My girls!

I thought it might be time for a quick word on motorcycles for short girls. At slightly under 5'3 1/2" (yes, I claim that 1/2"), I had a hard time finding an adventure/dual sport bike to fit me. I sat on every possible bike and attempted to pick them up. The sales guy at Fay Myers just shook his head, and then put me on a KTM 990 for shits and grins. That was embarrassing. Most bikes were too tall for me to get anything but my tip toes on the ground, and most bikes had geometry that just didn't work either. Although you can lower many bikes, shave down seats, raise and swivel handlebars, nothing was working.

The Red Devil before I put some body and upholstery work into her. I bondo-ed the huge dent in the tank and painted it and the side covers, and hand painted and stitched a new leather seat. She's totally sweet now!

I had started off on my little 1980 Honda CM200T. I couldn't flat foot her either, but at barely over 300 lbs., it wasn't a problem. The bigger bikes, though, weigh a whole lot more and the weight is higher. The KLRs and KTMs are relatively nice and light, but have seat heights over 33". Motorcycles are made for men, not short women.

Then I discovered the BMW F650GS. One can buy the bike factory lowered and with a lower seat; I can flat foot bikes like that easily. Buying a used bike, however, I didn't have the best of luck finding one. So I bought a standard bike that actually had a taller than stock seat. I LOVE that seat, and didn't want to lose it for a shorter one, so I opted for lowering the bike with 1" Kouba Lowering Links. I also added 3/4" handlebar risers, and though I can just get the balls of my feet on the ground, I have stopped dumping it regularly. Well, if I'm not out on trails I don't dump it anymore....

My Girls--Thumper the Ice Queen and The Red Devil

 

I'm shopping dirt/trail bikes now. I've been reading a thread on ADV Rider about short women and their bikes, and I've put together a short list of bikes to look at. This summer I sat on a woman's Honda CRF230 and really liked it. (she sat on my GS and loved it too. I don't think her husband was too happy about that...) The CRF and a couple others are at the top of my list. When I get around to narrowing it down and buying a new bike, I'll let you know what I chose.

If you're a short girl looking for a bike, or a guy looking for a bike for your short girl, check out the ADV Rider thread. It's called "The Shortypants Thread: We are short women and this is what we ride." It has great bike info for shorty girls, and inspiring pictures of woman riders of all ages.

Southeastern Alaska and the AMHS--part 3

Leaving Sitka on the ferry at 4 gave us part of the day to roam downtown galleries, and some time to prep for the next three days on board the ship. Once we loaded the bikes on the ferry, they would not leave the ship until Bellingham, WA. Once we got on board, with the exception of stopping for 7 hours or so in Ketchikan, we wouldn't leave the ferry until WA also. We received a phone call from Jay (From Estes Park on a KLR--we met him in Tok at the motorcycle campground and he got on the ferry a couple days later to get home) giving us the low down on the ferry food and drink situation.

Waiting to load bikes on the ferry. Typically we were last on first off, which was silly as far as I was concerned. We had to tie down or untie, which takes considerably longer than just getting in your car and starting it. Duh!

 

My bike loaded up with food and drink for the next three days. My tank bag holds two boxes of Bota Box wine!

 

The ferries that do the longer runs have a cafeteria, dining room, and a bar. The dining room is a formal ship dining room serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The cafeteria is open with a selection of pre-made foods and a special or two each day. It is reasonably priced, and if you need to charge electronics, there are a number of outlets at tables, so you can kill two birds with one stone. The bar is 21 and over, and has a selection of chips to accompany your drink order.

 

The cafeteria has microwaves available to passengers. Popcorn was a must for the movie theater, and hot chocolate with peppermint schnapps made for a cozy drink out on the breezy decks. Not that we took alcohol on board--that's not allowed...

Once we got aboard, we found lounge chairs in the solarium where we set up Thermarests and sleeping bags and stashed our gear. We decided to do that under the heat lamps rather than pitch a tent on the deck below. A word of warning **a -5 degree sleeping bag is NOT NEEDED while sleeping on the deck** I think sleeping in a Snuggie would make one sweat under those lamps!

The view from my "bed"

As we wandered the ship, checking where everything was (bathrooms, eating areas, movie theater and arcade, showers and laundry) and committing each deck to memory, the captain announced porpoises off the port side. We headed outside to the aft deck to check them out, and a woman came running out past us and took a couple of great pictures of them flying through the air. She was soon joined by three men, and we discovered they were the owners of four other GSs we saw when we loaded our bikes on. Brian, Chris, Blair and Mike were all from Aspen/El Jebel where they volunteer with the Aspen fire department together. They offered us drinks and we all stood around chatting and drinking boxed wine, which we had all managed to bring on board.

And was I happy or what?? Finally, another female motorbiker!!! Chris and I talked gear, underwear, and what it's like to do a trip like this with only guys. She rides a beautiful 1200GS and did her very best to talk me into upgrading. Over the next couple of days, we spent time with this group of people and one other rider, Ross on a V-Strom, from Utah.

We had one port of call in Ketchikan. We all disembarked and headed for the bus stop. The ferry terminal was two miles from downtown and we rode in, walked around the downtown area for about half an hour, and walked the two miles back to the boat. Ketchikan was my least favorite of all the towns/cities we visited. It is geared primarily to tourists, and though there are probably great things to do if you can stay a few days and leave the city, a few hours around town doesn't get you much.

Back on the boat, we made our first visit to the bar. Totally reasonably priced, well-stocked, and tended by Tony. Tony was AWESOME! He had obviously been tending bar for the ferry system for MANY years and was quite good at it. Remembered my name immediately and what I drank, so when I walked into the bar on the following days, he had my drink to me in no time without my even asking.

 

In the bar--they roll on kegs of Alaskan Amber beer. Sweet!




I found three days on the boat to be a bit tedious. I read a lot, ate a lot, drank a lot (cuz really, I wasn't gonna have to drive anywhere...) and tried to run around a lot to get rid of some energy. I also indulged in daily showers. That was nice. For everyone.

We would be leaving the ferry for good at 8am, so the night before I packed all my crap back up before going to sleep. That was when I discovered my motorcycle key was missing. I went through everything I had. Three times. I had a spare, but my real one was on my new mushing dog key chain from Denali, and I really wanted it. Finally it dawned on me that I had probably left it in the bike, as I usually do. But Josh said that no, I hadn't done that. The car decks are closed except for 2-3 times a day, when they are open for 15 minutes. I had just missed one, and it wouldn't be open again until midnight. So I set my alarm, met the people going down to walk their dogs, and sleepily went down to find it in my bike. Duh! It's not like the bike was going anywhere, so I left it and went back to bed.

In Bellingham, WA with Brian, Chris and Mike. Not sure where Blaire is....

 

In the morning, we met up with the Aspen crew after we all had our bikes and were off the boat. We exchanged contact info, said goodbye, and headed off towards Seattle, where we would spend the next couple of days with family.

 

World Animal Day

Thursday, October 4 was World Animal Day. Most of you reading this, if you know me even a little, know I love animals. One of the best parts of motorbiking to and from Alaska was the wildlife viewing from the bike as I rode through the beautiful landscapes. I have learned something crucial about wildlife in the great white north vs wildlife here at home. Every animal I saw alongside the road this summer in Canada and Alaska either stayed put as I approached or, and this was more likely, ran like hell away from the road. Once I returned to Colorado, however, I frequently came across herds of deer I had to slow down or even stop for.

Once I got back to Colorado, I started working with a group called Historicorps, restoring parts of an historic lodge in Jefferson County. Some nights I spent near the worksite and some nights I returned to Denver. Regardless of where I was coming from in the mornings, I became quite alert to deer in the area, as I often saw them near or on the road, and they inevitably would turn TOWARDS me. Colorado deer=not so smart!

Yesterday, after a great day of riding down near the Springs, I headed back home via that same highway I took every morning of that project. A couple of miles from Pine Junction, where the highway meets 285, a deer charged onto the road and hit me. I had been looking in to the right side of the road, up the hill for animals and saw him way too late to do anything about the situation. It was a buck and out of the corner of my eye as I saw it come at me, and then watching it in my rear view mirror, it looked small. But he had, what I was told later, a nice rack. Heh, heh. His head was down and he hit me on the left side in the hand with his antlers, and my leg with his body. I screamed in my helmet, no lie. I saw him kind of roll around the back of the bike and scramble up the hill to my right, so I hope he was okay. I really hope he was okay.

I managed to keep the bike upright and on the road My hand was swollen by the time I got home and my hand guard is bent and the metal bracket is torn. Relatively lucky outcome I would say. I checked out the ADV Rider forum threads regarding people who had hit animals while riding, and surprisingly this happens fairly often with bucks. Other animals are often hit broadside because they happened to be crossing the road at the wrong time. It seems, however, that bucks hit to the side--not all of them fairing quite as well as my guy did.

When I got home, I flipped the chicken calendar to October, as it hadn't been done yet. That was when I noticed it was World Animal Day. I feel like maybe that buck didn't think I was doing enough to show my appreciation that day, and decided to teach me a lesson.

Peeping on Aspens

Last weekend saw me having a day off for the first time in a couple of weeks, so I headed out of town to take in the fall scenery.

I rode I70 to Georgetown with about a million other people. I may be exaggerating, but only a bit. Floyd Hill to Georgetown was slow going, but I dropped in behind another bike and we rode along together. I was excited when I realized it was a GIRL on a motorbike! She was on a little Harley, but hey, a girl on a bike is a girl on a bike. Eventually traffic lightened up and I took the exit for Georgetown. It's a really cute little town, but I still have yet to stop and take a look around. I just drove through it to pick up Guanella Pass

The first section of this road, pretty well up to the summit, has recently been paved and had heavy duty guard rails installed. It is a super sweet road to ride with crazy hairpins and gorgeous views. The Aspens are turning gold and the weekends see a lot of people driving up to take photos and hike in the beautiful weather. That means slow going over the pass, but I got to enjoy the scenery too. Last time I did the ride, I was cruising along behind Ian McLeod at a much faster clip and paying more attention to the road.

I reached the summit and did a loop through one of the parking areas, deciding not to stop. I saw one other motorcycle up there, but when I waved the guy sitting on it just gave me a sullen look--ok, not stopping to talk to you....

I didn't stop until I was a couple of miles down the other side. All of the areas prior to that with good views were mobbed with stopped cars, but there were nice open spots on the other side of the summit.

 

You can't really tell, but I wore my RMAR Rendezvous t-shirt! That, a pair of jeans, and my lighter black Fieldsheer jacket were all I needed that day. The weather was beautiful, and I shed the jacket to do some hiking. Eventually it occurred to me that hiking through tall, dense willows down to lovely water areas was pretty much asking to be charged by moose, so I turned around and headed back to the bike.

A couple miles further on the road is no longer paved. It is super easy dirt, and I would have loved to clip along at a quicker pace, but I was stuck behind a BMW Z3. Seriously, people! Get the *#?! out of my way! Eventually they got the hint, moved over, and I was able to enjoy the rest of the road with one lat stop.

 

 

I hit 285 and cruised along to Conifer, stopping in Pine Junction to pick up the lunch of champions--Chili Cheese Fritos and chocolate covered Hostess Donettes. Out of Conifer I took Pleasant Park Road, which eventually turns into Deer Creek Road and spits you out near Chatfield Reservoir. C-470 back to 6, and on to home. Awesome day of riding!

Southeastern Alaska and the AMHS--Part 2

Sitka is a beautiful little town on Baranof Island, on the edge of a rainforest yet right along the coast. When we got off the ferry, we had two option--drive left 3/4 mile to the end of the road, or to the right where the town was 7 miles away, and the road ended about 14 miles away. Not much in the way of roads, and no way to ride out of the town. The only way in to Sitka is by sea or sky.

After visiting the visitors center and learning the campground on the southern edge of town was having bear problems, we chose to camp on the north end of town, but needed to have lunch before setting off. As we left the visitors center, a local woman who drove a taxi told us about Baranof Brewing Company and gave us their business card. A few minutes later, as we wandered the streets of downtown looking for a restaurant we thought we wanted to try, a girl asked if we needed help finding something. We told her what we were looking for and found out it was only open when cruise ships were in town. After we told her we were looking for a good local lunch spot, she pointed us in the direction of the Larkspur Restaurant. It was great, and in that short time, we got a taste of the friendliness of the locals.

We returned to the bikes and noticed a sign hanging over the parking lot saying there would be an all-you-can-eat crab feed the next afternoon at 3. WHAT!?! Count us in!

We headed north to our campsite, and for the story of that night and the next morning, see the post titled "Bear--Part Two".

After we made the decision to find a hotel, we headed to a coffee house with wi-fi to do some research where we found Ann's Gavan Hill Bed and Breakfast. After contacting Ann and telling her we would be there later, we headed to the raptor center. Unlike the American Bald Eagle Preserve that was a bit of a disappointment, this place was amazing. We saw a number of birds who had been injured and were unable to be reintroduced into the wild, but we also saw the rehabilitation habitats that housed, at the time, 10 recuperating bald eagles, and two beautiful snowy owls. After the tour, we talked with the tour guide for a few minutes, and because we stayed, we got to experience a young bald eagle up close, as she was brought out to do a demonstration for a small group of people. It was so neat and she was so beautiful!

 

This is how I kept my feet dry in the heavy rain days. Yup, that's a grocery store bag wrapped around my foot!




We left the raptor center and went back downtown for the crab feed. This was an event! I was a little afraid it would be all tourists, but as it turned out, it was a community event. It was held at Crescent Harbor in the work shelter where local fisherman hang nets and do off-boat work. There were no tables, and locals in the know bring their own tables, chairs, tablecloths, candle holders, floral centerpieces, and bottles of wine with wine glasses. It was great! It was, of course, raining, so we just left our motorcycle gear on, stood in line and received HUGE Dungeness crab legs, salad, bread, dessert, and drinks, and then found a seat on the edge of the water to enjoy our crab. The taxi driver walked by at one point and asked if we had found a good place to stay. We told her the story, and I again marveled at the local attitude towards visitors, which though similar to Haines, differed greatly from Seward!

We also ran into a couple of women from B.C. who we had met on the ferry, and sat chatting with them for a while. As we were leaving and getting back to the bikes, we ran into a local who had attended law school at DU and stopped when she saw our Colorado license plates. As it turned out, people in town recognized us wherever we went the whole time we were there after seeing the bikes. People wanted to talk to us about riding and tell us about the guy in town with the KLR all set for touring (which we saw walking through town the first day).

We checked into the B&B and headed off to the brewery to sample their beers. When we returned, we were ready to spend the rest of the evening in the hot tub and relaxing. At breakfast the next morning we got to meet the other two couples staying there, and really got to know the proprietor, Ann, and her sister Joan. They were such lovely people! Ann is a transplant from Texas who moved to AK when she was 24, and stayed. She had recently been diagnosed with breat cancer, sought treatment in Texas, and returned home to continue running her business while undergoing chemo. Her sister, who lives in Dallas, had come to Sitka to help her out, and getting to know these two women was inspiring.

Ann sent us in the direction of The Fortress of the Bear, a volunteer based not for profit which has created two 3/4 acre habitats for orphaned brown bear cubs. One habitat has the two original siblings, and the other has three siblings who wandered into the still-being-constructed second habitat on their own after being orphaned. We were there for just under two hours watching these bears from an elevated platform. They were fascinating! It totally helped me understand their interest in my motorcycle and my helmet as I watched them play, play, play, with each other and items in their habitats. One of them had a particular fascination with a metal dustpan. As it turns out, they make good toys, water scoops, and hats. If you're a bear, that is!

That afternoon saw us back at the brewery for lunch and hiking through the rainforest. This was unlike any other hike we had done as we constantly came upon huge beautifully carved totem poles. They are just along the trail, and we learned a little about the history of them. We also learned a little about the surfing off Baranof island, some of the best on the west coast. In case you're wondering, a wetsuit IS necessary unless you like swimming in mid 40s water. Brrrrrrrr!

The next day we were to leave on the 4:00 ferry. We spent a little time downtown going through the galleries, and I found a book at their bookstore that I had been looking for in every town since Talkeetna. Way to come through for me Sitka! We also hit up the Back Door Cafe on the recommendation from my friend Robyn.

We were sad to head to the ferry, yet ready to hit the next adventure. We stopped at the grocery to load up since we would be on the ferry for three nights. We had earlier picked up a couple pieces of smoked salmon and kept them frozen so we could snack on it the next couple of days. I knew as we wound down our trip and headed inland again, the opportunities to have such amazing, fresh seafood would dwindle with distance--we got it while we could.

 

South Eastern Alaska and the AMHS--Part 1

On our first ferry ride. This would be the only time we were given this amount of space to tie down the bikes. The other 2 boats would find us tying down awkwardly, side by side. Never mind the fact that we paid for 20 feet of length on the boats!




I love Haines! Let me start with that. It is a darling little town that is not owned by the cruise lines. Several towns along the inside passage are, and the one we visited was completely not interesting to us. Our original plan was to go to Skagway, but we kept meeting people who said we should go to Haines instead. So we took everyone's advice and changed our plans.

We rolled into Haines and stopped at the visitor center to chat with one of the most helpful people we had yet encountered. She told us about two different campgrounds and we chose the state park campground. It was beautiful, and once again we had the whole campground to ourselves.

We had been given a coupon book at the visitors center, and directions to the Haines Brewing Company. It was located at the fairgrounds, in one of the buildings in the set built for White Fang. The brewmaster was a kick and we had a great time talking beer and trying tasters. Down at the end of the set was a pizza joint. We headed there and had a dinner of really fantastic pizza.

One of the truly amazing things we saw in Haines were the bald eagles. Not the ones at the American Bald Eagle Foundation (which was a bit of a let down, to be honest) but the ones flying over our heads and out over the bay on the way to and from our campsite. We had to catch our first ferry on the American Marine Highway System on the afternoon of our second day in Haines, so we rode to the opposite end of town from our campground where we heard there were more of them and bears. We were not disappointed at all! Sat and watched bears for a good hour,but also got to see more bald eagles.

Later in the afternoon, we headed for the ferry dock and got ready for our first trip. It would take about 7 hours,dropping us off in Juneau. Although this was not our destination, we had to stop there to change boats in order to get to Sitka. We would be in Juneau from 11pm to 8am. We needed to be at the ferry dock between 6 and 6:30 to get checked in and in line, so that left us a few hours in the middle of the night during which we needed to get some sleep.

As we were undoing the straps holding down the bikes, one of the crew members told us about some picnic sites on the coast with covered tables. He said they were large and really nice, with enough room underneath to pitch a tent. We rode off the boat and found the sites pretty easily. We left the bikes up on the road (after checking to make sure there were no "No Camping" signs anywhere) and walked down a slippery staircase, in the rain (duh), and found one of the picnic pagodas. The coast was really beautiful--what we could see in the midnight twilight and rain--and we quickly set up the tent and got a few hours sleep.

We made it to the ferry dock in time to talk with a few motorbikers on their way north. In the parking lot, in the rain, I talked to the first female rider I had seen on the trip. She was a little older than me and much more interested in talking to Josh, so we didn't talk about much. But it was good to see another female motorbiker. We told them about road conditions up north and what the weather had been like. W wished them luck and they loaded up.

We had another half hour to wait before we loaded, so we spent it playing silly games and smacking each other in the helmet like children, much to the amusement of the other passengers dry and warm in their cars. We were on the "fast ferry" that morning, a catamaran, and it took about 4 hours to get to Sitka. As it was early afternoon, we drove downtown, parked at the visitors center and wandered. It was good to get off the boat and we were ready for our 3 days on Baranof Island.

 

A Fond Farewell to the Interior

We left Seward and headed back north, through Anchorage and Palmer, to Gakona where we spent the night. We stopped in Anchorage at the REI to see if we could replace the neck gaiter I lost in Talkeetna (sad!). In the store, an employee recognized my jacket as motorcycle gear and asked if I needed help. It turns out he is on the ADV Rider forum all the time, and was really happy to hear that we were taking time to really see Alaska, rather than just ride up, ride the Dalton Highway, and ride right home. He said at is what the majority of riders do. Although I understand that one does what one has time and money to do, I feel sad to hear that. We really loved interior Alaska, so we explored for a couple more days before leaving.

We stopped in Palmer at The Musk Ox Farm. It is a not-for-profit farm promoting the use of Quiviut fiber and Native Alaskan talent. The fiber is the warmest in the world and freakishly expensive. It is actually a hair, rather than a fur/wool fiber, so it is actually wearable by anyone and will not cause allergic reactions. Did I mention it is freakishly expensive? It runs $75-85 for a TINY skein. They were raffling off a blanket (at $10 per raffle ticket) which was worth $10,000.00. That is not a typo! I just reread to make sure. Anyway, the animals are fun and we thought about bringing one home because they eat dandelions, and we grow them really well.

We camped that night in Gakona at the Historic Gakona Roadhouse. It said they had camping, so we stopped and asked. The owner of the roadhouse, restaurant, and bar (who is a transplant from Wyoming named Greg and an all around nice guy) said we could just put our tent up wherever we liked. He didn't charge us anything at all, and we had a beautiful spot on the river right behind the bar. It had rained all day (I know, you're really surprised at this point) so we headed into the bar and joined two employees and a couple of grizzled locals for the evening. We found out the Kings had won the Stanley Cup, and we enjoyed the company of everyone. Although we were just gol-danged tourists, old Smoky, one of the locals, bought us drinks!

It rained the whole next day of riding, so we stopped short in Tok and got a hotel room behind Fast Eddie's restaurant. When we pulled into Fast Eddie's, there were two BMW GS bikes. Josh went to talk to the guy on the 1200 and e guy on the F650GS came over to talk to me. His name is Dave Coe, and he is blogging about his trip also. Check him out at http://daversadventuretravels.blogspot.com. He was in Whitehorse, on tour with some musicians, and decided to extend his trip. We spent a couple of hours standing outside (the rain had finally stopped for a bit!) talking about our bikes and the modifications we had each made, and we also discovered that he used to work with a singer we like (IAN, PAY ATTENTION TO THIS!) named Corb Lund. We had a good time chatting, and headed our separate ways. Us to our hotel room to dry out, and Dave, along with about another dozen guys who came and went on GSs, heading north to Fairbanks and the Dalton Highway.

The next day saw us leaving interior Alaska to head back into Yukon Territory and B.C. I was really sad to leave,but couldn't think about it much as the Al-Can Highway was a disaster through that section, and no surprise, it was raining! We met the one, crabby Canadian at the border, and quickly moved on to Kluane Lake. By the time we got there, it had stopped raining (happy dance!) and the sun was shining (fall over in a dead faint). We camped at Cottonwood Campground and it was super lovely. The lake is beautiful, and we had a great time. They even had a nine hole hand made golf course with tough holes!

When we moved on the next day, we turned off the Al-Can at Haines Junction and headed south to Haines where we would be catching the ferry. That was our coldest day of riding as we drove over a mountain pass. We got snowed on. Just a little, but still! Come on! It was the MIDDLE OF JUNE! On the backside of the pass, we dropped from 3200 ft of elevation to about 1200 ft in a matter of a couple of miles where we warmed up, and re-entered the U.S. and south eastern Alaska.

We had a very stern border official who questioned Josh and then headed to me.

BORDER GUARD: Do you have any firearms or weapons?

ME: No

BORDER GUARD: Do you have any citrus?


ME: No

BORDER GUARD: Do you have any plants?


ME: No

BORDER GUARD: Do you have a runny nose?


ME: (laughing) YES!

BORDER GUARD: Have a nice trip!


And on to Haines we rode.