Maiden Voyage

After almost no sleep on Thursday night, I made it to the dealer about 1/2 hour before they opened.  Once there, I got a tour of their place and met the gang who worked there.  Soon, I was the proud owner of my new bike.  Joe Matteson, my contact at the dealership, helped me install some items I had picked out and then I was on my way, almost.  First, it was back to the hotel to load up the bike.  I was amazed that I stll had room for all I brought with me (although ask me where something is and I'll have to guess...)

We started out on the Glenn Highway out of Anchorage north and picked up the Parks Highway heading towards Fairbanks.  Although the sun tried to peek out on occassion, it pretty much looked to be an overcast day, and a bit chilly with a temperature in the mid-sixties.  The Glenn Highway was mostly through populated areas and highly traveled.  A lot of RVs and, because of the traffic, there was not much time to take in the scenery.  The Parks Highway started out much the same until we passed through Wasilla.

About 1/3 of the Parks Highway is designated a scenic byway, as much of that section goes through Denali State Park and then Denali National Park.  On the southern end of the road, it bisects timberland with a backdrop of jagged mountains in the distance.  The views were very nice, but we had very few opportunities to snap any pictures.  As we approached Denali, the makeup of the forest was mainly coniferous with many areas of new growth, I suspect from recent wildfires, although the area of old growth were limited.  The mountains in this section were less jagged and almost void of any trees.  There were more opportunities to snap some photos here, and we did pull over three times (twice within a mile).  It was also in this section of road that Jeff figured he could go exactly 223 miles on one take of gas.  Unfortunately, he needed to go 231 to hit the next gas station...

After getting Jeff back on the road, we hussled through the last third of the Parks Highway, where it enters the interior of Alaska - and just in time for the sun to come out (and raise the temperature 10 degrees).  Here, the road flattened out until we approached Fairbanks.  Trees were also growing on the hills again.  We got to the hostel about 10 minutes before they closed...  Let me say that this should be an experience!

All and all, a good ride on a good day with fair road conditions.  383 miles for the day...