The Alaska Trip, some stats, some thoughts....

There's many things I need to continue refining in my mind about my ride to Alaska and back by Ural.

For now, some stats:

A total of 75 days away from home:

Of these, the majority of them (42) were days I stayed at the home of friends I knew, friends I met along the way and friends from the Internet.  24 days were motel days when I either couldn't find an open campground (and didn't know you could camp at highway turnouts/rest areas).  Five days I actually camped (good thing Valencia lugged all that camping equipment there and back huh?) and finally 4 days on the Alaska Ferry.

Valencia's odometer read 20,907 Kilometers at the start of the trip, it now reads 38.937 Kilometers which means she and I rode 18,030 Kilometers or 10,818 miles together.

Valencia, carrying myself and all the crap I packed for the trip, weighed in on a highway scale at 1250 lbs.  She weighs 736 lbs dry, and has a gross vehicle weight limit of 1344 lbs.  It was close to max limit.  I must be more weight aware next time.

At an average miles per gallon estimate of 27 MPG (yeah, sad, but that little 40 hp 750cc engine was lugging around almost 1300 lbs of sidecar rig, rider and gear!), I figure I used up about 400 gallons of gasoline.

I went through five tires, three of them on the pusher wheel.  Again, I must say I was highly disappointed with the mileage achievable on the DURO tires.  Both the HF308 and 307 versions rendered less than 3000 Km as pusher tires when on Alaskan/Canadian roads.

Two flat tires, resulting in three ruined inner tubes.  Yep, three.  Let's just say the guy at the tire shop in Watson Lake, BC really wasn't up to the task of doing motorcycle tire changes.

Wildlife sighted: One small black bear, two small herds of Caribou, about ten moose total (none with racks), one Bald Eagle (in Oregon), assorted squirrels/varmints doing the death dash across the road as I approached.

Best part of the trip?  Meeting with old friends again and also meeting new friends on the road.

Worst part of the trip?  Well, the mechanical issues encountered sure weren't exactly joyous times; but it was the uncertainty they generated in the trust I had on Valencia at the outset of the journey that was the worst part.

Still, time was on my side and so it was more inconvenience and some costs out of pocket not covered by URAL's incredibly fast and comprehensive warranty coverage.

 All the above fit on the rig, either inside the sidecar, or on it in some fashion

The above stuff got used.

 The above gear also was in the sidecar or on it, but didn't get used at all!

Again, when one has a sidecar, cargo discipline is damn near non-existent!

But it could have been worse, at one point, there was a small Honda

Generator on the packing list!

Valencia's odometer reading yesterday afternoon as I got to the house.

I was told, upon arrival up North, that mid-April was really too early to show up to Alaska as the state doesn't really open up for warm weather tourism till Memorial Day Weekend.   There being a "late spring", the likes of which hadn't been seen by folks who've lived up in Alaska over thirty years, didn't help things.

I will say though, if you want to see lots of snow on the mountains still, mid-April is just right.  Destruction Bay, YT in mid-April was beautifully snow-clad, later on in late May?  Not so much.

Roads not taken:  Dalton/Haul Road to the Arctic Circle and Atigun Pass, weather and trust issues with the rig.  Denali Highway, not open due to late Spring and snow-clearing operations ongoing.

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Spent the day cleaning up Valencia and putting things away.  She continues to run well, the air filter was a bit dirty but not clogged with ash as I'd thought last night.