Alaska and back via plane, bike, and a half million mile Dodge

[Route55]

Leaving Watson Lake on thursday morning we stopped at the signpost forest on the edge of town. There are thousands of signs, liberated from places all over the world. It was very unique:

We made good time to Whitehorse, where we decided to fuel up, as it is pretty much the last "major" city until Alaska. As I was finishing topping off I noticed the fuel smelled weird so I pulled out the nozzle to check it out. It was crystal clear. We were pumping Kerosene (over 80 gallons of it) into the truck.

I looked over at the pump, and sure enough, it was labeled diesel. There was a local looking guy pumping across from me in his newish diesel Grand Cherokee, so I asked him if he pumps there often. He quickly responds "Of course, I own the station."

So I ask the guy "Why is the diesel clear and smell like Kerosene?"

He smiles, and says "I don't brew it, I just sell it." And then he quickly went into the store where he stood back and stared at us with a very uneasy look.

We paid for our "diesel" and left. I'm not sure if the guy was intentionally switching fuels, or really didn't know his tank was full of kerosene. It was no matter to us, as our old Cummins will run on most anything that burns. I've mixed in a bit of old Kerosene in the past, but this is the first time I've run it straight. It seems to have a little less "oomph" but runs much quieter and much more smoothly.

Besides great scenery there is not much between Whitehorse and Alaska. Our experience is that the theme in western Yukon is indifference. The roads are poorly maintained, the few open businesses between the ghost towns are not much. When we would stop to eat or buy a snack, most of the places were filthy and the people unfreindly. The food was terrible.

We were dead tired by the time we reached Beaver Creek and what looked like a quaint hotel. Checking in we found it to be a converted barn that smelled like a church basement that was little more than a bunkhouse. It was extremely dirty, everything was stained, and there was not even a TV. The only "entertainment" was an empty teapot box, and counting the dead bugs squished to the ceiling.

In short, if you plan on doing much travel in the western Yukon, plan on camping!

One of the better roads - no joke!

Local police:

And we are here!

Saw these guys. I think they were from Italy. Very cool rig!

 

[Bushbunny]

And we headed up highway 2. Between the breaks in weather we enjoyed the miles and miles of mustard fields. We planned to make it to Edmunton tonight, but several traffic backups due to severe weather made us stop in Red Deer.

Those are Canola fields.... Sorry the farmer in me just cant let it go.:elkgrin:

 

[Route55]

^ cool. I didn't know that. Thought it was mustard seed!

 

[Route55]

When we crossed into Alaska we found a stop/restuarant called Fast Eddies. Stopping for lunch we ordered pizza, which was very good. It was refreshing to have some food with flavor!

The trip across to Anchorage went quickly, with views of Glaciers and soaring snow covered mountains.

Arriving in Anchorage around 8:30 two of my customers wanted their bikes right away so we dropped them off. The rest went to my friend Brian's house, where alot of the group is picking up their bikes.

Finishing around eleven Brian hopped on his KLR and tried to help us find a hotel. Checking with near 20 places we found them either booked up, or there was no place to park the trailer. Finally we found a Comfort Inn with a big pay to park lot across the street at the train station. There were no "no trailer" signs, and no trailer option at the auto pay station, but since there were other trailers in the lot I figured it was fine. I figured wrong and awoke this morning to a $35 parking ticket

We also found that hotels in Anchorage are all $200 plus a night for $79 worth of quality.

This morning Brian met me at the hotel and we headed over to the RV park I arranged to store the trailer at for the month. We unhooked it in the pouring rain on a very sloped area. It promptly hopped the chocks and dropped off the stands. Everything is fine, but I'll probably have to use my jack to get it back high enough to re-hook up in a month.

Brian took me to a coffee stand run by a very hyper-caffinated Japanese lady.

Picking up Katie and the kids at the hotel Brian took us to a great little Mexican place where for the first time in weeks we just lounged around and relaxed. Afterwards he took us to his Curling Club where he explained the sport to us. He made it sound alot more fun than it looks like on TV. Basically it sounds like bowling and hockey mixed together. They have a bar/lounge, so it can't be all too bad!

 

[Route55]

Saturday night my phone froze up. I took the battery out, put it back in, and it was done. Nothing I did could revive it. So Sunday morning we got up and walked up the hill to the outdoor market where we perused through hundreds of craft stands before finally wandering uptown and to the AT&T store in the Fifth Street mall. There we were greeted by a nice teenage girl who checked over my phone and within 20 seconds said "sir, your battery is in backwards."

With a now working phone we wandered around town for a few hours. There were lots of cool little shops to check out.

Walking back down the hill to our hotel we checked out the Ulu factory, which is where they make a curved type of universal chopping knife that eskimos have used for thousands of years.

For dinner we met up with Brian again for Salmon and Reindeer burgers at a local joint. Both were very good.

Heading out this morning we ran some errands before grabbing a small uhaul trailer to take the final bike up to Fairbanks, a very nice original 49 knucklehead Harley.

Since we pre-reserved a room just outside Denali, just over mid-way to Fairbanks, we took it easy and pulled over a few times to check out the scenery.

And

We also checked out this cool abandoned igloo hotel. It's for sale if you want to own a weird hotel a hundred miles from everything!

And we saw a few moose. This guy was the most photogenic.

 

[Cody1771]

cool story! not sure how the cummins are but be carfull running Kerosene, it doesnt have the lubrication properties that diesel does, ie it may damage pumps/injectors. most people i know will usually dump some motor oil or something in with it to make it a little better for your engine.

 

[4x4x4doors]

There we were greeted by a nice teenage girl who checked over my phone and within 20 seconds said "sir, your battery is in backwards."

Take that all ye naysayers who fear for the future when this generation is in charge! :coffeedrink:

 

[Route55]

cool story! not sure how the cummins are but be carfull running Kerosene, it doesnt have the lubrication properties that diesel does, ie it may damage pumps/injectors. most people i know will usually dump some motor oil or something in with it to make it a little better for your engine.

I thought about that myself. The p-pump on my motor has separate oiling so I'm probably good there. There is also some oil in the tank, as I dumped my last oil change, and others, in there. I'm almost out anyways, so it will be topped off with diesel again soon.

 

[Route55]

Yesterday we had to finish dropping off the last bike up in Fairbanks, so we headed out from the Denali park hotel. Shortly into our trip we stopped at a gas station and got talking to the attendant. She highly recomended the Monderosa Bar up the road for their burgers, so we said heck with it and decided to stop for an early lunch. Katie and I split a Mondo burger, which was a pound of beef topped with pepperjack on what appeared to be a homemade bun. It was awesome! By far it was the best burger of the trip. The fries were great as well.

The kids split a plate of nachos, and I ended up finishing them, because the serving was so large. Those were very good as well. So, I give the Monderosa bar, 5 miles north of Nenana, two thumbs up!

After our gut busting lunch we wandered up to North Pole, Alaska and checked out the Santa House.

Think Bronner's of Frankenmuth but smaller (for those of you that have been there).

And of course the big guy was there.

The rest of the afternoon was burned up trying to find lodging. Everywhere in North Pole and Fairbanks was booked, with exception of a grossly overpriced cabin full of junk on grounds owned by a hoarder. After making many many calls we found a vacancy at the Rough Woods Inn back in Nenana and got there about 10 PM. The room was basically a huge two bedroom apartment that smelled like dogs had been mud-wrestling in it, but it was fairly clean.

We like to "wing it" while travelling. I've found summer in Alaska hard to do that with a family. I'd recommend pre-planning lodging as much as you can.

 

[Route55]

If you think you are seeing a theme here, you are not mistaken. I like talking about food.

And to start off such a discussion, I chose eggs and reindeer sausage for breakfast......delicious!

After breakfast we wandered back to Fairbanks to Pioneer Park, formerly called Alaskaland. This is a point of soreness for most Fairbankers, and most renounce the new name. Either case, it is a pretty cool place. Similar to Henry Ford's Greenfield Village, they moved dozens of historical buildings onto the property, about half furnished with period items or converted into museums, and the other half stores and shops. There is also an art museum, a Native American center that focuses heavily on Eskimo life, a 200 foot paddle wheel riverboat under restoration, President Harding's railroad car, and an Alaskan Aviation museum.

Before starting our Alaskaland adventures we decided to relax and play 18 holes:

Abby turned out to be a prodigy of sorts at the game, easily beating the rest of us at most holes.

Unfortunately I never do well with high contact sports. By the second hole I had taken a putter to the face, self-inflicted, that gave me a split fat lip for the rest of the day.

The aviation museum:

One of the rescued buildings:

Interesting quilt at the art museum. You are getting sleepy........very.......very.......sleepy......

We had a pricy but tasty dinner at the Salmon Bake restaurant. Not a floor or wall was level in the place, and the atmosphere of genuine Alaskan artifacts and bluegrass music was perfect:

I had reserved a night at the Denali Hostel behind Salmon Bake. It is cheap, quaint, and kinda awesome. Our kind of place. This is the midnight view from our cabin's porch:

We like it so well I booked two more nights, although tomorrow morning we have to move to an "economy" cabin. It's $80 cheaper though, but no TV, and we have to use communal restrooms. Should be fun!

And the plan tomorrow is to explore Denali.

 

[Momrocks]

Very cool trip report. I love that it is an honest representation of your families adventure. Too many of these trip reports are not candid, where the photos are posed to illustrate the most rugged terrain or to show the latest trick expedition gear in use...they seem very scripted, self serving and made for TV. Your trip shows the reality of a family cross continent adventure. Wishes for continued fun!

 

[DreamingOfExpeditions]

I love Alaska. Seems like if you look just a little bit, you can find some really good food to go with the amazing scenery.

Of your down in Kenai pm me. I know a couple of great places.

 

[Route55]

Very cool trip report. I love that it is an honest representation of your families adventure. Too many of these trip reports are not candid, where the photos are posed to illustrate the most rugged terrain or to show the latest trick expedition gear in use...they seem very scripted, self serving and made for TV. Your trip shows the reality of a family cross continent adventure. Wishes for continued fun!

Thanks much. We just call it like we see it.

 

[Route55]

Entering Denali this morning we parked at the Wilderness Entrance and checked out the things to do for the day. The weather was perfect, so we decided against the all day bus thing for the time being and grabbed a day hike map. We did about 5 miles of groomed trails throughout the day.

Our first stop was the visitors center, located a mile or so inside the park. There we learned about the history and creation of the park, as well as about many of the creatures and plants that reside there. The displays were largely hands on, great for the little ones.

After exploring the center we ate a snack lunch and hopped onto a park bus for a ride up to the dog kennel area where we met the current canine staff of the park.

And we watched a demonstration of harnessing and dog sledding. Those guys were excited and can move!

After the demonstration we took the bus back to the visitor center and started another trail south that wound up around and back to our truck. There was a cool little stream we stopped at, that must have been near 30 degrees, and Abby tried to catch fish like a bear:

And we headed back out the park. We had a great pizza in town and headed to our fancy lodging for the night:

 

[Route55]

In between two more great meals at Salmon Bake, reindeer sausage sourdough sandwich for breakfast and buffalo chicken blue cheese dip for dinner, we visited Denali again. Today the weather was decent, but a bit chilly, so we booked a trip on the park bus.

We opted for the 8 hour round trip to Eilson Visitor Center and back. Any further would have been an 11 plus hour trip.

Between the majestic mountainous views around every bend, we were greeted by all sorts of wildlife along the road, usually every few minutes.

You can only drive your personal vehicle about 15 miles into the park, at the Savage River checkpoint. After that you have to take a park bus for any portion of the 90 plus mile road, and we were glad we did.

The road itself is not for those afraid of heights or faint of heart.

Arriving at the Eielson Center we found it too cloudy to get a decent view of Mt. McKinley (Denali) so we checked out the center and read about various histories.

I'm glad the first climbers of McKinley prepared their expedition meals like I do.

This fox was hanging around the center:

And this guy needed to pass us on the road:

We also spotted many Caribou, Moose, Ground Squirrel, Ptarmigan, and a Porcupine, but I didn't get very decent shots.

And lets end the day with this: