We'll if finally made it. I'm tried today, I'd like to think it was the long ride from Florida, but more likely it was the beer and little sleep. But I'm here. Now it's time for a shower, I haven't had one in a few days,i give you a number but I can't remember. The girl at the visitor center highly recommended a hot springs for me the other day. That could have been a hint.
I had a great time at the music festival last night. I met a very hot looking med a vac pilot, but then her moose of a Yukon boyfriend showed up. As I didn't want to need her services professionally I slowly wondered off. I wound up talking to a couple fellow bikers from Colorado that where headed back home. Most of the bikers I meet are headed home. I may have missed the two weeks of summer. I did get a little bit of a late start as the parties go late here. They where still playing volleyball at 4:30 as it's still light.
The ride this morning has been a bit rough. The weathers is a bit cold and the roads is tore up due to frost heaves, what ever those are. There are large sections of gravel and large holes to avoid.
I have a few more hours ride to get to Alaska, but it's getting close.
I feel good but a bit tired.
Did a lot of miles today, trying to make it to Alaska tomorrow. The weather has been fantastic, cloudy and cool in the morning, sunny and warm in the afternoon. I made it north of whitehorse in the Yukon and found a music festival out in a field. So I set up camp and am heading over to the beer tent. The locals look friendly, but you never know how these will turn out. I'm not even sure what kind of music festival it is. I got here about 7:30 but when it doesn't get dark until 11:00 things start kind of late. It's close to 9:00 and people are still steaming in and setting up camp. I have a feeling out will be a late start tomorrow.
Had a great day riding today. Started out raining and cold, but the sun came out and the temp went up. By the end of the day the weather was perfect for riding. Hwy 37 takes you out into nowhere land. I've never seen wilderness like this before. To think trappers came out over a hundred years ago with no maps and no idea what they would find it's amazing to me.
I saw 4 bears and two moose today. I only got one picture of a bear, but you have to look hard. I stopped some distance back to take the photo, but than had to ride within 10 feet of him to get past.
I'm camped in an Indian reservation and hope to leave with my scalp. I hote to make it to the Yukon tomorrow, but distance is hard to gage up here.
I've been riding for about an hour now. The weather is cold and raining, but noting like the bone chilling cold of yesterday. Low hills and smooth roads.
I have become addicted to the visitor centers here. In the states we have them on the interstates each time you enter a new state. They cost millions to build and are staffed by retired folks that will give you a thing about KOA and that's about it.
Here they have one in every town over 1000 people. They are in small buildings and staffed by young and middle aged people that work for the government. They don't get paid much and work long hours, well long hours for Canada. The do get a good retirement package and free health care. I haven't met anyone that has anything bad to say about the quality of care they receive, then again everybody looks healthy up here.
The service they provide is excellent. The have all the pricing of hotels and camping, the give you road closers and weather, and they love to chat while I warm up. They'll give you free coffe if your cold or cold water if your hot. I can't say enough about how nice these folks are.
Well I've had my Mc Dee's coffe and free wi fi and I'm off.
I was looking over some of my earlier posts and have made some discoveries. 1. I'm not in Burns Lake AK I'm in Burns lake BC. MISSED IT BY A VERY BIG MILE
2. there are allot of miss spelled words. There are a few reasons for this.
A. I can't spell, so get over it.
B. I am very tired when I type this stuff and don't spend enough time proof reading.
C. The google thing I use to do these just makes up words.
So I read with an open mind and I hope you get the general idea
Also the picture thing is getting harder. When it's cold and raining everything (camera) are packed away. My hands are in big gloves and they are a bitch to put on, so I try not to take them off.
The reason I'm writing this is, it's a stalling thing. It's raining and cold and I'm low on enthusiasm to be wet and cold.
But time to jump in.
So today was the hardest day of riding yet. The weather was just nasty, cold, wet and it stayed that way. Finally after several hundred miles the weather started to improve. I wouldn't say it got nice, but at least it wasn't nasty anymore. The weather should be better tomorrow. Somewhere in. the high 50s. What's funny is It's 77 in fairbanks today, so I'll just keep pushing. I'm in Burns Lake AK. and I decided to do indoor camping tonight. I needed to sit in a hot tub to both warm myself back up, and to try to relax my back. I'm still days away from getting to Alaska, but I do feel like I'm getting closer. I also feel like I'm very far from home, and it's going to be a long way home. But that's for another day. Now I push on.
