Day 1 - Epic Al-Can Odyssey

Day 1 - Anchorage to Wasilla, Alaska

267 miles

If you want to read the blog from the beginning, please use the archives at the right.

The day is finally here, after a year of planning, reserving, shipping and waiting we are on our way to Alaska!

While this trip is part of the Quinlan’s Great 50-States-by-Motorcycle Adventure, it is also our gift to each other for our 5^th wedding anniversary.

What a perfect way to celebrate.

The flight from Minneapolis to Anchorage was uneventful, though we were both so anxious to get there that it seemed like a long, long, flight. Oddly, there were very few women on our flight, mostly just middle-aged guys who were going fishing.

We landed in the early afternoon rain and headed right over to the shipping company that took care of the arrangements for the motorcycle.

When we arrived, the bike was uncrated, spit-shined and ready to go. Classic Motion also let us ship our gear to them, so all we had to do is unpack our two boxes, load our gear on the bike, put on our rain gear, hop in the bike and go…

Krista and her husband, Ron, were fantastic. They took care of every detail of the shipping process and gave us almost daily updates about there the bike was on its journey. If you ever need to ship anything to Alaska – call them!

We headed out in the rain to explore a little bit of Anchorage. First to the Harley-Davidson dealership.

Then to the ceremonial starting line of the Iditarod Sled Dog Race.

You’ll probably figure this out, but Sean is a HUGE Iditarod geek, which is turning me into a Iditarod fan (it does involve dogs after all). A lot of what we did in Alaska involved Iditarod, mushers and sled dogs.

First, though, we made our way out of Anchorage. Wherever we were people told us to just look for the mountains, and know that’s East.

Since we couldn't actually see any mountains to gauge our direction, we relied on our phone’s GPS instead to get us up the highway to Wasilla.

NOTE: no political jokes here. It was just the closest, largest town outside of Anchorage, on the way to Denali.

After checking in to our motel, we stopped by the Mug Shot Saloon for a taste of the local culture. We found out that the bar’s owner, Ted, a Vietnam Vet, was originally from the Iron Range of Minnesota.

Love, love when we find local connections on our adventures.

We stopped at a supper club near the motel and watched as the sun started to come out. We finally got our first real glimpse of Alaska’s beauty.