Day 12: July 15, 2019 Epilogue
Today is our last day.
I dropped my Harley off at the shipping facility. The place was wild. They crate the bikes for transport, and there were 26 bikes ahead of me. There were all sorts of bikes: adventure bikes, foreign touring bikes, Harleys and so on. I even saw another blue CVO!
Maybe Blue CVOs are common in Canada and Alaska.
The guy told me that many people ride to Alaska, and don't want to ride home. It is a long, long ride. Accordingly, they arrange to ship their bikes home while in Anchorage. He also showed me a group of 12, one of whom had left from Mexico City. He took my bike, with nothing more than me writing down my name, email and phone number.
I picked up a rental car as I had a night flight and had the full day before I had to leave.
We decided to travel to Whittier. Getting there is a wonderful drive along the water. It bills itself as the gateway to the Prince William Sound. Along the road next to the water is a railway as you will see, as it relates to the tunnel into Whittier. And, we saw a moose and two calves along the way. It was beautiful.
It used to be that Whittier is isolated as there was no land based access through a mountain. However, the military bored a hole through the mountain creating a 2.5 mile tunnel. It is one lane and is over a train track. They have one way travel, each way, every half hour. The rails run down the middle of the tunnel and the trains have priority over automobiles. In this manner, the cars and the trains share a one lane tunnel.
Whittier is a port on the Alaska Marine Highway; a ferry service operated by the state of Alaska.
In Whittier, we had fresh Alaskan Halibut at the Inn in town, and returned back to Anchorage.
The area around Whittier was a micro climate. It was clear and sunny in Anchorage, and raining in Whittier. The water was cascading off the mountain. With all of the rain, the area was lush.
And yes, they have bears.
We could not leave Anchorage without a group picture. So we had our picture taken in front of a chrome bear at the local Harley dealer.
And with that, I was off to the airport, and Brother Larry, his wife, and Magellan were off on the way home. They will drive overland, take a ferry on the AMH, and then begin a long overland trip home.
It was another great/fantastic trip. We set up our trip to front load the miles. We wanted to get to the Alaska Highway as soon as we could, as that was the whole point of the trip. Moreover, we could not anticipate weather conditions. We had hotel reservations, and if we were delayed, we wanted to have the time elasticity to get to our hotel without losing our reservation or impacting our schedule. We didn't want to sleep on the ground.
Our miles were as follows:
Along the way, we saw majestic mountains, fast running streams, roadways lined with yellow and purple flowers, and unimaginable forests. We saw mountain goats, a mountain lion, a wolf, black bears, a brown bear, caribou, and moose. And we met some very interesting people. And despite traveling over 4,000 miles - we're still friends! In fact, we are starting the planning for next year.
It was a terrific experience with two good friends - friends and an adventure we will always cherish.
I dropped my Harley off at the shipping facility. The place was wild. They crate the bikes for transport, and there were 26 bikes ahead of me. There were all sorts of bikes: adventure bikes, foreign touring bikes, Harleys and so on. I even saw another blue CVO!
Maybe Blue CVOs are common in Canada and Alaska.
The guy told me that many people ride to Alaska, and don't want to ride home. It is a long, long ride. Accordingly, they arrange to ship their bikes home while in Anchorage. He also showed me a group of 12, one of whom had left from Mexico City. He took my bike, with nothing more than me writing down my name, email and phone number.
I picked up a rental car as I had a night flight and had the full day before I had to leave.
We decided to travel to Whittier. Getting there is a wonderful drive along the water. It bills itself as the gateway to the Prince William Sound. Along the road next to the water is a railway as you will see, as it relates to the tunnel into Whittier. And, we saw a moose and two calves along the way. It was beautiful.
It used to be that Whittier is isolated as there was no land based access through a mountain. However, the military bored a hole through the mountain creating a 2.5 mile tunnel. It is one lane and is over a train track. They have one way travel, each way, every half hour. The rails run down the middle of the tunnel and the trains have priority over automobiles. In this manner, the cars and the trains share a one lane tunnel.
Whittier is a port on the Alaska Marine Highway; a ferry service operated by the state of Alaska.
The Alaska Marine Highway
System operates along the south-central coast of the state, the eastern Aleutian Islands and the Inside Passage of Alaska and British Columbia, Canada. Ferries serve communities in Southeast Alaska that have no road
access, and the vessels can transport people, freight, and vehicles.
AMHS's 3,500 miles of routes go as far south as Bellingham, Washington and as far
west as Unalaska/Dutch Harbor,
with a total of 32 terminals throughout Alaska, British Columbia, and
Washington. It goes through Canada, but does not require passengers to go through international
customs and immigration.
Voyages can last many days. In
contrast to the luxury of a typical cruise line, cabins cost extra, and most
food is served cafeteria style. Whittier is one of these terminals.
In Whittier, we had fresh Alaskan Halibut at the Inn in town, and returned back to Anchorage.
The area around Whittier was a micro climate. It was clear and sunny in Anchorage, and raining in Whittier. The water was cascading off the mountain. With all of the rain, the area was lush.
And yes, they have bears.
We could not leave Anchorage without a group picture. So we had our picture taken in front of a chrome bear at the local Harley dealer.
And with that, I was off to the airport, and Brother Larry, his wife, and Magellan were off on the way home. They will drive overland, take a ferry on the AMH, and then begin a long overland trip home.
It was another great/fantastic trip. We set up our trip to front load the miles. We wanted to get to the Alaska Highway as soon as we could, as that was the whole point of the trip. Moreover, we could not anticipate weather conditions. We had hotel reservations, and if we were delayed, we wanted to have the time elasticity to get to our hotel without losing our reservation or impacting our schedule. We didn't want to sleep on the ground.
Our miles were as follows:
Day 1: 731 miles
Day 2: 562 miles
Day 3: 451 miles
Day 4: 370 miles
Day 5: 301 miles
Day 6: 300 miles
Day 7: 339 miles
Day 8.
287 miles
Day 9: 293 miles
Day 10: 350 miles
Day 11: 381 miles, for a trip total of 4,379 miles.Along the way, we saw majestic mountains, fast running streams, roadways lined with yellow and purple flowers, and unimaginable forests. We saw mountain goats, a mountain lion, a wolf, black bears, a brown bear, caribou, and moose. And we met some very interesting people. And despite traveling over 4,000 miles - we're still friends! In fact, we are starting the planning for next year.
It was a terrific experience with two good friends - friends and an adventure we will always cherish.
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