Mexico!  That’s Donna-Rae leaning up against the border wall between Mexico and the United States at Nogales.  Here began their leg and long road test to Deadhorse, Alaska.  The motorcycle they were testing was a 1983 Honda Silverwing Interstate, a 650-cc twin cylinder model.  It was ideal for the long stretches of Interstate riding across the United States.

 

Alaska!  Frazier had promised to make Donna-Rae a “Spit Rat,” which meant she was going to have to camp for the night on the Homer Spit at Homer Alaska.  Along the way they rode to North America’s western most highway point, Anchor Point, Alaska.


    

Alaska was a test for cold weather riding gear, camping equipment, motorcycle and compatibility, sometimes under adverse weather conditions.  After riding for several hours in cold rain, the dampened pair reached Homer, where they had to pitch their tent on the stone covered beach of the Homer Spit while trying to keep their sleeping bags dry.  A warm dinner at a local restaurant picked up their spirits a little, although they had to ride back to the tent in an 11:00 PM drizzle.  Donna-Rae wrote of that night and the following morning:

“Standing alone in the pre-dawn light a shiver ran down my spine that had nothing to do with the weather. At my feet the waters of the Kachemak Bay lapped gently against the shore, all else was silent. Mountains jutting from the sea were draped in moisture-laden clouds and the waters glowed a soft gray from years of glacial silt deposits. The light from the street lamps behind me gave every thing an artificial sunrise glow as the sky gave up its 4:00 Shadow and a new day began. Standing there alone with God and the universe, on a beach untouched by time, things fall more easily into perspective. New beginnings as we, like the glacier, move constantly to the sea. Others began to stir, and I went about my task of picking the perfect stones to take with me. Halting, I thought I might choose some less than perfect for a change...Then, looking down...I thought...nah, why start now. Some things, like the glacier, just never change. Donna-Rae Celebrating Life! Camping on the Homer Spit, Alaska July 2004”

After viewing Mount McKinley in Denali National Park, the rough part of their test begin, the treacherous ride up and back down the James W. Dalton Highway.  Because it is 75% gravel, and often, even in the summer, covered with ice or snow, it is one of the more dangerous motorcycling roads in Alaska.  Each summer numerous motorcycle riders crash badly, often resulting in having to be airlifted to the nearest hospital in Fairbanks, as far as 500 miles away.  This 414-mile long road, became open to the public in 1981 and is the only road north to Prudhoe Bay on the Arctic Ocean.
     

One of the toughest motorcycling roads on the North American continent, this was formerly known as the “Haul Road” because it was built to haul supplies across the tundra and over the Brooks Mountain Range to the oil wells and pumping station at Prudhoe Bay, which later became known as Deadhorse, after the Deadhorse Hauling Company (or maybe the horses that died hauling supplies).