Announcing ALASKA 2021

4th July 2020

So here we are at the halfway point of 2020; a year when whoever you are and wherever you live, every aspect of “normal” life has been affected to a greater, or lesser, degree by the Covid19-Virus. From the motorcycle touring point of view every major trip I had planned has been cancelled or postponed. If all goes well the best I can hope for in 2020 is a few short trips in the UK. So my focus has shifted to 2021 and I plan to make it A BIG ONE!!

During the long weeks of the lockdown I had plenty of time to research and plan the next adventure; I want to go somewhere I have not been before, somewhere spectacular and totally different; somewhere that will present a new and challenging motorcycling experience. After watching various YouTube videos I have decided on ALASKA & THE CANADIAN ROCKIES, with a route that will start in ANCHORAGE, AK and end in PORTLAND, OR… I then thought, having come this far why not extend the ride down the Coast Highway from Portland to SAN FRANCISCO, CA and call in on my son, Tom, who lives nearby at Walnut Creek.

The route will take me across Alaska to the Canadian border and then into the Yukon riding the “Top of the World Highway” to the former Gold Rush town of Dawson City. From there south on the Alaskan Highway and then to the famous Stewart Cassier Highway, watching out for bears and glaciers along the way. Further south the route crosses into British Columbia and along the Trans Canada Highway through the heart of the Canadian Rockies on to Jasper and then Banff in Alberta, finally crossing back into Montana, USA. I will ride the “Sun Road” through Glacier National Park and onto Idaho following part of the “Lewis & Clarke Trail” to Portland, Oregon. The final leg of the ride will be 800 miles south along the Coast Highway route 101 to San Francisco. In all 4,400 miles over a period of 21 days.

As always, thinking about it and actually doing it are two different things; there are many different aspects to a trip like this that need to be considered and brought together. Due to its weather Alaska has a fairly short window when it makes sense to visit, May-Sept..by all accounts July is to be avoided due to the mosquitos!! Then there is the issue of what bike to ride; is it more cost effective to rent a bike, or maybe ship my own bike over? If I do rent, is there a company that will allow a one way rental from Anchorage to San Francisco?

Long stretches of the journey through Alaska, Yukon and into British Columbia in Canada are through genuine WILDERNESS where you may not see another person for 100+ miles; its back to nature and VERY sparsely populated, with no phone signal. I read one article which happened to mention that in this region “humans are not at the top of the food chain”! If I go alone what will I do in the event of emergency? These are just some of the things to consider; then there is the matter of deciding route, itinerary and all the logistics associated with travelling, accommodation, shipping over all appropriate riding gear etc. and then managing to do it all on a budget which is sensible. Thankfully I love researching and planning these type of trips..its all part of the adventure. 🙂

On previous riding tours of the Far East I have met several American guys who have become good friends and we have ridden together again since the original meeting. Fred & Bo whom I rode with in India last year and Jay, whom I visited in California a couple of years back. As it happens Fred has ridden part of the proposed route some years back and is keen to do it again. Bo is up for an adventure and would like to do it also; both are located near Chicago. Jay has recently moved to a town which is on the coast highway midway between Portland & San Francisco; he has invited me to visit him on my way south and may ride the rest of the way to SF with me. So..if we can get things together it looks like I wont be doing the trip on my own.!!

After comparing pricing and taking into account “hassle factor” between shipping my bike over to USA, buying a bike locally and selling it at the end of the trip, versus renting, I decided that the most cost effective and easiest option was to go for a one way rental. There really is only one bike rental company that can offer a one way rental from Anchorage and then drop the bike off in San Francisco; that is MotoQuest. Thankfully they don’t offer Harley Davidson only at this location! instead the options were BMW 1250GS, 850GS, 750GS and Suzuki VStrom 650.

I asked for a quote and was contacted by a very helpful lady, nicknamed RoKo, whose title was “Motorcycle Vacation Addiction Enabler”..don’t you just love Americans 🙂 The challenge was for her to co-ordinate bike availability with my preferred dates; in the end I had to settle for leaving Anchorage 10days later than my preferred date due to the fact that so many of their 2020 customers had postponed their rental to 2021, causing a shortage of bikes for next year. The difference in price between renting the 1250GS and the VStrom is nearly £60 per day; multiply that by 21 days and that’s a lot of money potentially saved! In the past I have ridden the VStrom for 000s of miles in the Far East, so I know its an OK bike. So deal done, deposit sent and VStrom rented for 21 days; I will leave Anchorage on 26th August 2021 and plan to arrive in San Francisco on 15th Sept, which allows me to arrive home a couple of days before a very important date..my Golden Wedding anniversary!!

The countdown to ALASKA 2021 has begun!! 👍👍😊😊