Alaska 2006: Day 5: Fairbanks to Coldfoot

So after yesterday's fun, I didn't know what to expect. I posted to ADVrider late in the evening seeing if anyone could help me with fabrication and finding a RAM mount ball. helikron helped me right away. In fact, the two places were less than a mile from the hostel.

I got to the RAM place, a small aviation supply house, right as they opened. It was an office that had some RAM parts hanging on a wall. Perfect- I got two u-bolt balls and a shortie arm. I lost my shortie when the previous ball broke, and I really like it for the tough sections- less vibration because there is less torque.

From there, I went down the street to Northland Aviation, the fabrication shop. John, the owner, was incredibly helpful. He looked at the broken part, then at the bike, then told me he could do it. That meant I needed to break down the bike- remove all 3 givis, pull the aux tank, pull the seat, then unbolt the Givi/package rack/aux tank bracket assembly. Did that, gave it to John, he went in and started welding.

In the meantime, I spread out my tool roll to dry (it is getting damp. Not sure if moisture is seeping in or what, but I'll put some packets of air drier in there at some point). I also enjoyed the sun and fiddled with the cell phone. Long story, but I managed to get the correct combination of removing the battery for 60 minutes, replacing the battery, plugging in the charger, and turning the phone on. I was amazed when the charge light came on- hooray!

About then, John came out. He can't figure out the alloy on the bracket. It isn't aluminium- it discolors oddly- so he doesn't know what to do. He thought it might be titanium. We talked about some options- bolting, brazing, etc- but none were very good solutions. Tamara managed to research enough information to get ahold of Roy, the fabricator. Eventually I talked to him, it turns out the metal is powdercoated 304 stainless. Aha. John goes back to work, happy to know what he is dealing with.

I walked back into the hangar and watched his crew work. They had three planes in for service, one was a float plane. It was neat to watch and ask questions, but trying to stay out of the way.

John got done, painted the brackets, then wouldn't give me a price, but told me to pay him something. I did- $40. I hope it wasn't too low. John and I also talked about putting a block under the tank, which would help suppress the vertical motion that caused this fracture in the first place.

From there, I went looking for an upholstery shop (closed until Aug 15), then went to the motorcycle shop. I needed a little oil, and I wanted an excuse to drop by and see if my tires were there. Mr. Parts Counter wouldn't win many personality contests- know what I mean? He sold me oil, I filled it, then went back in to 'donate' the rest of the oil and see if they had a block of wood I could use under the tank. Thankfully, a service guy (manager?) helped me.

Having that done, I pointed north, out of town. Stopped at Hilltop, the last real gas station on the way up Haul Road. I'll have to stop there on the way back- I'll have N. Powersports do my oil change, and this truck stop has my Rotella oil. I can buy some on the way back down.

I had trouble for the entire trip, but it was the worst at Hilltop- bees everywhere. They were attracted to the bug guts on the bike, the color of the bike, and it was just a horrible year for them, from what I hear. There were about 60 bees swarming the bike as I was gassing up, and a few stayed tucked into the fairing for about a mile after leaving the station. It certainly made me nervous.

On up the Haul Road, aka Dalton Highway. It's roughly 250 miles from Fairbanks to Coldfoot, where I was stopping for the night (reservations- first time this trip). Of those 250 miles, 100 are gravel. The rest are some type of pavement ranging from nice to frost-heaved chipseal. I made a couple of little stops, mainly stopping on the road and taking pictures. There is one point with road construction, it must have been a 25 minute delay. I was supposed to be in the lead, but ended up behind a couple of trucks for the 15 mile detour. Ah well.

The friendly flagger (yeah! I know!) filled me in on some info about the pipeline (no, it wasn't shut down during the forest fires, no, it isn't shut down now- just part of the feeder wells), plus a tip on where to eat. She said the food in Coldfoot was pretty marginal (it's a buffet), recommended I stop at Hot Spot, which is a couple miles past the Yukon River crossing. I followed her advice, and it was great. I'm glad I did it that way.

Speaking of forest fires- the fires in 2004 burned 2% of the acreage of Alaska. That's pretty amazing. Entire sections were burned, it was neat to see the fireweed and grass (sedge?) growing back. The grass has a paintbrush-like top on it, and is kind of reddish. It makes the burned-out areas look almost on fire.

The Arctic Circle crossing is about 60 miles prior to Coldfoot. It is pretty neat to know I crossed into the Arctic Circle (fry sauce, anyone?).

At the Arctic Circle crossing, I saw a guy on a KTM 950. It turned out to be another ADVrider, Antonio, from Colombia (but lives in San Diego now). He was with his friend, Carlos, who is from Chile. Carlos has a KTM, and it was down a short trail from the Arctic Circle parking lot. Seems he had a flat, and they were having trouble resetting the bead. Thankfully I had my CyclePump handy, so I loaned it to them. They were appreciative.

We exchanged photos, a little information, and went on our ways. They were planning on camping in Coldfoot, because the lodging is pretty expensive (150 for little more than a dorm).

Up in Coldfoot, I got my room, walked in and realized it has two twin beds. A light bulb went off, so I headed across the large parking lot to ask the clerk to tell Antonio and Carlos where I'm at. They had just pulled in- great timing! So they are going to bunk up in the room, we will split costs. Not a bad deal all the way around.

I have some anxiety (sound familiar?) about tomorrow's leg. It's 240 miles of gravel, which is realistically about 5.5 hours of riding- BLM says 7. I hope to get to Deadhorse and back to Coldfoot. I'd love to get back to Fairbanks, but I think Coldfoot is a pretty good stretch. Hopefully I can do the Prudhoe Bay tour- you are supposed to call 24 hours in advance and get security clearance. I'm just going to show up, because I don't want to make reservations and then bomb on them. If I have to wait a long time for a tour, I might not be able to get back to Coldfoot in the same day- and there are no options between Deadhorse and Coldfoot.

I'm slightly worried because there is some gas seepage below the aux tank, right at the two mounting rails. I unbolted the tank this evening and checked things out- I am pretty sure the tank overflowed while on the Haul Road today, and there are some nice crevices under the tank for the gas to hide in and slowly seep out. Otherwise there should be a lot more gas, and it doesn't seem to be accumulating. I'll check it again in the morning.

So headed north, leaving luggage here (hopefully). My new friends and I will try to make it to the hot springs tomorrow. That's a little easier than going to fbanks. If it works well for me, on Thursday I'll ride in from the hot springs, mount my tires, then ride over to Tok to the moto camp, or whatever camp I can find.