Greeting from Destruction Bay, YT. Tomorrow I should be rolling into Fairbanks if all goes well.
It rained again all day today, but that's OK. I did not get many photos today due to the rain.
I started to load the motorcycle bright and early this morning at 6:30am CST (4:30 am in Watson Lake). When I walked outside, the door that closed behind me was locked, so I went to the front of the hotel only to find that door locked as well. It turns out every door was locked. Luckily, there was a worker who woke up early for her morning cigarette (the workers live at the hotel). I told her my problem, she explained that they are supposed to leave the side door unlocked. She was able to secure a set of keys to the main door and I was able to carry on. I rolled away at about 7:30 am CST.
Here you have to be careful about what time you travel due to fuel. Most of the gas stations close here overnight. Some have pumps that you can swipe a credit card after hours; however, American Credit cards do not work on these machines. You always have to go into the gas station to pay. Why? I asked the same question. Apparently, Canadian credit cards have a computer chip in them that American cards do not have. The outside machines do not recognize American cards.
The ride was good, only about 400 miles today. I booked another hotel for the night due to the rain. I feel well rested, but am filthy dirty. I drove through about 50 miles of construction zones today. Each one was loose wet gravel with the exception of one that was nothing but mud. I handled it OK, with no problems. I did have to remember some advice someone once gave me about riding through mud which is not to fight the bike, let it find it's own track and whatever you do, don't slow down. It was a weird feeling when the bike started to slide and wobble below me, but I pulled through that mud without any problems. I guess I have a 1500cc dual sport.
Here are some photos from today:
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| This is the Hotel I stayed at last night. The name sounds like a not so nice place, but it was actually quite a nice hotel. They are motorcycle friendly, and there were several ADV motorcycle types there. Most of the bikes were dual sports. I spoke with a couple of guys for awhile, they were from Sweden and were riding the Yukon area for the next two weeks. One of them did not speak English, so the other translated. It was quite an awesome experience to talk with these gentlemen. |
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| The starting mileage today was 94772, so yesterday I traveled 605 miles. |
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| The mountains were shrouded with fog today. |
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| I had to stop for about 45 minutes while road crews cleared a mud slide that occurred last night (two mud slides in two days). When I got there, they were diverting some water so no more slides would occur. You would not believe the amount of water that ran off the mountain. While stopped, I spoke with the fellow who was holding the stop sign. He was telling me that this is the most rain they have had in this area in about 10 years. |
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| The water was running right over the road until they diverted it into the roadside ditch. The flag man was telling me they had worked all night to clear the mud slide, it must have been huge. |
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| I drove past this lake, what a view. |
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| More rain, this seems to be the theme for this trip thus far. |
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| I stopped for gas at Haynes Junction, the mountains were fabulous. |
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| More views of the mountains at Haynes Junction. Wow!! |
After getting gas at Haynes Junction, I headed north to Destruction Bay which is where I will spend the night tonight. I am having another glitch with the Wing, the cruise control will not set. I suspect one of the switches that cancels the cruise got some water or mud in it. I am meeting up with some folks in Fairbanks from GWRRA (Goldwing Road Riders Association) who are going to help me try and diagnose the problem. The motorcycling community is awsome, there are always folks willing to help you out. I hope we can figure out what is going on, otherwise my right wrist will be totally dead by the time I get home.
I saw no wildlife today, so sorry to report no counts.
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