Motorcycling to Alaska

By Carey J. Williams

Associated Press Writer

updated 1:40 p.m. ET April 15, 2008

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Tired of stressing about what your pale skin and flabby muscles are going to look like on the beach during your summer vacation?

Then do what I did. Trade in your shorts for a pair of long underwear, jump on your motorcycle and head north to Alaska.

For 15 days, traveling 5,133 miles, my dad Tom, my uncle Tim and I were covered head to toe in winter clothes — despite the fact that it was July — and only during the harshest of downpours did I wish we had started the trip with a left turn — to sunny California.

Instead we took a right-hand turn out of Spokane, Wash., with the goal of making it up to Alaska in six days, spending three more touring part of the state before returning home.

We crossed the Canadian border in the middle of Washington state, and spent the next two days riding north through lower British Columbia to reach Kitwanga, the town at the start of the Cassiar Highway.

This remote stretch of pavement, also called Highway 37, stretches for 456 miles and joins the Alaska Highway in the Yukon Territory. The key term here is "stretches of pavement." We were warned there was plenty of road work under way.

What we didn't expect was for a major rainstorm to sweep through the area, making the conditions miserable.

During a second day of rain, there were discussions of turning around and heading home. But we pushed on.

My uncle Tim was riding a bright red Harley Davidson, with shiny chrome pipes and tassels hanging from the handlebars. It was clear it was never going to look the same after this trip.

For the most part, the only scenery we saw along the Cassiar were the bushes along the roadside. There were a couple of breaks in the weather, just long enough for us to gaze up at the Coast Mountains and realize what a beautiful area we had just gone through with our heads focused on the ground.

If you go The Milepost: This travel planning book provides mile-by-mile details of Alaska and parts of Canada, including Alberta, British Columbia, Northwest Territories and the Yukon. The book retails for $27.95. Details at the Web site or 800-726-4707.

Once we hit the Alaska Highway, we headed east to a small town called Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, where we would camp among mosquitoes that almost carried our tents away.

The town is known for its Sign Post Forest, which is filled with over 50,000 pieces of metal in the form of license plates and street signs from all over the world. But I searched about a third of the area in 15 minutes and was unable to find evidence of my hometown, Spokane, Wash.

Watson Lake was our fourth night sleeping under the stars. We wanted to experience everything the outdoors had to offer and save a few bucks for gas. So we decided to camp every night — only springing for a hotel room if it was raining.

Somehow I convinced my two riding partners, both over 50, to sleep on an inflatable mattress amid the mosquitoes for nine of our 14 nights on the road.

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That brings me to my first "must have" item for the trip: A mosquito-net hat. There are few things worse than getting a mosquito bite on your head and not being able to scratch it because of your motorcycle helmet.

The next morning was our first full day on the Alaska Highway, which had noticeably more motor homes on the road. The crowded roads were tough to get used to after practically having the road to ourselves on the Cassiar Highway.

The traffic increased as we reached Whitehorse, the capital city of the Yukon Territory. We ventured into town in search of the free beer tours at the Yukon Brewing Company. I had read about the brewery in a local tourism magazine and I'd rather bring home a beer shirt than the Hard Rock Cafe souvenirs I was so eager to purchase when I was younger.

But I was a responsible rider, skipped the tasting tour and headed straight for the gift shop. Inside, I found about a dozen visitors filling up growlers (glass jugs for beer mavens) with beer, buying merchandise and encouraging me to try the Yukon Red ale.

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