Day 7 Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay

Friday we loaded up the bikes and headed for the Dalton Highway. The weather was overcast but it looked promising for a fair day of riding. After fueling up we headed out of town around 8:30. It is 81 miles from Fairbanks to the start of the Dalton Highway once you are out of town there isn't much of anything except forest. The rain started to fall about 10 miles from the Dalton Highway and continue for the next 54 miles. Crossing the Yukon River is over a wood plank bridge that is about ¼ mile long and when wet it gets mighty slippery. We made it across the river safety and pulled in for fuel. Since there are only two fuel stops on the Dalton Highway getting fuel can take a while. After getting off my bike I see Fred Suckow standing outside the Cafe. Fred had already made it Prudhoe and was on his way back. He had spent Thursday night at the Hot Spot and gotten up to Prudhoe on Friday, he didn't want to pay $190.00 dollars for a room so he rode 240 miles back down to Wiseman where he ended up pitching a tent. He was heading to Fairbanks. Fred gave us an update on the road conditions and after fueling we rode up the road a couple of miles to grab a bite to eat at the Hotspot Cafe. The burgers were large and like everything else on the Dalton spendy. Us up to the Hotspot and continue to stay with us for several miles up the road. The Dalton Highway has a lot more paved road than what everyone makes it out to be. You can drive for a 100 miles on dirt or gravel road then be riding on pavement for the next 20 or 30 miles. The country side makes several changes you start off with the skinny lodge pole pine trees then will run into miles of birch. Some areas were full red colored flowers with patches of white popping up around the marshes. The ride from they Yukon to Coldfoot was not all that trying there were several street bikes and cars making the trip to the Arctic Circle which is about 60 miles south of Coldfoot. We made a quick stop at Coldfoot which was to be our overnight stay but due to fact that no rooms were available we made the decision to go all the way to Prudhoe Bay. We made short stop at the top of Atigun Pass the view up there was awsome. 20 or 30 miles north of Atigum we came out of the canyon and climb up on the tundra and rolling hills. We had been hitting sections of pavement and this was no exception the next 100 miles were full of loose gravel, river rock and slick mud. We rolled into Prudhoe bay around 9:30 pm and for me the last 50 miles were pure hell. The wind had picked up and was blowing at 20 to 30 miles an hour tring to blow you across the road. To make matter worse the road had a couple of inches of loose gravel in the middle of the road .
We found rooms at the Caribou Inn which was an old berthing and messing facility that looked to have been abandon before a couple of guys decided to convert it into and inn with a galley.