Alaska Trip Day 29 thru 35

Well, the motorcycle fairies didn’t come last night. Damn fairies anyway. The plan is to pull start my bike, load up and make a run for it. We’re staying with my dad tonight in Portland, maybe we can figure something out. I get it started and about half loaded when it dies. Crap!!   Plan B, now that I’m loaded, we’ll pull start it and I just take off and let Dan catch up. We have no cell phone bars here so hopefully we can at least get somewhere to make a call. I get started and haul ass. I only get a few miles before it dies again, the battery sucked dry of any power. I wait for Dan to catch up. I find out that after I took off, he didn’t store the tie down strap well and it ended up getting sucked into his rear wheel. He’s lucky as hell he didn’t crash. He did lose a rear turn signal in the process though.

So, here we are stuck in the middle of nowhere. Plan C, we pull me to the nearest town. Sounds simple enough. We’re using a tie down strap which is not very long, I’m only 3 feet behind him. At 30 mph that is not fun. My battery is so dead I can’t even turn on my emergency flashers. We find a comfort (?) zone in 2′nd gear. To make matters more interesting we come upon several road construction areas that are necked down to one lane with a traffic signal, making us slow down and sometimes stop. Getting started again is never smooth and upshifting isn’t any better, it tended to yank me in strange directions, the rope was not dead center on either bike, it would pull my front left and Dan’s rear right.

That was probably the scariest 10-12 miles of the trip. I’d almost do the Campbell road construction again over that. We roll into a small town and pull into a gas station. We have bars now so Dan calls AAA. These guys are the best in the world. Once we got them on the phone, they took care of everything. They called a tow truck and found a dealership in Olympia to take it to. We try to get ahold of Dad and walk down to a restaurant for breakfast.

About an hour later the tow truck shows up along with the rain. They have a neat little unit for loading bikes. They have a 4 wheeled dolly that they secure your front tire in, then just pull the dolly onto the truck. Ot at least that’s how it’s supposed to work. It took a few tries to get the bike up and on the truck and secured. The driver wasn’t happy about one of the tiedowns and wanted to adjust it. I saw the one he was going to do but couldn’t stop him in time. Now my bike is laying on it’s side threatening to fall completely off the truck. Another 20 minutes later it’s back up and secured with no visible damage. It’s an adventure bike after all

We get to the dealership in Olympia about 15 minutes before they open. As the truck pulls in, a guy meets me at the truck. He’s wearing leathers, I think he was the manager or owner. He immediately call over a forklift and picks the bike off the truck and rushes it inside. “This guy is on the road, he comes first.” I like this guy already. Before opening time the bike is diagnosed. The stator is fried. Bad news. Shops don’t usually have spare stators for Vstroms laying around. I had planned on having a new rear tire put on in Portland, might as well have that done here as well. They don’t have a tire that will fit in stock, they’d have to red label one to get here the same time all the OTHER red label parts will show up, ending up being a $250. tire. No thanks. We talk to dad and he’ll pick up a tire for me on the way up to come get us. This is Saturday and the parts won’t be here until Tuesday. Looks like we’ll be spending a little more time with Dad than planned.

It’s extremely fortunate for me that this happened here. Had the stator failed in Canada or god forbid Alaksa I could have been stuck for a long time, even stranded in the middle of the tundra with no AAA. Just the fact that Dad was in the area was luck. Dad and his wife Barb live in Yuma (retired) and travel during the summer months in their 5′th wheel. They usually spend a month or two up here, we’re all originally from this area.

We spend the next 3 days relaxing, going down to my mom’s in Albany Or. for a suprpise breakfast with her and my oldest brother Terry.

Tuesday all looks to be going as planned and Dan and I hop on the Tiger to ride back up to Olympia. The most painful 2 hrs I’ve ever spent on a bike. Honestly, I don’t know how passengers do it. The pegs are so high I feel like I’m having a gynocological exam. We stopped a couple of times to let me stretch and I’d more or less fall off the bike. We leave the delaership around 3:00 p.m., me $572. poorer. We have to stop at Dad’s again to pack up and then head for Mom’s to spend the night.

At Mom’s we have to go over our route home. We still have time to get home by Friday, but Lake Tahoe and Yosemite State park are no longer possible. It’s pretty much haul ass straight down the 5 all the way home. That sucks. Been there, done it many many times.

We stop in Springfield for breakfast and decide to look at the maps again. We may not be able to see all we wanted, but do we really have to slab it the whole way? From here we can cut over the mountain, go the Klammath Falls and meet up with the 5 in weed. Mountains and 2 lane sound much better than freeway.

Finally, pictures again.  Going past Dexter reservoir, or is this Lookout Point reservoir? There’s a dam in the distance. Typical Oregon weather..

After Willamette Pass the sun comes out.

Pretty

Opper Klamath Lake

Back on the 5 it’s south past Lake Shasta which is pretty scenic. I’ve never seen the lake so low before. We stopped at a nice campground on the Sacramento river. I can’t remember the town. Somewhere north of Sacramento.

Our last night was planned staying in the Sequoia National Forest and it looks like we can still do it. I dont think either one of knew anything about it, it was just a spot on the map to us.

We take off on Hwy 99 out of Sacramento in the morning. In Fresno we turn off and head East. But first it’s time to shed some layers. We’re back in California, and it’s frickin HOT! Time to strip down to nothing and open up every vent on the jacket and pants. Up into the mountains we head. With less traffic, we could have had alot of fun. Lot’s of tight corners, just the way I like ‘em. 2′nd gear all the way and despite being loaded up, these bikes still corner awesome. At the park, there’s a toll booth. They want money just to drive thru the park? Are you kidding? They’re pretty proud of this place…  Like I said, we didn’t know a thing about this place. Once inside it’s quite a site.

Our last night on the road and we’re in bear country again. Seriously? We didn’t have to ride 4000 miles north to see bears and deer? Shit!

In the morning we have the roads to ourselves, nobody is around this early. Hell, it’s not even light yet. There’s a new one.. We stop at the largest tree in North America (?)  and learn about the Sequoia’s. They never die of old age so some are almost 3000 years old. The only thing that kills them is disease and falling over.

A walkway thru a fallen tree.

There it is, the big one.

And another one. They’re not the tallest, but for sheer volume they are bigger than the redwoods.

Illegally parked. Shhh don’t tell anyone.

The road down was a blast. Except for the dumbass in the SUV that took a corner in our lane. We were tempted to turn around and chase his ass down.

Well, that concludes the pictures. From here it was a non stop run to Temecula and Dan’s house. I guess this is the part where I get philosophical and look back on the journey. It was an amazing adventure to be sure. Filled with the spectrum of experiences both good and bad. Fear and accomplishment. The sheer scope of the trip is what I think about. Riding north for 17 days straight to the farthest point you can go thru amazing and isolated country. Seeing another way of life, the people of the far north.  It was almost a trip back in time to a simpler life. Where people earn their life every day thru hard work in a harsh environment.

Testing myself and my riding skills. Facing unknown roads and conditions. Never quitting or diverting to the easier paths. Living for 5 weeks with only what you can carry on a bike. And sharing it with my brother.

Thanks for reading along,

Jeff

Alaska Trip Day 28

I can’t remember much about today. We’re running on very little sleep and we have to catch another ferry today at the south end of Vancouver island. It’s a little over 300 miles. All was uneventful until getting to Victoria. Due to poor signage we took a circuitous route to the ferry. Why are big cities so difficult to navigate? So we didn’t have any directions, big deal. You know the ferry is on the water, right? So just go straight until you hit water and hang a right..  Sounds simple enough.

Here we are in Victoria on the ferry awaiting departure.

I”ve been here a few times, a very pretty city. The Empress Hotel is a familiar landmark.

There’s a gazzilion sea planes coming and going.

Interesting drawbridge in the background.

The straights of Juan De fuca. I’ve sailed this crossing several times. The ferry is much faster and smoother

Coming up on Port Angeles.

At the border crossing after the ferry (back in the USA!!) The guard took one look at the front of my bike and asked if I had left any insects alive. It was pretty gross, It hadn’t been cleaned since Fairbanks.

From there we head out of town. The plan is to find a campground somewhere along the Hood Canal. We had originally planned to go the outside route down the peninsula but many things have changed. The day is getting late and we’ve passed 6 or 7 campgrounds. When we do finally pull into 1, it’s full. We go back a few miles and check the last one passed and it’s full too. Crap!!  Might as well keep going south and keep our eyes peeled for anything. We find a small campground/RV park and pick out a site. We have to ride back up the road 100 yds or so to check in at the office. When I start my bike, the starter didn’t turn over as fast as it should and I get a sick feeling. After checking in, my bike won’t start and Dan’s already gone. There is a nice steep hill and I get it bump started easily. I get back to the camp and tell Dan that if I shut off my bike, it won’t start again. I can’t leave it running all night so I have to kill it.

I had noticed earlier in the day that if I turned on my heated grips (which still aren’t working) tht the lights on my cruise control would dim. Interesting,but not in a good way. All I can do tonight is pull the fairing and disconnect the cruise and grips. Maybe there’s a short somewhere that’s draining the battery. Afterwards we try to push start it out on the road but it’s too hard. Out comes the Tiger for a pull start. I get it going and pull off the seat to check my charging voltage. Good thing I brought that V.O.M. meter eh?

The bad news is it’s only charging around 10.5 volts. That’s not just bad, but REALLY bad. There’s nothing left to do tonight but hope the motorcycle fairies come in the night and chase off the gremlins..

Alaska Trip Day 27

We have an early morning Ferry to catch today. We break camp in the cold wet fog. My helmet is so fogged up I can’t see a damn thing. The bitch of breaking camp in a hurry is you’re all sweaty when you get on the bike, and if you wear glasses, the next half hour is just trying to cool down and control your breathing to stop the fogging. Wearing a face mask only makes it worse.

This day is the keystone of the entire trip. Everything has been planned forwards and backwards from this ferry trip. It only runs every other day so missing it will totally screw us. We make the terminal and get loaded up. If you value your bike, you’ll bring your own tiedowns. All they supply is twine.

 

As you can see, it’s pretty wet on deck. You have the option of setting up your tent on the upper deck if you like, and have a good deal of duct tape.

We opted for a cabin. First order of business is a nice hot shower. Then we venture up and discover we’ve woken up in Germany. 98% of the passengers today are German. Kinda weird.. They must do some serious advertising in Europe.

It’s cold and breezy outside, but all the inside seating is taken right now. At least all the good seats. Dan hangs out for a bit, but I’m freezing so I wander around inside and wait for the breakfast seating to clear out a bit. I snag an awesome window booth and park there until Dan comes back inside.

About an hour or so out I notice the ferry start to slow. Hmm, curious.. Within minutes one engine goes down, and then the other. This can’t be good. The announcement over the intercom tells us we’ve suffered a “major fuel leak” on the main engine. This is rapidly declining from not good to fiery death ?!?

They’re going to try a quick fix, which is good. We’re drifting in the middle of the channell which isn’t terribly wide.

45 minutes later they give the engine a try and shut it right back down. Apparently the quick fix didn’t hold, so now they’re going to drop anchor and give the long fix a shot. A coast Guard boat shows up.

I hope he’s not planning on towing us anywhere…

Boats come and go and eventually a bigger Coast Guard ship shows up to watch us gently swing on the anchor chain.

a lumber barge lumbers by..

After around 2 1/2 or 3 hrs we eventuyally get going again. Our original arrival time of 11:00 p.m. in Port Hardy has been knocked back a bit.

Dan had gone below decks for a nap and shows up after we get going again. It’s a little warmer outside, time for a picture or two. It must have taken 10 minutes for the Bavarian hottie to wander into my picture

Vie geights Fraulein?

There were about 5 points of interest along the route, mostly abandoned fishing or mining towns.

This one is not abandoned, a lighthouse. More like a light beacon.

At one point I tried to take a nap, but every frickin 8 year old kid on the boat is playing tag in  the hallways on the cabin deck. After an hour of fruitless attempts to sleep I give up. I might have had better luck if I hadn’t been trying to time in my head the best opportunity to swing my cabin door open and catch one of the little hellions in full stride…  “oh damn… Sorry little buddy, I didn’t hear you….”   Hehehehe.

When the time finally comes to disembark we hurry to the car deck and get ready to go. There are multiple tour busses and we’re all going to the same Hotel. We’re positioned to be one of the first off, right after a mammoth personal coach. This thing was HUGE!!  2 story 2 million dollar edifice to the gluttony of man. Our only hitch is dumnass drunk on a cruiser that’s been pounding Heinekens for 14 hours. Of course his bike won’t start, and wants to to give him a push start. Alright, brotherhood of bikers and all that crap we do our duty and give it a go. The rear tire only slides on the steel decks when we try to get him started twice. Now we’re at the bottom of the ramp going up. Brotherhood and all, there’s no way we’re pushing him up the ramp. We leave him in the capable hands of the crew and head out in chase of the caravan of tour busses. We manage to get by them all in the darkness and make it to the Hotel first. Weget checked in, but as we’re getting our gear off the bikes the herd shows up. There’s only one hallway to our room and it’s packed tight with dozens of germans who could care less that they’re blocking our way. Crap! It must be 2:30 a.m. by now and we’re getting up at our usual 5:00 a.m. We have to ride all of Vancouver Island tomorrow and catch another ferry across to Port Angeles. Sleep deprivation seems to be the theme today.

Overall it was a very relaxing day, a day off the bikes just watching the scenery go by. Saw lots of whales and dolphins and read an entire novel. I’ve definitely got a feeling of being on the downhill side of the trip. Tomorrow we’ll be back in the states. We still have some fun ahead, taking our time going thru Lake Tahoe and Yosemite State Park. But still, we’re leaving Canada behind.

Alaska Trip day 26

This morning we’re heading back down this wonderful corridor back to the junction. This is one section I don’t mind riding twice.

A bit of morning fog in the trees

I believe this is called Horseshoe glacier

BAck out to the Cassier Highway for a ways, then back west to the coast again. Today’s route is like a big horseshoe. As the crow files it’s probably 200 miles, but the road is closer to 300. From the junction with the 16, the road follows a river all the way to the coast, with a short overland strecth into Prince Rupert.

A pit stop at a roadside rest area. Very green and peaceful

One of those wow shots.

Another wow.

Our campground in Prince Rupert. The whole campground is perched on the side of a hill, the only flat spot put both of our tents touching. I had to put the rainfly on inside out to put the door on this side of the tent.

Tomorrow we have a long ferry ride to Port Hardy at the northern tip of Vancouver Island. We go scout out the ferry terminal, we have to be there very early in the morning. We also hit a bank to get a little more money and do a bit of shopping. Prince Rupert is a pretty good sized city, complete with traffic signals:) A bit of laundry and a good nights rest.

Alaska Trip day 25 part 2

The first few pictures weren’t loading so I tried breaking it up hoping it would help. It didn’t. All of these pictures are keepers, I’d ask you pull up the full screen shot of the ones that aren’t showing up. When you cursor over a picture a preview box pops up. At the top of the box is a link to the full screen picture.

It’s not a bad road up, actually quite fun. We’re completely unloaded so we’re letting it hang out quite a bit.

A pretty stream on the way up.

Our first look at the glacier

 

just wow..

This is one of the few glaciers you can actually drive right up to.

Looking back at the runoff

I finally got my damn snowball

Coming up on the summit

Yeah…

The resident guru there on the right. He camps up there and sells dvd’s about the history of the glacier

Heading back down

Here’s something interesting. This is the border in between Alaska and B.C. They’ve carved a 10 yard path along the whole damn thing. Why?

Ignoring the obvious phallic symbolism, this is me standing in 2 countries at the same time.

Wow, what a surprise of a day. Never be afraid to change your plans, you never know what you’ll find.

Alaska Trip day 25 part 1

The alarm goes off at 5:00a.m. and my first thought is “Holy CRAP it’s cold !!!”  The outside temperature is 32.1 degrees. How do I know this?  Because it’s absolutely impossible for it to be colder without ice on the ground. before exiting the tent both of us are dressed in full riding gear, gloves and balclava’s Usually you get up, go take a pee, and then start rolling up your sleeping bag and packing things up. Today both of us are completely packed and squared away before the tent unzips. Then coffee. Hot coffee.

To make matters worse,when we hit the road my heated grips aren’t getting hot. Of all days…  For the next couple of hours I need to stop every half hour to warm my hands.

One of my hand warming breaks.

this morning is one Kodak moment after another

My goal is to kill every bug in B.C. via windscreen

This was interesting. An airstrip right next to the road in the middle of nowhere. Airstrip is too generous, more like graded gravel. There were gates on the road at each end, I assume they stop traffic for a take off or landing. Who the hell is going to do it is a mystery..

Postcard alert

We hit the turnoff to Steward. We had never planned to come here, it’s quite a detour off the main road. But everyone we meet said it’s a must. So off we go, and it ends up being incredible.

There’s like 16 glaciers in this section. And the mountains are incredible. The steepness can’t be appreciated in these pictures.

 

 

Just an interesting outcropping, it looks like a wolf.

Double waterfall

Entering Stewart, obviously

This is the campground for the night. What a view

Just a few miles away is Hyder Alaska. A tiny town with a full time population of less than 30. Someone told us they’re all hippies and draft dodgers It’s kind of a cult destination. There’s really no reason to come here except to say you did.

 

Sure, there are some attractions. Getting Hyderized at the Glacier Inn is one of them.

It’s a nasty concoction who’s recipe they will only part with AFTER you drink it.

It’s actually …..  A secret. You wanna know, you gotta go.

The sign makes it official

This place also has another gimmick. If you go back to the drinking picture and look at the walls, you’ll notice that every square inch of wall space is covered with money. After running out of wall space they started hanging sheets of plywood on hinges to make more room. Everyone who comes here is welcome to post a bill on the wall. Here’s our contributions.

They say there’s over $70,000 dollars of money on these walls. The lady behind the bar asks if we’re going up to see the glacier.

“glacier?”

Yes, it’s quite impressive. It’s about 25 miles out of town up a gravel road. It’s a must see we’re told. We weren’t really leaning that way, but on our way out we ran into a guy we’ve come across 4 or 5 times in our travels. He’s a solo on a Harley and he’s just coming back from the glacier. He say’s it’s worth the trip. We’re just in jeans and hoodies, not really dressed for a 50 mile ride. What the hell, lets check it out.

 Just outside of town is another m0re well known attraction. When the salmon are running, the grizzlies come out of the woodwork to feast on the spawning salmon. Unfortunately, the run is a week late this year, otherwise we would have stopped there. Since they spent 1 milloin dollars on a viewing suspended boardwalk along the river, they charge a pretty good fee to look. No bears, no money from me.

I started having problems with the pictures from here, so I stopped and tried doing a new blog for the rest of the day. I still had problems but it’s a much smaller blog and easier to pull up the full screen pictures. It’s a must see

 

Alaska Trip day 24

Today we head out on the Alcan Highway for the first half of the day. I don’t have too many stories today, I guess I’ll let the pictures do the talking

A leg stretching break. I wandered down under the bridge to raise the water level a little

Before we hit Watson Lake again we turn south onto the Cassier HIghway. It’s supposed to be one of the more beautuful stretches, but they say that about every road, and it’s usually true. We’re leaving the asphalt behind again, this  road is mostly chipseal with about 1/4 of it unpaved.

I like these types of roads, the less traveled route. You go hours without seeing another person or building. Just a road going somewhere I’ve never been.

This is Jade City, basically a wide spot in the road. Population 12. A good place to stretch the legs. The store is full of jade figurines and jewelry.

Jade cutters

That’s one big chunk of jade!

back on the road again

We get to Dease lake and have a hell of a time trying to find the RV park, the signs are all jacked up. When we do find it, the proprieter was a total dick. I didn’t go into the office but when Dan came out he was pretty steamed. So we take off and get directions to a campground a few miles back.

This proprieter was a true character. He was like walking history. This picture was taken around 10:30 p.m.

Here’s the lake

We run back into town to pick up supplies for dinner. On the way back I see a huge cow moose come running up the embankment heading straight for Dan. I yell MOOSE MOOSE MOOSE!!  Dan spots it out of the corner of his eye and hits the brakes hard. The moose swerves off and runs next to him for 20 yards or so then heads back off the side of the road. Wow, that was close.

It’s a cold evening so we build a fire. We rarely bothered making a fire, this was probably the 2′nd or 3′rd time. Most places have free firewood, but the kindling is like 10 bucks. I”ve learned one of the best ways to get a fire going with only big wood is to buy a presto log and use it to get the wood burning.

We sip scotch and play cards and dominoes late into the evening. It’s easy to do when it’s still not getting dark. Eventually the cold drives us into the tents for the night.

Alaska Trip day 23

 

Morning comes in Skagway and it’s a beautiful day. This is a cool little town, we spent more time here than any place we stayed. A very touristy town that makes it’s living off the cruise ships. There were more jewelry stores here than any place I’ve ever seen. There was also a huge t shirt store where I picked up a couple of shirts. Once again we came up short on stickers. I guess we’re just too picky.

What’s amazing is how the mountains come straight out of the ocean and on all sides of the town. You’re literally in their shadow.

Main street.

A wicker building ?!?  Somebody had waay to much time on their hands.

An interesting train on display

It’s a snowplow train!!

Horse and carriage tours

A little artwork on the side of the mountain. That was one brave soul.

As soon as you clear the city you start a steep climb up.

There’s a railroad track stuck to the side of the mountain. There’s a trestle across the creek in the middle of the picture.

When we reach to top, the terrain changes to something alien. Nothing but bare rock and green patches of ground cover.

Actually we were leaving Alaska, but it was a cool sign

A strange bridge..

Hey look!!  a car!! They’re rarer than bears.

Another one of them 4 wheeled critters. This traffic is getting ridiculous.

No, that’s not a trick of light, that’s the real color of the water.

We struggled a bit trying to find the campground in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territory. Of all the towns this one was the most French. I know that french is the language in many places in Canada, but this was our first experience with that accent.

This was also the most packed campground, we barely got a site. And these people were proffesional campers. Every site looked like a REI test site. And it looked like they were all there for the entire summer, decked out with multiple tarps, big ass grills, some even had satellite dishes.

When we went into town to get dinner supplies we stopped and checked out this sternwheeler

A statue by the store.

After the store we went looking for a bank, we were getting low on loonies. Being a Sunday we had no luck. By this time I would have lost a bet if you asked me what day of the week it was, let alone what day of the month. Or even what time it was unless I was on the bike. I think that was one of the best feelings of the trip. Not caring. It’s been over 3 weeks and my life and job before this trip seems more foreign than this place.

Alaska Trip Day 22

Ok, lots of pictures today. Day 22, Burwash Landing to Haines / Skagway. This destination has been on and off our route several times. A couple weeks back when we divided things up again it was put back in.

From here to Haines Jct. we stay in the lowlands. The weather is cold, cloudy, rainy and windy. And beautiful.

 

We’ve seen alot of snow on the mountains, but now we’re getting that line where it’s ALL white above and green below.

This fella was in the middle of the road when we came around a corner. I think he startled us as much as we startled him. We’ve seen alot of bears, but not in the middle of the damn road.

We found a flaw in our travel planning. Using computer maps and books is all fine and good, but we never took the 3′rd dimension into consideration much. What we did know were the basics, it was 225 miles to Haines. What we didn’t realize was we had to cross a mountain range to get there. So far we hadn’t really had to climb many mountains, and the ones we did we knew about. How we spaced this one out I don’t know. The next 150 miles are up thru these mountains we’ve been looking at. If you thought they looked cold, you’re right. I was wearing everything I owned and was still freezing my ass off.

The good part is the road was excellent. Perfect pavement and lots of curves. But the wind was so bad you couldn’t really enjoy it. It was a constant struggle to stay on the road. I hate sidewinds.

About halfway across we had to stop. We were above the snowline, the wind was howling, and it had to be in the 30’s. We took refuge behind a 2 story maintenance building to get out of the wind. I can’t remember ever being this cold. I can’t feel my feet. And it’s at least another hour before we get to ANYTHING. It was another one of those moments when you realize how out there you are. People die in places like this. We’ve seen maybe 2 cars since turning off at the junction.

I mean look at this place..

Barren…

Cold…

not a sign of life or civilization.

After we get back on the bikes and head off again, I feel better. I guess I just needed an attitude adjustment. Instead of freaking out on how bad it is, and how unexpected this was, I decided to just laugh. What can you do? Just say to yourself “alright, what else you got? What could make this worse? Rain?” I told Dan to pull over if there was a snow patch close to the road. I wanted a damn snowball.

I think this one is the shot of the day. You have to look at this one full size to see how impressive it is. You can almost reach out and touch the mountain.

Finally, back into the lowlands and relative warmth. This is the Chilkat River I believe.

This is bald eagle alley. We’re here on a bad day, visibility is crap and it’s raining. I think Dan saw one but I couldn’t find it in the sky.

We get to Haines and head for the ferry terminal. It’s an hour long ride to Skagway, our destination for the day. This is also the reason we vasilated about coming here, being dependant on a ferry ride. But Dan had solid information that there were ferries running all the time. Which is true, but there’s only 1 car ferry a day we find out. And it doesn’t run until 10:00 p.m.  Crap!!  That’s not the info Dan got on the phone. So now we have about 8 hrs to kill. Since we’ll be getting into Skagway after 11:00, we bag on camping and reserve a hotel room.

Here’s a shot looking back towards the ferry terminal.

BAck up the inlet towards Haines

Dan just HAD to climb down there. I gave him a 50% chance of getting back up..

Looking back across the bay to Haines

We find a restaraunt / bar and set up base camp for the long wait. The waitress was very understanding, I’m sure they run into this all the time. Just outside the windows was this little marina

We eat, play pool, watch tv, just marking time. We go for a walk about town. I’m looking for a place where I can get some WARMER SOCKS!!!!   And stickers of course. We’ve become quite the sticker whores. Well, trying anyway. We’re having lousy luck finding any.

We did find our first totem pole !

The sun breaks for a minute, a better shot of the harbor

Finally we head back to the ferry. It’s a big one!

Mind you, this is 10:00 P.M.

Ah, the lights of Skagway.

We haul ass off the ferry into town to try and beat the tour busses to the hotel, which we just manage.

What a day. Just when you think the adventure part is over it bitch slaps you. Never underestimate this place.

Tomorrow morning we get to check out Skagway!

 

 

 

Alaska Trip Day 21

Today we’re on the Alaska highway to Burwash landing with a border crossing back into the Yukon Territiories.

A few pictures of the road to Burwash Landing

Here’s a postcard for you.

Lots of lakes today.

It’s grey and overcast. It seems it’s been like this since we left Fairbanks.

Another good shot.

Coming up on some bigger mountains.

If this looks cold to you, you’re right. The temps have been creeping down a bit with the overcast weather.

But as usual, once you roll into camp things are bright and cheery!

Most of the story of the day is about this place. Once again, just a spot on the map with no expectations except a place to sleep. But hey, this is Resort living!!

The proprieter is quite a character. When we walk in he’s talking to some people. We stand and wait our turn, but it’s obvious he’s in no hurry. He’s a silver haired old gentleman. After a bit, quite a bit, he finishes up his chat and turns his attention to us. After we ask about camping accomodations he points to a meadow off to the side. “There’s the motorcycle camping over there.” And kind of dismisses us. “What’s the charge?”  “No charge, bikers stay for free.” A man of few words when he chooses.

Wow, there’s a first. We ride over and check out the meadow. 10 or 12 picnic tables spread out generously with firepits. We’re the first for the night so we have our pick. We find the flattest spot and pitch tents. This is the true definition of primitive camping. In all fairness, we’ve paid more for less.

We go check out the restaraunt, there’s no customers and the waitress and the cook and someone else playing cards at a table. The bar doesn’t open for a couple of hours. We check out the souvenier shop,something we’ve been sadly lacking at doing. It wasn’t until Chicken that we bought a alaska sticker. Now we’re back in the Yukon and we need a sticker. What good are big ass aluminum panniers if you can’t paste stickers from your travels all over them? Nothing good here, so we go for a hike.

A cabin across from the lodge. Not for nightly accomodations..

We’re on the shore of a big lake,and find this rustic wreck

We follow a gravel road along the lake and come upon this old root cellar.

From there we head back towards the highway thru a “residential” area. Here’s an interesting church.

From there we wander some more and find this little historic kind of village.

We find the devil, a horse pulled road grader. You have no idea how much we hate these damn things by now.

And up a little farther, a museum of sorts. A picture from a fire awhile back

And what town would not be complete without the biggest gold pan in the world.

A closed down wood carving store, with lots of “tumor” wood. I can’t recall the real name.

Coming back to the resort..

I’m not sure what this critter is

 With time left to kill we hop on the bikes and head for Destruction Bay, 10-15 miles down the road. It’s a scouting expedition. Halfway there it starts raining, and we’re only wearing hoodies and jeans. Probably not a good idea. We get there without getting too wet and gas up.  There’s a tavern and gift shop with the gas station so we go in for a beer. There’s a dart board, and we never pass an opportunity to compete. He kills me at 301, then I hand him his ass at cricket and round the world. The gift shop has a decent sticker, and we buy, but will keep looking for better.

 Back at the ranch, we head over to get something to eat. The owner is up from his nap, but still hasn’t opened up the bar. a 15 minute wait and the door finally opens. He’s in there finishing up his dinner and watching pre game canadian football league. So we sit and watch and wait. Eventually he askes us if we want something. We order a couple of beers. Eventually again he asks us if we want something to eat and gives us menus. “Should we get with a waitress for the orders?” ” we hopefully offer. Naw, I can take care of you.” Maybe by dawn, but what the hell, just go with the flow. Granted, it’s glacier flow..  Some of his croonies show up, and things look up. The football game starts, so that’s a plus. Even if it IS canadian football. It’s an underdog against the #1 team, but he thinks the favorites are assholes. It ends up being a nice afternoon, with good conversation with the patrons, despite the overpriced undersized hamburger. Remember, it’s a resort