Rain, Rain, Go AWAY!! (Anchorage)

We awoke to more rain at 7am, and I willed it to stop every time I hit the snooze button for the next two hours. No luck.

Everything was wet in the tent. Our tent may no longer be waterproof, but it may just be condensation gathering and soaking the bottom of the sleeping pads. Either way, it’s annoying.

We arrived in Anchorage, and having met Phil Freeman of MotoQuest at the Overland Expo in Arizona, we headed there to check out their operation.



The MotoQuest crew was awesome and their garage was drool-worthy.



We visited Alaska Leather, which has a wide variety of everything to make your ride safer and more comfortable (I spent a while ogling their heated gear). And eventually, we headed to the House of Harley Davidson, which offers free motorcycle camping, to any motorcycle and it’s rider. They have a lovely grassy area with picnic tables next to a creek and a bathroom with a shower. BUT, they also have a covered parking area where we could pitch our tent once they closed. Yes please!



This HD Dealership is cool not only for their hospitality, but for the fact that it is a family business that is female run. Dia, who is 27 was handed the reins by her dad two years ago when she was 25. So, that makes her one of few female HD heads, and Harley's youngest female dealer.

By the time it got dark, there were four of us camping in the parking lot. Eric from LA on his Suzuki DR 400 was there when we arrived. And Steven from Chico on his BMW Dakar Airhead got there late in the afternoon.

The next day it was raining even harder. I guess when they say “chance of rain” in Anchorage, they mean DELUGE. So we took a rest day. By early afternoon, we hatched a plan to ride down the Kenai Peninsula to Homer with Steven and Travis, a guy who had showed up on his BWM. Travis was the guy who got unlucky 20 miles from Prudhoe Bay, so it was great to see both he and his bike back in action.

A Dutch guy and a Belgian guy showed up on their Harley’s, so Roel got to brush up on his Dutch, which was nice.



We spent the night hanging out with the MotoQuest crew, and the youngest member on staff, Owen, who, it seems, owns all of the mopeds.



When he is finally ready to upgrade from his bike with training wheels, his Mom, Crissy,  (who rocked the Top of the World Highway, by herself, after being on a dual sport for only 3 weeks!!!) will be able to teach him how to ride dirt like a pro.