Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

Today has been a good day, a restful day...

Our first day off so far (we've only been travelling for 3 days, but the Dalton was tiring), it was a day to take it easy... after all, there's not much to do in Deadhorse...

I had intended to start the day at midnight, looking out over the ocean at the midnight sun – due to the way the earth is tilted, in summer the poles angle towards the sun, and parts of the arctic circle, including Deadhorse, get 24 hours of daylight as the sun never sets – but I must have been tired as I slept soundly from 8.30pm right through until 6.20am... Getting up and showered quickly so I could get onto my laptop and see if Tracy was online, I had yet another coughing fit (I'd woken myself up in the night coughing loudly, but fortunately, not loudly enough to disturb Jim who was snoring gently at the other side of the room). When I managed to stop convulsing, I noticed Tracy had just come online, and so my day started just perfectly, being able to see her smiling face and chat a while about this and that (and to see the kittens snuggled up in their bed, and be properly introduced to them via the webcam). She mentioned that she was going out again tomorrow, and with me heading back to Coldfoot Camp (no Internet access) and her going away to Centre Parcs with the boys on Friday (not sure of the Internet access there) this might be the last chance we get to speak to one another for a while... but it was lovely, and reminded me that even after 7 years together and 2 years of being married, I'm still a lovestruck teenager inside an old man's body...

But enough of this softy stuff, and back to the hardcore adventure biker and his travels...

When Tracy had gone and I'd eaten the cereals Jim had thoughtfully brought from the restaurant knowing I would miss breakfast whilst being all lovey-dovey, I put on my bike gear and went out with Nick and Al in search of fuel and some bits-and-bobs from the general store. We found the fuel eventually, largely because Al had been there before, and filled up the bikes following the complex instructions inside the un-manned hut next to the pumps. We then rode around the dirt roads of Deadhorse for what seemed like a week looking for the general store cum post-office. With all the buildings looking the same – prefabricated flat-roofed shacks – and no roadsigns to help, we eventually gave in and asked someone for directions. Inside the store I managed to find what I was looking for – a couple of postcards (one for Mum, one for Nikki, but it'll be a while before they arrive!), some stickers for the bike (of course!), a fridge magnet (naturally), some cough sweets and some American paracetamol (which is known here as acetaminophen) and some liquorice flavoured altoid mints (because I saw them, and I like mints and liquorice).





With our shopping done, it was time to head back to the Inn to get ready for our tour of the oil field. Only on the way out, I'd spotted what looked like the perfect photo opportunity, so naturally we had to stop and take the picture. It's for all those who say that BMW GS motorcycles are agricultural...





Back at the hotel we got changed into our civvies and met up with the rest of the group in the “Tour Room” to watch an informative 20 minute video on oil production in Alaska, all about how the oil was extracted with the minimum of environmental damage, how it was piped to Valdez with the minimum of environmental damage, how it was then transported further afield with the minimum of damage in a fleet of new oil tankers fitted with double-skinned hulls, etc... and no mention at all of the Exxon Valdez which ran aground on a reef in Prince William Sound in 1989, spilling over 40 million litres of crude oil, causing a huge amount of “environmental damage”...

Suitably brainwashed, we then mounted the tour bus for our trip round the area. We had to pass through security as the ocean-front is “owned” by BP, and then learnt about the special trucks they have that can cross the tundra surveying for new oil deposits without causing any environmental damage as they run on huge balloon tyres inflated to just 4-6psi... I took a picture because my brother likes stuff like this...(this one's for you, Mike!):





Then we passed some buildings which house the oil heads, pumping oil and natural gas out of the ground (around a mile deep and from a radius of 2-3miles using a combination of horizontal and vertical drills), and then pipes them to other buildings where they eventually find their way into the Alaskan pipeline that runs for 800 miles to the ice-free port of Valdez (all this education, isn't it wonderful!)... here's a picture to show you what they look like...





This excitement was topped by the sight of a Snow Owl, watching our tour bus go past...





Quite what he'd have made of what happened next is anyone's guess. As I mentioned yesterday, it is something of a Globebuster's tradition to swim naked in the oceans at the start and end of the Trans Am. Not sure why, but I think it has a lot to do with Kevin's desire to get naked at every conceivable opportunity, coupled with the impact it has on the oil workers and the tour bus guide, who are horrified at the very thought. So we drove to the side of the Arctic Ocean, and the bus disgorged its contents of giggling middle-aged (and older) passengers onto the shale shorefront and we wobbled up the “beach” for about 50 yards until close to the water's edge. And then stripped off, ran in, lost both my shoes in the gloopy, dirty mud that formed the ocean bed and went for a “swim” (which was actually more like a splash around for 5 seconds, before trying to find my shoes and get back out again). The following pictures are not pretty, and are included here purely for journalistic reasons. I won't point out who is who to avoid embarrassment, but most of the group participated in some way or another...








Quickly dried and dressed and back on the bus, it was a quieter, less excitable group who arrived back at the Inn and ready for a warm shower...

With the rest of the day and evening to kill, I took advantage of the time to write the postcards, fix my tail-light (one of the screw posts had broken, so I glued it back together) and update the blog, unsure of when I'll next get chance. Soon it'll be time to eat again, and I've a book to read, so it'll be a relaxing evening before we head South tomorrow... who knows, I might even be awake at midnight to see the midnight sun...