Dan & Dale's Alaska-Or-Bust Trip! (Minus Tom)

Sabbaticals rock and here's the gory details. Read along if you want to be a groupie!

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Postby Dive » Thu Aug 07, 2008 9:45 am

"So you are probably wanting me to cut to the chase, so bottom line, they denied me access to Canadia. Yep, denied. "

That's terrible :shock: sorry to hear this has happened to you Tom. Make the best of what you can.

Dave

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Update from Dawson City

Postby Dale » Sat Aug 09, 2008 9:25 pm

Well Dan and I have now made our way to Dawson City via the Campbell and plan to hit the Dempster in the morning. It has been raining up here for the last week so the Dempster is in pretty bad shape all the way up to Eagle Plains. All the cars coming down are thick with mud and the road is washed out from a mud slide about 120 miles north but people have been getting around it. Sounds like the weather is going to break on Sunday so we are going to give it a try. Stay tuned.... D&D

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Postby E-Ticket » Sun Aug 10, 2008 12:40 am

Hang in there bro's....!

Just so you know, Tawm is sweltering on his "Tour de US uv A" and is talking about mailing home his cold/wet gear he loaded for Alaska. Go figure, eh. <g>

Thanks for the update! - E-Ticket
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Artic Circle, Here we Come!

Postby Danno » Sun Aug 10, 2008 1:19 am

Well it's late and I'm finally getting around to posting. This is only the second time we've been able to get on-line. We've been on back roads and not around much civilization up here. I can't believe how many rivers they have and how big they are. It got dark around 11:30 which was a real blessing as I had a lot of bick prep to do before we hit the Dempster. I had to clean my K&N air filter which is a real pain on the road. I didn't think we would have as much dust as we've had. Dale has picked some neat routes, keeping us off the main roads. It's funny how good the gravel and dirt roads are here. We're hitting 70 to 80 mph, and the bikes handle just fine. I think the Canuks can build better dirt roads than we can! Some of the dirt roads are better than our paved roads. Today we had the first rain of the trip. It wasn't too bad and we only wore our rain gear for 100 miles or so. We've averaged over 300 miles a day. Not a iron butt pace, but good for the amount of off-road we've had. What a blessing to have rode in Canada for a week in the sun. Danno
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The inadmissable class

Postby jorgemas » Sun Aug 10, 2008 4:50 am

Tom, welcome to the inadmissable class. I believe I have the name correct. You would not believe what sort of minor things can prevent you entry into Canada. Supposedly the same is true for Canucks travelling down this way. I too would not be let into Canada nowadays. I even grew up further north than most Canadians(and I wasn't in Alaska)! A real bummer when you weren't expecting it. Way to keep the ride alive being flexible.

Danno and Dale. Since you guys are obviously in the admissable class, enjoy the scenery, and take a buttload of photos. That way you can share what you have seen to those of us not allowed into Canada. They must be hiding something wonderful up there they don't want us lowlifes seeing!

Enjoy,

Mike

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Postby TOGA » Sun Aug 10, 2008 7:34 pm

Tawm...that sucks!!! :!: Sorry to hear that.
Melody and I have ridden into Canuk land many times, and I've learned to treat those guards like they're the FBI + CIA on steriods. I just answer their questions and hopefully no one should get hurt! Some of them are just turds, and you don't even have to say anything to prevoke `em. So did they ever tell you WHY they didn't allow you across? I thought they had to(?).

10 yrs ago, a friend of mine who was 42 at the time, was heading north to cross over....and they found that he had a DUI when he was 18. They asked him "is that correct"? He said, "yea, that was a long time ago." They said "we'll you're not coming into Canada"!!!!! Holy crap Batman! He replied..."I was just a kid and that was 24 yrs ago!" They said, "doesn't matter".

Dale and Danno.....enjoy the ride! Our first day off the ferry in Haines, AK.....we came around the turn and there was a Grizzly in the middle of the road! :shock: I needed new shorts. Thank gawd he ran like a scared rabbit as soon as he saw us!

Gary
Last edited by TOGA on Wed Aug 13, 2008 7:42 am, edited 1 time in total.
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Postby yamxer438 » Tue Aug 12, 2008 6:03 pm

hey neighbor. had to join the board so i could keep tabs on the trip. Sounds like a blast. I think pops was wishing he had a dual sport so he could have gone. Keep having fun and be safe.

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HidiHo!!

Postby Labaker » Wed Aug 13, 2008 2:58 pm

Just wanted to say I'm keeping up with your adventure and look forward to your next post.

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We're on the Road Again!

Postby Danno » Sun Aug 17, 2008 12:16 am

After a nice layover in Anchorage, we are finally heading back towards home. We had a great time there, staying with Kelly and Kathy. They are friends of Dale's and were excellent hosts. We had a wonderful time to recouperate.

It's Saturday night and I hope I'm in Oregon a week from today! We camped last night and are camping tonight outside of Haines Junction, Yukon. It's almost nice, being in another country, because we're that much closer to home.

Last night we didn't sleep to good because some local drunks/rednecks came flying into camp at 5am. After yelling, reving engines, honking horns,etc. they left. Tonight will be better! We're at a nice RV park, right on the lake. The mosquitoes have the night off and we even have a WIFI connection.

We'll be in Whitehorse, Yukon, tomorrow and heading south thru B.C. by the end of the day. We have a big day tomorrow, trying to get 400+ miles in. We've been doing 200 to 350 miles most days, but we're shooting for Boya park on the Casiar, a place that we stayed at on the way up!


We'll post more, with pictures, later, Danno
"I usually tighten my nuts better"

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Postby E-Ticket » Thu Aug 21, 2008 10:04 am

Excellent ... glad you guys are still having a great time! - RandyB
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Long Days and Long Miles

Postby Danno » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:38 pm

Dale and I got back into town last night. The last few days have been a blur so there hasn't been time for updates. Here are some boring math stats for now... My GPS sez we did 1,959 miles in the last 4 days. We were like a horse heading for the barn! Everyone will tell you that happens and I don't think you can make it quit. The only thing that you might control is when it starts to happen. For Dale and I, it was about 4 days ago. Since we left Kelly and Kathy's at Anchorage, we've clocked 2,754 miles. We added a little side trip to Valdez and back. We may have stayed there a night, but it was raining and we thought about heading in-land for drier weather. During the six day ride back, we hit a little rain. It really wasn't bad by Oregon standards with a little exception of rain on the 20 mile long Seattle parking lot. I think Seattle's rain is wetter than ours. We had a short 13 mile long parking lot at Tacoma, but the weather was nicer, keeping us in a cheery mood! My total GPS mileage has 6592.5 miles, not bad for an old guy like me and an old '89 Transalp. The Corbin seat with a Synth Sheepskin pad really did the trick. Only in the last few days did my seat ever get a little tired. Probably in another 2 or 3 weeks the swelling will go down. Does my seat look fat? More to come later, Danno
"I usually tighten my nuts better"

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Postby E-Ticket » Thu Aug 21, 2008 1:45 pm

Congrats ... and welcome back, guys! - rb
"AYHIN"

Mine: '12 KTM 350 EXC-F ("Wee Beasty"); '99 Honda VFR 800i Interceptor
(AMA Member)
Wife: '22 Kawasaki KLX 140R F; '04 Honda CBR600 F4i (AMA Member)

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That pisses this Canuck off

Postby bbtowns » Fri Aug 22, 2008 11:51 am

Usually it's the US guards that are tougher. What the hell, they should have given you a reason to have denied you entry. If you've ever had a DUI they try and extract some $ from you, but usually let you in. Last I crossed back into the US (where I live) from Canada (where I was born), the US border agent said he was going to send me back to where I come from. I made the mistake of explaining I was Canadian, and was where I come from, but was trying to leave to return to where I live. After an hour in the all white room with bright lights in your face they let me enter the states. I can't believe you got denied!!! Well, maybe if they knew you!
So sorry Tom! That sucks ridiculously. Go ride the Magruder corridor 'tween Darby MT and Elk City, ID!
Bry

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Your seat looks HUGE Danno

Postby bbtowns » Fri Aug 22, 2008 1:11 pm

Welcome back. Glad those border nazi's didn't hang you up. Glad to hear it was a safe trip and you guys enjoyed yourself.

Bry

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Postby TOGA » Mon Aug 25, 2008 3:13 pm

Welcome back Danno and Dale. Looking forward to seeing all your pixs and hearing more info on the adventure!
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