Today’s ride was just 250 miles, but much of it was the Dalton Highway, otherwise know as the Haul Road. Wiseman is basically the halfway point on the Dalton and doesn’t have much to offer in the way of services – just a couple of cabin rentals.
We purposely got off to a later start since there’s not much to do in Wiseman. Just a bit after 8PM we packed up and got on the road. There was a quick stop at Walmart to get a couple of food items for tonight’s dinner, plus another stop at an auto parts store to get a headlight bulb for Harvey’s BMW. The start of the ride was Alaska highway 2 for 80 miles to Livengood. Along the way, there was a 8 mile construction zone with a pilot car. We had a great chat with the flag lady and pilot car driver who really seemed to enjoy talking to us. We made it through the construction, and not long after reached the start of the Dalton Highway.
Some of the Dalton is paved, but unfortunately the pavement has massive frost heaves and dangerous pot holes in areas. Most of the Dalton is other surfaces – dirt, gravel, dirt and gravel, and the worst – a slurry of water, dirt, and calcium chloride. I’ve been told both the water and calcium chloride are put down to reduce the dust. Unfortunately the result is a very slippery mud slime. In some areas that slime forms puddles and gets splashed all over the riders and bikes. Furthermore, it hardens and is difficult to remove. I’ve been told that dirt can be found on motorcycles years after the Alaska trip is complete as it truly gets into everything.
Despite the efforts to reduce dust, we were still breathing in dust everywhere. I stopped with Alf to get dust masks out of my top case, and managed to leave the top case open with my luggage keys in the lock cylinder. I only had a single luggage key that locksmiths can’t find a workable blank for, so I had ordered a new key from the only dealer that carries that luggage model in April. I still haven’t received the new key. You can probably guess – the keys fell out somewhere on the Dalton and we weren’t going to be able to find them. A Rok strap was use to hold the top case closed.
We arrived at Yukon Camp after crossing the might Yukon River on a massive wooden bridge. Yes, the wooden bridge had potholes too! When I get my act together and get to editing the Insta 360 videos we’ll be able to share what it looks like, but I’m sure it won’t be the same as being there in person.
Isn’t that building beautiful? Up here, it’s function over beauty, and this place had a great lunch compared to everything else in town (nothing), and they sell gas.
$7.499 per gallon is a bit much for regular gasoline, but you buy it if you need it. After filling, bikes were parked, we shopped and had lunch. As we were moving around to prepare to leave, a Vstrom 650 may have found itself on its side resting on the side case. There might be photographic evidence after the others verified no injuries occurred. The bike was fine too.
60 miles up the road, we reached the Arctic Circle.
I’m not sure what was up on that leftmost sign post, but I think there is a bird eating something up there. Not much later, a squirrel climbed up there and started eating in the same spot. I don’t know how such a critter survives the winter up here.
Somewhere north of the Arctic Circle, the real problems started. I felt resistance in the Vstrom’s rolling ability. About the same time, Alf noticed my brake light was activating. As I came to a stop, the bike was clearly activating the brakes without me asking it to do so. I touched the front rotors and they were cool, but the rear brake rotor was extremely hot. I got my tools out and the guys and I started troubleshooting. We assumed a stuck caliper slider, so we were going to take the caliper off. It was stuck solid, so we loosened the bleeder screw. Not surprisingly, boiling brake fluid came out. The final diagnosis was that the road slime had splashed and hardened in the rear/foot brake level activation components and was actually holding the rear brake on while I was riding. I sprayed everything back there down with WD-40, buttoned everything back up, and verified the brake still worked fine. Crisis averted!
There’s more good stuff today, but that dust I mentioned has worked its way into everything. That seems to include my computer keyboard resulting in the most difficult typing experience as only about 80% of my key presses work. If I missed a few letters in this post, that’s my excuse.
Tomorrow will be the final push northward with a destination of Deadhorse. We’ll take the tour to see the facilities and the Arctic Ocean. Stay tuned for more.
Phat Barstewards 