04 Nov 2025 Northern exposure

By Mike Kemp

Twenty days and a little more than 9,000 miles is all it took to get two motorcycles to Alaska. Well, that and a ton of potholes, a hail storm and a bike that was dumped by a tornado, requiring a repair in a hotel parking lot.

Brothers Darrin Logan of Greenbrier and Brian Logan of Drasco set out on that trip in August, culminating a lifelong pursuit of good times on two wheels.

Their two-wheeled obsession began in elementary school when their parents tried to give them an incentive to bring up their grades. Darrin was struggling in conduct, while Brian needed to bring up his math grade. When their parents told them that if they could get A’s in those classes, they would get them each a motorcycle.

Turns out, Brian kept his end of the bargain with an A in math. Darrin? He got a C in conduct.

“My dad said, ‘(Brian) had to do some work, and all Darrin had to do was keep his mouth shut,’” Darrin said with a laugh.

True to their word, Brian was presented with a brand-new Honda XL 70. However, feeling some sympathy toward the younger son, they ended up getting him a used Honda CL 70, which took a little fixing up. “And my old bike would outrun his new bike,” Darrin said with a laugh.

They have traveled together before, with trips to Niagara Falls and other areas, but Brian had been harboring a desire to do an Alaskan trip on two wheels for a while. He had discussed it on trips with a longtime riding partner, Stan Williams, who succumbed to cancer in 2017.

Brian retired in 2021 and purchased a Yamaha Super Tenere adventure bike, and a year ago mentioned the idea to his brother. Despite being off motorcycles for 10 years, Darrin committed to doing a trip and purchased a BMW 1250 GS.

You can see the country any way you like, but there’s nothing like having the top off and seeing it all,” Darrin said. “It’s the most enjoyable thing I’ve ever experienced.”

Meeting in Clinton on Aug. 3, the two set their sights north. Powering through the Midwest up to Cody, Wy., the meat of the adventure began. The ride along the way included Chief Joseph Scenic Byway and Beartooth Highway, along with Glacier National Park and the famous Going to the Sun Road.

They continued north, crossing into Canada up to Lake Louise and then Jasper. They rode through the Icefields Parkway and the Columbia Icefield. They had planned on taking the Alaska-Canada Highway (also known as the ALCAN Highway) to Tok, Alaska, but a chance meeting with a rider from DesArc altered that course.

“There was a guy who told us that the ALCAN was tore up pretty bad, and so we decided to take the Top of the World Highway into Alaska,” Brian said. “I had wanted to do that, so we took it out of Whitehorse and went north.”

The duo ended up at one of the most remote border crossings between the Yukon and Canada. “They didn’t even check our passports,” Darrin said. “They said, ‘We never see anyone, so we’re just happy to see people.’”

He added that the road between Dawson City and Chicken, Alaska, was mostly gravel, and with the amount of uneven road surfaces, they were glad that they chose adventure motorcycles for the ride.

“I’ve never felt like I’ve been in a video game before this,” he said, noting the number of evasive maneuvers required while navigating the roads.

Along with the questionable conditions of the roads, the pair also encountered some weather extremes, which included narrowly missing a hail storm in Hungry Horse, Mont., and a tornado in North Battleford, Saskatchewan, with winds so extreme that Brian’s motorcycle was toppled in a hotel parking lot.

The motorcycle’s top box was knocked loose from its mounting bracket, which showed Brian’s level of preparedness. “Darrin comes down and says, ‘Now what are we going to do? We’re going to go down to Walmart to get ratchet (straps) and everything else.’ But I said, ‘No, I’ve already got all of this,” Brian said.

“He had everything in that dang saddlebag,” Darrin added.

Brian noted that he and his wife, Sherry, had gone through all of the scenarios they could think of and made sure to carry two of everything just in case.

“I had one pannier box that was nothing but tools,” he said. “I had two air compressors, two patch kits.”

“We carried camping equipment, just never had to use it,” Darrin said.

After a stop in Fairbanks for some scheduled motorcycle maintenance, they headed south for a loop through the interior of Alaska, which included Denali National Park, Wasilla, Palmer and Glenallen.

Darrin was initially disappointed during their trip through Denali, hoping to get a glimpse of the peak. After an overnight stay in Trapper Creek, Alaska, they were back on the road under foggy conditions the next day. At one point, however, he noticed some photographers by the road facing the opposite direction from their travel. When they turned around to ask what they were photographing, they realized the clouds had parted, giving a clear view of Denali.

“You wouldn’t have been able to see that in your motorcycle mirrors,” he said.

The return trip involved the ALCAN back into Canada, making sure that the route back was different than the one going to Alaska. “I wanted to go up one way and come back another,” Brian said. “I didn’t even plan a route back.”

The miles also allowed the brothers to bond in addition to meeting other travelers. Along the way, they met a rider riding from Colombia to the northernmost point in Alaska, a fellow Arkansan, and tourists from Belgium.

“I think my highlight was, of course, getting to do it with my brother, but the Canadian Rockies was really great,” Brian said. “The central part of Alaska was somewhere I hadn’t been. I kind of had an idea about it, but from Palmer to Glenallen was a lot of country I hadn’t seen. It’s really pretty through there.”

“My highlight was the rural crossing of the U.S. and Canadian border, probably the remoteness of the area,” Darrin said. “Man, there’s nothing there. I mean, there’s no homes, no residents. I mean, it’s all just rural.

“Seeing Denali on the day that we really didn’t plan on seeing it was … very eye-opening and pretty amazing to just get the opportunity to see it from several miles out.”

A trip away can also make you appreciate the little things back home, Darrin said. Noting the lack of Little Debbie cakes in the remote reaches of the Yukon and Alaska, he said, “I was glad to get back in the States and get an oatmeal pie!”