I love RV folk.

Sunday, August 16th 2009
7:12pm. Haines Junction @ the Kluane Vally Inn.
$69.95 for a double room. They have a bar and restaurant. My room is at ground level which made me very happy. Always get self concious about staying at hotels on this trip. After you check in, get everything off the bike....the day ALWAYS seems to open up. The rain stops, the winds die down, and the sun comes out. Every single time.
Today was hard riding! Was only 50mi out from Johnson's crossing(corner?) to Whitehorse...had a tail wind...it was awesome. Even stopped at a Tim Hortons for lunch because I'd been tipped the chili combo was a good bargin(turned out to be true). It was an awesome morning ride. chilly, but just cruisin enjoying the sights and the overcast but not raining sky.
Gas, and back on the road. About 10miles out of town, the engine starts thumping pretty hard. I know what that means by this point. Quick look at the 'trees' and grass confirms it. Head wind.
About 30 sec later, I cross a small pass, and am BLASTED by a cross wind that that knocked me off the road into the pullout!(thank god it was there, as there arn't many). the wind the turns full bast 180 from my earlier tail wind into a crazy ass head wind/cross wind.
About 3o miles of the most difficult riding of the trip, I pulled over into a senic rest area. I know what this wind is. It's called a Vally Breeze. We'd learned about it in Paragliding school back in Grenoble. It's the hot air in the valley which travels to the highest point. Everyday. The same direction, extream weather excluding. I knew the wind would die down...eventually....maybe only when the sun started to set....but I simpily could not ride, and just had to wait it out.
Everybody who stoped asked me if I was alright, if I'd fallen or gotten hurt by the wind, which kept getting stronger and stronger. An awesome couple in an RV took extream pitty on me. They were brooklyn also. Invited me into the camper and fed me bagels and lox. They had cured the lox themselves from salmon they'd caught several days before! How cool is that?!?
About 6hours later, the wind was still not calmed down enough to ride in my opoinion...but I saw another motorcyclist rolling along, and I got brave. Also I was bored, and the thought of risking my life to get to Haines Junction seemed aceptable.
It was wreckless and stupid. It was all I could do to keep that bike upright against the gusts of wind. It was exausting, and phyically demanding. Some times the gusts were so hard that I bearly had the strength to counter steer against it. It was the hardest riding I've yet attempted....I promissed myself that I would NEVER do that again. If I had only waited two more hours, everything would have been calm!
Tonight I'm going to dump some weight to try and stretch the back tire. Books, 1/2 the gas(when I need it) The extra fuel...anything. I don't know if the tire will make it. There is still about 600miles left to ride. These roads have in 2200 miles nearly ridden my back tire bald.
Still have the other half of the Kluane Valley to ride tomorrow, so I need to be past it before noon, when the wind will stop me again.

Sugar Coating It.

Sat. August 15th 2009
9:45 pm @ Johnson's Crossing.
Made it pretty far today.
Maybe I'll make it to Fairbanks by Monday?
Left camp way late this morning. Didn't make it out till almost 9:30. I must have been the ONLY person in the camp grounds by that hour. It was embarrassing.
Had a crazy dream last night:
Was with my family, we were all swimming. The deep end which fell off quickly seemed nice, but no one wanted to join me. So in a fit, I decided that I could swim alone, and just tell them how awesome it was after. Found a cliff on the other side of the lake to jump off of. Must have been 50feet above the lake. I jumped, and as I was falling, I saw my father. He had this look of terror on his face...like he would never see me again. It was sad and full of fear not knowing what to do.
There was a pivitol moment where in the fall I could have steered towards the shallow end...but in a fit of recklessness dove straight into the deep end.
As I made it easily down to the bottom of the lake....I let some air out of my lungs, so I could stay down there and explore for a moment or two. Just as I was feeling the need to get some more air and accend....I noticed a current. It was slow but VERY strong. I looked back and saw what my father's fear was about. There was a huge underground river at the bottom of the lake!! I was sucked down instantly, plunged into absolute darkness. I was struggling to breath. This was it. I was going to die here. Alone. In the dark. I'd never see my family again. Mortal Terror.
I forced myself away.
Turns out, I had pushed myself way down to the bottom of the sleeping bag in my sleep, and was actually struggling for air.
"Man!" I thought. "That was a bit blunt. Wish my mind could have been less dramatic. Maybe sugar coated that a bit!"

One last thing. Been wearing my rain suit fairly constantly. I look like a moron. But damn that thing keeps all the wind out! It's been hovering around 45-60deg everyday. That thing was the best $89 dollars I've spent this trip!

Seriously?

Friday, August 14th 2009
On the way into Liard Hotsprings I met my buddies, the 3 verterains from Beaver Creek. Met another young man traveling solo by motorcycle. He was on a tour of epic proportions! He'd left with a buddy from the wid west nearly two months ago, and had been nearly everywhere! Up through Bamph and Jasper, the Dalton Highway, Dawsoon City and the top of the world highway, down to Denalli, and out to Homer and Vadez.... he was riding a KLR650.
It never occured to be before talking to this guy that I should attempt to see or ride anyplace other than Fairbanks. The trip seemed so epic from back in NY....now....he was so excited.....kept spouting things like 'once in a life time'...and 'so many things to see'....hmmmm.
I never dawned on me that I'd not set my ambitions high enough or sights far enough. Catches one off gaurd.
There was only one camp site left when I pulled into the springs. Not unusuall for a friday. There was a 'bear trapping' going on in the next camp site. Huge dead animal and a bag of onions hanging in what looked like a large tube made out of green metal mesh. Awesome. Apparently, as I would learn later, there was a woman who was eaten last week at the upper spring(which was still closed). Even more awesome. Slept through the night just fine though. No bears. Was a little more cautious about putting ANYTHING that had been near food in the bear box though.
Oh, yeah. Had my first close call today. Nearly took a spill. There was gravel around a turn, and I took it too fast. That was pretty scary. When I put my foot down(bad idea), I learned how heavy my bike really is all loaded up. 425lbs(by my figure), straight down on my left leg. Ow. Had read a dirtbiking mag at the dealership in Prince George, and remembered some advice...."when in doupt...gun it!". So I rolled back the throttle, and was back upstraight again in a moment.
Oh, one last thing. The mountians are incredible! And appently it's only going to get better in the Yukon! When you come around a mountian and you see the 'wild' stretching on as far as your brain can imagine. In your mind's eyes you know how far it goes. You've been studying these maps for months....but to be riding through those little squiggles on a piece of paper....this ride is larger than I EVER imagined. If I make it to Fairbanks, through these endless stretches of wilderness, I am going to cry out in joy!

God damned bears, or, The middle of freaking nowhere.

Thurs. August 13th 2009
My god it's beautiful out here.
Every once in a while riding up a big 'hill' and it become clear why the engine has been straining. The road starts to level off and drops down in front of you like a curtain being pulled back. You've just crested another summit. There it is, the Northern Rockies! An endless vally stretches before you, so large that it can have several different types of storm systems rolling along at the same time. 40,50,60mile across. I've not been taking any pictures for any number of reasons. Pictures wouldn't mean anything anyway against this vastness. Would be like bringing back a bottle of water and trying to explain the ocean. Pointless. Don't know if my family or friends will ever forgive me....but it's really not that kind of trip anyway:)
Even though I never said it out loud, the Mile Post gave me the impression of the Alaskan Highway being like route 66. Small towns, cool little attractions, fun & interesting restaurants....the reality in a way is fairly unglamorous. 9times out of 10 the cute little hotel or RV park or camp grounds are shrouded with the 'closed forever' look...or the towns just don't exist/ The gas stations are further appart than the book says also. It was a good thing that I went to the visitor's center in Fort Nelson. Apparently two of the gas stations I was counting on to get me to Watson Lake are closed forever(ish)...that means a stretch from Muncho Lake->Watston Lake will be 180mi sans gas. Damn. That is larger than my range with the 1gl gerry can.....so I had to find a larger one! I gave my old one to the clerk at the hardware store and upgraded to a 2&1/2(10liter)tank...which was harder to strap onto the already pretty well loaded blast:)
I expected to see more couples and families road triping...at least come home...but nothing. Maybe it's too late in the year....but mostly it's shipping trucks or work trucks. A motorcycle couple passes going south every once in a while....but we never get more than a wave in. Not very many people riding this road solo on motorycles.
Anyway. It's 8:30 and I'm excited and exausted. The sun won't really set to somewhere around 10 here. As I get further and further north the sun keep hanging out in the sky longer and longer. Wonder what it will be like in Fiarbanks?!? The light is fine with me. The darkness is a little unsetteling here with all the bears(which i've seen EVERY day). The less darkness the better!

Tougher than not.

Wed. August 12th 2009
Today Prince Gorge->St.John
Had intended to stop at Dawson Creek, but the weather was misserable, and I was happy on the bike riding. Rained all day(nearly).
The pass from whatever to Chetwyne was beautiful, but dicy. As predicted the tank hit reserve nearly exactly 85miles. Filled the take from the jerry can at 93 miles because it was a convient moment....though I would have liked to see how far the tank could have gone before going completely dry. As the trip is going, I'm guessing that little 'experement' is going to happen sooner than later. Towns and gas stations keep getting smaller and further apart.
Pulled into town felling 'low'. Meaning that I was cold and hungry.
Dispite my dislike of staying in hotels while on the road(hate taking everything off the bike and having to walk super far to a room, and the security problem), the lady at the information desk told me of an awesome open mic night at a bar in town. So I got a room and went to hang out with the locals. As soon as I got into my room having forked over $100 for a freaking room, the clouds disapeared and the sun came shining over the land. Man! Turns out this happened nearly every day durring the trip. This was typical fall mountian weather I was used to growing up in the catskills. Sunny when you first wake up. Clouds and maybe rain, and clear skies every night near sundown.
There were some other bikers going north that passed me today. They were wearing open face helmets, leather jackets and chaps. I was cold in my blue rain/space suit. Those were some bad ass bikers. Definatly made of tougher stuff than me.