Without getting melodramatic, the end is in sight at only 500 km or so down the highway. I'm in Yukon and although I don't know it, I only have to go through B.C. a couple more times, and I'll be in Whitehorse. What is evident on the map is that the highway, the Alaska Highway, has to deal with the Continental Divide and that means some north/south travel. That means going back and forth into B.C. from Yukon. It's rather comical to be welcomed to British Columbia and bid adieu several km later. Someone in Victoria is laughing over that one.
Here I am wondering and answering what I look like while I'm riding.
Others got to see me and I got to see and know them, a little bit. This road is chock-a-block with motorcycles. People come from all over to ride it. The most popular ride is the BMW GS...it's comfortable, it's relatively simple to maintain, and it carries a pack-horse quantity of goods. It's enough that this pair of couples have come from New Zealand to ride here and to Ushuaia...that's the tip of South America. This is them just ahead of me.
Dick and Diana Hubbard are one of the couples and they thought ahead to create "business" cards with their contact details. Check them out at: pearlson2wheels.blogspot.com
We stopped at the Continental Divide where the temperature was, in my estimation, about 5C.
You can see that there's still snow in the mountains, even in early July. It's melting and combined with recent rains has some of the lakes and rivers at near over-flow conditions. The Yukon river in Whitehorse for example is probably moving at 20 km/hr and is right near the street level.
Another bloke on the road was Scott Haskins. Scott and I had lunch together in Teslin. I could see from his "kit" that he was an experienced off-road rider and he was by himself too. So, rather than me shoe-horning in with the Kiwis who stopped at this, the only restaurant of note on the highway, I stood up and beckoned him to join me.
How did I know he was an off-roader? He had a bum pack. Ladies, any ideas about this? It's actually a waist-belt with your most important info and tools (first aid, papers, tools, survival stuff). He was wearing a Hein Gericke suit and had a Red Ensign on his shoulder so I knew he wasn't American.
We had a great number of laughs...he's best friends with the motorcycling comedian, Darryl Mack who's currently in Calgary. Funny guys both. I have to share his bear story, if you will indulge me.
We had been swapping wildlife stories; how many, what kind, etc. There are elk, moose, sheep, various kinds of bears, bison, etc. He had come to a point where he just had to camp, off the highway due to fatigue and timing. So, he saw an RV which had pulled over and a short, gravelled path leading off the road away from the RV. He rode down it and found a nice spot for a tent. He knew there was the possibility of bears, but had both bear spray (pepper spray) and a large knife...the guy's pretty fit and former British Navy. Maybe no match for a bear in a tent, but he wasn't going to let it end without a struggle. He's been asleep for some number of hours when he hears a blood-curdling scream coming from a women nearby. He's got his ear plugs in because of the highway noise and upon removing them hears, "Bear! Bear!" being yelled at the top of this women's voice. Fully alert, he grabs the spray and the knife and readies himself at the door of the tent, which is still closed. Moments pass. He hears a deep, gutteral breath just outside the tent. A kind of a "huhhh" sound, from the belly. Try it. You'll get a sense of the size of the beast. Without hesitating and committed to not going down without an attempt to get away, he unzips the tent door and bursts out, right into the hairy face, burning auburn eyes, and looming physical presence of the animal, which pushed him backwards into the tent and stood on him. The licking was unbearable, Scott said.
The dog's name was Bear. He was a Mastiff/Pit Bull cross. He had run away from the RV. I believe Scott considered killing the owner...for naming the dog as she did.
Scott's off to Calgary to see his friend, then to San Francisco to see his girlfriend who's flying over to re-unite. He has the most romantic day planned...on Alcatraz. Interesting, no? Then it's off to Napa/Sonoma/Russian River. And then to Ushuaia, solo. Girlfriend returns home from San Fran.
It's been done so many times it's not news, but it does seem incredible doesn't it? People ride from northmost part of roaded North America, typically Yukon or Alaska to the tip of South America. The roads were filled with these adventurers. Consider this guy, Nick Sanders, who did it several times, up then down, then up again, and then rode to Toronto to cap it all off. That's 30,000 miles in 50 days.
The last 200 km or so for me are great times. You have to be extra careful because your mind gets distracted with the reunion image. In this case, I would see Haley at her place of work and I'm really looking forward to that. But, I rode carefully and made sure that there was no risk taken in the last 1% of the ride. Here's the data.
Here's beautiful lilacs, just blooming, in early July, outside the Rectory. As we saw later in the evening, with dinner at David's, gardens in the north can be fantastic...he had Lily-of-the-Valley, honeysuckle, various pansies and they were all doing superbly.
Kathy, Haley, David, Chris, and Ethan.
Haley and I had a stroll around town to get a sense of things, after returning to the Rectory (where the minister's family would have stayed, in association with the church next door, where Haley and Ethan work). It's now used for guests, like the summer students.
On Friday, we're going to have lunch in the park and take in the arts scene. There are concerts at noon hour. I'm going to do some Starbucks wi-fi-ing and hope to get over to the hospital to see some Germans who had an "off" on their bikes. It didn't go well for them. I don't know them, but I expect they could use some company. More on how I met them, later.
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