South bound. Ak part 6

Soooo.....the long break between posts: In the crash a water bottle burst in my top box soaking everything there, including my laptop. That, combined with the impact of the crash, and some "tapping" to encourage it to wake up the next day....caused it to die. I was without computer other than my waaay smart phone for the rest of the trip.

Anyway...after the crash, at the behest of the insurance company I took Ginger to a motorcycle store to be evaluated for repair costs. I took her back to Northland Power Sports that had installed my tires before I went up the Dalton. They did the assessment and .....Ginger was totaled. 

What to do??? Fly home with my tail between my legs, or find another bike to finish the trip on. I was pondering my options when I noticed this beauty on the showroom floor. She's a Strom just like Ginger (and just like Blue and Gen) but unlike Ginger she is a DL1000A

I got Bev's approval and worked a deal with Craig at Northland.

 In the meantime, another moto-blogger, Richard (RichardM in the "blogs I follow" list) who lives Fairbanks, contacted me and invited me to dinner. When he said, "We'll BBQ something....." THIS is what he meant....WOW! I was starving when I arrived and fat and happy when I left.

 Richard invited another friend, Bruce (if I remember correctly, I should have written it down) Both of them have Ural's with hacks. Richard also has a BMW with a hack. Those things look like a TON of fun!

 After a great meal, and excellent conversation I'm on my way back to my lodging for a couple hours sleep before I need to be to the airport at 10:50pm....

Thank you Richard (center) for a well needed relaxing evening!

 Why do I need to be at the airport? Well, Strom buddy Adrian aka Snownut has bought Ginger as a salvage title. He will fly in, get Ginger road worthy and ride her a few days southward with me.
Adrians story here: http://akhatch.blogspot.com/

And here is the new bike loaded up and ready to travel.

You might be thinking; 'Tombstone, why didn't you order some panniers to use on your trip home?'

Welllll.....................I did.

As soon as the decision was made to buy the new bike I called ADV Motorrad in New York and talked to Jason (the owner) about a  BUMOT luggage system. I told him my plight and he jumped to action. He told me he would have my order in the mail in less than an hour - and he did! He also had researched several shipping options so I could get the best price and have them arrive in a reasonable time. Sure enough they would arrive Saturday at the North Pole Post office, North Pole is a small town just outside of Fairbanks.

Ezra, the guy that had driven his truck up the Dalton to rescue me after my crash, and had let me use his truck to run the errands needed to do to get both bikes taken care of, gave me the ok to have the luggage shipped to his address. (He has a PO box at the post office)

Saturday came and since I was doing other work on the bike I didn't go to the post office until about 2:30 Sadly the North Pole branch closes on Saturday at 2:00....dang it! I'll  need to be there Monday morning first thing when they open.

Which I was. I asked for my packages and after checking in the back, the postal woman told me my packages weren't there.

I told her I had received confirmation stating the luggage had arrived at the North Pole Post branch, and after some more checking and she informed me that since Ezra's PO box isn't big enough to fit the luggage in they sent them back on the truck they came on.

"You didn't even keep it one day?" I asked.

"Ohhhhh nooooooo" she replied, as if I was a total dunce to suggest such a thing.

"Can I go to the Anchorage branch (where the truck was now headed) and get my luggage there?" I asked.

"Nooooo" she said, crinkling her brow at my stupidness, "we can't re-direct a shipment once it's in route."

"So my package is on it's way BACK to New York?" I asked.

"Well yes...." she said.

**.....sigh.....**

I know there are a lot of very good employees who work for the postal service, unfortunately none of those ones work at the North Pole branch....who's store motto is: "Neither thinking, nor reasoning, nor rational thought will interfere with us idling our way to retirement."

Ohhhh well, Adrian and I get the bikes ready and depart North Pole, beginning our trip home on Monday afternoon. 

 I took this photo on my way north...

 And here is the same place on my way south....

 Another comparo shot, north bound...

And south bound...

 One more northbound...

 South bound...

And a scenic pic.

More in part 7