The Life of Brad: August 2008

August 16, Back in Canada for good, Prince Rupert

Ferry got in at 2:30 am and we found a camp site after going to 7/11 and saying our goodbyes to the rest of the Juneau ferry crew of bikers.

A little deer right beside our campsite in the morning.

Went to closed Cannery which is now a museum in Port Edward 10 km from Prince Rupert. We had a day to kill until the next Ferry to Vancouver island.

Hanging on the prier.

Some of the housing for the workers.

Cool Bench. The rubber boots were filled with cement to create a stable base.

Climber girls.

Now that looks like a good restaurant!!!

Had a great dinner at Smiles with Jess, Holly and Mike. Alaskan King Crab legs for me. Thanks for picking up the tab Mike.

Aug 15, Day 21 On the Ferry to Prince Rupert

Back on the Ferry; Juneau to Prince Rupert (1 day 8 hrs with a 4 hour stop in Ketchikan, left at 6:30pm August 14 and arrived 2:30 am August 16, $350). I love Ferries! Got myself a spot in the Solarium where everyone can sleep in the open air under a roof as per the video. Great time in the bar the first night with a tuned guitar that I just had to play. Everyone in the bar was a biker. At this moment I realized that I am a true biker (it only took 50,000 km over the last 3 years!).

Go Tug boat!

Next day in Ketchikan we went for a little walk, lunch and said goodbye to Cody. Very interesting cat from Nome, AK. That's his 1981 Harley in the photo.
(Jess and Holly(Whitehorse), Mike(former mayor of Capitola, CA), Javier (Spaniard riding from Arctic circle to Southern tip of South America) and Cody)

Cody's stop was Ketchikan. See you next year...

In Ketchikan, the floater planes land right beside where the ferry comes in and docks. A constant stream of these little guys coming in. It sounds like a world war 2 dog fight and they are everywhere. Must be a lot of crashes.

Great sky.

click the panorama done with my little camera.

Hacking on the back deck as the sun sets.

Can you see the floater plane on the right side.

Peaceful moon.

August 14, Juneau before the ferry to Prince Rupert

Ferry at 6:30 pm, so I had time to check out Juneau, Capital building, Alaskan brewery, Glacier and a couple of good eating experiences. Big question for Juneau is, Why would you have a sport motorcycle if there are only 40 miles worth of roads?

Ate at Costa's Diner, who is more than likely a relative from my Italian roots. For those of you who don't know I use Brad Costa as my artistic name, movies, writing and music which is my mother maiden name. My family roots are from the Venice area, which was the same area as Collette Costa the diner owner. Oh, and she also has an amazing singing voice, which makes one of us.

After Breaky went to the capital building.

Totem pole outside of the museum. $15 to go in a museum the size of a house, so of course I didn't go.

Went for some free sample at the Alaskan brewery, which is great beer!

Then I made my way to the Mendenhall Glacier. Check out the size of the 20 man boat to the right of the floating breakaway.

Interesting experience at a Thai restaurant before getting on the Ferry. Basically I went in to get some rice and veg as I had been eating burgers and fries all the time in the USA. The girls at the counter were shy, but when the boss lady saw the bike they all became very friendly. The Thai Boss lady came out to talk to me at my bike getting one of her girls to bring an ice coffee or something loaded with milk which I had to turn away. She continued to inquire about my journey telling me that she had family in Toronto to which I replied I just got back from Thailand. After a bit more story she demanded my email and I gave her my website too (hope they check it out). Before I left she took me in the kitchen to say hi to everyone including her son that thought my bike was really cool. Picture me waving to 10 Thai people in a restaurant kitchen all stopping what they're doing in order to greet me. What a situation, I kind of felt like a rock star.

August 13, Juneau (30,000), AK via Sea

Haines to Juneau via Sea, bit rainy.

Poor little boat.

Beautiful Glacier

Symphony of Whales

Coming in to Juneau it looks like the town is underneath a glacier, but that's not the case.

This is just funny and cute. The dad's bald like the baby and is using a diaper as a pillow.

Love Ferry rides! Saw whales and dolphins off the ferry, met Sue and Kevin who convinced me to go to Vancouver Island. Met Maggie, a 20 year old who spent 6 months in Africa getting children sponsored. She was coming from Haines to Juneau and flying to Seattle. While in Haines she was a kayaking guide serving the "Newly wed, Nearly dead and over fed". I doubled her 13 miles from the ferry on a fully loaded bike. It was a good challenge and I only wish I had a picture of it with her two big bags on top of my stuff. Reminded me of Thailand. I may have cracked my rear tire valve as the tire developed a slow leak after this.

Maggie in front of one of the many Cruise Ships.

The Hostel in Juneau is the cheapest ever! $10 plus a chore, which was vacuuming for me. It's a bit restrictive as you can't be there during the day and must be in by 12am. It didn't stop me from going for a couple of beers at the Alaskan Hotel and entering into some great conversation about capital punishment with two French Canadians. Really digging the French Cdns almost as much as Germans!

Beware of poor information from the info center people in Juneau!

Aug 12 Anchorage to Haines - 1225 km day!!!

Big riding day! Started in Anchorage around 8:30 am and went all the way to Haines, AK in order to catch the ferry to Juneau the next day. Unfortunately you can only catch the ferry from Whittier (pretty close to Anchorage) to Juneau once a month Aug. 26 and it was full. So I made my way to Haines, which is below the Yukon and began the Inland passage. 1215km.

Palmer to Mile 92, was great. Mile 92 was where I had to wait 30 minutes for construction, which made sense as to why there was no traffic coming my way. C=8,R=8,T=1,V=8. Great piece of road with river views and mountain back drops.

30 minute construction hold.

Mile 92 to Tok not as good. Tonnes of frost heaves, but the views were still fantastic. C=7,R=3,T=2,V=7.

Back into Canada for about 5 hours. Thought about staying at Beaver Creek and Haines Jct., but everything was $75 + so I kept on. Poor photo of Entering Canada sign, it was exciting though.

Haines Jct. to Haines, Amazing! Stunning views and the road was really good. My friend Michel took this road and ferried across to Skagway and back to Whitehorse, which is also an amazing road that I didn't go on this time.

One of my favourite photos from the trip. Look at where the road goes! Needless to say I had to ride in a bit of fog thick as pea soup.

No shots of Haines as it was raining and quite dark when I got there. Stayed at Beaver Creek cabins and scored a cabin for the price of a dorm bed as the owner had given my bed away. SWEET! Haines looks like a quiet little town to hang in for a day.

August 11, Anchorage

Fairbanks to Nenana was the best part of the road conditions to Anchorage. C=7,R=8,T=2,V=7. Sweeps and Valley views.

Made my way to Denali nation park to see Mt. McKinley (Mt. Denali) the highest peak in North America at 6200m. The highest peak in Canada, Mt. Logan is 6000m and Everest is 8848m to give you an idea. Unfortunately McKinley is rarely seen from its view point and this day was no exception. I did however get to see it from Anchorage later in the day at over 150 miles away. See photo way below.

Hit some more construction traffic.

I like this shot just outside of Anchorage (50 miles). Click to get a better feel of it.

Made it to Anchorage and stayed at the Alaskan Backpackers Inn. Pretty good although the noise moves through the room doors quite easily. Went to the Snowy Goose to enjoy the patio and some good food. Definitely expensive. Met Steve from Seattle who bought my flight of beers (taster of beer) and when he left two others shared my table, Mike and Amber. Very cool people who were locals after moving from Maine. They actually had CBC growing up and knew shit about Canada, cool. I wish I had a couple days more in Anchorage. May be next time.

Me from the Snowy Goose patio.

Some sunset shots.

You can actually see McKinley which is over 150 miles away.

Mt. McKinley is in the middle of the photo just to the right. Can you see it?

July 30 to August 10 Rain-banks, AK

Well I made it as far north as Fairbanks, AK where in August the sun sets around 1am and rises around 3:30am, Holy Shit. The city is populated by a lot of Military as there are two bases in the area. After my 3300km I rolled up to Mara's place to have a nice reunion. Unfortunately during my time in Fairbanks we had a lot of rain, which flooded out Mara's home town of Nenana and limited a lot of the hikes and camping she had planned. We did manage to watch lots of "Arrested Development" and if you haven't seen it you better before I see you next time because it is the best show ever made!!!