Last day on the Dalton, back to civilization

July 11^th, 2026

Fairbanks, Alaska

Woke at 6:30 am again, bladder again.  Maybe I do not need the alarm on the phone anymore.

After walking to café and back I sat in the tent for a bit and then started packing things up and tearing down the sleeping gear.

Changed into riding gear and then carried stuff to the bike and uncovered.

I tore down the tent and finally had all the gear over at the bike.

This was of course after eating breakfast and with several stops to talk with other campers, so took longer than usual.  Also stopped to buy a t-shirt at the gift shop.

I then loaded the bike up and once done said my goodbyes to the others I had been talking with over the last day or more.  One guy was still heading north, other couple was going same way I was, likely see each other on the road later, I am sure.

Final visit to the restroom and got on the bike and rode over to the highway, across and into the visitor center lot.

They were not open yet though, so used the trash bins to toss some trash I had in my pocket (napkins and old tape from where I re-did the repair job on the pannier, other tape was already peeling off).

I then rode back to the road and realized that I had not driven the ¼ mile of road between the two driveways into the Coldfoot stop.  I used the closest drive each time, so this small section of road was never driven on. 

As we cannot have that, I turned north, rode up to the other driveway, did a U-Turn and came back.  Now I can say I rode the entire route.

Heading south the road quickly turned back to gravel, but this was the stuff you could keep good speed on. 

Day wore on and traffic was light, but road also had its rough sections.  Odd how the north lanes are not as bad as the south, or vice versa in the same section of road.

Did come upon the rougher sections again, and had to slow down some.

Made a few stops for restroom breaks, or to fix something coming loose or resolve an odd issue with maps or the cameras.

I finally reached the Yukon River fuel station, but as I had more than enough fuel, I decided to skip the top off of the tank, mainly as there were already 6 bikes waiting, and this is the place you have to drop off your card, get the key attached to paddle and then photo the price and go back inside to pay.

I did go inside though and bought a Coke and a sticker to put on my new top case when I finally get to install it. (Its sitting back home having arrived about 10 days after I left).

While I was drinking my Coke outside, the coupe from the Coldfoot camp rolled in.  They had left a bit after me, and finally caught up.

Spent a bit of time talking with them and another group that was heading north and asking about the road.

I also talked a bit with a guy who was not having a very good day.  The ignition coil on his BMW bike had failed (or at least that was what he and BMW support had decided).  He was not even sure if there is a BMW shop in Fairbanks which is still 3 hours south, and if he would be able to get someone to haul bike down, or he would have to hitch a ride down, then come back up.

Those are the kind of break downs that create horror stories of waiting and dealing with the remote nature of these kinds of trips.  Not a part one would think to bring along either.

Then about that time I look down at my bike and notice my chain guard is hanging off to the side.  Upon closer inspection, one of the bolts had vibrated itself out and is now part of the road somewhere.

I tried all my spare bolts (a kit for Japanese bikes), but none of them would fit.

I used 3 small zip ties to connect it, hoping that would hold till I got to town in 3 hours.

I finally got back on the bike, and then rode across the street to use the toilet at the visitor center as the café was quite busy at the moment with two small tour vans that had pulled in.

Back on the highway I headed south and not too far down the road came upon road construction.   Took some time, but finally got through that and the final miles of the Dalton Highway.

Of course, once off the Dalton, you still have about 60 miles to go to reach Fairbanks.

But at least most of that route is paved.

Well, it was paved.

In the 3 days between my riding up and now coming back, they had ripped apart several miles of the road to resurface and made a mess of things.

Another one-way construction zone and we had to wait 20 minutes to even start going down it.  Caught up with the other bikers at that point too, though I did not ride up to the front to talk with them as I knew they would go faster than I would once we left anyway.

I also noticed while waiting that my chain guard was hanging off again, all 3 zip ties having broken off.  The roads here are just hell on equipment.

Once through that very long work zone, I caught stuck behind a truck for a while.  He was going really well, but then the hills started, and still lots of loose dirt and gravel from work that had been done in last few days.

I finally decided to just pass him when we were on a larger hill, and did not need to conserve the fuel anymore, would just make it.

Thankfully once I got past him, the roads stayed up and down hills and tight corners, so I could zoom through those and he would never catch up with me.

I finally reached the edge of town and stopped at the Circle K to fuel up as I had about 20 miles of fuel left at that point.

I went inside to use the restroom and wash my hands, and of course no paper towels, and air dryer is broken!

Back outside I had thought I might try to fix the bike, but parking lot was jammed with cars coming and going, seemed to suddenly be a very, very popular place.

I road across the street to the Wal-Mart, which has a huge lot and found a spot with a small amount of shade from a tree.

I found a pin in my spare parts that was slightly larger than the hole, so shouldn’t pull through, and I could bend the pin around the end to at least hold things one.  It was bumping the chain at times, but still better than nothing.

I then checked online to find a hotel for the night, and found nothing cheaper than the $200 a night place I stayed last time, so booked 2 nights there so I could have time tomorrow to do laundry and clean gear.

I rode over to the hotel, which only takes about 15 minutes, and got checked in.

Unloaded the bike, and cleaned my face and hands a bit, then once bike was empty, I did some online updates, and then took the tools out and removed the rear foot peg so I could get the other bolt out of the chain guard and just remove it.

Guard was just caked with mud and grime.

Put it in the shower and cleaned it off so I could attach it again tomorrow.

I then reassembled the bike, took the good bolt with me and rode a block down the road to the Ace hardware store.

I found the metric bolt pretty quick and even found a type that can go on with a socket instead of a screwdriver, so easier to install now, do not need to remove rear foot peg.

I will replace both bolts so its same type.  The old bolt had a small section of metal that fit into the hole of the guard, so we found some small O-rings that should compress into the spot and keep the plastic from rattling or shifting after I bolt them down.

I then picked up some Loctite as well to secure them.

Once done, I rode up the road to the car wash I used last time and just blasted all the bike parts below the seat.  The dirt was caked on nearly an inch think in places and could not even see some parts of the bike. 

Took about 8 minutes to clean everything off of the heavy grime.  Still a ton of dirt, but just surface stuff and a few spots I missed or where grime dripped down from higher parts and dried on.

After the wash I took a short detour to ride about 5 minutes to air the bike out and then stopped at Arby’s for dinner.  Had not eaten in nearly 13 hours.

I then went across the road to the grocery store to pick up more water to refill my supply and a bottle of tea to drink.

Once back at the hotel, I unloaded that stuff, covered and secured the bike and took a long overdue shower.

After moving today’s footage off the cameras, I typed this blog up and will upload it all later as I am very tired and going to go to bed here soon.

Tomorrow I will upload the last few blogs, update some more photos perhaps on Facebook, go do laundry and clean all the cloths and the riding gear (pants are filthy).

Will also put the chain guard back on and oil the chain.  I will also check the chain with my handy chain adjustment tool and tighten in if needed, which it probably does. Assuming I can figure out how to do that, never actually done it before.

Then will try to work on videos tomorrow and plot out the next few days riding.

I was thinking of going back south and riding the Denali Highway, but its 135 miles of gravel, 2 hours south of here, and would take me nearly the whole day to ride and get back to the highway I need to be on to leave Alaska.  And there are not many places to stay along the route, and some quick research during dinner showed most of the campgrounds were booked up, so unless the there are some empty spots in the first come sites the hold back, I would be stuck in the middle of nowhere or having to ride all the way out and even there the hotel options are very limited.

So will just have to skip what I have been told is one of the best roads in Alaska and come back someday for it.

I will just leave Fairbanks and head toward the border, but likely stay the night in a small town before I cross.

Catch ya down the road.

Todays Route: