Fairbanks to Anchorage
Day 8
Next morning Paul’s back tire was real soft, so off to Fairbanks Honda shop. This was quite a large store. Here, we hung around for a few hours while they put on a new tire & tube and a radiator reservoir from a bike on the floor. While waiting, we learned that a few riders head up the Dalton Highway to Pardome Bay: 250 miles one way all gravel, and when you get there you have to book onto a tour to get to the water. Talking with a guy who was waiting for some new front forks, he told us of some guys who never made the trip back with their bikes. One bike that they had brought back was heading straight for the junk yard and the rider was flying home with a cast on his arm.
So, when it was our time to leave, we headed to Anchorage. This was the only stretch of road that we saw any highway patrol. We saw seven and were pulled over once and flashed once, no tickets. This picture showed one of the many colourful bars that we had encountered.
Now on the road leaving Fairbanks on Highway 3, we go uphill to ride from ridge to ridge with nice sweeping curves and wide open views of moose pastures.
In the middle of this day you come to the large Denali National Park with North America's highest mountain, Mt. McKinley, some 20,320 feet. This part of the road is very picturesque and one could spend a day or two exploring this area.
Now that were getting close to Anchorage and the coast, the terrain becomes more lush green, with bigger trees well cut back from the road, which gives you better vision which likely works as a fire break, too. It gives you the feeling of riding between large hedges.
By the time we got to Anchorage, it was showing dusky and my odometer said I was 5,392 km (3,240 miles) from home.