July 31 - August 23
Alaska was the most challenging riding of the trip to date, and I´m writing this after surviving the kamikaze trucks of the mountain highways east of Guatemala City. It was also some of the best riding - long unbroken stretches of beautiful wilderness, with September 11th paranoia keeping the usual wagon train of RV´s from clogging the Alaskan highways in their usual numbers. Nowhere else in North America did I ever find the scenery and solitude promised to all of us in car commercials.
It also greatly improved my riding skills, since the roads are so bad. This is not a comment on the Alaskans but on the environment they are dealing with - the road crumbles as fast as they pave it as the permafrost defrosts, and the gaps get filled with gravel. The ride to Deadhorse in particular made me a much better dirt rider in just 4 days, on mud, snow, or whatever... call it the crash course.
And of course, there were bears, bears, bears. I saw a total of 4, ate 1, but their presence was everywhere, which made things more exciting, though statistically you´re much more likely to kill yourself plowing into a majestic, oblivious moose. After a month in Canada, this is where the adventure began...
Next Page - Heading Towards Deadhorse
