Day of Preparation.... Night of go Go GO Go!!!!
So the questioning began a few days ago when Greg asked a few folks about the road to Prudhoe and he got reliable intel to add to his internet research, that the Haul Road is a 4 day event if you can do it at all… so the question is “Why” and it came down to My Ego… and the bragging right of saying Been There. Then the all important tire change and meeting up with Ryan and James who fly in and uncrate their bikes later today. As with all real adventure a little grief and questioning your sanity is important and inevitable.
So the questioning began a few days ago when Greg asked a few folks about the road to Prudhoe and he got reliable intel to add to his internet research, that the Haul Road is a 4 day event if you can do it at all… so the question is “Why” and it came down to My Ego… and the bragging right of saying Been There. Then the all important tire change and meeting up with Ryan and James who fly in and uncrate their bikes later today. As with all real adventure a little grief and questioning your sanity is important and inevitable.
Wake up and go to Trails End BMW (George)… I’ve called in advance and have Tires ordered We’re gonna install them and get ready for the “Dalton Highway” also known as the infamous “Haul Road”… When we arrive at Trails End we find a most interesting sight… tons of old stuff hanging around a trail into the woods and a note on the door of a dwelling that says I’ll be ready to work at 1:00 pm … We can’t find any one here and decide to go to breakfast… During breakfast we see front page news that the Haul Road has claimed many motorcyclists in the last 2 days and gives a stern warning to all who pursue this fool hardy quest..
I try during breakfast to round up the TKC 80’s that we are looking for. I have limited success. We decide to go back to Trails End and George is there. He says come back about Noon. Back to Georges… Change oil Change tires on both bikes. Spend quality time with George. This is a man that goes and goes. His passion is BMW motorcycles and he has 45 years of experience with BMW. I didn’t ask however I expect that George is in his 70’s and is more capable than most.
George will just “get er done”… Tires on and balanced and we pack up and say our good byes to George and take off to meet Ryan and James at the Harley Shop.
There they are all clean and smelling nice. A bit of a departure from us 2 road worn hoodlums. Ryan and James have their hands full getting everything straightened out… their bikes assembled loaded up and out the door… When we are finally set up we scoot out fill up and head out to eat… We just get under way when James comes to a screaming halt… full on brakes? What was that all about? The harley guys come out and we find that the hand guard was pushing on the front brake lever. So adjustments made and away we go…
This could be the "Last Supper"
Now let me give some facts here…Greg and I have covered some big miles and are some what road weary. James and Ryan have been up since about 2 am (Fairbanks time) traveling from Calgary to Seattle and up to Fairbanks … assemble their bikes pack up and ready to go do a 24 hour assault on the Haul Road? We look over (front page news) a Haul Road wreck that is in the Harley lot??? What are we thinking… It’s now 9:00 pm and we are all a bit frazzled… from the days events… we do a reality check and decide that there is no time like the present to attack this thing… So we eat at Hill Top… Fuel up and gather up a lot of Red Bull… Remember “Red Bull gives you Wings”!
The excitement from our 2 new comers to get going and for Greg and I to be on the “Haul Road” is euphoric! We scoot down the road with confidence of the uninitiated and determination of a Lap dog taking on a St. Bernard… I hit a pot hole just before the Arctic Circle and the rear mud guard is sacrificed to the Haul Road Gods as an offering of safe passage. They return with the “curse of Mark’s bike won’t start”… it will run but the starter will not engage. Fortunately we are on a hill and I coast down the hill and bump start the bike. Next stop … fuel at Coldfoot… 1:30 am. 4 ½ hours from Fairbanks and we’re already in Coldfoot… we Rock…
Chat with the gas station guy at Coldfoot and he says to go ahead is a death wish… Bad fog ahead over the Atigum pass this time of morning. 2 riders crashed within the past 48 hours and needed to be Hauled out on the back of a truck… 6 to 10 Adventure bikers are hanging around on the gas station patio… We try to push my bike to get it started to no avail, (lack of available horse power) not to mention no traction. So we tie a rope to the front guard on my bike and to the rear of Greg’s bike and head out to the Haul Road for some speed and traction to start my bike… it works and we are out of there. We do a Red Bull stop in a few minutes. We do another reality check (it’s about 2:30 am) completely light outside, looks like heavy fog and rain ahead… we deliberate and decide what all intelligent reasonable folk would do under the same circumstance …. head out into certain catastrophe. Up the Atigum pass into the fog and rain … the road deteriorates … we go through a construction site where for 20k the road surface is so slippery it would be hard to walk on. Calcium chloride is put on the roads and used as a dust suppressant… This stuff is very slippery when wet and it is really wet. Forward we go…
This is “Really Big Country”. We see the pipe line most of the time… it’s raining hard and about 1 degree Celsius. We are trying to keep a rapid pace… It’s about 8:30 am when we roll into Prudhoe Bay. We find the Caribou Hotel which consists of a pile of Atco trailers joined together to be accommodation, common area and buffet eating… Breakfast is over and lunch doesn’t start until 11:30 so we ask where we can rest and are given permission to sleep on the couches in the common area.
Sleep … We wake up around 11: and are still shaking from the cold and wet.
We take in some hot apple cider and wait for lunch to start… we are some of the first in line and have a great lunch… feeling human agian we head out … Bike starts under own power… cool…. Go fill up all 4 bikes … once done … we need to pull my bike again to start it up. We take pictures of the Caribou and water at Prudhoe Bay and wander around town for an hour then take off again into certain peril…
Bad weather continues … slippery road is even worse. The weather improves and we pull over beside the pipe line and sleep for 30 minutes. We decide to stop every hour to do a reality check… just to see how we are doing individually….
All goes well. We stop and eat at Hot Spot… A very BIG Burger…. We all eat about 1/3 of the burger and surrender… Back to Fairbanks… one more jump start for Greg and Mark and I screw it up… the bike is running but I allow too much slack on the line and run the rope over with the front tire and it gets caught up in the fender and forks and locks up the front wheel… down I go with Greg dragging me … darn it… we get up and get it going and head straight to a Carwash in Fairbanks which is about 2 hours away at this point… We roll into town at 11:30 pm it’s still light out… 27 hours of an assault on the haul road… off to bed and we’ll think about what we've accomplished over the next decade or so. 
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