Mac Goes North to Alaska - New Mission - New Machine

Log Entry # T -1

The Mission:
Mac is back with a new destination, Prudhoe Bay Alaska.
This ride is approximately 7,000 thousand miles round trip with an added bonus of a 500 mile off-road excursion through the Washington State Back Road Discovery Route or otherwise none as (WABDR)!
From Dublin CA to the Canadian border near Nighthawk WA, I will be riding with a another rider who I met last year on the "Maps Big Lap" ride in Montana at a filling station.
Rhys suggested the WABDR route as he is headed to Montana and I am headed to Alaska!
This will add a little spice to the Washington State leg of the trip and it will awesome to ride this route with a very competent rider. Rhys is also riding a BMW GS 1200!
One thing for sure, WABDR will warm both of us up for the remainder of our trips.
The Dalton highway from Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay was formally known as the "The Haul Route".
Basically a massive truck access road built on Existing grade to Permafrost using Calcium Chloride mixed with earth and gravel to stabilize the road bed. 

The route can be anything from rock solid and somewhat smooth to potholes filled with slime water which gets very slippery. The wet muck has been known to bake on exposed bike parts and if not washed clean before it hardens is almost impossible to remove. 

The other big issue is the truck traffic, basically the road is for the trucks and everything else are just details. The key for a successful ride, don't become one of the details!

A couple of other possible items to stay clear of on the Dalton Highway, Moose, Grizzly Bear, Rocks from trucks passing and Mosquitos the size of small birds.

The 500 mile trip from Fairbanks to Deadhorse should take about two days up and two days back. But  it could last longer for sightseeing and fishing.

The Machine:

This trip will require a bike with a lot of fuel capacity, great rider ergonomics, large storage capibility, able to handle a lot of open miles at a high rate of speed and able negotiate rough dirt roads 500 miles from nowhere.

The water cooled BMW GSA 1200 is on the high side of heavy but when used properly it will more than fill the bill.

The Mission during the planning stages.

The Machine loaded and ready to roll.