CTR FiNANCiAlS

By Cindy Bennett, Member #4170

It was with great excitement that we watched the first of the re-born Compass Expeditions overseas trips commence in June. We had done the inaugural True North Alaska in 2019 and sadly due to pandemic issues Compass temporarily closed their doors, but luckily for us only temporarily!

Our good friends Peter and Michele from Bega were on this trip and Michele set up a private FB group for her friends to follow the trip. We were very excited for them, as this trip has everything for an adventure rider. Excellent scenery and roads, great food (think American diner breakfasts, yum) and acceptable coffee! Of course we watched the weather with interest, as that is highly variable this far north where you cross the Arctic Circle.

The pics we saw of Peter and Michele’s brought back fabulous memories for us, and even though they couldn’t do the sight-seeing flight over the Denali Range due to bad weather, they still saw unique and amazing scenery and wildlife. While perusing one of the group shots from this trip we recognised another couple of good mates who we rode Africa with. They are New York based and rode their own bikes up to Alaska to join the trip (Kathy on a Harley!!)

The perfectly camouflaged bike below (a V-Strom?) shows the problem with the wet roads and calcium chloride used to quell the dust - and why you hire bikes up there so someone else can wash them. Even Richard “I last washed a bike in 1978, at gun-point” Maher would have to unroll the hose and sacrifice someone’s Armani crepe-cady blouse with back drawstring for this one.