Day 14 and 15 were filled with thought of our journey, the reality that it is nearing it's end after reaching the pinnacle of standing in the Arctic Ocean. We celebrated our success with steak and reminiscing over the past 14 days of riding. I also promised my daughter she could sleep in the next day and get a later start for the return ride to Wiseman. We started our ride at 10:00 am with a grueling 2 hrs of riding through the construction areas outside of Deadhorse, who could have imaged they could be worse, but they had dumped more large rocks and added loose dirt as they continue to raise the road. The ride to Wiseman was pretty quiet, our helmets have 2 way communication, which we used the entire trip, but not so much on the return trip, our thoughts were filled with what we'd accomplished and what lies ahead. About 160 mile into the ride we pulled over and ate lunch at a river crossing. I showed my daughter that you can drink glacier water from the river, she is a city girl. I also had a little local knowledge that the water on the north side of Antigun pass is girardia free. The water tasted great and was ice cold from the glaciers above us.
We stayed at the Arctic Getaway, a great B&B in Wiseman. Uta and Berni are great hosts and Uta cooked us breakfast to send us on our way. While at the B&B smoke encroached from a forest fire, to the point the mountains were barely visible.
Day 15 was full of smoke from the fire and dust from heavy truck traffic on the Dalton Highway. The road was rough and I hit a couple of transitions and potholes hard/fast which knocked my front wheel out of balance. We headed to the Fairbanks BMW dealer for a balance and wash. While waiting we met Darren and Jasmin Modricker, a father and daughter riding a BMW (same make and model as our Beemer) from Pennsylvania. Jasmin is a year older than my daughter. We chatted for a while as we are the only daddy daughter riders either has met on the entire adventure. It was great meeting the Modricker's.
Our celebratory dinner in Fairbanks for surviving the Dalton Highway was sushi and then ice cream.
More to come....
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| Daddy Daughter Riders |
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| Waiting at the dealer for the repair |
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| We did it!!!! |
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| Dalton Highway survival celebration. |
