Coldfoot to Deadhorse/and Prudhoe Bay 20/7/10 420km

BEFORE READING THIS READ THE LAST 2 ENTRIES

After listening to the rain all night and the ring of the truckers voice"that's rougher than hell and 50kms of mud " we got up around 6.00am and packed the bike. With the rain quite heavy and the bike packed we looked at each other with almost the look of well "i guess this nite be it, I will see you in the after life" .

We hit he road as we looked down with interpretation for the up and coming road works, to see it ahead and the sign please stop , there was a young girl standing there for 13hrs a day with a lollipop , we had a chat and then the pilot car arrives . Then a goodbye to the girl with almost a please say the road is closed .We are off and to our great joy the works was as good as you would get and we breezed through the 50kms all be it at around 50kms hr but when the sign came it was all most like we had been found not guilty for murder and we were free . But after we got through the works, for the next 100kms it was like yesterdays hell was only a game . It was mud heaven I mean mega mud and we were sliding all over the road (i tell you those motorbike pants of mine are now shorts ) . Then we reached Aitgun Pass and the road just disappeared into the clouds (like straight up ) we were goin to heaven after all . Ruth says to me "we not goin up there are we" a I just said "what will be will be" , half way up the bike starts skidding and a truck is comin up behind . So down a couple of gears and give it shit I think and with God on our side we roar up the stairway to heaven only to find that heaven at the top is only hell to go down the other side .

When we got down the other side the sky cleared and the road in provided and we were away with the last 200kms being very pretty and vast plains of very low tundra , we saw lots of little chipmunks looking animals and some very unusual looking Musk Oxen . With about 20km to go we run out of petrol and had to refuel from the 2/ 2 lts bottles we had , and before you know it we at the top of the World and I could feel another song comin on ( I dedicated it to Twissy ). We had a trip out to the Artic Ocean as Deadhorse is approx 10kms away and can only be accessed on a tour through the mining companies land .

Deadhorse has about 4500 workers and this doubles in the winter as this is when they do all the exploration and a lot of the construction (you think it would be the other way round ) the pipe line took 3yrs to build and can deliver 2million barrels of oil a day to the coast near Anchorage at the moment it is only pumping 600,000 a day .When the oil leaves and is keep at 38 to 45 degs C on the trip to the coast ,it is keep this way by pump stations along the way . The road in took 5 months to build there were over 300 construction companies working on it at 1 time . There is no town and no booze here and workers work 2 weeks on and 2 off all year round and have all there clothes food and lodges supplied .

The sun does not go down as you can see by the photo , so with 1 days rest and the sun out we are very hopeful that the 900kms back will be a lot less eventful , by the looks of the bikers coming in , I would say it has dried up a lot as there bikes are not that dirty , but with our luck when we get up it in the morning it will be snowing .

So Coldfoot and then Fairbanks here we come , I'm almost looking forward to it , hey BRING IT ON !!

Photos
Us standing at the very most Northern point that we can go so it is all down hill from now on .
The road in but again only the good bits as when we hit the crap all thought of photos go and only Survival kicks in .

The Midnight Sun

And another song by Burl Ives