Dave's pictures

Here is a link to Dave's photos in a Picasa web album.... Photo's

Ron's pictures

Click on this link for additional pictures.....photo album

Dave’s summary

This was definitely a cool trip. Ron, thanks for taking me with you. The only thing I would change would be the weather. It should only rain at night.

As far as costs go, the BMW got an average of 39.25 miles per gallon over the 7920 miles I rode on the trip for fuel cost of $750. I filled the tank 35 times and put in 203.25 gallons. My tires were about twice as costly as Ron’s so my tire and oil expenses were $250. My trip total was about $1900. While I did check the head bolt torque and valve clearances because of the head gasket leakage, later in the trip the oil pan gasket began to leak also which I attribute to the use of synthetic oil on this trip. I usually use semi-synthetic oil. I changed back to regular oil in Seeley Lake and the oil leak slowed down considerably or stopped. I had to change a tail light bulb when we got back in Delta Junction and reinstall a turn signal bulb early on in the trip.

The BMW was designed for this kind of riding and performed well. I only wanted for power when returning on I-80 and needed to pass a truck. When we were North of Fairbanks 90% of the bikes we saw were BMW’s and KLR’s, mostly newer. There were a couple of V-Stroms and one older DR350. No other airhead BMW’s or Harley’s.

We usually ate oatmeal and granola bars for breakfast. I got some of the Starbucks instant coffee and it was actually pretty good though expensive. I also got some Tasters Choice instant coffee because it was about a third of the price and it was about a third as good. Lunches were typically in a Café on the road and dinner was a can of Chunky soup and a loaf of French bread. This put our food costs to about $17 per day each.

I took a few things I did not use, mostly cooking gear. I got a frying pan with a foldable handle, spatula, large spoon and took cooking oil thinking we might use them. Never did. Other items that I did not use were can opener, tin foil, sandals, binoculars, 110 volt inverter (to charge camera battery), CB radio, reading material, chair, cable lock for the bike and small tripod. I took a gallon water bottle and a half gallon would have worked fine and taken up less space.

Staying in RV parks worked out pretty well. They usually have a grassy area for tents and most have free WiFi now. The costs ran from $10 to $30 for the night with most being about $20. The Canadian parks charge a loony or two for a shower of 2 ½ to 8 ½ minutes but most of the US parks include a shower. We did run into a couple of parks that did not allow tenting. The RV parks are where we got to talk to a lot of the motorcycle and bicycling travelers.

I got a new sleeping bag and pad for the trip. The bag is a Marmot Trestles +15 degree polyester which worked well and the pad is an Exped SynMat 9 which worked very well and folded up much smaller than a Thermarest yet had similar R-value.

The next trip is going to have to include the Dempster Highway to Inuvik and the Taylor Highway to Dawson City in the Yukon Territory.

Ron's summary

This was by far the longest ride I have made.  What made it a great ride was doing it with a good friend.  We had only a few minor bike problems and no flat tires.  So the big question is "would you do it again?".  I would, but on a different bike.  The KLR is not as stable on the pavement as my DL1000 Vstrom.  Arguably the KLR is a better choice for the Dalton highway to Prudhoe Bay, but there were Vstroms we met that did just fine up there.  The KLR power was adequate near sea level but at the higher elevations it was difficult on long uphill pulls with a head wind.

Here are the numbers:
Trip cost, not including the bike was $1700.  Twenty percent of the trip cost was spent on the Dalton Highway north of Fairbanks, primarily on hotel.

We had four no riding days.  On the 23 riding days we averaged 334 miles.  The longest day was 427 miles, the shortest 110 (near drowning riding to Tok, AK).

Gas prices ranged from $5.00/gallon in Dease Lake, BC to $2.58 in Casper, WY.  Overall average was $3.77.  Gas in Canada was much more expensive, averaging $4.20/gallon versus the US average of $2.83/gallon.         

My gas mileage was 46 MPG with a low of 40 and high of 55.  The best mileage included a big elevation drop and a good tail wind.

We had some absolutely spectacular days of riding.  We also had the days that put the "Adventure" in Adventure Touring.   
     

Day 27 - the ride home , 177 miles

The last day of riding. Dave had a cup of coffee sitting in front of the cabin by the river.   Dave actually got to ride 50 extra miles since he lives further south.  No rain but the temperature got up to 90 F which is very warm with riding gear on.

Stay tuned there will be more posts.  We need to write up a summary post from our notebooks and build a photo album.

Day 26, Ashton ID to Riverside, WY, 415 miles

We got a relatively early start with the idea being to get a lot of miles in.  Between the delays with road construction and the thunder showers we didn't do as well as planned.  It was too warm to ride in the rain gear when it was not raining.  Huge storm cells were rolling across Wyoming all day.  We were on I-80 and late in the afternoon we caught  up to one moving east. We ended up riding in it for about two hours.  Once we turned south to head toward Colorado we stayed in it until Saratoga.  Then the storm moved on and the sun came out. We ended up in Lazy Acres Campground in Riverside, WY.  We got the little cabin on the river for $30 and did not have to set up the tent on the final night.  

Day 25 Seeley, MT to Ashton ID - 353 miles

In the grassy tent area of the Seeley Hotel and RV park a couple of other bikers showed up after we got settled. The first guy was Al from New Zealand. Al is mountain biking on dirt roads from Banff to Albuquerque. The next guy was Bruce from Pittsburg riding a Suzuki V-Strom 650 home from a BMW motorcycle owners meeting in Redmond, OR.

We got as far as Ashton where we set up our tent at the Ashton Hotel and RV Park. $10 night, same as last night. As with all of the places we have stayed, if we had two tents we would be charged twice as much.

We stopped at Big Springs where the Henry's Fork River begins as a spring but must be 20 yards wide as it comes out of the mountain side. It is a beautiful river and is also a world class fishing river.