from Snag to whitehorse. Grueling. grueling. almost killed me

June 16th

Yup, back in whitehorse now... but lets back up a bit.

Left the campsite, and anything i didn't put in the tent was damp or wet. It rained during the night and i'll need to dry everything out. still worth it though. $12 campsite (has wood for a pit) and $9 smokies. that's $21 and it would have cost me $89 plus food in a restaurant.

i had to stop yesterday since i almost fell alseep at the wheel. more than a few times. damn dangerous

today i hit the road at about 10:30. not great.

The road condition on the yukon side was an absolute horror. the road essentially had whoop-dee-doos in it, and almost threw me off the bike more than a few times.

The day started off nice enough.

I was not waking up so i stopped in at this gas/motel/cafe place. It looked a little run down, but hey, i needed coffee.

Inside there was a table and 4 chairs, and over every nook and cranny there was stuff. some for sale, some not. it was like walking inside someone's house.

by this point i pulled up a chair and asked for a coffee.

Cold and wet, a hot coffee by a wood stove sounded good.

The place is run by an older couple that have been running it for the last 40 years. we chatted for about an hour but i had to get some miles in, so i bid them farewell.

a nice couple harsh times for people out here.

the coffee and warm fire and chat did me some good, i felt good riding now... not falling alseep.

those clouds do not look good.

more clouds to the left and right, and when i looked in my mirrors, there was rain there too.

i was going to get a bit wet.

I did get a bit wet, but not that much. i needed gas and food so i stopped in at Destruction Bay

really good beef barley soup and ham and grilled cheese sandwich. hit the spot. can't remember the name of the cafe/motel/gas place, but the cafe closes at 2pm. i walked in at like 1:55. hah.

good food.

around the lake by destruction bay

non picture interlude.

From around 4pm until about 6:30, it rained. it rained really hard. I thought my rain jacket and liner would keep me dry. they didn't. i thought my rain pants would keep me dry, it did to a point.

i didn't have a chance to fall alseep now, it was just bad weather. my facesheild fogged inside very badly, and i had water coming on the inside of the visor as well. gotta figure where it's coming from, but i think it's coming in from the vent ports. arg.

I was cold. freezing. it was roughly 6 degrees C and my hands were cold and wet, my feet cold and wet, and i was starting to lose ability to move my arms and legs. not good. i needed off fast.

I tried to go as fast as i could, but hydroplanning over puddles scared the shit out of me.

I finally got to whitehorse, where it was not raining as hard and was a bit warmer. 8 degrees C.

i pulled in to the 1st motel i saw that had internet and doors out front. i walked inside with all my gear on. i slowly took off my gloves and helmet. my hands were purple and shaking and wet. I was shivering.

got the room and quickly some gear off the bike and inside. I took a hot shower for about 30 or so minutes. my hands were burning. wow. i was not in good shape.

I laid down for a bit and got dressed. thankfully i put my clothes in big ziplock bags so it was dry.

I only had wet shoes and wet boots. I chose to put on the wet socks (wool blend) and put on the wet shoes. funny. my feet were warm.

went out and got some food and a coffee.

The place was an absolute dump. the internet was a coin operated computer in their front office/lobby.

the room was crap. there was even blood on the floor. seriously. gross.

i couldn't wait to get out of there.

always go to the end of the rainbow.

June 15th

woke up and oiled my K&N air filter that i had cleaned the night before. wow. that thing was nasty dirty. i had rocks stuck in the filter. i put a bit too much oil, and they say to reclean and re-oil. too bad, not gonna do it.

As usual, i woke up too late again. it took me a while to figure out how i was going to pack up everything. everything packed up, i left.

like my packing job? got a $20 motorcycle backpack which i strapped to the back. it works. the stuff sack on the left is way too huge and isn't waterproof. meh.

On the same stretch of land that i saw a moose earlier going from Delta Jct. to fairbanks, there was another moose. maybe it's the same one as before. there was another moose on the other side of the highway not too far away too.

do the dew. rinds, all the fat, zero carbs.

Lunch womper style at a gas station.
got to the end of the AlCan highway. (alaska highway) still not sure why there is two names for it. annoying.

Now to finish up between Tok and whitehorse... then i'll have completed the alaska highway

no clue why this sign was at the the endpoint of the highway. never saw any bulls. maybe they meant Bison. didn't see any around there either.

told ya the mosquitoes are huge.

the 3 different pipelines. top is the original, the 2nd is the canol pipeline, the 3rd is the aleyska pipe size. the large pipe is 48" in diameter.

took this picture of the local proctologist tool.

heh.

crossing a bridge somewhere...Before Tok, after Delta Junction

hmm... don't like the looks of those clouds.
nice pavement, a bit of rain, but not that bad

I almost fell asleep at the wheel more than a few times, so i pulled over. i needed a break.

I decided to make Chubbs 2.0

you can barely see him there with all the rocks in the background. bah. Chubbs 3.0 will be better, faster, stronger. well, better maybe.

the international border between the US and Canada.

this is a neat site. wonder what cops patrol here. hah. yes, i was speeding, didn't see any cops.

Neat monument there declaring the international border and all.

cheesy i know, but i had to do it.
the road was really really rough, so i took a break at this little place. the alaska highway on the canada side is really rough with frost heaves and they are working on it. the problem with working on it is a lot of loose gravel and mud. meh.

this was a neat lake, this is just a tiny part of it.

got through customs without any problems (wasn't expecting any either) and went to beaver creek. i was starting to get really tired at that point so i looked for a cheap motel. they wanted $89 a night. i decided to camp for the night instead since the weather was not that bad.

I bought some smokies ($9 for 6) and went for a ride, knowing there would be a government of yukon campsite somewhere down the rode. The campsites are only $12.

I kept riding and there were some nice rainbows there as the rain was on and off. so i followed the rainbow.

not liking those clouds, you can barely see the mountains.
pictures don't do it justice, you just have to be there to feel it. to see the colors for yourself and see the sunlight playing over the mountians as it shines through the clouds. go there. everyone should travel more.

somewhere over the the rainbow...
i'm not liking those clouds. scenery was nice though.

looks like i'm riding right into the thick of it.
it was getting late... and saw this rainbow and followed it.

funny, i found the government campground at the end of it that i was looking for, the Snag campsite. hah!

always follow the rainbow. the bugs were bad at first until i got the 100% deet out. they don't like that stuff at all.

made a fire and cooked my smokies. damn axe is breaking. i've used it what... 3 times? piece of crap. bad design i think.

anyhow, made a fire, warmed up and went to bed too late, as usual. i lost an hour going over the border so that's screwing me up a bit, because you get even more light in the yukon later.

took this at 12:30am. too much damn light.

always follow the rainbow.

Teslin, whitehorse and fox lake, yukon.

June 2, 2009
Last night i froze sitting on the patio at Dawson Peaks resort updating the blog via slow internet. damn mosquitoes kept bugging me. If anyone is coming up north, bring a lot of 30% DEET bugspray. you'll need it. I've resized all the pictures i'm uploading to be very small, so i'll have to upload all my pics once i get back home.


I had fitful sleep last night, mainly because my pillow (the bike coverin a bag) kept sliding around. polyester on polyester doesn't offer much friction. my solution in the future is to just roll up a sweater and use it. that works just as well.


My Body just didn't want to move today. Body aches and just all around sluggish. I took a coin operated shower at dawson resort and broke camp.

I rode until i hit Teslin and took a picture of the longest bridge in the yukon.

I stopped in at the gas station/motel resort/campground/general store/restaurant for breakfast. Eggs and Caribou sausage. I should have stuck with regular bacon. It was ok, but nothing to write home about... which i'm doing. oh well. wasn't worth the $14 price tag. At least i tried something different.

Before i got to whitehorse, I stopped to take a picture of the ice on the water. I think i serously came at the wrong time of the year, yet on the other hand, it's not often you see this type of sight when riding a motorcycle.I only rode about 100km and my body and mind just couldn't take it. This was at about noon. I was burned out so i stopped at the next rest stop i saw. The rest stop is all gravel and no grass to lay down on, so i grabbed my towel (thank you Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy) and rolled it up for a pillow. I was wearing a long sleeved T-shirt so i put that over my face for the beating sun. when stopped it was hot, but when riding near water, it was downright cold. I lay down essentially in the ditch facing the highway, with my trusty towel as a pillow. I was like that for a little while and it felt good.

after a little while (maybe 20 mins or so) i heard a bike stop behind me. I got up and saw a very nice BMW GS 1200

Meet Yoni.

Yoni was on his way to the start of his trip at Prudhoe Bay, and his final destination will be Ushuaia, Argentina. He's originally from Israel and started this trip in California Here's his website for those interested http://harpatka.com/ seems i can't figure out the english version of it. We swapped pics and chatted for a while. I got a sticker to put on my windshield once i clean it. i'd be interested in doing the trip Yoni is doing, as it's the same trip that SgtMarty did and was just finishing this year. you can read about SgtMarty's trip at http://www.errant-ronin.com/ . it's a great ride report. Yoni said he had to take a loan out for this trip. I don't know how much it costs, but i know it's more than i have. ouch. I'd like to do this trip, but i think lack of Bike, money and no spanish skills really hold me back.

I headed into Whitehorse, which still had snow. 30 degrees celcuis and still snow on the ground. seriously. From what the ladies at the Watson Lake info center said, it piles up high and doesn'tblow around much. If you're in Watson lake, ask them about it. They have pictures... pretty neat. Whitehorse is nice, but it's very very small. very small.

I grabbed a coffee and tried to decide what to do for the night. I was still exhausted and didn't feel like going far today. I knew i'd be camping out so i went out and bought some supplies.

nice clear blue skies. it was hotter than arizona i'd bet. Saw a deer looking at me while riding by. didn't see him until the last minute because he was in the ditch. You need to keep a sharp eye for animals in these parts.



found a nice campsite at Fox Lake. in the Yukon, all government campsites are $12, have outhouses, water and firewood. you don't need much else. It's all self serve as well,
Pretty neat setup actually.
Here's the site i chose.



No better way to cook a smokie than over an open fire. why this barbaric ritual of playing with fire soothes my mind, i'll never understand. love it.

Then we slow cook some chili, in the can. Why dirty more pots? I didn't have any pots to cook directly over the fire anyhow, so this works well enough.Make sure you bring enough hot sauces and spices. Food can get very bland on the road and it's always nice to spice things up. I also brought with me some Mrs Dash.

I love how bike tires scare these packets. hah.

I added some Marble cheese on the smokie, smothered with chili and topped with some mild hot sauce. Viola. Chili cheese dog is born. it was delicious. i'm going to start making these at home.

I went down by the lake to take some pictures. Very nice lake. Quiet. these pics don't do it justice, there are more mountains on every side.

This is me. tired, but in good spirits. i needed to take a pic to tell my friends and family i'm ok and that i was actually there. hah.

Got a little bored so i picked up a few pine cones and did this. i'm such a geek.

This is the water that came out of the well pump. says to boil for at least 10 mins before drinking. i don't think i'd ever drink that. the lake water looked cleaner.

final fire of the night. had to destroy all evidence of the cone writing. i think i took it at around 9:30 pm. it didn't get darker until 3am or so. it never really got dark.