year as I passed at least a couple thousand motorcycles heading north to intersect Interstate 90 in South Dakota on their way to the Sturgis Rally - not to mention all those being towed on open and closed trailers (shame on them). If you're one of the few bikers who didn't attend, I read they were expecting a million or more attendees for their 75th Anniversary celebration. I'm just fine with my 1-day visit to Sturgis 30 days prior to the start of the main meet.
After a full day of cleaning mud/bugs off the bike and waxing it upon my return, the main damage is a "rear" front fender half which has ever expanding spider cracks all around the three drilled holes used to attach a front fender extension. The cracking is obviously due to the incessant washboard road vibrations. Fortunately, there was no damage when I dropped the bike in slow-motion while making an illegal U-turn on the Going-to-the-Sun road in Glacier National Park. All those practice sessions in properly raising a fallen bike at the factory in Marysville, OH years ago and when changing my rear tire really paid off as I was able to upright a fully loaded, top-heavy bike in short order without getting run over or needing help.
