As JerryB said earlier Don Seedsman & I made a trip to Alaska/Canada in 2008. We left Murfreesboro in early June and returned in late August. We spent 76 days on the road and covered 15,256 miles, used up 2 back tires, many gallons of fuel but not a drop of oil! Our ride was my 2000 ST1100 with a Hannigan hack. We pulled a camper trailer, I slept in the camper, Don had a tent. We camped out over 60 of those days, everywhere from RV campgrounds to the side of the road, with one camp about 4 miles north of the arctic circle. At the time of the trip I was 69 and Don was 70. I had originally planned on going with JerryB & maybe DaveF. A heart attack in 07 changed my plans, my ST acquired a sidecar and Don agreed to go as co-pilot. We shared driving/riding duties, swapping out every 50 miles. We took over 3,500 pictures, many of these can be seen on my PhotoBucket account. My PB account can be accessed by clicking on the link in my signature. If you are serious about going you should acquire the latest Mile Post book. This is a detailed book, with maps & descriptions of all the highways in Alaska and northwest Canada. Since we were loaded (somewhere north of 1800lbs) fuel became a concern. The ST has a 7 1/2 gallon tank & I had a 7 gallon transfer tank mounted on the rear of my camper. We did not start keeping fuel in it until we were well up the Cassiar highway. It saved our bacon 4 times! We unhooked the trailer, turned it around and pumped into the ST. The first time we did this (on the Cassiar) had to be funny to watch. It was our first encounter with the black flies and the twin engine skitters! I was watching Don operate the little pump we had and suddenly he had a huge black head and it was buzzing. Before I could react I had my own black head! I will post a few pictures to give you an idea and you can look at the rest when you desire.
This was the day before departure and thats my friend Don. BTW Don is from Melbourne and on this trip he achieved a unique distinction! So far as we know he is one of the few or maybe the only person in the world to have ridden a motorcycle inside the circles at both ends of our mud ball, the arctic and antarctic circles!
We made a stop at Harley heaven and a friendly Harley rider took this picture for us!
We took our time (for the most part) and did a lot of picture taking and sight seeing on the way. This is Don & I at Mount Rushmore.
This was some of the early scenery along the Cassiar.
This was a typical camp site. I could pull in and be set up in less than 5 minutes. It took Don a little longer with his tent but he got really good at getting it up, especially in the rain!
This hill was actually much steeper than it appears. This is part of the Cassiar that they were working on. It was wall to wall mud, Don was driving and I could tell the ST was beginning to lose traction when I took this picture from inside the sidecar. Notice my handicapped plackard in the window. Don & I got in a big argument with a guy in Fairbanks over parking in a handicapped space!
If you have any questions about any of the pictures send me an email at
[email protected]. Be sure to tell me what page it is on. As your trip gets closer your planning will grow by leaps & bounds!
Gene