I got up about 6:30 a.m. and looked out the window. It’s a rainy day. Oh, how I love rainy days when it’s cold and even when it’s warm. I got all my gear together and took my first load out to my motorcycle. I started it to let it warm up. It was idling probably for five minutes while I was doing dizz, dat and the odder ding. Then it stalled. I said, “what’s this all about?” I finished what I was doing and went to start it again. It wouldn’t start. I let it set for a while and pushed the starter button and it started. I then took it over to the gas station and filled it with gas and drove it back over to the hotel. I went upstairs, got the remainder of my bags and brought them down and packed my bike. I started it, left the hotel and drove out to the Alaskan Highway. I was up speed and settling in for a 400 Miles/645 Kilometer day. It then stalled again. I waited five minutes and it started. I took it back to the hotel and did some small checks; i.e. checked the gas flow and spark. Everything looked in order. So back on the Highway again with high hopes it will keep going. I drove out about 10 Miles/16 Kilometers and it stalled again. I said to myself I got a problem here, and this is going to be a lot fun sorting it out. Anyway, I’d leave it set for 5/10 minutes. It would start like it was out of gas or a relay was resetting from an electrical problem. I was trying to get it back to the hotel where I could work on it more in depth. I didn’t want to work on it on the side of the road. It would start and it would stop. It would stop and it would start. The last time it started and then stalled I pulled the choke on to see if it would keep running longer. It picked up some and then died. So I figured it was a gas problem and not an electrical one. I pulled the fuel line off and blew into it. I blew the gas in the line into the carburetor. I then tried to start it. It started right up. I decided the engine was starving for fuel. I checked the gas flow coming out of the gas tank. I turned on the petcock and the gas flow looked good. I thought that it looked ok. I walked around scratching my head. They I said to myself "what happens if I leave the gas run for 30 seconds"? I opened the gas petcock to check the flow and it started out fine. Then it started to slow down some until it was drop, drop, and no gas. I found my problem. Now how do I fix it with six gallons/24 liters of gas in the tank? I thought I would blow backwards into the fuel shut off valve to break loose the blockage and would be able to limp back to the hotel and fix it proper. I needed a hose to attach to the fuel shut off valve to do that and didn’t really have one. I was scratching my head some and then had an idea. What would happen if I opened the gas cap? I did and then opened the fuel shut off valve. Eureka, I had gas flow up the ying yang. I then knew the gas cap was not venting. I wiped the gas off the inside of the cap and then sucked on it and broke loose the rubber one-way valve. I put the gas cap and fuel line back on and my bike started fine. I jumped on in high hopes I solved the problem and headed back to the hotel. I ran it back up to 70 mph/110 kph all the way back and it never missed a beat. I pulled into the gas station and fueled up again. It took three quarts/liters of gas and I was off in a full run. How far I would get I didn’t know but I had to get going. This whole misadventure of mine cost me a lot of gray hair, 30 miles of start and stop driving, three quarts/liters gas and a four hour late start. I left for Whitehorse on the Alaskan Highway. As I was driving I wanted to bring Matilda up to speed and I noticed she had a black screen. I stopped alongside the road and tried to boot her back up with no luck. She won’t start up with the motorcycle power or by pushing the On button. I am majorly bummed out. I think her next trip will be to the electronics repair shop. God only knows how much that will cost. I think her undoing was the starting and shutting off of my motorcycle so many times during my fuel problem. She might have been hit by a power surge she couldn’t handle. I’m saddened by this because she was finally working like a Gps unit should. When I reach Whitehorse I will pick up Highway 2 and then I will drive straight north to Dawson City, my destination for the day.
I stopped in Whitehorse for a brief while to get something to eat, get a patch kit for my gas tank and purchase two gas containers for my trip up to Inuvik in the Northwest Territories. I then headed north to Dawson City. I stopped for the gas in Pelly Crossing and decided to stop for the night. I should have kept going because it stayed light up here till at least 10:30 p.m. That would have been plenty of light to have gotten to Dawson City. The scenery up here is rolling mountains, with spruce, white birch, poplar trees and aqua blue lakes and rivers. Beautiful country. My next door neighbors were a couple from Australia and two German guys. We had a fox come into the campground. He was not real afraid of humans and wasn’t a bit shy of begging for food. The German guys threw him food and in turn he would pose for pictures. He was a clever devil. If he begged long enough and got enough to eat he wouldn’t have to hunt for food. He’d have the night off. Now tell me that isn’t smart thinking. I talked with the Australian people for some time about my travels and Russian experience. It was a good time. I then set up my tent, ate a little bit and then went to bed about 10:00 p.m.
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