When I left Fairbanks for the final push north, it seemed that anything that could try to stop me would. The bike started missing and would’nt go, I was about 70 k’s out, I drained the fuel and eventualy got it going again with fuel from my jerry can, I then headad back to fuel up as there is only one fuel station in 820 k’s. There I met up with Flo and Micha, they were looking for me, so we headed north together, then I had some electrical problems, it was the cut out switch on the side stand playing up, after that I got a rear wheel puncture, fortunately Flo and Micha were there so we could pick up the bike to remove the wheel and repair it. We headed on and camped at Coldfoot where we met up with Ingo, another German also about to head south, so we were 4, next day we headed over the Brookes mountains, that is when the weather changed, it became freezing and started raining, the road turned to mush and was realy slippery, with my smooth tyres it was a challenge, they all had new conti TKC 80 nobly tyres. I just had to hang in and hope for the best, we eventualy made Prudhoe Bay, found a hotel, closed our eyes and paid the money to stay there, it is a realy cold place way north of the arctic circle and the sun does not set, kind of wierd, 24 hour light. All meals were included in the price, so we realy pigged out and took sponsered food for the trip back. The arctic ocean is still frozen so we could not swim, so I got fotos on the ice. Prudhoe is a dry town so there was no beer to be had anywhere, that was disapointing so we had to wait till we got back. We were realy lucky with the wildlife that we saw, moose with twin calfs, musk oxen, cariboo heards, bald eagles, dall sheep and other stuff. The Tundra landscape also has a beauty of its own, it is harsh and unforgiving and yet nice. The trip back was a breeze, no rain so the road was hard, sunshine so it was warm especialy once over the pass, so we did the whole trip back in one, about 9 hours, some low flying. We also met other bikers heading up there, I think it will be raining today so they may have some fun. The James Dalton highway is the haul road for trucks and material to and from the oilfields, the oil is pumped by pipeline to Valdez on the other side of Alaska near Anchorage, about1500 k;s away through arctic conditions, a real challenge. So what now? I am now on vacation, a bit more of Alaska and then fly back, should arrive on the 24 th. Then try to become normal again, another challenge! So now off to the botanical gardens. I DID IT !!!!!!! YEA HAAAAAA.