You get your motor running, you head out on the highway — a giant black bear appears from nowhere, rears itself on its hind legs, and won’t let you past.Sound unlikely? Not if your motor is running in the Arctic Circle.This was one of the many experiences motorcycle enthusiast Tony Paynter has had while looking for adventure in Alaska this month with friend Larry Durner.“The black bear stood in the middle of the road and didn’t want to move,” said Mr Paynter, speaking to The Royal Gazette from Anchorage, Alaska. “We tooted the horn to get him moving. Larry was in front and he revved his engine and the bear finally decided to cross the road, on his own time. They own the road up here.”Every summer Mr Paynter and Mr Durner motorcycle across some part of the United States. This is Mr Paynter’s 46th state and Mr Durner’s 50th. Mr Durner lives in Colorado Springs, and Mr Paynter keeps his, BMW r1200 GSA Adventure motorcycle at Mr Durner’s house during the year.The bikes are equipped with lots of storage and a fuel tank that will carry nine gallons, which can take them more than 300 miles. So far they have travelled 6,000 miles and they can anticipate riding a total of 10,000 miles by the time the trip is finished.“We rode the whole length of the Alaska-Canadian (ALCAN) Highway which is 1,400 miles,” said Mr Paynter. “A lot of it is paved, but a lot of it is rough from cold weather causing the asphalt to buckle. Miles of it is dirt road. Luckily, the GSA motorcycles are built for that. It is very scenic in places, and we ran into a bit of the wildlife.”So far they have seen the bears, buffalo, four moose, caribou and red deer. Mr Paynter said spotting moose wasn’t always easy as they were travelling at 65 miles per hour. By the time they stopped to take a better look the moose had usually disappeared into the trees, as they are shy creatures.He said so far the weather has been great, although the day we spoke the temperature had fallen into the 50s. At one point they stopped for the night in Coldfoot, a little camp that the workers used to live in when they were building the highway.“That was an experience in itself,” said Mr Paynter. “They had converted single wide trailers into a hotel. We paid $200 a night for a room 10 ft by 20ft, if that. You pay their price, or sleep in the trees.”They carry sleeping bags with them, but Mr Paynter said he wasn’t keen to sleep in the woods with all the bears around. At this time of year Alaska has 24 hours of daylight. Luckily, the hotels have dark curtains in the windows.“At midnight, it is like 4pm in the afternoon,” said Mr Paynter. “The trouble is, you forget the time of day. You are up at 11pm or 12pm not thinking that it is that time. You are thinking that it is early afternoon. They claim you get used to it.”Mr Durner said that sometimes the ALCAN highway could be a bit boring to travel along. But he said what made the trip were the people.“From a positive standpoint the people here are just marvellous,” said Mr Durner. “The most exciting moment on this trip so far were some of the bad roads. That was not a positive thing. You really have to work at it. There are a lot of bad roads when you are north of Fairbanks.”In the future the pair hope to ride across Europe, and maybe even across Australia.