Arctic Ocean 2011
 

The KLR is ready. I'm ready. Just waiting for July 30th to get here to be kickstand up. Before anybody says it, I know, a little late in the season, but that's the way it goes.

Highlights will be:

Watson Lake Signpost Forest in Yukon Territory
Dawson Creek, British Columbia and the Alcan Milepost 0 marker
Banff Provincial Park. I've been there, my best friend hasn't.

And drum roll please..north of the Arctic Circle, Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, and the Arctic Ocean at a latitude of 70 degrees north. :D THIS is the reason for this trip. I've had Prudhoe Bay in the back of my mind for 8 years. Now I'm ready.

Approximate route outline below.

Sounds cold

Better in July I'll wager... Freeze just your ass off instead of your ass AND your balls.

:lol:

WOW...now THAT looks likes motorcycle adventure....no slab surfing for you...holy shit!

I hope you have a safe trip...
Plenty of pictures for us when you get back, eh?

prudhoe kinda sucks, I have a burning hatred for Alaska though. Living there, you either love it or want to murder it repeatedly. I fell into the murdering it repeatedly category. I hope to never return to that piece of shit state.

Have fun, be safe, get some bear safe containers if you are camping.

That looks pretty awesome. You going solo?

Greg, there will be plenty of pictures, video, and a made for YouTube movie. LOL

Chi, my best friend is going with me. We've done motorcycle trips together for the last 7 or so years.

Trip, no camping for us. I fall in the *camping is fun as long as I'm NOT trying to do it on a motorcycle trip* category. My Happy Trails bags hopefully will be bear-safe enough.

I'm not worried about the cold. With my Aerostich, and properly dressed under, I can do 30 degrees all day long. Ain't no thang! :D

If you are not camping, you have nothing to worry about as far as bears, except if you are leaving your bike unattended for long lengths of time. DO NOT LEAVE FOOD or anything that has a possible food source odor IN YOUR CASES. The bears will toss your motorcycle like a toy and rip right through those happy trails.

Do not underestimate the power of a hungry bear or it's nose.

Hey man, could you stop by Sarah Palin's house, and take a picture of Russia for me?

Thanks.

JC

:lol:

Thanks for the info. I don't normally keep food stuffs of any kind packed in the bags, but I'll be sure to not do so on this trip especially.

What's the mileage and time table on that?

Gas, we will be gone 21 days. I'm going to Omaha first to my best friend's house, and we will launch from there. We have route planned for 8 days from Omaha to Prudhoe Bay, approximately 3700 miles up, and we are going to take a leisurely, relaxed pace and route back.

Total mileage for me will be around 9000 miles.

So 8 days & 3700 miles each way?

Not each way. 8 days and 3700 miles from Omaha to Prudhoe Bay, 13 days and about 5000 miles give or take from Prudhoe Bay back to Oklahoma City taking the long way.

21 days....

Isn't there like 500 miles between fuel stops in AK? lol

Dude you are seriously crazy.

...been to Barrow in July...brrrrrr. Seriously.

Just curious about the leg through North Dakota and Saskatchewan. Any specific reason for that? Seems like it would be pretty boring.

Yes. I ride more than 200 miles a day.

240 miles actually. I can make that on the 6.6 gallon tank I have. And thanks. :D

It may be, but I haven't been through alot of North Dakota or Saskatchewan at all, so I want to see them. I won't pass judgement until I see it. For example, I thought Maine would suck, and it was one of the better states I've visited.

My KLR can do just about 240 miles on the stock yank, but I have heard of a few people that thought they could do that stretch on the stock tank with no problem, then they ran out of gas. Even with the IMS tank I would say to bring a few "just in case" liters of gas

You are getting the wrong part of ND for the scenic part. The last 1/3 of your ND time will be the only decent mileage. Need to get west of HWY 281 to see anything scenic anywhere. East of there is flat and barron.

BUT, let me know when you are going to be in the Fargo area, love to meet up with you and maybe grab a bite or something.

Sounds good! If I remember right, we are planning to stop in Fargo for the night on the way up, so it'll either be right at the end of July or the first day or two in August.

Hey Trace.. just curious.. will you have to adjust your fuel mapping at all for the change in weather/climate between OK and Canadia? If so.. will that have a significant impact to your fuel mileage?

Trace, I've driven this route as far north as TOK (I then turn south to Anchorage) 3 times... about to embark on my 4th tomorrow. Leaving anchorage and heading to Fairbanks and staying the first night in TOK. I'm gonna hit the top of the world highway through Dawson this time... and enter Watson Lake from the north rather than Hwy 1.

Good luck... gas is about every 200 miles. you may hit a stretch pushing it to 240 or so but I think that's only one area. on the KLR you'll be fine.

Watch for Bison. Mark my words, you will see a TON! in all the times I've driven it I've never seen few enough to bother counting them all.

make sure you have you're camera ready, as great photo ops are everywhere.

also... remember a sleep mask or something. right now, the sun sets at 1050 something. so keep an eye on the clock and don't push yourself too far, it'd be easy to over extend yourself only to find you're too tired and between towns (several hours/hundreds of miles can separate towns with lodging)

HAVE FUN! I can't wait to get my life sorted and back on my Two wheeled adventures...