Loooong post

Today was amazing, the kind of good, sunny day we needed. This good:


This was taken at a pullout along Muncho Lake. I've never seen a body of water so large with hardly a ripple on it. Surreal.

But I feel like I'm getting ahead of myself...so much has happened, and I need to get it down before I lose it.

Day 18: Anchorage to Delta Junction
For some reason we had a brain fart and thought that Anchorage was the end of the Alaska Highway. Nope. Delta Junction is, so off we go. Yes, it's way out of the way and yes, it adds to our
saddle time, but hey, we've ridden farther for less.

It was a good start to the day, sunny and cool, and even the construction wasn't horrible to get through. It was weird, every time we stopped for a bite, the weather changed. After lunch at a mountaintop cafe, the weather cooled down drastically, and then the rain started turning it into another crappy day. We made it to Paxson, and couldn't take it anymore so stopped for soup and tea at the Paxson Lodge. Right after that the sky cleared up, and we had a great run along Summit Lake and down to Delta Junction.

Day 19: Delta Junction - Dawson City
OMG, what an awful day. Keith has touched on the ride a bit from his perspective. Here's mine:

Ugly.

The road from Tok to Dawson City is a variety of surfaces traversing a variety of terrains. Potholes. Loose gravel. Hard packed dirt. Loose dirt. Switchbacks. Steep hills. Soft shoulders. No shoulders. Rain. Cold. Fog. All of this experienced on tires and machine meant for asphalt, not off-road conditions.

You all know how much I love riding, love what it gives me. I told Keith at one point, that if I was told I could never ride again unless I did that road again, I would hand over my keys and walk away. I think he thinks I was kidding.

We hit Dawson City finally, and checked into the Whitehouse Cabins. Doug, the owner, recommended Klondike Kate's for dinner.... beer has never tasted so good!

Day 20: Dawson City
We decided to stay a day in Dawson City, and spent a drizzly but interesting day exploring the town and a steamboat graveyard that's slightly downriver. We managed to get one night in Whitehouse's restored Gold Rush cabin, which was heaven.

Day 21: Dawson City - Whitehorse
It was grey and misty when we left Dawson (quel surprise), but at some point the weather started to break, and by the time we were a few hours from Whitehorse the sky was blue and clear. We pulled into the Braeburn Lodge as we'd read about their world famous cinnamon buns. The thing was freaking huge:

Between the sugar rush, the warm sun, and the presence of smooth new blacktop, I was pretty giddy when we got into Whitehorse.

To be honest, I'm a bit sad to have gotten there and left when we did. My nephew, who lives in Halifax, is actually in the north for a canoe trip with his girlfriend, and we have just missed seeing them in Whitehorse by a few days. D'oh!

Day 22: Whitehorse - Watson Lake
The sun continued to shine as we did a highway run to Watson Lake, and got to the home of the Sign Post Forest just in time to find a hotel and go for a quick look around. It's kind of mind-boggling how many signs are there from all over the world. We actually found one from Punkeydoodle's Corners, a small spot near Keith's hometown:



Day 23: Watson Lake - Fort Nelson
Today was as perfect as the day to Dawson City was foul. Sunny, warm (the wool socks and long underwear have been packed!), it was a great day for riding. There was one stretch of highway where we saw buffalo grazing along the side of the road, calmly ignoring us as we passed oh so slowly.

We stopped for a bit at the Liard Hot Springs for a while to soak away some road twinges. It was surprisingly empty:


Actually, everywhere we've gone seems to be mostly empty. According to a lot of local we've talked to, the rising gas prices are really affecting tourism. On the one hand, we've felt that we've had a lot of places to ourselves, which is pretty cool. On the other, there are so many closed and closing businesses along the highway that it's very saddening.

Tomorrow sees us finishing the Alaska Highway, and we will likely stay in or around Dawson Creek, aka Mile 0.

We must be on our way home, gas is getting cheaper

The most we've paid for gas on this trip was $1.89 (that's about $7.55 a gallon for you Yanks). Last night's price for a fill up was $1.54 so the ride home (and to cheaper gas) is underway.

We rolled into Watson Lake around 6-ish last night. the first thing that caught our eye was the Sign Post Forest - over 66,000 and counting.


So much to tell; the Ride From Hell, Dawson City, how punchy riding on smooth pavement with sunshine made me.

But it's getting on in the morning, and we're off soon to Fort Nelson. Going to try for another Internet location tonight, and will update then. There are more pics posted on Flickr.

Hope everyone is doing well!

Top O' The World To Ya!

The next day was, as you can guess, overcast and rainy as we set out south to Tok (all roads lead to Tok).
The road is of passable paved quality and reminds me a lot of Newfoundland.
Pavement bordered by a cleared section of brush then some dense woods off to the sides.
And just as in NFLD, Moose would come out to the road to wave to us!
They were just young ones but still commanded some respect as they are still MUCH larger than a bike and rider!
We paused in Tok for fuel and tried to get some info on the route to Dawson city via Chicken.
Of the 2 routes to choose from, south was the construction mess we negotiated a week ago or across the Top of the World Highway.
We chose the unknown route and off to Dawson we go.
The Taylor Highway is a "paved" road that stretches the description "Highway"just a tad.
Back road, more like!
The 100 or so km to Chicken passed through, what we later found out, was about 2 million acres of burned out forest.
That's SOME campfire!
It was clear from the map that the road from Chicken to the border was "unpaved secondary" but the rain had made it, shall I say, challenging!
There is an amusing egg shaped sign just off the highway at Chicken saying...
"I got laid in Chicken"
But after that amusement...80km of narrow, twisting, turning ,climbing and diving slickness!!!!
The ST1100 seemed to work well at about 65KMH but Kats bike was a bit more of a handful and required a more conservative pace.
There were few places to pull over so the ride became not as much a short term technical trial but a long term marathon!
You could not really let your concentration laps for a second so we were a bit wrecked by the time we reached the border.
After a long up hill grade to the customs post, we had become cloaked in thick , thick fog!
"The road is better from here on" was the encouragement from the guard
What road?
I had to concentrate on a patch of yellow lined pavement about 10' ahead of me.
I'm sure the view was outstanding but the visibility left that to the imagination.
This is where I find riding the hardest and my hope was as we descended, things would clear up.
Finally we drove out of the fog and began to enjoy the pavement, and the view.
The road wound between large rolling hills and the rain had stopped and the sun was attempting a coup.
Then, more gravel! Not the worst kind, just hard packed surface with a sprinkle of small stones.
Cakewalk!
Eventually we were treated to a sign welcoming us to Dawson City and the final downgrade to the ferry.
Doug, the guy we had booked a cabin in Dawson from, had said "see you in 6 hrs" when we called from Tok.
6 hrs?!It can't take THAT long!
But it did and then some!
Kat was very pleased to see that the cabin with the old style claw foot tub was available so we stayed in a room for the first night and moved to the cabin for the second.
Unlike the polished well heeled Skagway, Dawson City has more of the authentic frontier feel.
A lot of the original buildings have been brought up to modern standards and still stand as a salute to the past.
As a small diversion from riding, we hiked out into the bush on a little traveled path to have a look at 6 1800's paddle wheel boats that had been pulled ashore at the beginning of the 1900's.
It was very strange to pick and poke around the hulls and boiler bits that remained of the hard working vessels from the past.
The forest was slowly taking the broken hulls back to their origins.
Rear wheel paddle boats were perfect for work on the fairly shallow Yukon River, just like on the Mississippi.
There is a beautifully restored boat at the foot of Front Street.
Pics will be provided.
Back to the cabin and it's steak and mushrooms on the barbi as we see another 11pm sunset.

Back to the beginning...

Even though we have decided not to go to the Kenai or Denali, we thought that if we have come this far, we should go t the start or end of he Alaskan highway.
So it's off to Delta Junction on a reasonably dry and partly clear day.
It's a fairly uneventful trip with the usual rain as we head into the hills.
There was one stop at a roughly built "lodge" in the middle of nowhere for a bowl of the best homemade beef noodle soup.
Ahhhhhhh...nice and warm too!
We stopped in Delta for the usual tourist photos at the highway marker.
Met a French family that were traveling in a European camper style trailer and had traveled through Europe,South America, Australia, North America and more,
The camper is shipped by boat and they meet it and continue on.
Cool!
Accommodations were found about 15km south of Delta at the Silver Fox.
Nice cozy cabin with a kitchen and sleeping "loft"
OK...it's basically a hunters cabin but well priced and quiet.

Hark! What light through yonder window breaks?

We're in our room in Anchorage, and look outside the window to see something we've not seen for a few days:

Sun.

Since we left Tok, it's been rather gray and gloomy. There's been some rain, but thankfully it's not really been when we've been riding. The worst it's been was on the ride through Thompson Pass into Valdez.

I cannot begin to tell you how much that sucked. Cold. Wet. Misty. And then foggy. Pea soup foggy, so bad that my visor misted up. I lost Keith's taillights in the fog, and had to pull over. The reptile brain started a minor (ok, ok, major) freak out, but the rest of my brain had no time for it. I turned on the four ways, and headed down. It felt like forever until it cleared up enough for me to see Keith up ahead. From there it was an easy descent past a lovely waterfall into Valdez and a warm shower.


Soooo tired of being cold. Right after the warm shower, we headed to a local outfitters and bought long underwear and wool socks. Now I still get cold, but it takes longer.

We stayed in Valdez two nights, giving us the day to go on a cruise around Prince William Sound. Even the gray chill of the day could not take away from how gorgeous that spot is. Captain Amanda got us in quite close to the terminal moraine of the Columbia Glacier...it's quite a feeling to be going that slow among ice chunks that big, feeling them thump against the side of the boat as it edged it's way closer. The blue of the ice is quite startling, and the sound of the ice popping is like hearing the snap crackle pop of your morning cereal.


After the glacier, the cruise took us around an island where Stellar sea lions congregate and puffins nest. A pair of humpback whales, a cow and her calf, surfaced a few times and gave us a show. A quartet of Dalls porpoises played with the boat, racing out along the bow, crisscrossing and surfacing.

A pretty damn good day.

I was a bit nervous leaving through the pass the next morning (Monday, I think, the days are running together), having decided i don't like fog AT ALL, but it wasn't too bad. It was a pretty uneventful run to Anchorage...cold, grey, gloomy but with amazing scenery.

We stopped for lunch at a cafe in Glenallen that had some pretty funny tee shirts:

Alaskan Men: the odds are good but the goods are odd.

Alaskan Highway Survivor. Out Drive. Out Bump. Out Spend.

Out bump indeed. Frost heaves and thaw bulbs do some pretty interesting things to asphalt, let me tell you. And out spend...good lord, we'll be paying for this trip longer than we anticipated. It's weird though; it's a place where a grilled cheese sandwich will set you back eight bucks (!) and yet my specialized hair product is two thirds the cost compared to home.

File it under life mystery.

Anchorage is bigger than we expected, and we took an extra day here to explore a bit. Today we went to the Ulu Factory and picked up one to take home, then we went to see the guys at AK Rider Motorcycle Tours for a bit. They have tours planned for next year that look intriguing...two weeks in Peru or India sound pretty damn interesting.

The highlight for the day was a visit to Ravens Brew Coffee. Keith called them in the morning, and even though we were informed that they were not retail, Nate, the Alaskan district manager, told us to come on down for a tour. He took about an hour out of his day and not only made us a killer cup of joe, but showed us around the roastery and loaded us up with coffee and swag. He's our new best friend *grin.

I am now the very proud owner of a Deadmans Reach Coffee tee shirt. The tag line is “served in bed, wakes the dead”. Oh so appropriate.

Tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, and we're off to Delta Junction to Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. There will be a small stop at a musk ox farm in Palmer so I can buy a ball of what will likely be the most expensive yarn I will ever knit with, but after having felt how soft qiviut is, I have to have some. I have no idea what I'll make with it. Yet.

Route Maps:
Day 14: Tok, AK - Valdez, AK
Day 16: Valdez, AK - Anchorage, AK

What day IS it?

I must apologize for the confusion with the dates and tour "days".
We don't get internet access every day and sometimes it's 2 or 3 days until we post.
By that time there is the usual confusion about what was seen where and when.
The fact is that I don't wear my watch because , who cares what day it is?
So we will try to keep the posts in consecutive order of time but the dates may be a bit off.
Today, we are still in Valdez and have booked a tour by boat to see the Prince Rupert Sound.
I want to see what all the fuss is about concerning these bits of ice falling into the water...:)

Valdez...Is that you Juan?

The morning of August 2 and is sunny and mostly clear!
Joy of joys....SUNSHINE!
We have heard that this is the oldest and wettest summer in decades so we feel quite privileged to see the sun.
The breakfast of Belgian waffles sets our mood as we head out of Tok.
The road is unusually flat, smooth and straight and we bask in the comfort of the warm sunshine.
I can even see my own shadow!
One must enjoy what one can get as ,off in the distance the mountains coax us along, and we know that with mountains comes change.
Change in temperature, change in the view, change in the weather and change in the road surface.
There will be 2 passes to negotiate before landing in Valdez, terminus of the Alaskan oil pipeline.
The route to the first pass takes us passed Mount Drum.
This is a 12,000' high, snow covered peak that really says "No,no...I'm a mountain. The rest are just hills"
Can't wait to see Danali!
The first pass is , again, one of the gentle passages through the mountains and doesn't offer much drama.
That's OK by me!
However, the next pass is somewhat different.
The steady up hill climb leads us ,once again, into a cold, wet and deeply overcast world.
No sweat!
Done it before.
Cakewalk!
Ahhh...no...not this time.
Just as we top the pass and I realize that the snow is beside me, not above me, the clouds consume us in a thick blanket of gray.
It's very difficult to see the lines on the road and Kat's headlight is swallowed up by the gloom.
I have no idea what's ahead but the road is now on a fairly sharp downgrade and stopping is probably a bad idea.
Taking it easy but keeping a reasonable pace,I pick my way down through the fog hoping Kat can see my brake lights.
Not so smart now are we?
Finally, as expected, the fog starts to clear as I come into lower altitude and I safely pull off onto the verge.
Kat is nowhere to be seen!
The thought of turning back up into the pass is not comforting but...ahhh...here she comes now.
All good!
Seems that not only the fog was causing problems but her face shield had fogged up as well compounding the problem.
The rest of the way was a clear if not dry ride through a beautiful canyon with the "Bridal veil Falls" was our reward.
So here we are in Valdez and no Juan in sight.