I blew up the Big Horn as he went over the edge
Wednesday, July 14, 2010
WHAT HAPPENED TO FRED
I feel amiss in the fact that I failed to write about Fred and what happened to him after he took off on his own adventure.
When Big Dave and I stopped for the night at New Hazelton, Fred continued on. He wanted to make it to Hyder Alaska the next stay and have a look around. After that we met up with him at the Yukon River Camp on the Dalton Highway. He had already out ridden Dave and I to have made it Prudhoe Bay and was on his way south. I talked with Fred several days later on the phone when we were in Tok Alaska heading to Dawson, YT. Fred was in Willow AK and had ridden down along Denali National Park and was planning on heading back northeast to Tok the next day. I didn't hear from Fred after that due to phone coverage.
Monday while laying in the hammock at the house I get a phone call from Fred. He is in Hope BC. Fred after getting to Dawson had ridden up to Inuvik YT on the Dempster Highway. He told me he had stopped at Eagle Plains for the night and had planned on in Inuvik but an in coming Arctic Storm chased him out of town.
My hat is off to Fred, it sounds like he had a great adventure and a very long ride of almost 7,000 miles. I had had enough dirk and gravel roads by the time I reached Dawson, YT and I had no interest in seeing what Inuvik or Fort McPherson looked like. I hope Fred shares some of his photos with us all.
When Big Dave and I stopped for the night at New Hazelton, Fred continued on. He wanted to make it to Hyder Alaska the next stay and have a look around. After that we met up with him at the Yukon River Camp on the Dalton Highway. He had already out ridden Dave and I to have made it Prudhoe Bay and was on his way south. I talked with Fred several days later on the phone when we were in Tok Alaska heading to Dawson, YT. Fred was in Willow AK and had ridden down along Denali National Park and was planning on heading back northeast to Tok the next day. I didn't hear from Fred after that due to phone coverage.
Monday while laying in the hammock at the house I get a phone call from Fred. He is in Hope BC. Fred after getting to Dawson had ridden up to Inuvik YT on the Dempster Highway. He told me he had stopped at Eagle Plains for the night and had planned on in Inuvik but an in coming Arctic Storm chased him out of town.
My hat is off to Fred, it sounds like he had a great adventure and a very long ride of almost 7,000 miles. I had had enough dirk and gravel roads by the time I reached Dawson, YT and I had no interest in seeing what Inuvik or Fort McPherson looked like. I hope Fred shares some of his photos with us all.
Sunday, July 11, 2010
UPDATE ON CAR "KPMG ELECTRIC CAR"
FOUND OUT ABOUT THIS CAR BELOW IS THE SITE AND I CUT AND PASTED THE STORY. THIS WAS TO COOL, ME IN A PHOTO OF AN ENDURANCE CAR GOING TO ARGENTINA
DAVE D
http://www.kpmg.com/Global/en/WhoWeAre/CorporateCitizenship/racing-green-endurance/Pages/default.aspx
Racing Green Endurance (RGE) and KPMG: Driven to inspire
Can a 26,000 kilometre race change the world? KPMG member firms think so. From Alaska to Argentina, the SRZero will advance green technologies, encourage innovation and education, and fundamentally change the world’s perception of electric vehicles (EVs).
Racing green endurance
The RGE project
In building the SRZero, the RGE team has created one of the most efficient, exhilarating and enduring EVs ever produced. “We believe that EVs are much more capable than most people believe,” says Alex Schey, Project Manager at Racing Green Endurance (RGE). “By building and successfully demonstrating a ‘zero emissions’ vehicle with this kind of range, we hope to take a massive step in changing these perceptions.” KPMG’s Global Citizenship strategy is focused on addressing key issues including environmental sustainability. Through the Global Green Initiative we are able to use our business skills and reach to support innovative projects that raise awareness and help to address the challenges of climate change.
The SRZero: Innovation meets inspiration
Built on the chassis of the fastest production car in the world, this electric vehicle has over 400 hp and reaches top speeds of up to 200 km/hr.
* Two electric motors in the rear of the car transform electrical energy into mechanical movement and double the amount of power available.
* The batteries’ DC power is converted into an AC signal by inverters that facilitate the operation of the motors and the kinetic regenerative braking system.
* Lithium Iron Phosphate cells with a total capacity of 56 kWh supply the required power.
* A controller integrates all the components in the power-train, battery management system, motor controllers, driver interface and safety systems.
Find out more by reading our technical appendix
Visit this page in July to track the cars progress.
Related reports
* Racing Green Endurance factsheet
* Racing Green Endurance technical appendix
* Communication on Progress (“CoP”) report (.pdf)
* KPMG International transparency report 2009 (.pdf)
* KPMG global code of conduct (.pdf)
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Bike the day after
I cannot seem to get a photo that shows the amount of dirt, grime and bug remains that are stuck to the bike. My mileage on the trip started out around 37 when running at 4000 rpm on the trip north to around 43-44 on the return trip south. I guess it could be because we were going downhill heading south on the return trip, but I think it has something to due fact that my bike had less than 1000 miles on it when we started and I believe that it got fully broken in on the trip. It go through a quart and half of oil on trip.
Day 14 Prince George to >>>>
We headed south on out of Prince George around 9:00 a.m. The with clear skies we planned for a hot day and we weren't to be disappointed. Heading south on 97 we found all the traffic that we had been missing. We were passing logging trucks, semi's, motor homes and just slow cars. That is not to say that we were not being passed ourselves. Big Dave was keeping the speed down around 110 km where I seem to get my best mileage. The speed limit was 100 and we had cars and pick-up traveling at better than 120km. I figured our first gas stop would be Williams Lake and we reached there around 11:30 the temperature had already reached 90 degrees. We grabbed some cool drinks and made sure our intercom was paired. Since I now had phone service I had paired my headset with my GPS and lost the pairing with Big Dave's headset. Once our communications was squared away we were off and riding. By the time we rolled into Cache Creek the temp was 104 degrees, I read 107 while traveling through the canyons north of Cache Creek where we got back on 1. We pulled into Subway for lunch and cold sodas filled up with fuel were on the road a half hour later. Cruising through Spence Bridge we kept a look out for Big Horn Sheep. The last time we came through and stopped at Rumors for lunch there we had a very large herd of sheep come down and cross the road just down from where we were eating. I guess the heat had the sheep laying down somewhere along the river. The 100 degree heat stayed with us all the way along the Frazier river Boston Bar and Hells Canyon. Must be a reason that call the section it. We reached Hope and stopped for water and fluids. Our original plan was to get across the border at Sumas and find a place to stay. The traffic coming from Vancouver was heavy and I was glad we were going west. I figured that getting to the border was going to be a slow process but when we got to the border we spent less than 5:00 minutes and were very soon getting fuel. It was 5:45 by this time and we thought we could find something in Bellingham. Once at Bellingham we found the freeway first and I told Big Dave that if I got some KFC in me I could make it home. We stopped to eat in North Seattle around exit 175. Traffic was very light for a Friday night and we rode through Seattle/Tacoma/Olympia area without a hitch or red light. We made another gas stop at exit 88 (the turn off to Oceanshores)for gas. Traffic remained light most of the way home until it came to a halt just north of exit 49 where they had closed the freeway down to 1 lane. I told Big Dave I knew how to get south and we grabbed for the exit and followed a semi down the side roads for a few miles coming back onto freeway just below the construction. I arrived home sometime after 11:00 pm. We had traveled over 700 miles that day and complete the 0over 6000 mile trip with out any incident. Sorry for the picture quality it was late and I was tired and I woke Dawna up for the photo shot.
Thursday, July 8, 2010
BC Caribou
I missed the cow with her calf according to Big Dave, but this guy let me take his photo.
Big Horn Sheep
This guy was laying down in a parking area on one of the mountain passes. There were 3 or four others down on the side of the hill. He didn't take kindly to me parking and trying to get his picture
Day 13 Toad River to Prince George
I woke up around 5:00 this morning must have been from the mountain air, cause I know it wasn't from sleeping on a Futon I slept on. Took a stroll outside and when I came back in Big Dave woke up. We were packed and on the road by 6:00a.m. The store didn't open for breakfast until 6:30 a.m. and since fast service is not one of the things you find in Canada we figured with the folks lining up outside that it would be 9:00 a.m. We took off down the canyon and it wasn't long before came across our first bear. Farther down the road we came upon a sight we didn't care to see or experience. We found a young bull moose laying across the road. We suspect it was hit by a semi since no one else was around. The moose was still alive but it looked as though it wasn't going to be for long. It was a sad sight to see.
Later down the road we passed some caribou and there was some bighorn sheep sitting up on the sight of the mountain road.
We came down out of the mountains heading into Fort Nelson where we stopped for fuel and breakfast. Another 250 miles and we were rolling into Dawson Creek. Dave and I opted to skip spending the night there and thought we stop about half between Dawson Creek and Prince George for the night. Later that day we found there wasn't a place and ended up riding all the way to Prince George.
After a long day on the road where the morning temp of 52 degrees climbed to 95 degrees by the time we reached Dawson's Creek, we arrived in Prince George around 7:00 p.m. we were hot, tired and hungry.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Day 12 What this car does ?????
We didn't find anyone who knew what this car was about and I didn't bother trying to read the sides when we rode past
Day 12Big Dave moves past Goats
This was the second group of goats and they didn't seem to care much about us provided we didn't get to close
Day 12 Buffalo
We were less than 20 miles southeast of Watson Lake when we started seeing Buffalo. I believe Big Dave got the closest shot of a buffalo.
Day 12 Black bear
We came across the fella about 30 miles outside of the junction of 1 and 34. He didn't seem to care that we were taking photos but the mom and two cubs we saw a little farther down the road didn't want any part of a photo session.
Day 12 Toad River
Whitehorse to Toad River
We headed out of Whitehorse around 8:00 this morning after stopping for that good old American Breakfast place McDonald's. We were able to get back on Highway 1 with out getting lost more than once. Big Dave has been having problems with his GPS and I was messing with my GPS. The weather was overcast and cool but it didn't look like rain. As normal the roads in Canada seem to have very little traffic on them. We made it to Teslin where we stopped for fuel before crossing that awful rough steel bridge. After getting fuel and talking with a few of bikers about the road and our travels I saddle up to cross the bridge. I was hoping that I would have no on coming traffic but when I got about half way across I had a semi get on the bridge at the other end. We passed each other with no problem and I caught up with Big Dave at the top of the hill. From there on we cruise right along until we were about 30 miles from the highway 1 and 37 junction where we saw our first bear for the return trip. We stopped and got a few pic and hadn't gotten a mile when we saw a mother bear with two cubs hauling tale to the woods. We had lunch at the Highway 1 and 37 junction and stopped for fuel at Watson Lake.
We continued our trek south east to Muncho Lake where we had thought about staying for the day. We hadn't gone very many miles out of the Watson Lake until we ran into our first Buffalo and I mean that literally. The Buffalo was walking down the side road on our side of the guard rail. Lucky for us there was no traffic coming from the other direction so we were able to pass him on the other side of the road. I didn't have much luck getting a shot of him with my camera but Big Dave did. We continued to see more Buffalo along the road until we got to the Liard River. We enter the canyon area and shortly afterwards came across our first herd of goats licking salt off the road. We meandered our way around three groups of goats. We decided to not stay at Muncho Lake because we had heard that there were cabins at Toad River cheaper so we headed on down the Liard River Canyon. There was a lot of gravel laid down on the road along Muncho Lake forcing us to slow down. Once we got away from the gravel though and reached the Toad River Canyon we came upon our first moose in a marsh. The moose was cooperative and didn't mind us stopping to take photos. We headed on down the road, around the next bend Big Dave drove right passed a very big moose tearing up the bushes on the left side of the road. I stopped to get a couple of pictures and caught up with him a little ways down the road. He had pulled over and was waiting for me.
We made it to Toad River around 5:30 pm and were able to get a cabin. We had dinner and town I am sitting outside a long the Toad River typing. It is a good thing the wind is blowing or I believe the bugs would me eating me up.
The Sun is up above the mountains, there is a large white swan out on the river and the swallows are skirting along the top of the water like someone was skipping rock across the water. We rode almost 400 miles today. The only thing missing is not having a beer to relax with.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Day 11 July 6th Dredge Trailings
Big Dave took this photo heading out of Dawson. You can make out the ripples in the back pile on the left. The dredge would move back and forth spitting out the trailings.
Video from the Dalton July 2
Sorry I am late in getting this on. I just got to a site where I could up load. This was above Coldfoot
Crossing the Yukon River July 5 Day 10
This is a video I took crossing the Yukon River to Dawson YT. July 5th
Dawson YT static Display of the Keno
One of the old river boats that would travel the Yukon in the Gold Rush days.
July 6th, Day 11 Dawson City to Whitehorse
We left Dawson City this morning. We had spent the 30 minutes walking the town yesterday. Not much in Dawson. It is set up to look the way it did years ago and there are loads of building that were built during the gold rush days. Walking around the town kind of reminded me of Brodie (I believe that is correct) a gold mining ghost town down off 395 down near California/Nevada border. Everywhere there were pictures of old town Dawson. I didn't think much about the destruction the dredges did when they were at work but heading south out of Dawson you ride through miles of piled up river rock that dredges left behind.
We hadn't gone 20 miles when we came across a fox standing in the middle of the road. He didn't wait for us to get our cameras out before he was gone. Another 50 miles down the road we came across a porcupine on the side of the road. He didn't take to kindly to me barking at him as I went by and he headed for the trees before Big Dave could turn around.
The road down to Stewart Crossing was in real nice shape and it followed the Stewart River for several miles. We stopped at the crossing for fuel grabed a snack and were on our way. After heading out of Steward we were cursing the road and there at the top of a rise was the silhouette of a very long legged moose walking out on the road. She was still about 3/4 of a mile away and I was on my intercom trying to get a call to Big Dave. The big moose no sooner reached the center of the road and out came a calf. We slowed down to get out cameras out but by the time we got the rise the moose were no where to be found. I guess when you can cross an 24 road in on 4 steps it doesn't take long for you to be well into the woods.
After Stewart Crossing we ran into several areas of the road where it was under construction and one nasty section of deep gravel that ran for about 2 miles. We stopped at Carmack and grabbed lunch by the Yukon River. The weather held and we pulled into Whitehorse around 5:00pm Tuesday the 6th.
Monday, July 5, 2010
Day 10 Top of World Highway
We left out of Tok Monday Morning and drove the 10 miles to the Taylor Highway turnover. The road is paved for the first 60 miles and turns to dirt and gravel about 6 miles out side of Chicken Alaska. Chicken Alaska is a Gold Mining Camp on the Chicken River. The next 110 miles was mixture of gravel and dirt with short sections of pavement. The road was very rough with lots of pits and breaks. We stayed up on top of the mountains for nearly 70 miles and came up to the Border crossing that was in the middle of now where. We arrived in Dawson around 5:00 pm
Crossing the Yukon River Day 10
There is a Government operated ferry to cross the Yukon over into the Dawson YT.
Day 9 We were gonna to have a down day
Sunday we got up and I finished up my laundry. I checked the internet and found an Office Max that was open and Dave and I headed over there to unload some items. I decided that since we hadn't done any camping and I didn't believe that we would camp I wasn't about to haul the gear around anymore. So we both boxed our gear and shipped it out. Big Dave went to find an AT & T Store and I went to a car wash to clean the bike. When I got back to the Hotel Big Dave was already back he had no luck at the AT& T store he went to. Big Dave needed to wash his bike so back to the car wash we headed. We discussed heading out and got back to the hotel checked out and were on the road again by 12:00 pm. We headed back down the road to the ALCAN and called it a day at Tok.
Day 8 Prudhoe to Fairbanks
We left out of Prudhoe around 7:15 am it was a cold overcast morning and remained that way until we got to the pass. The weather held and stayed dry with little wind. We say Several Caribou just outside of Prudhoe but after 10 miles the only wildlife we saw were birds. The Road hadn't change for the return trip all though I was wishing that it would have gotten better. Once over the pass the weather improved and the temp warmed up to 70 degrees. We stopped for gas at Coldfoot a quick snack and we were back on the road again. We made another stop at the Yukon River for gas then were off again. We pulled back into the Super 8 around 6:30pm.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
IT'S THE 4TH
Okay I have had one to many drinks but I am in a Westmark Innn in Tok Alaska where they celebrate the service folks. They had a couple of tours bus with old veterans and their wives. But by God I serve for 27 years an my daughter is taking care of her Marines in a combat zone. Thank you for your service.
I love you all
I love you all
INTO THE CLOUDS
In to the Clouds
This picture was taken by Big Dave of me while heading south out of Prudhoe Bay we in rolling hills of tundra and I don't know if this was fog or if we were in the clouds. I believe we were in the latter. The cloud was so bad that I felt like we were in what I considered white out conditions. I ended of experincing verigo an asked Big Dave if we going up hill or down. I could have sworn that we were going down hill but when I looked at my GPS we were climbing and as we climbed 100 feet I would have sworn to you that we actually were descending 100 feet. When we reached the Attigun canyon we came out of the clouds and temp rose to about 50 degrees. Once up and over the pass the temp rose to 80 degrees and the sun came out.
Day 8 prudhoe Bay
Big Day at Prudhoe Bay. Just think of how few folks will every stand in front of this sign??? Big Dave may be one of a few.
day 8 releasing Billy
Releasing Billy
Wild Bill and I started talking about Alaska several years ago. Billy had always lighted up whenever he talked about his days fishing for ocean Salmon in Alaska and he had planned to ride to Alaska about a year before his final outbreak of the big C. Things didn't work out because his riding partner had something come up and I didn't have the time off or money to go.
Well when I decided to make this trip Carson asked me if I would like some of my brother Billy. I didn't hesitate to say yes. Carson showed up with ashes and I kind of shuffled him around to keep some on my Road Glide and put some in a container to take on this trip. I throw Billy to the wind up in Prudhoe Bay
day 8 Pudhoe Bay
Caribou Inn
Caribou was to perfect replic of what the men and women would have experinced in the early days of the pipeline. The billeting was small with little comfort items. We did have a toliet and shower so I would say if it were a military billeting it would have been and officer room. The chief cook at the galley might have done time in the Navy because breakfast was quite good. The rooms cost $190.00 a night and breakfast was $15.00.
Caribou Inn was quite the experince as was getting fuel. The newer barracks or berthing building are mounted on wheels so that they may be move. I don't know if they are self moving but I believe that during the winter months they may move them out on the bay closer to the rigs that they use. I do know that before I left there was a Rig #25 being build for the Doyon Drilling in Vancouver that was self walking. I believe it is scheduled to leave Vancouver this month and make Prudhoe in August. One poster I saw showed that one rig could drill into and area 8 miles wide.
Being at Prudhoe Bay made me think about what kind of person it takes to be 500 miles from no where to live and work. I remember my time in Antarctica it is like being at the last frontier. Being at a place that so few folks will every experience.
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Day 7 wildllife
I got a glimpse of two owls sitting on trail off the road as we rode by. I had to turn around to get a shot and one of match to this one flew away. I was surprised at the wing span they had. This one didn't know what to do so I stayed on the bike
MEETING UP WITH FRED
We found Fred standing outside the Yukon River Camp, he was on his return to Fairbanks.
Day 7 Fairbanks to Prudhoe Bay
Friday we loaded up the bikes and headed for the Dalton Highway. The weather was overcast but it looked promising for a fair day of riding. After fueling up we headed out of town around 8:30. It is 81 miles from Fairbanks to the start of the Dalton Highway once you are out of town there isn't much of anything except forest. The rain started to fall about 10 miles from the Dalton Highway and continue for the next 54 miles. Crossing the Yukon River is over a wood plank bridge that is about ¼ mile long and when wet it gets mighty slippery. We made it across the river safety and pulled in for fuel. Since there are only two fuel stops on the Dalton Highway getting fuel can take a while. After getting off my bike I see Fred Suckow standing outside the Cafe. Fred had already made it Prudhoe and was on his way back. He had spent Thursday night at the Hot Spot and gotten up to Prudhoe on Friday, he didn't want to pay $190.00 dollars for a room so he rode 240 miles back down to Wiseman where he ended up pitching a tent. He was heading to Fairbanks. Fred gave us an update on the road conditions and after fueling we rode up the road a couple of miles to grab a bite to eat at the Hotspot Cafe. The burgers were large and like everything else on the Dalton spendy. Us up to the Hotspot and continue to stay with us for several miles up the road. The Dalton Highway has a lot more paved road than what everyone makes it out to be. You can drive for a 100 miles on dirt or gravel road then be riding on pavement for the next 20 or 30 miles. The country side makes several changes you start off with the skinny lodge pole pine trees then will run into miles of birch. Some areas were full red colored flowers with patches of white popping up around the marshes. The ride from they Yukon to Coldfoot was not all that trying there were several street bikes and cars making the trip to the Arctic Circle which is about 60 miles south of Coldfoot. We made a quick stop at Coldfoot which was to be our overnight stay but due to fact that no rooms were available we made the decision to go all the way to Prudhoe Bay. We made short stop at the top of Atigun Pass the view up there was awsome. 20 or 30 miles north of Atigum we came out of the canyon and climb up on the tundra and rolling hills. We had been hitting sections of pavement and this was no exception the next 100 miles were full of loose gravel, river rock and slick mud. We rolled into Prudhoe bay around 9:30 pm and for me the last 50 miles were pure hell. The wind had picked up and was blowing at 20 to 30 miles an hour tring to blow you across the road. To make matter worse the road had a couple of inches of loose gravel in the middle of the road .
We found rooms at the Caribou Inn which was an old berthing and messing facility that looked to have been abandon before a couple of guys decided to convert it into and inn with a galley.
Thursday, July 1, 2010
Day 6 Tok to Fairbanks
Today was a planned short day we only had about 208 miles to Fairbanks but I was up around 6:30 local which was 7:30 PST. I had gotten up several times last night and at 1:30 a.m. it was still light outside and when I checked again around 4:00 a.m. it was light and the sun was out. We decided to eat breakfast this morning and had a good home cooked meal, I say home cooked because the lady that greeted us, took our order, served us coffee and juice, served our food and gave us the check was also the one who cooked the food. We didn't stick around to see if she washed the dishes and since it was like home cooking we didn't want to hang around long because she might have us doing dishes and taking out the trash.
We headed out of town on Alaskan State route 2 and we hadn't travel far in the 58 degree weather when we came upon our first construction zone. We ran into only two more major construction zones but the patches and loose gravel on the road were to numerous to count. I am sure if someone traveled the road next year they will find the patches of loose gravel in the same spot and the road crews working at the same areas.
The weather stayed nice and we hit a few patches wet weather lasted on minutes. The country side had changed from short pines to taller trees and the mountains moved well away from the roads. We reached Delta Junction and the end of the Alaskan Highway around 11:00 a.m. grabbed a soda and candy bar some fuel and were on our way. The traffic remained light and we made good time heading up the road. We arrived in Fairbanks around 1:30 p.m. Stopped in at Adventure cycles and then over to the Harley Davidson and BMW dealer. We called it a day and pulled into the After a Super 8 for the night. Tomorrow we tackle the Dalton, we have planned to make it a two day event to travel the 500 miles but we are leaving ours selves open for a ride straight to Deadhorse this will all depend on the road conditions.
We have yet to see any critter larger than a pocket gopher since entering Alaska. We have seen lots of flies and mosquitoes but this has only been during the waiting at the road construction areas.
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
To my Holly
Happy birthday Holly sorry I missed your special day. We are in Tok,Alaska going to Fairbanks tomorrow. Mom says she's taking you to diner tomorrow to celebrate your big day WOW 25 that's a quart of a century or half as old as dad. Love you and see yeah in a couple of weeks.
Dad
Dad
Day 5 Whitehorse YT to Tok, AK
Well loaded up our bikes this morning and headed out in the rain. The traffic leaving Whitehorse was heavy and because of the rain it was a little slower than normal. We line up behind 3 or 4 cars and right after we reached the top of a small hill all I saw was brake lights and Big Dave heading left around a car. I went right and watch as a mounted wheel when shouting across the road and through the grass and weeds to my right. My first thought was what kind of accident did we have in front of us. Then when we continue to travel I was looking for a vehicle with on three wheels and sparks flying from under it, but no I didn't see anything no car or truck pulling over just normal traffic moving. I have no idea where the wheel came from and when I asked Dave he didn't know it was a wheel.
We continued on our way and in about a half hour I realized that I had made a poor choice of gloves and if I had water proofed them I did a poor job. Having heated grips helped keep me on the road another hour but then I had to stop at a rest area for a nature break and change gloves, make sure my jacket was drawn up properly. I put on my heated gloves and they two lasted about an hour before they were soaked to through, but the gloves were heated so I was at least comfortable. We drove on until we reached Destruction Bay for fuel and rain continued. Besides having to deal with the rain the temp was hovering around 46, the wind was blowing 15 to 25 miles and hour and the road had several areas of gravel. About a half hour out of Destruction Bay the weather lifted and the temp climbed 55 degrees. This was only short lived and it started raining again. Destruction Bay was the end of the good road. We started running into longer patches of gravel the road was in terrible shape due to damage from frost heave's. The worst patches on the road were the troughs left that by the cracks. Finally the rain let up and the skies started to clear. We reached our stopping spot for night at Beaver Creek. Our room was ready so we went to Buckshot Betty for lunch. Unfortunately Betty wasn't there but the bread she had baked was. Big Dave had a Large Club made with 3/4 thick homemade bread and I had a hamburger on a homemade bun. It was well worth the stop. After our meal we head back to the motel and checked in it was around 4:00pm. Our room was in old barracks and after one look at the room we opted to ride to Tok which was only 110 miles. Beaver Creek is about 20 miles from the US/Canadian Border but the border stations are about 15 miles apart. The wait at the border was about 35 minutes and then there was a long section of gravel road that we had a pilot truck for. The weather stayed good and we reached Took around 7:00pm found a place to rest and spit a couple of beers.
Day 5 turned out to be the worst yet. We had 5 hours of rain and terrible roadsand I am glad it is over with.
Total mileage for today was 377 miles in 9 hours.
Day 5 Raining in Whithorse
Woke up this morning to pouring rain outside. I could have swore that the weather had said only a chance of showers. This must be where the Portland area weatherman get their training.
Sitting in the Hotel cafe waiting for breakfast, first real breakfast I have had since before starting this trip. I am not looking forward to starting the day in rain although with my waterproof boots I purchased from Columbia HD MC and my other rain gear I don't fear getting wet. My foul weather gear as worked great so far, but today will be the first day I plug in. The nice thing about staying in a larger Hotel downtown is that our bikes have been under a cover all night and loading them up will be a dry one.
So since I put a plug in for Harley Motor clothes purchased at Columbia maybe I can Jason to sponsor my trip for a day??? I doubt but I will say I have been very please with the boots I got from Joni they are comfortable, warm and dry.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
KLONDIKE BBQ & SALOON YUKON TR
This a photo of my Dinner plate it is Arctic Char with fruit salsa served with a home made biscuit. This is by far the best meal I have had so far. Dave and I opted not to try the Caribou Stew or Musk Ox Stroganoff, but if the Arctic Char was a sample of their fare I wouldn't mind giving it a try.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRLEY
HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHIRLEY, I HOPE EVERYTHING AS GOING WELL AS IT CAN FOR YOU OVER THERE. I WOULD IMAGINE THAT YOUR MARINES WOULD BE TAKEN GOOD CARE OF THEIR CORPSMAN.
LOVE YOU SHIRLEY
DAD
LOVE YOU SHIRLEY
DAD
Day 4 Watson Lake to Whitehorse YT
Day 4 was a short one we only traveled 274 miles. We had planned to make Whitehorse a down day in order to due laundry and take a little break. The Alaskan Highway from Watson Lake to Whitehorse is pretty nice highway. The countryside is wide with rolling hills and at least 50 feet of clearing on either side of the road. The temp was 66 degrees when we left Watson Lake but quickly dropped to 55 degrees, and after about and hour Big Dave pulled over to put on his Bike Muffs. We hadn't gone more than 20 miles and it started raining and I when the rain started bouncing off my jacket and faceshield I looked down and the temp was 46 degrees. Lucky for us the sleet/rain lasted about 10 miles and as the road dried out the temp climbed up to 51 degrees. For those of you who are not comfortable crossing the Bridge of the Gods you do not want to cross the Nisutlin River at Teslin YT. The steel grating is twice as long and very rough and uneven so the bike likes to travel all over the bridge. To make matters worse the bridge was narrow so you didn't want a truck or motor home coming the other direction. Repairs to the highway are slow in coming and if you see an orange cone on the side of the road slow down because the road rough. Rough is a light way of saying bad. Some of the cracks or pot holes we saw the would seriously damage a bike and in fact Big Dave talked with a guy who lost a shock on Yamaha bagger the Cassiar Highway the day before.
Today was the first day that we did not see any bears or deer. Neither Big Dave or I killed any birds although Big Dave had several very close calls. Big Dave did have a close call with either a ground hog or marmot that ran crossed the road inb front of him. We did see two bald eagles perched up in a tree has we came into Whitehorse.
Monday, June 28, 2010
DAY 3 CASSIAR HIGHWAY
I got early on day 3 to do some repacking, New Hazelton had a bakery right next to the motel but they didn't open until after 9:00 am and Big Dave and I planned on being well on our way by that time. So we pulled a snack out of bag and were on the road by 7:30 a.m. We headed west on 16 until Kitwanga and then took 37 northwest. I had filled up the bike at Hazelton and when we reach the Stewart turn off I had a choice either run out of gas going to Bell II which was 92 miles away or drive 37 miles to Stewart for fuel. So we headed off to Stewart which would put us almost 2 hours behind but for me the drive to Stewart was well worth the trip. The canyon that we traveled through was like driving through the Yosemite Vally it was really a good ride.
Once fueled up we were headed back up 37 and reached Bell II around 12:30 just in time for lunch and fuel. We made both just ahead of everyone wanting fuel and when we got ready to leave I saw the tour bus folks starting to head to the cashier so I got Dave's and my bill and we paid up head of them. Oh Bell II had the best meal I had eaten so far this trip I had ordered Shepherds pie and it was very good. The 37 from 16 to Bell II had been a really nice road. Very little traffic in very good shape with sweeping curves
a good reason for my bike only getting 35 miles to the gallon. I realized today that by keeping the rpm's down under 4000 I could get 40 miles per gallon.
The road north of Bell II started changing the minute we crossed the Bell-Irving River. We hadn't gone 10 miles when we came to a bridge that had gravel on either side of it. After hitting several torn up spots on the road we slowed our pace down. The thought of heading gravel at 70 mph per hour did not give me a warm and fussy feeling. We stopped at Dease Lake which is the next gas station after Bell II which is about 140 miles north. There we met a gal driving a old Mercedes we had passed her 3 or 4 times on the highway and found out she left from Columbia 4 months ago and was planning on driving all the way to Deadhorse then on to Boston. After a brief chat we said our goodbyes and were on the road again. Highway 37 continued to get rougher as we headed north and we hit numerous sections of gravel road 100 to 300 feet long and a couple that were over a one mile. We reached Good Hope which had one store and no lodging and kept right on going to Watson Lake. We made it to the Yukon Territory and the Alaskan Highway 1 headed east to Watson Lake and pulled into the motel by 6:15 pm. We logged almost 600 miles in a little less than 12 hours, we had been in an out of rain showers all day and even when the temp read 66 degrees it even though we had several sun breaks during the day it still felt quite cool.
Day 4 we plan on riding to Whitehorse and find a motel early do laundry and find the Harley and BMW Shops.
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