This has been such a long day it seems like this post should cover several days. It started early when both Jim and I were up and packed by 4:30 am. The ferry was scheduled to dock at 6 am but we both were anxious to get off the ferry and start riding again. As soon as they would let us on the car deck we loaded up the bikes and were some of the first vehicles up the ramp to the dock. We rode the short distance to the staging area for the tunnel. By 06:45 we were waiting our turn to go through the tunnel but we ended up setting there until 07:15 and then got the green light to proceed. I had not really been concerned about riding through this tunnel until I started riding to the entrance. It was much more narrow than I anticipated and I had to cross the tracks then get aligned in the middle before going in. What I didn't anticipate was that the center riding area between the railroad tracks was wet and not smooth. My bike is very sensitive in steering anyway and it took all my concentration to keep the bike going right down the middle. In addition, 2 1/2 miles is a long way when you are doing 20 mph. I didn't shift out of first the whole way because I was afraid it would make me unstable. There was also two huge ventilating fans that blew from the side at both ends that tried to knock you off line. I almost freaked out about 3/4 the way through from the stress. I finally could see a speck of light at the end which was the exit so just kept on moving until I reached it. I was so glad to get out of that tunnel.
After leaving the tunnel we rode the 60 miles to Anchorage and refueled including fuel in our spare tanks. It was another 364 miles to Fairbanks and the availability of fuel along the way was not assured. We eventually did find fuel about every 100 miles. We rode by Denali (Mount McKinley) and took the appropriate pictures before continuing. We saw a dozen different Moose along the way, all along side the rode except for a mother moose and baby which crossed right in front of a bus we were following. None of them were injured but being so close to them gave us a very good demonstration of what would happen if we hit one on a motorcycle; not good.
About a hundred miles from Fairbanks we ran into a dozen different road construction delays. When I say road construction I mean we would see a sign that said "Pavement Removed!" and they meant it. There would be 5 to 10 miles of wet packed gravel. It gave Jim and I some good practice for what we expect in the next couple of days. This is the main road between Anchorage and Fairbanks and they just remove the road and everyone has to drive on a gravel road for a number of miles. They did put up signs telling motorcycles to take extreme care. Thanks for the sign.
We finally made it to Fairbanks and found a hotel for the next couple of days. Both of us were extremely tired after this days events. We're not sure why but a 400 mile day after setting on the ferry for 5 days wore us both out.
Tomorrow is our big attempt for the Arctic Circle. We are leaving everything except the bare essentials in the hotel room to make the bikes as lite as possible. We will leave around 7 am for the ~260 mile round trip on the Dalton Highway. No promises but we will only turn back if we feel it is too dangerous. It all depends on the weather (which is forecasted to be good) and the road condition. I hope to be able to post some outstanding Pics tomorrow night.
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