North America: Riding a 21 year old Goldwing: 32 - Sunshine, J.Wail, Valdez & Haines

After the kennels and another scenic ride around the park, I headed South toward Talkeeta. The weather was beautiful… until I got about 30 miles from the airport. I set up camp in downtown Talkeetna in the rain. No flights today for sure.

It was a perfect evening for lounging at the Mountain High Pizza Pie and eating and drinking while writing. After five hours of writing, I noticed a couple in the corner and decided to stop being a hermit.

He asked where I was from. “Winston-Salem, North Carolina.”

“I used to live there,” he replied. Before I could express my disbelief, “off Peters Creek Parkway,” he continued. Turns out, Jonah, a musician from Asheville, NC, was playing the following night in a venue at the end of the Talkeetna Spur road. I’d be there for sure, I told him. For now, I followed his recommendation to head down to the community center for a zydeco band. As an avid fan of the New Orleans music scene, I couldn’t have been more excited. For a few years, I went to the Big Easy a couple of times each year and saw great live shows. Michael Doucet & Beausoleil were finishing the third and final set when I arrived. They were amazing! After the encore, I left having only seen four songs. Later that night, I talked to Michael for a bit at the Historic Fairview Inn. He was excited to talk to a Zydeco aficionado. I asked if he knew Waylon Thibodeaux. “Waylon,” he excitedly replied. “and I are great friends. He’s doing well.” I also asked about Kermit Ruffins and was surprised to hear the Michael had played with him as well. What a great evening!

The next day I went to the airport in the rain and wasn’t surprised to find that chances were slim for a flight. So, off I went to the H&H Roadhouse in Sunshine to see Jonah.

Farewell Talkeetna & Bye-Bye Gina. It's one heckuva town. One I'm sure to visit again.

The rain stopped at the end of the spur road, and the weather was nice for setting up camp. The lodge sits on a lakeshore, so the view is great. There were five hours before the show began, so I had a beer and made introductions before strolling down to the shower.

Before I made it back to my tent, Charlie introduced himself. He was so excited to hear about my trip and really liked my Goldwing. He told me of his ’72, ’73, & ’74 Kawasaki Collection. Later, I learned a lot about Charlie. What a guy!

He’s climbed Mt. McKinley. A few weeks ago, he won the shooting contest at the bar after he put the final two shots in the center ring, a center ring the size of a dime, using a .22 at 50 yards! The other guys put one, or both, shots in the two-ring which was certainly respectable as it was the size of a quarter.

It's nice camping at a super scenic site that is extra ideal as it sits next to a place where I can eat, drink and hang out with people all evening.

Here's Houston playing the piano beneath a really neat picture of a really beautiful tri-color merle dachshund . The more I learned about the H&H, the more I liked the place. Houston runs the place. He’s been working there for 30 years, though he’s only 40. His parents own the place, but are now looking to sell it. The whole family will soon retire. Wow! Houston is a heck of a cook and brought out Salmon with a Chipotle glaze for me to try. After gobbling down an entire Blue Cheese Burger, I still had room for several pieces of Salmon and Broccoli; both were delicious.

The H&H is known from Anchorage to Fairbanks as the best place to shoot pool in Alaska. Michael Jordan, the longtime bartender and the best one-pocket player in hundreds of miles, told me about some of the pool legends that travel to Sunshine Alaska to play the region's best. Here's Michael and his girlfriend Crazy Carol.

Bill & Faith were living there in their RV for the summer while Bill worked as a plumber, and Faith worked for the H&H. Bill and I had a lot in common and talked about things for quite awhile. He’s from Salem, Oregon. I lived in Salem during the summer of 1994 while I was selling books in my second summer for Southwestern.

J.Wail is amazing. His music is unlike anything I'd ever seen, which made it all the more intriguing.

Houston is chatting it up in the background as Jonah and I posed for a picture. At the last second, Crazy Carol crashed the picture. Nice Carol!

In the morning, the weather didn’t look like it would accommodate an air-tour of Denali, so I left the area to go to Valdez. It rained off and on all the way to Tok, where I spent the night. Hence, I have few pictures of this stretch of the trip. It was a hard day of riding, though. I didn't break camp before this little guy sauntered over to say hello. Houston's Dad has always had dachshunds around and I got to meet the proprietor of the H&H before leaving town.

After a few hours of riding, I stopped at a diner for breakfast. The only other guy in there proved to be fascinating. He’s worked for many years at the local dirt track, so I was immediately interested. Turns out, track talk took only a few minutes of our conversation before he started talking about his dogs. He has nineteen. He started mushing in Michigan several years ago. Now, he’s stopped running his dogs competitively, because he can’t take the abuse anymore. Being a Musher isn’t easy, and at nearly 70, doing so competitively is a bad idea. He buys dog food by the pallet. 50 40 pound bags per pallet. Last year, he went through two tons of dog food. His main concern, providing adequate food stores for a caretaker to feed his dogs, should something happen to him. Between that conversation and the conversation in Denali, I learned a lot about being a Musher.

I broke camp in Sunshine and rode 450 miles to Valdez. They were, by far, the most challenging and physically demanding miles of the trip. The frost heaves were brutal. The road construction was especially dicey. The rain came and went all day.

In the morning, I found Bob (from the bus ride in Denali) and his friends fishing near the ferry terminal. I saw him catch a couple. He offered me a chance to do the same. I can’t say I really did anything, but here’s me with a Silver Salmon. I officially went fishing in Alaska, though it wasn’t what my buddies intended when the encouraged me to try Salmon Fishing.

I’d had enough of Valdez. The bears, the stench of fish, and the rain, rain, rain. I decided to ride toward Haines and to stop somewhere dry. I set up camp in Tok around nine and got a good night’s sleep.

The ride to Haines was tough. It was cold, rainy and the roads made for tough traveling.

Uneventful border crossings made the day a bit better. By the time I reached Haines, I was exhausted and in pain. There were some stretches of road where the frost heaves were so bad, that I had to stand up to let the bike take the abuse, without transferring the jolt to my back. At one point, the bike went airborne. On the way up the Al-Can, I’d had the front wheel come up. Today, the whole bike aired. Most frost heaves are dips. The front end drops and then violently compresses before the rear end gets flipped up. One frost heave was a peak that sent the bike airborne.

My forearms and legs were sore, as usual. But my chest was so sore from constantly holding myself off the saddle. The frequent and violent braking, essential to keep from going airborne, was super tiring. My chest ached.

Whenever I arrive in a new town, I always ride around until I’ve seen it all. Then I look for a place to camp. After checking out Haines, I rode along the water until I saw the State camping spot. Hey look! A familiar tent… and then the occupant walked into view. It was Robert from Seward. His huge graying beard was unmistakable. I certainly hung a U-turn and said hello. After catching up as to what each of us had been up to during the last couple of weeks, I set up camp and went to town to shower and do laundry.

I saw a BMW rider that looked like a guy camped nearby while in Tok. I pulled into the parking lot and struck up a conversation. Turns out, he’s retired and lives in SoCal and in Cabo and rides all over the world. Tom really liked my old Wing and thought it was cool that I’d gone to Chicken. He’d been to Prudhoe and all the other hard-core riding spots.

A shower felt great, as did donning clean clothes. After a plate of real food while watching the local karaoke crowd, I rode back to get some sleep.

It rained all morning and I’d been battling a cold since Valdez. Never go to a grocery store while hungry, sick, and cold. I left and went to the RV park on the water where I had showered the night before. The people were friendly and there was shelter with a great view where I could cook and get online.

There, I spent all morning cooking, eating and talking with Lohn. Lohn is from Southern Minnesota, not too far from where I lived last summer in Dodge Center, MN. He spends his summers in Alaska, backpacking throughout the area.

So, I ate the following:

A pound of bacon

A bag of Ore-Ida Shredded Potatoes, cooked for over an hour in bacon fat

Two Quarts of Tropicana OJ

Yogurt

A Pint of ½ & ½ - I didn’t finish it, but with three mugs of coffee and two batches of tea, I’d certainly done my best.

Someone once told me to feed a cold and I never asked for a second opinion.

The sun came out in the afternoon, so I went off exploring. With every intention of going to see Bald Eagles and riding in search of grizzlies, I soon succumbed to the temptation to not ride far at all. My cold had worsened and the aches from it, coupled with the aches from riding an old bike for four months, combined to make me feel like walking slowly and riding nowhere.

Off to the laundry-mat to wash my sleeping bag. While it was washing, I took a bit of a cruise out toward Allison Point.

Seems like the stories I'd heard about bears in Valdez during Salmon season were true.

After a pretty, but rainy ride along the water, I returned to the laundromat to sit while my bag dried.

Not in the mood to do anything but sit and sulk about my sickness, I ignored the other patrons. Finally, curiosity got the best of me and I spoke to the interesting looking girl sitting next to me. She looked like she had probably spent her summer in Alaska and probably had some pretty cool stories to tell. Liz introduced herself and quickly engaged me in captivating stories about her summer as a Glacier Guide for Ice Climbing Expeditions. Wow!

Shortly after we began talking, in walked Tom. He’d seen my bike out front and stopped into chat. He entertained Liz & I with travel stories and after awhile, the three of us were all pretty well aquatinted. We all had ferries to catch in the morning, so Liz suggested that we go somewhere close for a beer. Tom said no (bad call Tom, we had a blast!) and headed off to sleep. Liz and I talked for a couple of hours about our summers. How different they’ve been. She spent each day with tourists, while I got to carefully choose each conversation. She spent the summer with the same coworkers. I met a dozen fascinating people each day. She put in long hours. I put in long hours. This night was her night to celebrate after working for three months straight with only one weekend in 12 to leave the camp. It was my last night in Alaska so I couldn’t justify sticking to my original plan of going to sleep early.

We figured out that we had both showered at the same place upon arriving in Haines, and that we both had plans to do so again before getting on the boat. So I wasn’t surprised to see her in the morning. She even made coffee for me. Thanks Liz! Since she was in line before me and the shower was occupied, I rode off to get supplies for the ferry ride and to mail postcards. When I returned, Liz was ready to go so we said goodbye. But not before she admired my Goldwing. She is one of the first to do so without adding "yeah, my Grandpa used to have one of these."

After showering and packing the bike, I headed off to the ferry terminal with no idea what to expect. Though in separate lines, Liz and I learned that we were on the same boat!

The ferry ride turned out to be three of the best days of the trip.

Below is a glacier, though the one that Liz spent her summer climbing is much more impressive.