Day 14

It's a beautiful, bright, sunny day. After a hearty breakfast at the Sunrise Motel, a real old fashioned road side motel with nice rooms, good food, gas pumps, and fun staff/owner, we head to Homer. Immediately, the scenery becomes more sedate but it's an enjoyable ride with many fine sights. Closer to Homer, the mountains across the bay really shine.

We stop at the end of the road and Bruce notices that he has front end trouble (on the bike). He's been complaining of break issues for a few days but won't let me drop the pads and check them. Now he thinks it's hid front wheel bearings. So, we head slowly back to Anchorage where Bruce things the Honda dealer may have some experience with Goldwings. We stop at the Sunrise to top off the tanks since we now know the next gas is 89 miles away!!

As we enter the city limits, it occurs to me that it might be wise to call. They may be open on Sunday and be able to help AND they may be closed on Monday, as so many dealers are. The machine tells us they are closed both Sunday and Monday. So, we turn to the Gold Book, a listing of Goldwing riders who are willing to help stranded travelers. Our Anchorage contacts points us in the direction of the best shade tree Goldwing man in the state – just about 10 miles south of the Sunrise Motel – we passed him and noticed two trikes and a Wing on the lawn. I figured he was a used bike dealer. Guess we should have stopped.

Route I-A1 out of Anchorage to Coopers Crossing, where the Sunrise is, is caller Trooper Ally by the locals. We have skipped by 5 today and take, I wish I could say, took it easy on our return. But, we made record time as I we like a horse that smelled the barn. My day was done. Bruce kept up even though he was worried about his front end. A little pay back – I had bearing trouble after our Labrador 400 miles of horrible sand and loose stone and he told me not to worry and we pushed on for 1500 miles. Although he was ready to have a tow truck haul his baby out of the Walmart parking lot I had discovered from which to make calls, he was more anxious to get her to a trusted mechanic so he wouldn't have to do 1500 more miles to get it repaired.

I finally convinced him to let me take a look. He held down the back as I spun and twisted the front wheel. There is a definite drag coming from somewhere but I don't think it's bearings. It's breaks. One of the calipers has stuck because of the dust of The Dempster and The Top of the World. A little compressed air and some “dry slide” and it will be fine. Could have done it all at Walmart. Well, we'll see if god will make a fool of me again and produce some dire failure that we were lucky to get this far with tomorrow.

Until then, we'll have a nice meal, maybe a beer and a good night's sleep again!!