Small World - Day 4 and 5

Day 4 and 5

Tuesday started clear and chilly, with temps in the high 40’s. We left Grande Cache with hopes of adding on mileage to get back on schedule. Most of the morning we moved well, with little traffic up to Grande Prairie. We stopped at a Best Buy to resolve some camera issues and kept going, crossing over into British Columbia. After lunch in Dawson Creek, we decided to pick up the pace a little and made it to Fort Nelson in late afternoon after a run that probably would have gotten the attention of state troopers back home. In Fort Nelson, being a little groggy from so much time moving at speed, I thought it would be a good thing to put diesel fuel in my tank instead of gasoline. Oops. After draining and refilling twice, with the help of some very friendly locals, we headed out another 105 miles to Toad River, for a total of 580 miles for the day. On the way, we had an encounter with a female moose: we came around a long sweeping left hand curve to find her standing in the road, looking bored. I stopped as quickly as I could but found myself only 40 feet away. After a minute or two, she started towards me at a walk and I turned around and rode back to Dan, who was already facing the direction we came. She then stood sideways in the road for several minutes and ignored us. Women! Finally, she walked off the road and we got moving again. I suspect that she was a bit on the small side but still the size of a Chevy Suburban.

Toad River Lodge was rustic at best, but the people were friendly, telling us to grab the only remaining room and we’d all “settle up in the morning.” We pulled in about 10:30 pm and it was still very light out. After unpacking, we were told that several Moose were swimming in the lake and went down to take pictures, none of which were any good. We started talking to the other people there and as it turned out, they were from Madison, Wisconsin. Small world.

Wednesday we left Toad River and hit a construction area that was 6 miles of gravel. The four semi trucks and 3 huge RV’s caused so much dust that I thought I was in a blizzard. We finally stopped to give the trucks a head start and inched our way along. Afterwards, we were covered in dust and couldn’t see out of our helmets. Good times!! We arrived in Watson Lake with thoughts of taking an alternate route, but found intel in town that told us the road was under construction, so we stayed on the Alaska Highway and kept going. Again this afternoon, we made better than good time up the Alaska Highway, with the scenery very similar to Colorado, or perhaps the north woods of Wisconsin, sans mountains. After crossing into the Yukon, we stopped in Teslin for a break, and spoke to a couple on a Honda Goldwing, (the benchmark of all touring bikes). They had left Missouri in late May and were going to keep riding until the 2^nd or 3^rd week of July. Must be nice! We arrived in Whitehorse, the capital of the Yukon Territories and almost immediately ran into people we had talked to in Toad River.

We have traveled more than 3,000 miles since leaving Chicago 5 days ago and all I can think is “Small World.”

This is Toad River Lodge... very rustic but everyone was very friendly.















This was taken along the Alaska Highway. I think it was called Dease Lake, but it might as well be called Mirror Lake.














This was also along the Alaska Highway. June 25th and there is still snow in the mountains.














P.S. We have made it to Dawson City, Yukon and have had a great time today, day 6. Currently, we are at Bombay Peggy's, drinking Yukon Discovery Ale. Good stuff. If you get here, ask for Shauna. Unfortunately, massive internet connection problems have kept me from posting. The pictures above take about 7 or 8 minutes each to upload, and I have about a dozen I would like to post. Tomorrow we head to Alaska, with our target Fairbanks. Hopefully (I am told) my phone will work again once I get near Tok, (rhymes with Coke) Alaska and I can post more pictures when I get to Fairbanks. Stay tuned.