06/30/2010, 500 or so miles
Had a convenience store lunch in a parking lot at a gas stop in Shasta, CA. We got panhandled by a homeless guy. Welcome back to California and life as usual. Extreme heat through Redding and Red Bluff on I-5. The hills were all brown and there were CHP everywhere. Bikes continued to run fine and without incident. We were waved through an inspection station.
We bumped into a guy at a gas stop in Corning, CA who was also returning from Alaska. He was a teacher from Vacaville and had ridden 7500 miles in 19 days on his Gold Wing. He said he took time off every summer for distance riding and was knowledgeable about many nice local rides. Said he'd had no mechanical trouble whatsoever with his 'Wing on the trip, and it had over 70k miles on it. I was impressed but he said that's not much for a 'Wing. Suggested we should stop in Dunnigan for gas, then take 505 to highway 80 avoiding Sacramento.
Final mileage: 59346, total trip mileage 6,123
The Mac laptop survived the entire trip with no breakdowns.
The Bandit's dashboard rattled loose a bit, and it appears the gas leak from the fuel valve seal is back. Other than that, some chain wear, dings, scratches, and baked-on calcium chloride he seems fine.
All 4 cats present and accounted for, house still standing.
Some things I'd wish we'd brought: nail clippers, extra ear plugs. I brought 4 pairs but they're useless if they get wet, and hard to find on the road up north.
I brought a lot of tools I didn't think I'd need, and used quite a bit more than I thought I would. Including threadlocker, 18" breaker bar, 32mm socket, dielectric grease, and a spare spark plug. Ran through 2 mini-cans of WD-40 and ended up buying a large aerosol can of it, and going through most of that. Also Tri-Flow for the locks which got lots of dirt in them. Contact cleaner might've been a good idea as well. Ran out of kerosene for chain cleaning, although the smell permeated all my clothes in the luggage. Spare brake pads were not necessary.
We learned a few lessons as well. Whatever deferred maintenance issues are present on a bike will literally shake out on the Alcan in a way that daily commuting won't reveal. Take care of all of it beforehand. There are vast areas with no reception and dealerships are few and far between. Two, old streetbikes were what we had, so that's what we took. That was perhaps not a good choice. Dual-sports next time. The gravel and mud really beat up the streetbikes. Three, Verizon has way more coverage in the areas we traveled than AT&T. We rented a satellite phone for emergencies, but for non-emergencies the Verizon phone was superior for traveling through BC and the Yukon--making reservations, calling ahead, etc. Finally, given weather, road conditions, and unforseen circumstances, 500 miles a day just wasn't possible for us in Canada and Alaska. 250 - 300 is more realistic, and at least one rest day per week should be considered. Riding through town after town without ever stopping to see the sights gets tiring.
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