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Husband and Wife Kansas City to Alaska


nsmiller

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Saturday, July 14th, my wife and I will leave on my FJR 1300 and her FJ-09 from our home in Peculiar, MO to go to Alaska and back over the course of 16 days. 
 
Here is a rough break down of our plan:
 
Saturday, July 14
-Depart Peculiar, MO at 4:00 AM CST
-Destination is AirBNB in Lander, WY
-14 hours ride time (939 miles)
-Estimated arrival of 6 PM Mtn Time
 
Sunday, July 15
-Depart Lander, WY at 6:30 AM
-Ride to Old Faithful, 197 miles approximately 4 hours
-Watch Old Faithful errupt sometime between 11 and Noon ish
- Depart Old Faithful for Lethbridge, Alberta, 474 miles, 8 hours ride
-Arrive at AirBNB in Alberta around 10 PM
 
Monday, July 16
-Depart Lethbridge around 7/7:30 and head to Banff National Park
-Arrive at Banff around 11 (2.5 hours, 208 miles)
-Possible stop at Bomber Command Museum of Canada if time allows
-Enter Banff National Park around 11
-Ride to Moraine Lake (1 hr from visitor center) and have picnic lunch
- Go see Lake Louise
-Ride north on Icefields Parkway to Whistlers Campground, 3 hours away
-Camp in Jasper National Park
 
Tuesday, July 17th
-Depart Whistlers Campground and head toward Dawson Creek (6 hours, 325 miles)
- Probably AirBNB in Fort St. John area. 
 
Wednesday, July 18th,
-Depart Fort St. John and travel AK highway.
-Stop for a swim at Liard River Hot Springs
-Camp somewhere around Watson Lake, YT
 
Thursday, July 19th
-Depart Watson Lake
-Ride 12.5 hours to Tok, 658 miles
-Stay at Fast Eddy's
 
Friday, July 20th
-Leave Tok and head toward Seward, AK.
-Camp in Seward, AK area, 442 miles, 8 hours ride
- Stop at Tour of Honor stops in Anchorage and Seward
 
Saturday, July21st
-Leave Seward for Homer, AK
-Collect Anchor Point and Homer Tour of Honor Stops on the way
-Arrive in Homer by lunch time
-Depart Homer at 2 PM for Bear Viewing Excursion Link to Tour
-Camp in Homer
 
Sunday, July 22nd
-Leave Homer
-Ride 459 miles (8 hours) to Denali National Park
- Camp in Denali
 
Monday, July 23rd
-92 mile bus tour of Denali National Park
-Camp somewhere just outside Denali as campsites inside park are full.
 
Tuesday, July 24
-Leave Denali and ride to Fairbanks
-Collect Tour of Honor sites at Denali, Nenana, and Fairbanks
 
 
From here trip is much less stuctured, but the jist is head south back to home in time to show up for work on July 30th.
 
There will be a spotwalla track I will post later for those that want to follow our adventure.
 
 
 
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Tuesday, July 24
-Leave Denali and ride to Fairbanks
-Collect Tour of Honor sites at Denali, Nenana, and Fairbanks
 
 
From here trip is much less stuctured, but the jist is head south back to home in time to show up for work on July 30th.
 

That sounds like quite a trip.  11 days up and only 5 to get back? then return to work the next morning? I would need a day or 2 of down time before going back to work.
 
 
Good luck and have fun!
 
 
 
 

***2015 Candy Red FJ-09***

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That's quite the itinerary when you include departure/arrival times - over that distance. Make sure you are mentally prepared for contingencies that will slow your trip and don't get too stressed if you can't make your schedule. Have fun - that will be a great route. I rode through Banff and Jasper last summer, make sure you stop and see some of the sights.
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I have a huh.png? why do you want to take a trip of a lifetime so fast? Are you kin to Chevy Chase? Are you going to wearing Depends? I am just saying.   
 
 
 
Gary Eagan Races Against Time and the Elements From Alaska to Key West. Gary slept for three hours. His bike repaired, Eagan then headed southeast, straight for Key West, Florida, arriving Monday evening, June 21st – four days and five hours later breaking the existing record by an amazing 13 hours. There you go something to shoot for on the way back.
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Very ambitious trip with some cery long riding days. Perhaps after many such trips you have found that is a pace you prefer. My own experience is not so much iron butt, limiting most days to 8 hours of riding. In y ride to Alaska, we took 4 weeks, allowing for delays caused by annual road reconstruction. Have a great ride and adventure.
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I have a huh.png? why do you want to take a trip of a lifetime so fast? Are you kin to Chevy Chase? Are you going to wearing Depends? I am just saying.    
 
 
Gary Eagan Races Against Time and the Elements From Alaska to Key West. Gary slept for three hours. His bike repaired, Eagan then headed southeast, straight for Key West, Florida, arriving Monday evening, June 21st – four days and five hours later breaking the existing record by an amazing 13 hours. There you go something to shoot for on the way back.
Believe me, I wish I could take a month off and do this at a much slower pace. I don't have that luxury. My wife and I both have two weeks vacation available to us. I actually have a little more flexibility than she does.  
But this time next year we may have kids or she may be pregnant. Once we start having kids taking this trip gets infinitely more complicated. And yes, there may be a chance when I'm 60 and my kids are grown and I'm retired and/or have 6 weeks vacation and I can afford to be gone for a month. But I could also die tomorrow. Nothing is guaranteed in life, and going to Alaska via motorcycle is something I've been dreaming of for a while, so I'm going to make it happen one way or another.
 
If we encounter major setbacks (ex. mechanical break-down) that will surely change the amount of stuff we can accomplish, so I pray we can avoid that stuff and have a good trip.
 
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Very ambitious trip with some cery long riding days. Perhaps after many such trips you have found that is a pace you prefer. My own experience is not so much iron butt, limiting most days to 8 hours of riding. In y ride to Alaska, we took 4 weeks, allowing for delays caused by annual road reconstruction. Have a great ride and adventure.
I'm trusting in Google to provide reasonably accurate times about how long it takes to get between points. If that turns out to not be correct things will have to change. It is an adventure, we are along for the ride.
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Very ambitious trip with some cery long riding days. Perhaps after many such trips you have found that is a pace you prefer. My own experience is not so much iron butt, limiting most days to 8 hours of riding. In y ride to Alaska, we took 4 weeks, allowing for delays caused by annual road reconstruction. Have a great ride and adventure.
I'm trusting in Google to provide reasonably accurate times about how long it takes to get between points. If that turns out to not be correct things will have to change. It is an adventure, we are along for the ride.
 
Also keep in mind, when Google Maps says the first day is 14 hours, that is only actual in-the-saddle riding time.  Ive found that I usually factor in an additional 2-3 hours for gas stops, rest breaks, photos, lunch, traffic, road construction, bike maintenance etc.  (This is prime season for re-paving projects everywhere).
 
 
The first few days seem overly ambitious unless you and the wife are used to marathon riding and have very high endurance, you realize the first day is almost an iron butt saddle-sore ride, and then back on the road at 6:30 the next morning for another ride until 10pm.
 
 
I dont want to sound negative, I hope you guys can keep to the schedule but I have been in the situation where while on a multi-day road trip we had a bike with a mechanical issue late in the afternoon that put us about 2 hours behind schedule.  By the time we got back on the road, everyone was mentally and physically done for the day but we pressed on just to get to our destination, which left everyone miserable.
 
 
Stay hydrated, take frequent breaks and have fun
 
 
 
 

***2015 Candy Red FJ-09***

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I'm trusting in Google to provide reasonably accurate times about how long it takes to get between points. If that turns out to not be correct things will have to change. It is an adventure, we are along for the ride.
 
Also keep in mind, when Google Maps says the first day is 14 hours, that is only actual in-the-saddle riding time.  
 
 

This is a very good point.   Of course, it all depends on your riding habits as far as speed is concerned, which in turn may be governed by road-conditions, weather, whatever.   Over very many years of riding I have found a very reliable rule-of-thumb for me is that unless there are major hold-ups for road-works, etc., at my normal ~100 - 110kph velocity I will cover 80 kilometres per hour of riding.   I have used this rule-of-thumb to plan many long trips, f'rinstance if my aim is to ride (say) 800km between A and B, it's very likely to take ten hours, give or take very little.   Using the above Google example of 14 hours in the saddle, I'd cover very close to 1100km that day.   But I think that flexibility of approach is also very important, as mentioned here more than once. 

Riding a fully-farkled 2019 MT-09 Tracer 900 GT from my bayside home in South East Queensland, Australia.   

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I'm trusting in Google to provide reasonably accurate times about how long it takes to get between points. If that turns out to not be correct things will have to change. It is an adventure, we are along for the ride.
 
Also keep in mind, when Google Maps says the first day is 14 hours, that is only actual in-the-saddle riding time.  Ive found that I usually factor in an additional 2-3 hours for gas stops, rest breaks, photos, lunch, traffic, road construction, bike maintenance etc.  (This is prime season for re-paving projects everywhere).
 
 
The first few days seem overly ambitious unless you and the wife are used to marathon riding and have very high endurance, you realize the first day is almost an iron butt saddle-sore ride, and then back on the road at 6:30 the next morning for another ride until 10pm.
 
 
I dont want to sound negative, I hope you guys can keep to the schedule but I have been in the situation where while on a multi-day road trip we had a bike with a mechanical issue late in the afternoon that put us about 2 hours behind schedule.  By the time we got back on the road, everyone was mentally and physically done for the day but we pressed on just to get to our destination, which left everyone miserable.
 
 
Stay hydrated, take frequent breaks and have fun
 
 
 

Yes, we've both completed saddlesores and we are aware the first two days are aggressive. But we've done it before and barring mechanical breakdown we feel they are doable.
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