Destruction Bay

WOW! Actually it should be called Destruction Day. We left this morning headed for Tok and about 75 miles into our 225+ mile day on some of the roughest roads I've ever ridden on, let alone ridden a motorcycle on, Joe went through a dip in the road and the weld on the front fork at the lower tree on his '39 KIWI Indian replica broke. He started slowing down and headed for the side of the road. I told Steve in the headset something happened to Joe's bike in that last dip.

They surveyed the damage and it was decided that we would slow down and Joe would watch it. Steve would lead and I would follow behind watching and could talk to Steve in the headset.

We started back down the road and the bike was smoking and smelling like rubber. Joe could feel the drag so we stopped again and got the fender off the tire.

The road went from paved to tar & chip to gravel to dirt to culvert side road conversions, all with pot holes throughout. As we traveled today, we saw a leaf spring from a big truck in the road, a whole trailer wire harness in the road, a diesel coach on a trailer being hauled in. We also saw a new travel trailer with the whole front hitch torn off at the propane tanks. We talked to a guy at a gas station with a fifth wheel trailer that had sheared two of the bolts off the hitch in his truck. What a mess!

We were stuck in construction traffic and waited about a half hour.

We were allowed back into the states, even though Steve tried to talk the border agent into not letting me back in. Without missing a beat, she looked at him and said I can tell by looking at you that you're gonna need her in the next day or two! Ha! She had him pegged!

Needless to say, we only got a few pictures as we all had our hands full. We did stop and get pictures at the welcome to Alaska sign.

We are in Tok and it's 80 degrees. Unheard of weather for these folks. Of course, no air conditioning in the rooms, so I'm sitting in front of a fan in my room. It will cool off quickly as soon as the sun goes down. For now, we're weighing our options and trying to decide how to go about repairs on Joe's bike.

Here's what the bike looked like when we got to the hotel this evening. Steve has gotten hooked up with an owner of a local welding shop here on a Sunday evening and are to meet him about 9 in the morning to make a repair to get us to Prudhoe and home.

We spent the evening in the motel parking lot talking to riders from Germany, Brazil, and Argentina. It always amazes me the people we meet all because of shared passions and the love of old bikes.

What an amazing evening talking with these other riders who are doing the same thing we are, but have come from other countries to do so. Safe travels to all!