On the road again... Sing it Willie!

After a four day lay-over I picked up my bike last night, packed this morning and hit the road, BIG TIME!

I stopped for breakfast at the northern most Denny's in the world, then went a couple lights down the road and jumped on the highway toward Tok, where I had made, then cancelled, my reservation at a spend your B&B for last night/this morning. Having already done my bit to support the local economy at the North Pole, I breezed through the tiny burg and kept rolling southeast. 

While cruising down the highway I caught a very brief glimpse of this sign

I had to do a U-Turn to go back and read it. My Grandfather was quite an adventurer in his day and I thought he may have wandered up to these parts and bought some land that no one ever knew about. His name was Harry Luce - close, but no deed.

Continuing on my way I soon saw the white topped Alaska Mountain range, although from this angle, Denali is apparently not visible.

 

I also stopped a little further down at a scenic overlook, where a tour bus had just unloaded so that everyone could get the picture that was listed in their tour book. I walked from where I parked (just past the bus) back through the people to what I thought to be the best spot for a picture.

I notice that, of all the numerous conversations flying around, none were in English. I asked one gentleman where he was from and he said Minnesota.

When I returned to my bike it was surrounded by tourists. I couldn't understand what they were saying but periodically someone uttered "Harley-Davidson". One lady asked if I was traveling alone so I pointed to Betty's picture on the fender and said "not necessarily". That seemed to strike a chord with several of them as they then wanted to take a picture of the bike, take a picture of me, take a picture of me next to the bike, take a picture of them next to me next to the bike. By this time the bus driver was trying to et people back on the bus but they kept taking pictures. I found out they were all Russian immigrants, living in various locations around the US, that had signed up to take a tour together now that they're done working on the Presidential election (Ok, I made that part up). They apparently don't see a lot of H-D back in the USSR (yes, I know they're all independent nations now, but I couldn't help the Beatles reference).

Approximately 100 miles after departing Fairbanks I came to Delta Junction and felt obliged to take a picture of Mile Post 1422, the official end of the AlCan highway or, as they call it now, the Alaska Highway

Also found some other interesting information there

The Richardson Highway connects Glenallen with Fairbanks and is the other highway coming into Delta Junction. The three routes (from Fairbanks, Glenallen and the AlCan come together at a triangular park, forming the Greek letter Delta, which is written as a triangle and, in mathematics, is used to indicate a change or difference.

I also learned that there were two much smaller oil pipelines from much smaller oil fields elsewhere in Alaska. Check out the differences in the pipe size!

The large 4 foot pipe is the Alyeska Pipeline from Prudhoe Bay to Valdez. The middle pipe is an 8" line from Haines to Fairbanks, that was used from 1955 - 1971. It replaced the 3" pipeline on top that had been used from 1943 - 1947 to bring crude oil to Whitehorse in the Yukon, then gas and diesel to Fairbanks.

I refueled in Delta, being just a few miles short of being able to comfortably reach Tok on the existing tank. While at the station I met a husband and wife and another man who also had just met and realized they had all ridden up from Florida, only to meet in Alaska at a gas station. Alaska is a small place! The young lady showed me a video she had shot while riding in from Tok yesterday. A grizzly/ brown bear grazing alongside the highway, directly across from where they sat. I told her I had seen a grizzly just north of Hainse (from where they too had come) but didn't feel safe stopping to take a picture. "safe? He (pointing to her husband) let me film but he kept the engine running and left it in gear!" That video puts my picture to shame, but I did get the shot I was hoping for just before Tok.

It's a moose, if you can't tell from that far away! Lol!

I rolled in to Tok at 12:30, I think. My bike displays one time zone, my phone another and the IPad yet another. After grabbing lunch at the same restaurant as my previous visit (Fast Eddies), I paused in the parking lot to consider my options for the night. My original plan was to find a place in Tok, but I had half a day left and three days to make up. I forgot about Beaver Creek, just across the Yukon Territorial border, about a hundred miles further down the highway. The only thing I could think of was Talbot Arm in Destruction Bay where I had stayed after riding out of Haines two weeks ago. I had their number and was concerned about it being another 200 miles, when I had already ridden 200 miles this morning. But offsetting that thought was the idea of riding past another town to get to Talbot Armnly to find out that they had no rooms available. So I called and confirmed they did have a room, then I booked it. It was going to be a long day so I continued on toward the Canadian border, briefly. 

I no sooner got out of the parking lot than it started to rain. The sun was shining brightly but rain was falling on the shadow that chased me down the road. A few drops at first, then a little harder and a little more persistently. So I stopped and put my rain pants on, started out again and it rained even harder, still with the sun shining. I could her Betty's voice in my ear, "put those rain shoe covers on that you just HAD to have".

So I stopped again and slipped into the rain shoe covers. Again starting down the road it didn't take long for me to decide that this wasn't going to just blow over. So I stopped a third time and put the rain jacket on. And that was pretty much the end of the rain. However, the temperature did drop considerably as I rode along and Iwas now committed to another 200 miles before I threw in the towel, and the rain gear, in addition to keeping me dry(er) keeps me warm(er), because it does not breathe, thus retaining body heat.

The closer I got to Canada, the worse the roads were. 

I had travelled this exact route two weeks ago but had forgotten how slow the going was, given frost heaves, construction, gravel led segments and "detours" where we crossed into the other lane. I had told the motel that I would be in about 6 or 7. All of this was putting me behind. Then I recalled the time zone change and lost another hour.

I would have loved to take a break but as I'm prone to do, I worry about being "late", even when I define the time and know it makes no difference to anyone else, I put pressure on myself to deliver "me" on time.

I pulled up in front of the Talbot Arm at 7:30. I was "late" but knew it was okay. Relax, chill out, or as Karen says "chillax"! The restaurant was open for another 2 1/2 hours, the gas station for 3 1/2 hours and the laundromat was open 24/7, like Denny's.

So I sit in the warmth of the laundromat having eaten my dinner and gotten enough Canadian dollar coins in change to feed the washer and dryer. The extra warmth that normally would be objectionable feels pretty good after doing 435 miles my first day back in the saddle. 

And I figured out what the problem with the roads is in Canada. I thought it was frost heaves from extreme temperatures but it's not. It's the metric system. And all that French. Even the Government Vehicles are bi-lingual.

Thank goodness they listed both "Environment" and "Environnement", I never would have figured that out. 

So you see the roads aren't bad roads, they're just confused!