Waking up in difficult and terrible, but exiting the tent this afternoon to a warm, slightly breezy day which keeps the mosquitoes at bay was a welcome start to the day. Just like this terrible coffee...
The road has went from hard packed to gravel mush. The huge awesome trucks roar by at high speeds kicking up the 3/4- gravel rock and making huge ruts. It is our goal to stay in the hardpacked ruts, but when the trucks come by we pull over to yield the way. It is best to maintain a steady throttle and speed, not to upset the bike chassis on this road. But the trucks will always win, so we heed way.
Transitioning from the safety of hardpack ruts to towards the non-existent shoulder, which is a 4 foot drop to the soft wet tundra, involves riding through gravel mush. Slowing down, or entering the mush, or speeding up makes the bike become unsettled, swapping from left to right. Its like knowing you are going to trip - you see the obstacle, attempt to miss it but don't, know its happening and then wait for the pain... and wait... It feels as though the ride through the gravel mush is one long 100 mile crash waiting to happen. Good thing the nearest hospital is 500 miles away.
The Franklin Bluffs are the only sort of topography on the Arctic Tundra. A better image of them is here. Being on a machine for days over crazy terrain, its nice to have flat nothing broken up by the awesome mineral colors of them. it distracts us from the slow crash we know as riding the Dalton Highway.
Uneventful and unassuming, we all the sudden see "civilization" if you can call it that - of Deadhorse, AK.
Now we made it to Prudhoe Bay, the Arctic Ocean. What are we going to do now???
Gratuitous oil rig picture at 10 pm
We got to see these awesome tundra crawlers...
such a cool place!!!!!!!!!!
View Larger Map
Google is amazing. There is street view of Deadhorse, AK. why did we even drive there, we coulda had such a warmer time with a beer in our hands infront of a computer.
View Larger Map
 |
| Where's the starbucks? |
 |
| Well deserved breakfast |
 |
| Tundra |
 |
| more north = smaller flora and fauna |
 |
| more north = awesomer trucks |
The road has went from hard packed to gravel mush. The huge awesome trucks roar by at high speeds kicking up the 3/4- gravel rock and making huge ruts. It is our goal to stay in the hardpacked ruts, but when the trucks come by we pull over to yield the way. It is best to maintain a steady throttle and speed, not to upset the bike chassis on this road. But the trucks will always win, so we heed way.
Transitioning from the safety of hardpack ruts to towards the non-existent shoulder, which is a 4 foot drop to the soft wet tundra, involves riding through gravel mush. Slowing down, or entering the mush, or speeding up makes the bike become unsettled, swapping from left to right. Its like knowing you are going to trip - you see the obstacle, attempt to miss it but don't, know its happening and then wait for the pain... and wait... It feels as though the ride through the gravel mush is one long 100 mile crash waiting to happen. Good thing the nearest hospital is 500 miles away.
The Franklin Bluffs are the only sort of topography on the Arctic Tundra. A better image of them is here. Being on a machine for days over crazy terrain, its nice to have flat nothing broken up by the awesome mineral colors of them. it distracts us from the slow crash we know as riding the Dalton Highway.
Uneventful and unassuming, we all the sudden see "civilization" if you can call it that - of Deadhorse, AK.
Now we made it to Prudhoe Bay, the Arctic Ocean. What are we going to do now???
Gratuitous oil rig picture at 10 pm
We got to see these awesome tundra crawlers...
such a cool place!!!!!!!!!!
View Larger Map
Google is amazing. There is street view of Deadhorse, AK. why did we even drive there, we coulda had such a warmer time with a beer in our hands infront of a computer.
View Larger Map
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