Maintaining order? Now that's a tall request ; )
They did have a record 167 bikes or so, and 135 for the steak dinner. What fun!
We may not have most miles, but certainly the most sMiles!
The ticket story is a good one! But Dick could describe drying paint and make it fascinating!
This morning we have been on the road exactly one month. My time can fly! Today we are doing laundry. Well, actually, yesterday and today we are doing laundry. I packed nice dry clothes in my tankbag yesterday, and the 200 miles of steady rain washed them pretty well. So today they are hanging all around the cabin we are in - drying.
We spent four nights at Dawson (City), Yukon Territory: The first two nights in the campground (no bear the second night) and the next two in the Whitehouse Cabins in a room arranged for us by Barb from Alaska Leather. "Dust to Dawson" was Friday. It is not a rally! They insist on that! We had a great steak dinner Friday night; field games in the (closed off) street in front of the Downtown Hotel started at 9:00 p.m.; but the main event was taking daylight photos at midnight on the shortest night of the year. The "sunset" over the Yukon River at about 12:45 was spectacular - both by its beauty and by the time of its happening. It rises again so soon that it never really gets dark at all! Voni sleeps with her hat pulled down over her eyes.
But, as vagabonds must, we have moved on. We left Dawson on Saturday morning and rode south to Whitehorse. Stopped at the Hi Country RV Park and Campground. It was sprinkling but no real big deal as far as rain was concerned. Monday morning we went to Walmart and changed oil in both bikes. My favorite oil - Castrol 4t 4 stroke, SG rated, motorcycle oil - was available and priced 48 cents a quart less than the comparable GTX car oil. Voni asked if we could dispose of oil at the auto center and they said "sure - we can supply a pan and a funnel if you need them." Kudo's to the Whitehorse Walmart.
We left Whitehorse about noon and headed east (southbound) on the Alaska Highway. From Whitehorse to Teslin was a fine ride. As we approached Teslin, with the Yukon's longest steel grate decked bridge it began to sprinkle. We bought fuel for something just north of $6.00 a gallon and headed on after a good lunch. In short order it began to rain - and the unrelenting, unrepentant rain continued unabated for the next 196 miles. At that point we called it quits at "Nugget City" - a campground, cabins, store, restaurant, and refuge located just west of the junction of the Cassiar Highway and Alaska Highway - 12 miles west of Watson Lake, YT.
Since the forecast (and reality all morning) for today is steady rain we are spending an extra day here before heading on. Besides, the laundry isn't done yet anyway. Our cabin is dry and warm. And we have a platoon of fellow refugees. Yesterday as we climbed slowly to an elevation just over 3,000 feet above sea level I was watching the thermometer closely. Rain is one thing! Cold rain is another. But freezing rain is in a league all of it's own. But the temperature never dropped below 37F and it warmed to 48 as we headed back down hill to Nugget City.
I had Barb (Alaska Leather) haul a new front tire for Voni's bike from Anchorage to Dawson for me, along with a new spare tube for the rear tires to replace the tube I shredded between Tok and Chicken. I intended to change that tire last night - might even yet today if it continues clearing here. There is wifi here at Nugget City so Voni is perfectly happy, yes indeed!!
More as we know it or think of it.
Pictures here:
http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a326/VoniGlaves/2008 North to Alaska 7/
And here:
http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a326/VoniGlaves/2008 North to Alaska P4/
Paul and Voni
They did have a record 167 bikes or so, and 135 for the steak dinner. What fun!
We may not have most miles, but certainly the most sMiles!
The ticket story is a good one! But Dick could describe drying paint and make it fascinating!
This morning we have been on the road exactly one month. My time can fly! Today we are doing laundry. Well, actually, yesterday and today we are doing laundry. I packed nice dry clothes in my tankbag yesterday, and the 200 miles of steady rain washed them pretty well. So today they are hanging all around the cabin we are in - drying.
We spent four nights at Dawson (City), Yukon Territory: The first two nights in the campground (no bear the second night) and the next two in the Whitehouse Cabins in a room arranged for us by Barb from Alaska Leather. "Dust to Dawson" was Friday. It is not a rally! They insist on that! We had a great steak dinner Friday night; field games in the (closed off) street in front of the Downtown Hotel started at 9:00 p.m.; but the main event was taking daylight photos at midnight on the shortest night of the year. The "sunset" over the Yukon River at about 12:45 was spectacular - both by its beauty and by the time of its happening. It rises again so soon that it never really gets dark at all! Voni sleeps with her hat pulled down over her eyes.
But, as vagabonds must, we have moved on. We left Dawson on Saturday morning and rode south to Whitehorse. Stopped at the Hi Country RV Park and Campground. It was sprinkling but no real big deal as far as rain was concerned. Monday morning we went to Walmart and changed oil in both bikes. My favorite oil - Castrol 4t 4 stroke, SG rated, motorcycle oil - was available and priced 48 cents a quart less than the comparable GTX car oil. Voni asked if we could dispose of oil at the auto center and they said "sure - we can supply a pan and a funnel if you need them." Kudo's to the Whitehorse Walmart.
We left Whitehorse about noon and headed east (southbound) on the Alaska Highway. From Whitehorse to Teslin was a fine ride. As we approached Teslin, with the Yukon's longest steel grate decked bridge it began to sprinkle. We bought fuel for something just north of $6.00 a gallon and headed on after a good lunch. In short order it began to rain - and the unrelenting, unrepentant rain continued unabated for the next 196 miles. At that point we called it quits at "Nugget City" - a campground, cabins, store, restaurant, and refuge located just west of the junction of the Cassiar Highway and Alaska Highway - 12 miles west of Watson Lake, YT.
Since the forecast (and reality all morning) for today is steady rain we are spending an extra day here before heading on. Besides, the laundry isn't done yet anyway. Our cabin is dry and warm. And we have a platoon of fellow refugees. Yesterday as we climbed slowly to an elevation just over 3,000 feet above sea level I was watching the thermometer closely. Rain is one thing! Cold rain is another. But freezing rain is in a league all of it's own. But the temperature never dropped below 37F and it warmed to 48 as we headed back down hill to Nugget City.
I had Barb (Alaska Leather) haul a new front tire for Voni's bike from Anchorage to Dawson for me, along with a new spare tube for the rear tires to replace the tube I shredded between Tok and Chicken. I intended to change that tire last night - might even yet today if it continues clearing here. There is wifi here at Nugget City so Voni is perfectly happy, yes indeed!!
More as we know it or think of it.
Pictures here:
http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a326/VoniGlaves/2008 North to Alaska 7/
And here:
http://s14.photobucket.com/albums/a326/VoniGlaves/2008 North to Alaska P4/
Paul and Voni