Retired and Trippin

After having our complimentary breakfast at the Riverstone Lodge our first order of business for the day was checking out my left trailer tire.  We noticed previously that it was wearing unevenly.  About a fifth of the total circumference of the tire was worn bald.  The rest of the tread was worn normally.  Our best guess is that it was a defective tire.  I put on new tires before the trip and the other tire was doing fine.  Anyway, with the help of the other petite boys I got the spare wheel put on and I wouldn’t have to worry about an exploding trailer tire while negotiating a high speed pass. We were on the road at about 8:30.  It was 68 degrees and cloudy.  A short distance down the road it rose to 72 but that was the high of the day. We rode to the east entrance of Glacier National Park.  It was busy and we had to wait in line to pay our park fees.  The ride through the park was very scenic as you’ll see from the pictures.Carl was...

There was a tour bus at our motel last night full of Asian teenagers and their chaperons.  They were to be partaking of the continental breakfast from 6:00 to 7:00, so we arrived at 5:50 to beat the rush.  We were on the road at 6:40.  It was 42 degrees under blue clear skies. We rode north a short distance back north to Hwy 16 and then east through the Mount Robson Park into Jasper and Jasper National Park.  From Jasper we rode south on Hwy 93, also known as the Icefields Parkway, past the Columbia Icefield and through Banff National Park.  All of this is within the Canadian Rocky Mountains.  It was beautiful scenery and we made numerous stops for photos. Gary was in this area seven or eight years ago and he said the Athabasca Glacier has receded considerably in that time. We tried to see Lake Louise.  The people were a-hole to elbow and parking was packed.  Folks were parking along the road a mile from the lake.  We decided to pass....

HAPPY BIRTHDAY to Eric, my oldest son, who turns 36 today! Before leaving New Hazelton we had breakfast at the New Hazelton Café.  A small Asian man was the waiter and cook.  A one-man operation until his woman showed up.  It was funny – he did not understand the concept of eggs being cooked over medium.  Our choice was sunny side up or scrambled.  It was a good breakfast despite the limited egg choices. New Hazelton was in or near the mountains, which were visible as we rode eastbound on Hwy 16.  The mountain scenery gave way to farm land (a lot of hay fields).  We also saw a lot of log trucks and a large saw mill near Vanderhoof, BC.  After gassing up in Vanderhoof we continued eastbound on 16 to Prince George where we made a WalMart stop. East of Prince George we rode into forest with mountain views.  The forest consisted of very tall pine trees.  A road-side sign identified the forest as an “Ancient Forest”.  A sign at a r...

After a restaurant breakfast at the hotel we departed Watson Lake, Yukon Territory at 7:30.  It was 57 degrees.  We back-tracked westbound on the Alaska Highway about 15 miles to Hwy 37 south – an interesting road.  As you can tell from the pictures there were no lane markings.  The first 20 plus miles on this highway were through burned forest land.  The road was every bit as rough as the Alaska Highway. As we neared the mountains the road smoothed out some and after Dease Lake it was absolutely civilized – lane markings and all.  We stopped along the highway for a snack lunch and a break.  By pure chance we found out we were next to a gravel runway used by a tour service so we saw and airplane take off and a couple helicopters come and go. Gas (petrol) was an adventure.  We passed a sign that said no services would be available for 158 kilometers.  We figured we’d have enough gas given that distance.  After Larry obtained some info...

We left Ida’s Motel (the rooms were acceptable but the management/staff left much to be desired) at 7:05 and it was 55 degrees under cloudy skies.  It looked like we might get wet.  Our route today was a repeat of our route on July 19 (Alaska, Day 5) but in the opposite direction. We stopped for gas and breakfast at Burwash Landing.  We would have eaten at Ida’s Motel but the room was hot and they were very much short staffed.  The staff they did have was slow and incompetent.  I think they were the owners.  It took us 15 minutes to gas up at their pumps. We made several other stops including Whitehorse, Teslin, a rest area and a “resort” along the road. Our lodging for the night was Andrea’s Hotel in Watson Lake.  We opted NOT to stay at the Air Force Academy (where we stayed last week) because it did not fit our bill.  We had a fair dinner at Andrea’s restaurant before calling it a night. We found out that quality lodging and dining on t...

Carl and I saw our better halves off at 3:30 in the morning.  They were on their way to the Anchorage airport to catch a 5:05 flight home.  It won’t be the same without them. We checked our tire pressure this morning and found them low.  We filled em up and were on the road at 7:30, eastbound on Hwy 1.  It was cloudy and 61 degrees.  We stopped in Palmer for gas and continued east.  The temperature dropped to 54 and we rode in and out of clouds (or fog?) as we went up and down in elevation. After 120 miles we were into the sunshine and we could see some of the glaciers on the mountain range to the south.  When we stopped in Glennallen for gas it was 68 degrees. Hwy 1 took us north to Tok where Larry did some last minute souvenir shopping and we gassed up again.  Then it was eastbound into Canada and their god-awful roads.  None of us were singled out to be searched this time!  We stopped in Beaver Creek and spent the night at Ida’s...

We left Homer at 8:15.  It was 59 degrees and cloudy.  It had rained in the night and we were wondering if we would get wet today.  Larry and Gary put on their rain suits to make sure we would NOT get wet. We rode Hwy 1 back to Anchorage.  We were back-tracking routes we’d already ridden so we didn’t take too many pictures.  The temperature dropped to 54 before rising to 66 when we arrived in Anchorage at about 1:15. We changed the oil in our motorcycles in the hotel parking lot and then delivered the used oil to a recycling facility in Anchorage.  The beasts were ready for the trip back home.  It was 70 degrees when we were changing oil. We had dinner at a nearby Mexican restaurant before retiring for the night.  We rode 235 miles today (224 according to Garmin). For pictures from today click on the following link: https://plus.google.com/photos/104542123131082631220/albums/5905093235972572225?authkey=CNvXi7ae5K2wxwE