I got my credit card bill yesterday and I thought I would post the cost of the ride from Anchorage, Alaska, to St Louis, Missouri just for planning purposes for those who might want to ride to Alaska next year (motorcycle season is over in the 49th state for 2023!).

The ride from Anchorage to STL was approximately 2850 miles (4600kms) using the Alaska Marine Ferry system. Now my passage from Haines to Bellingham took three and a half days and covered 1850 miles on the MV COLUMBIA. It is a great way to go north or south and the fair was $1300 (including the BEAST). Fairs for vehicles are calculated based on their length.

I just spent an hour with my credit card statement and a calculator. Seven nights in motels (including Tok, Alaska and Haines Junction, Yukon) cost $672 and fuel costs from Anchorage was $311. If one carries camping gear and just falls back on a hotel room in really nasty weather, you could save two thirds the cost of the trip. This is the first trip that I left the camping gear at home. Being 70 is an excuse for beds and hotels vice sleeping bags and tents. The BEAST likes premium fuel so if you ride something like a KLR650 or Versys 650 regular fuel is probably 15% cheaper. I put everything on a credit card as it makes getting fuel so easy.  

Please note that in 2015 I also used a credit card and somewhere in either the US or Canada, one of the gas stations had a card reader which duplicated the credit card info. Shortly after returning home, I got a call from the credit card company asking if I had purchased a $2500 diamond ring (which of course I had not). Fraud is protected by using a credit card. Debit cards are not protected!

I could have flown one way from Anchorage to St Louis and picked up one of my motorcycles here for less than $400.  But then I would not have the experience of riding the BEAST 2850 miles, experiencing the pain that is a KTM690 seat, long cold lonely miles in the Yukon, seeing whales during the ferry ride, watching the surprise on other travelers faces when they ask about my destination and I answer Patagonia and generally all the things that make travel by motorcycle so much fun. And there is no way the flight to St Louis would have produced some of the emotions and thoughts I have alluded to in earlier portions of this blog. I am glad I rode!  My rear might disagree but let's let sleeping dogs lie.

The BEAST is going into the shop today for a bit of routine maintenance-oil change, new highway sprocket to bump the gearing up just a bit. It did not miss a beat in 2800 miles but both the height of the seat and the shape of the seat were challenging. I am looking forward to using it off road.

I have decided to take my 2008 BMW GSA1200 from St Louis south. The bike has 96000 miles/155,500 kms on it and has never left me stranded in the fifteen years I have owned it. It was thoroughly inspected last summer by a mechanic who has worked on BMW boxers for over 35 years. He thinks it is good to go and I agree. I had planned on doing this ride in 2022. I rode the bike yesterday and within the first mile I knew it was the correct decision.

Now for those who are not familar with motorcycles, BMW pioneered this type of bike. It is called an adventure tourer and is designed for both pavement and gravel roads. It is not a dirt bike and weighs 300 lbs (140 kgs) more than the BEAST. Alex Chacon (see Modern Motorcycle Diaries for great travel videos) has assured me that the weight will not be a factor when trying to load it onto a 25' open boat for transport around the Darian Gap. It may cost me a bit more if I decide to transport it by air cargo from Panama to Columbia but I will worry about that when I make my decision about TDF. Instead of the BEAST, I will be riding the Big Red Pig (BRP) and my rear is already in lust with the Corbin seat I put on the BRP back in 2015.

Finally, I was contacted a few days ago by another traveler who wants to ride down the Pacific side and back up the Atlantic side. He contacted me after reading this blog so my story telling has proved useful.  He is a retired US Customs inspector so we have that in common.  And neither of us are in a rush.  More on that later!