The next leg of our trip. I prefer not to think of it as going home as that ignores some really substantial places to go yet. When we were ready to leave this morning it was between 34 and 36 degrees. Frank took a picture of his temp readout and that is shown above. The other picture shows our bike's exhaust clouding the air because of the fog and the cold temperature. Also note the backs of the bikes, you can't read the plates as the whole back of the bikes are covered with mud, well really the whole bikes. I doubt that we'll ever get them entirely free of the mud.
When we left the wind and fog made for some really cold riding. John's bike started acting up( neutral switch went bad, which causes the bike to quit running). Frank made some roadside repairs and we were on our way. Neither the gravel nor the mud were as bad as yesterday. We broke out of the fog and cold after about 5o miles and it turned quite pleasant. We've figured out that an awful lot of how your trip up here goes is blind luck. Our timing could not have been better. From talking to people at Prudhoe Bay the road is generally much worse, and we just got lucky. The remaining pictures are as we approach the Brooks Range.
Going to and from Prudhoe Bay the group saw: caribou, muskox, fox,golden eagle, trumpeter swan and a wolf. For such a barren and cold place there is an awful lot of activity.
When we got to the top of Atigan Pass I did stop and pictures were taken. My coat is two sizes too big so that I could get all the warm clothes on. Under the coat are: synthetic long sleeve shirt, cotton long sleeve shirt, electric vest, sweatshirt, fleece pullover, rain liner and finally the coat. I didn't need to worry about crashing, I had built in crash cushions.
Back down the other side running to Coldfoot John got the bit in his mouth and really took off. Sometimes it just happens.
Something else that I need to explain to those of my friends and family that are not riders. When you get a motorcycle drivers license, they give males a test to make sure that your throttle hand is connected to your ego and not your brain. Thus your ego drives how fast you go, not your brain. In most people as time goes by, your brain rewires itself to put the brain in charge so you naturally slow down. Well there are a certain percentage of us that the rewire isn't permanent and BANG, you're on the throttle. Hey, we're innocent, truly! Even though the brain is screaming "SLOW DOWN", the heart is palpating at a furious rate and crying out "He's going to kill us" and your rear end is pinching holes in the seat from fear, you stay on the gas. Ultimately you either crash or the rewire takes over, you calm down and slow down. Then a post seizure high sets in that cannot be explained. All is right with the world. That's the best that I can explain it, and it does happen to us all from time to time. Today it was John's turn. Again, I digress.
When we got to Cold Foot Frank took the case off of Johns bike to see where a terrible noise was coming from whenever John tried to start it. As the bike lay on its side, several of us in attendance to surgeon Frank, we waited breathlessly for his diagnosis. He took a deep breath and said in a steady but strained breath: "I don't see anything wrong". We didn't know whether to jump for joy or run to the bar. Instead we all joined hands (true story) performed a healing on the spot and Frank put it back together. Except for a small electrical short somewhere which was also miraculously fixed, the bike works fine as long as he performs a certain ritual as he starts it. Do not question faith, good fortune and Karma!
The day ended with a sigh and all was well.
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