This is a Test

So you want adventure? You want to see what you are made of? You want to test your limits?

Hell with that, I'm on vacation damn it!

Well it was bound to happen sometime, and it certainly could have happened at a worse place. I made the end of the Alaska Highway when I arrived in Delta Junction, Alaska. That is the official end of the Alaska Highway. I could have done a several things. Go on to Fairbanks, go south to Anchorage, or head back the way I came and only see a small part of Alaska.

I continued on and arrived in Fairbanks Friday afternoon. Since it was early, I headed up into the hills to look around. I saw the Alaska Pipeline and took photos along with three busloads of other tourists. It started to rain heavily so I headed back to the city center to find out about lodging. I wanted something outside of town and secluded.

On the way back into town, my motorcycle lost power. I figured some of the wires got wet because it was raining and I was behind some cars that were throwing up a fine mist. The power came back after a few miles so I hoped for the best and continued. At the Fairbanks Visitor Center, I found a B & B that had a cabin available and secured it for the night.

On the way to the 3 Bears Bed and Breakfast, the bike sputtered and backfired a few times and the check engine light came on. Still hoping is was the moisture and not having any way of fixing the problem, I had a furtive night's sleep. After breakfast in the morning, the bike still did not run correctly and I determined the front cylinder was not firing because the header pipe was not hot.

I slowly made my way to town to pick up some cleaner and paper towels to see if I could clean the bike up and determine if there was any water where it should not be. Unfortunately, I could find no obvious problem except there was no spark getting to the cylinder.

Barbara and Sean Young are the owners and proprietors of the 3 Bears Bed and Breakfast, and Sean also has the Denali Towing service. I must commend Barbara and Sean for all their help and encouragement while I had my motorcycle torn apart in the driveway. On Saturday, Barbara drove me into town to pick up some food and on Sunday, Sean took me on the grand tour of Fairbanks while trying to secure transportation. If you are ever in Fairbanks during the summer, I highly recommend giving them your patronage.

Now, owning a Ducati is a special thing. There is something about the sound and how they handle and how they draw positive attention. Of course, Ducati is also special in that not just anyone can work on them. They are computerized, like many vehicles now, so you must take them to a shop that has the appropriate equipment to analyze and fix them. Thus the crisis; the only place that can fix my Multistrada is in Anchorage and here I am in Fairbanks, 360 miles away. I tried to rent a pickup truck but none of the big car rental agencies would let me take a truck to Anchorage as a one-way deal. I wound up renting a 10-foot box van from U-Haul, which, while not optimal, worked out well.

I spent Monday driving down Highway 3, past Denali, to Anchorage. It was amazing country but unfortunately it was a little lost on me since I was on a mission. All weekend, I was very stressed trying to fix the bike myself and then trying to secure transportation. Once I started heading south, I started feeling more confident since I was making a positive step toward solving my crisis.

Of course, I'm not out of the woods yet. I am in Anchorage, a few blocks from the Ducati dealer waiting for them to open in the morning. I am assuming that the front ignition coil is bad but I am not certain. These are computer-controlled machines after all and Alaska being Alaska, who knows if parts will be available.

Not to mention, I am still over 3,000 miles from home and have some hellatious highway to traverse. Thus a plan… Alaska has a tremendous ferry system that covers much of the coast and can be used to go all the way to Washington. I intend to check with the ferry schedule to see if I can work out a way to bypass Canada and follow the coast down to the lower 48. I have a booklet of the ferry schedules but it is incomprehensible so I will call the agency directly to see what is available.

Until then?

Click the picture to open a photo album.

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