Wind and rain, and a really cool tunnel.

June 28^th, 2026

Soldotna, Alaska

Woke at 8am this morning and just sat around for a bit to finish waking up.  Then showered and dressed before packing up all the gear.

The weather was looking a bit grim for today, but currently it was not raining, just overcast and a bit cool, but was good time to load up the bike.

Took a bit of effort to carry it all back up the steps to the bike from the cabin, but managed to get all the stuff there and secured.

Did a final walk of the room and then took myself up and prepared to hit the road.

Rode up to the highway and headed toward the south.

Temps were only in low 50s, so was a bit cool, and humidity was up, but things did not get really wet, just a few sprinkles now and then.

Pulled off for one view point of the Matanuska Glacier, much wider view than I had from the room.

I then set myself to put miles under me and get to my first stop for fuel somewhere around Anchorage.

A few extra stops along the way for a photo or two, and lots of road construction were about all I ran into.

Made it into Palmer where traffic picked up, but not horrible yet.

It started to get a bit colder around here, and then we rolled through what I thought was the outskirts of Anchorage, but was not a single stop on the highway.  Tuned out we were still north of town, but something was off to the right on other side of trees, not sure what.

Stopped finally for fuel before reaching Anchorage, mainly as I also needed to use the restroom and get something to drink.

Stopped in Eagle River to do all that and then back on the road, but then needed to fix the camera battery as I forgot to change it, so had to pull off again at next exit and sit in a parking wayside to change the battery.

Now we could get going and head through Anchorage.

This was a bit slow going, traffic picked up and the highway had several stop lights to go through.

Went through some really seedy parts of town, but soon were on our way south along the coastal regions.  It cooled off again, and the winds picked up.  Blowing quite hard on some corners along the coast.

Stopped for a few viewpoints, and then reached my turn off to head over to Whittier.

This road was a bit quieter, and I soon reached the toll gate for the Whittier Tunnel.

This tunnel is a 2.5-mile corridor under the mountain, first constructed in the early 1940s as a railroad tunnel.  It was upgraded in the late 1990s to be a dual use passage allowing both rail and road traffic to use it.

As the tunnel is single lane, it can only accept traffic or trains going in a single direction.

To mange this, each side has a checkpoint for cars and automated control systems for the rail portion.

Heading east toward Whittier, you stop and pay the toll ($13 for normal cars/motorbikes, goes up for larger vehicles) and then queue up and wait for the allotted time for your direction of travel.  Typically, they switch the direction every 30 minutes, but the arrival of a train can disrupt that schedule some, though the trains also have to wait at times when the cars are already using the tunnel.

So, I arrived at the toll station, paid my money and as this was my first time using the tunnel they had to go over a few things for me to know.  First of all, motorbikes always go last, after all cars and trucks have gone into the tunnel.  Not really sure why, but it works.  Secondly, they instruct us to ride in the middle of the rail tracks, and avoid getting close to the tracks.

Also warn you about speed limit and that they would signal the bikes when it was time for us to ride.

Today I would have to wait about 45 minutes for my time to ride and the traffic had just started coming from the other direction, so 30 minutes to allow that to pass, and then roughly 15 minutes to get all the cars going into the tunnel.

I used the restroom and checked all my bags to make sure secure, then took a few photos.  When it got closer, I geared up and got on the bike and prepared all my cameras that I wanted to use.

As the cars were finishing up, a train actually did arrive, and stop just outside the tunnel.

About that time, I was given the signal to proceed, so started the bike and road from the bike holding zone into the car lanes and down to the entrance.  This means I was probably 1 minute behind the last car now.

It is a bit tricky at the entrance as you do need to cross one side of the track to get into the middle and it is at an odd angle, so just took it slow and got inside the tracks and proceeded into the tunnel.

It’s a bit dark, and cool inside, and fairly wet, so the road surface has water on it for much of the route.

The track on one side it not too bad, but the other side has a large gap along it big enough for a motorbike wheel to fully enter, so drifting into that would be a bad thing.

The first thing I noticed was the train light behind me, while the train did not enter the tunnel, was a bit unnerving knowing it was back there.

It takes about 10 minutes to get from one side to the other, then you again have an odd angled track crossing.

I actually caught up with the car in front of me, think I might have been going a bit faster than I should have, but was focused on the road more than my speed.

We exited the tunnel, got out of the tracks and then rode the last mile or so to reach the town of Whittier.

I turned off to ride through town and reach a small road that went out along the coast, the plan being to reach a view point a few miles out.

However, only a mile up the road they had it signed that the road was closed a bit farther on.  So, I had to settle for turning around and going into the small park and beach that was right there.

Got off the bike and hiked over to the waters edge in a small bay and did a few photos, then rode back into town and stopped for lunch at a small café (Wild Catch Café).

I ordered some chicken strips and a cup of reindeer chili.

Chili came out right away, and was really good.  I then sat and played on phone drinking my Coke.  After a while I was beginning to wonder where my food was, when the people who came in after me got theirs.

The guy at counter noticed about then as I was looking around and asked about my food.  Somehow the order had been missed, so they needed to cook things yet. He gave me another Coke for the delay without charge.

Finally received my food, and ate.  Was starting to think I might miss the tunnel and have to wait around, so rushed best I could.

Got back outside and geared up, got on bike and of course it starts to rain lightly now.

Reached the tunnel checkpoint and was directed to the bike holding zone, but they were already letting cars enter.

Thankfully they were still allowing cars in, so I just had to wait till that was stopped, and then they cleared me to follow the last car in, which was quite a bit ahead of me.

Rode through this time without speeding and reached the other side, then stopped to use restroom.

Back on the highway I stopped for one view point and then picked up the pace as it was getting later than I had hoped and also starting to cool off again.

Not long after getting back to the main highway we went up in altitude again, and it managed to cool off more and winds also stayed up.  Then the rain came, and it came down steady for quite some time.

I finally had to stop and change to my heavier gloves as my hands were staring to go numb.  Also, for some unknown reason, I had water in my left boot now as well.

Finally came back down and the rains let up, but winds did not.

Then the skies cleared and sun came out and it warmed up by almost 20 degrees over the last 30 minutes of the ride.

I came into town and found the hotel, but entered on the wrong side of building, so cheated and rode the 20 feet down the sidewalk to the other side and while making a sharp turn to park in first spot I put my foot down and again loose gravel made is slip and the bike almost went over.

I stopped it, but was now stuck and it took a significant amount of effort to push myself back upright, and managed to aggravate my bruised leg again.  Think this must be how I bruised it, I am holding my leg against the side of the bike so hard it is causing damage to the leg.  The bruise is now much darker and larger than it was last night!  Might need to find a walk-in clinic and just have someone look at it, make sure I did not do something serious.

Once I had bike stable, I parked, and walked into the door, only to find out this was the restaurant under the rooms in the front half of building, and it was closed.

I looked around and noticed the office for hotel was at back of building, so moved the bike there, and went inside.

Checked in and then talked with the desk clerk for a bit, then unloaded my bike and took stuff up to the room.  On the second floor again, so bit of effort to get it all up here.

I am staying here for 5 nights.  So tonight was just getting here, and organized the room some, and working on the blog.

I did ride the unloaded bike over to the grocers a few blocks down to buy some snacks and drinks.  Nice to be in a larger city where competition keeps prices down.  The costs for stuff here is not much more than it was in Arizona, unlike the 2 and 3 times increases on same items as small shops up north where there is only 1 option usually.

I stopped at Taco Bell and bought dinner as I was not hungry enough to find anything else.

Back in room I ate, then took a shower and got into normal clothes.

Over the next 4 days I will make at least 1 day trip, maybe 2, and then try to work on videos so I can get a few more done.

Then I will head out and starting working my way north again.

Catch ya down the road.

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