26 August 2009, Cold Foot Alaska

I got up, programmed Matilda for the James Dalton Highway (Hwy 11), loaded the bike, and drove to Fox on highway 2. I stopped at the gas station, oiled my chain, and filled up with gas. I had received bad gas information. I found out gas is provided in two locations. I got gas at Yukon River and in Cold Foot. I stayed the night in Cold Foot Hotel. $200 a night. I was miffed.

25 August 2009, Fairbanks, Alaska

I got up about 8:00 a.m. because I worked on my blog half the night. I looked outside and it was another dreary day with no rain. I showered, packed my bags, loaded my motorcycle and adjusted the chain. I about fell over dead when I started my motorcycle. Matilda woke up like it was another day on the job! I checked all her functions and everything was working. Imagine that! Matilda is truly a mysterious woman. I then went and did a little souvenir shopping. I was hoping to buy a Harley-Davidson t-shirt. It was the end of the season and all they had left were smalls. I needed a medium to have it fit right. I walked around to a few other stores but found nothing of interest. I was in Dawson City in 1995 with my 1989 Harley-Davidson Softail Standard. Mostly all the roads were paved and pretty much looked like a small rural town. When I drove in from the Dempster Highway I didn’t really recognize anything. The city had a face lift. All the buildings were repaired, fixed up and painted to look like they were out of the early 1900’s. The only paint colors allowed were the colors used in that timeframe. The blacktop was removed from all the streets and left as dirt/gravel. Sidewalks were removed and replaced with boardwalks. If you ask the town people, they say the tourists really love the look. Of course they never fail to say it’s really dusty during the summer. The only building I recognized was Diamond Tooth Gerties. I went back to the hotel, ate breakfast and checked out. I went back to my room and put on all my riding gear. I rode around the city taking some pictures of different buildings and found the ferry landing. Then I oiled my chain, gassed up and got ready to leave. I was just driving out of town when I drove past two guys I waved at up on the Dempster Highway. I stopped and talked with them a while and got their take on driving the Dempster. They said they wanted to drive up to Inuvik but didn’t want to get caught in the rain. The only had street tires on their bikes and feared crashing if they were caught in the rain. So they only drove up to the Arctic Circle. One guy drove a BMW 650cc Dakar and the other had KTM 1000cc. Both motorcycles were dual purpose bikes. As we were talking the guy that took my picture at the Arctic Circle sign walked up and said hi. He was the French speaking Canadian. He said his photography is only a hobby and that he may sell six pictures a year, which is hardly enough to live on. He asked if he could get a group picture of us three and everyone agreed. We all had to get going so we shook hands and departed. I drove down to the ferry and waited a few minutes before driving on. I took a few pictures while on board, then I drove off and took a few more. I zipped up and started driving toward the Yukon and Alaska Boundary driving the Top of the World Highway (Hwy 5). It would have been more scenic if it hadn’t been raining. I arrived at the border and the Customs Agent came out and asked me if was carrying any guns, narcotics, or contraband etc. I said no and he asked for my passport. As I was digging for it I asked him if he had a roof I could stand under so when I unzipped everything wouldn’t get wet. He said no and that he also had to stand in the rain. He also mentioned yesterday it was raining harder than today, so stop complaining. He went and ran my passport, stamped it, gave it back and said I could go. I asked him if I could put myself back together under the roof of a nearby building. He said yes. I went and buttoned myself up out of the rain and left. It sure was bloody cold. As soon as I was a mile/2 kilometers from the border it stopped raining and the sun came out. I drove until I came to the small town of Chicken. I pulled in and headed for the restaurant. This four building town hasn’t changed much since 1995 when I was here last. I ordered a chili dog with American fries. It all was served in a plastic gold panning dish; a huge helping and I was hungry enough to eat it all and a piece of blueberry pie with ice cream on top of it. A tour bus came in with about 40 retired people looking for ice cream and pie. Marvin, a gentleman from Naperville, Illinois sat down with me and told me about their tour from Prince Rupert, up the coast on a ferry, then on a tour bus to the Yukon Territory, to Fairbanks, Alaska. The whole tour takes an airplane ride over the Arctic Circle and then flies out of Anchorage, Alaska to their homes. I was getting ready to leave and it started raining again. I was going to take pictures but couldn’t because of the rain. I was unhappy about this. So off into the rain I go and one mile/two kilometers down the road it stops and the sun comes out. I continue driving the Taylor Highway (Hwy 9) to the Alaskan Hwy. I then turn north to Tok where I got gas and then stopped again in Delta Junction, the end of the Alaskan Hwy. I took a picture of my motorcycle at the sign post and gassed up again. I drove the last 100 miles/161 kilometers in the dark which I don’t like to do but I wanted to get to Fairbanks, Alaska for the night. Matilda showed the way to the Alaskan Hotel where I stayed. The Asian lady running the hotel was kind of funny. I told her I lost my glove from my motorcycle at the front door and didn’t know where it was. So we both went outside to find it. It fell between the stairway and the building behind some bushes. She crawled under the stairs and retrieved it for me. Two ladies walking by asked her what she was doing under the stairs in the middle of the night. They told her it’s too late to be gardening. I got my motorcycle put up for the night and I crashed. It was after 11:00 p.m. and I was beat to death by the rain and the cold.

24 August 2009, Eagle Plains, Yukon Territor

I slept in till 10:30 a.m. and then informed the receptionist I will stay another day. I then proceeded to start working on my blog. I worked on it all afternoon until 2 a.m. 25 August 2009. Tomorrow I have to work on my motorcycle rain or shine and leave the Yukon Territory and drive into Alaska.

23 August 2009, Eagle Plains, Yukon Territory

My alarm went off at 5:00 a.m. Oh, this bed feels so good. It’s almost like a bed covered with memory foam. You just sink in and it feels so good. God, I've got to get going. I took a shower, packed up everything, loaded my bike, ate a continental breakfast, went upstairs to put on my riding gear and left town at 7:30 a.m. This is going to be a long tough ride. The driving force behind my early departure is that Monday the 24th is supposed to be a rainy day and I don’t want to ride the Dempster Hwy in the rain. I must keep moving. It was a beautiful sunny day when I left Inuvik. For some reason the road didn’t seem as threatening as when I came up. I pretty much rode 50/62 mph/80/100 kph, sometimes faster. The guys at Midnight Mechanical said that was pretty slow for the local people. What scared me the most was driving the loose gravel. It was like driving on marbles. I especially feared going into a curve with wash board covered in loose gravel. I didn’t feel I had the skill to control the bike as it tried to wash out from under me at that speed. In the straight-away driving the loose gravel and marbles weren’t so bad. I was hoping when I arrived at the MacKenzie River Ferry landing I wouldn’t have to wait more than 30 minutes. I got real lucky here. The Ferry "Louis Cardinal – Edmonton" was just arriving at the landing when I pulled up. A young couple from Whitehorse, Yukon Territory started talking to me at the landing. They told me they saw three grizzly bears eating alongside the road: the mother and two cubs. They also told me somebody dressed out a caribou and left all the blood in one of the campsites where they camped last night. They said they roped it off so no one would accidentally set up camp there, thus preventing them from having unexpected bears paying their tent a visit. The bears could probably smell the blood a mile away. I don’t know that but I wouldn’t be surprised. I drove onto the ferry and took a few pictures of it. The ferry provided a scraper with a sponge and squeegee to wash your vehicle windows if you wanted to during the river crossing. This ferry only operates during the summer months and it’s an ice crossing during the winter months. I took a few more pictures after I disembarked and then pressed on down the road. The next stop: Fort McPherson for gasoline. All the road construction that seemed difficult on the way up to Fort McPherson was just uneventful on the way back. I fueled up and it was back on the road to Eagle Plains, another 114 miles/183 kilometers. I waited about ten minutes for the ferry to cross the Peel River. That ferry only has two landings and follows a cable from one side of the river to the other. My next photo stop: the Northwest and Yukon Territories Border. A guy and his family were taking pictures at the sign so I asked him if he would take a picture of me. He did and I thanked him. Continuing on I will cross the Arctic Circle and then reach Eagle Plains. I filled up with gas and bought something to eat. I was getting extremely hungry. While I was eating, three young guys approached and wanted to know more about my motorcycle and what it was like to drive from Minnesota to Inuvik. I told them you just get on your motorcycle and ride it until you get where you want to stop. I asked them how long it takes to get to Dawson City from Eagle Plains. They said about four or five hours. That’s a 250 mile drive. It was now 2:30 p.m. in the afternoon. I jumped on my motorcycle and took off. I want to be off this road before sundown. Sometime after the first 50 miles/80 kilometers I started getting tired. I recognized the signs. I probably ate too much and it was making me sleepy. I pulled into a rest area, got off my bike and walked around probably for 15 minutes. I took some pictures of fire weed to show you all what fire weed looks like when it drops it petals/fauna. Then back on my bike for the remainder of the highway. Periodically I would stop along the way and take landscape pictures to show everyone what the Arctic looks like. Also up here the leaves are changing colors and it is Autumn. As the afternoon progressed, the sun disappeared and the sky turned gray. At the 150 mile/241 kilometer mark it started raining. I pulled into a rest area to put on my rain gloves. I already had my rainsuit on to keep me warm and the dust out of my red riding suit. Moments later the guy that took my picture at Yukon Territory sign pulled in behind me. One thing I failed to mention is that the dust created by the semi-trucks is unbelievable. I would need to pull over and let the dust clear before continuing on. I couldn’t see inside the cloud of dust. It was like you were in a sandstorm. Some of the drivers would slow down realizing how much dust they were creating. Others just kept barreling down the road. The rain started slowly and continued to get heavier. It last for about 70 miles/112 kilometers. I knew it wouldn’t last forever because I could see blue on the horizon. Two things happened while it was raining. First a semi–truck met me and covered me with flying brown mud. I had to wipe my helmet visor off to continue driving. It was a bath of mud water and mud. Then a car passed me and then pulled directly in front of me. Another mud bath until I slowed down, putting some distance between me and the car. I cursed the idiot in the car. I drove pretty much 40/45 mph/65/72 kph in the rain. Just before I was back on pavement again the sun came out. I had a whole new outlook on the day. I was happy and I was off the gravel. I pulled into the gas station at the end of the Dempster Hwy and saw a guy standing by his van. I asked him if he would take a picture of me by the Dempster Hwy sign. He said he would. I pulled up on the mound in front of the sign and he took three pictures. I think he was from England because he called me mate. I took a few more pictures of the bike because it was so muddy. I want to send a couple of them to Ken Landry to show him all his hard work went down the drain. Then I drove it down to the car wash, got some dollars, sprayed myself off and then sprayed off the bike until it was de-mudded. I poured the two gallons of gas into the tank. This gas station is also a hotel, RV park and campground. One of the people who works at the gas station has a trailer in the RV park with a dog. The dog was barking and barking and barking. The dog belonged to a woman who also lives in the trailer. They tried to shut the dog up. The dog wasn’t having any of it. Bark bark bark bark and on it went. I finally told the dog if you don’t stop you’re going to be in big trouble. He didn’t listen and kept up the barking. Finally someone from the hotel came out and talked to the guy in the trailer. He told him to shut the dog up because the customers were complaining. He was very mad. He was red in the face from the shoulders up. The departing words of the guy from the hotel were if the dog doesn’t shut up he will be dead in the morning, and he left steaming under the collar. I got out of there because I didn’t want to be any part of that. I drove into Dawson City looking for a hotel to stay in. I was driving around town and saw the same guy that took my picture by the Yukon Territory sign. I asked him where he was staying and what the price of a room was. He said in The Eldorado Hotel and the price was somewhere under $100. I checked it out and it looked good enough for me. I paid for my room, drove my bike over to it and unloaded it. It just started raining again. I ditched all my clothes and then went looking for some food. I stopped in at Diamond Tooth Gerties. They have a snack bar where I bought some pizza and water for supper. I watched the remainder of the show that was in progress and then went to bed.