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.