Alaska trip 2022

Sgt Bilco

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As always with my trips, I'll do a regular update on how we are getting on so the posts may be a bit irregular.

Anyway, brief details of this years trip are it's a 13 day trip around Alaska on rental bikes which isn't normal for me. As most of you know, I like to ship the bikes out but due to the pandemic and the state of world shipping, it was too risky to do it today.

There will be 10 of us on the trip with me leading it and my mate Bill, who lives up here in Anchorage, is bringing up the rear as chief mechanic just in case.

Hope he has a big toolkit as the bikes are R1200's, R1250's and F850's and you only have to read the 1200 forum to see how totally reliable they are...............:rolleyes::D

I came out Wednesday with a couple of guys chill out for a couple of days before the off and everyone will be in on Saturday morning. We'll leave at 09.00 on Sunday morning.

Flight over was with Icelandair as they offer a great route to Anchorage via Rekyavic. This knocks about 6 hours flying time off the trip but due to the current issues with travel, they cancelled the direct flights so we had to route through Seattle which made it a long day.

Heathrow T2 was pretty easy and it took about an hour to getting off the Elizabeth line to getting a coffee in departures.

Icelandair are a pretty good airline to be fair and efficient as you would expect. They fly old 757's which are getting a bit long in the tooth but are quiet and comfy. The great advantage of a 757 is there are only about 200 people on board which makes things a bit quicker than getting on and off a 777 or similar.

I managed to get a seat with extra legroom and sat tantalisingly close to the posh seats...............!!

After the worlds most expensive sandwich at Rekyavic airport, the flights all worked well but the transfer in Seattle was a bit tight. Got into Anchorage at about 23-30 local with a delightful 9 hour time difference to find our bags hadn't been loaded on the flight but were coming on the next one which was OK as Alaska Airlines operate an hourly service to Seattle. Bags collected and it was off into the cool night and a welcome bed.
 

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And we’re off (virtually) :thumb
Looking forward to this Chris, keep ‘er lit :beerjug:
 
We had a last minute balls up with hotels so I'm staying at Bills house for a few days with all teh guys in a Motel 6 in Anchorage.

As an Alaska resident, Bill loves his guns and hunting and I had a look at his collection of weapons which is mildly terrifying to a Brit but hell, he had some firepower in the safe.

There were a couple of AR15's and he explained how they operate and why the lunatics like them for the odd mass shooting. The ones he has are the legal civilian version which unlike the army M16 version, cannot fire on automatic. You have to pull the trigger for each round but the mass shooters use a thing called a bump stop which allows rapid fire.

Pretty scary stuff but as Bill rightly says, the huge majority have no issues with weapons but if someone does, it ends badly. The truth is, no matter what the government try to do, most americans will continue to own them.

Alaska is generally a Republican state but unlike the lunatic religious right in the south they live a different life in the last frontier and violence a gun crime are very rare. There is a very different attitude to life up here and it always feels very safe and controlled.

Anyway, the weapons are 2 x AR15's, a very rare Marlin rifle based on an 1870's Winchester style which is 1 of 300 made and never been fired, a 1911 hand gun and a 4.54 bear revolver which is a beast of a thing!!
 

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Bill helps the rental company prep their bikes so I got roped in to helping prepare the so after a superb breakfast at Gwennies, it was off to check them out, change a couple of tyres and get them cleaned up ready for collection.

I can guarantee they won't be that clean in a couple of weeks............
 

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Nice one Chris, thank you for taking the time to post as I know how busy these trips are for you.
I'm very, very jealous of you all.
 
Sounds like it's going to be a cracking trip.
 
On my bucket list of things to do,following with great interest safe journey you all.
 
Yep, sounds like a great trip ahead despite the bike import “problems”. :thumb2
Definitely on my bucket list too. :thumb2
 
Day 1

So after a few years of not doing these trips due to you know what, I woke up feeling a little nervous and apprehensive about getting onto my tour leaders horse but soon got back into teh swing of it.

We collected all the bikes from our brilliant rental company and all the paperwork and checks were dome with minimum fuss. All the bikes, 3 x 1250's 2 x 1200LC's and 3 x 850's were detailed like new and ready to go. The rental company had run out of bikes for us so I'm having to use my mate's FJ09 which is basically a Yamaha Tracer. It's a bit small but it's comfy and goes well enough and looks the part with TKC's all round. I had intended to use a 990 KTM but the fucking thing was way to tall and I literally couldn't touch the floor. It would have been a bloody nightmare to use!

I will ad here the rain was biblical and Alaska is currently suffering the 6th worst rainfall in recorded history and the rain was bouncing off the pavement as we left.

Down to Gwennies for breakfast to gird our loins and off into the monsoon we went.
 

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My mate Bill who owns it. There aren't many restrictions for carrying up here but being Johnny foreigner is one of them:eek:

I remember going into a pawn-shop in Anchorage years ago....the locals took their guns in to get drink money when times were hard!
 
The first days run is an easy 150 mile ride along the side of the Kenai Fjord which gives brilliant views of snow capped mountains with eagles soaring into the sky.

We then head through the Whittier tunnel into the town of Whittier which a scenic little fishing port.

Needless to say the clouds socked everything in and the town will henceforth be known as Wettier..........:D
 

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Luckily the rain eased as we arrived at out hotel in Seward. It didn't help that the hotel receptionist was as miserable as the weather but a little English charm, wit and obviously boyish good looks got things sorted.

We were soon in the bar which overlooked teh harbour and after a delicious bowl of seafood chowder, we headed for a stroll amongst the boats moored up.
 

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Day 2 dawns.........overcast and cold but at least it isn't raining yet:eek:

We ran down to a little coastal town called Hope where they have an excellent coffee place. It's about 30 miles down a road to get to this place and there is only one way in and out. The cafe is exceptional but quite how they money year round is a complete mystery.

We rode around the Kenai Fjord and the weather gods smiled on us to give us some of the spectacular views this part of the world is famed for.

Mileage 180
Start song: Queen - Another One Bites The Dust
Finish song: The Bottle Rockets - Radar Gun
 

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We get help up in road works for 10 mins but at least the view is better than sitting on the M25

We ride back through Anchorage to our overnight in Palmer and find a cracking brewery with excellent beer and some of the best pizza I've ever tasted :D
 

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