Thursday, June 12, 2008
Departing Ft. Nelson, at 0830, we continued north on Canadian Hwy. 97 under partially cloudy skies, but no rain. It’s the only road, so it’s hard to get lost.
We stopped for a potty and photo break at Summit Lake, where we contacted a couple, Valerie and Roy from Toronto, en route to Palmer, AK for the Harley Owners’ Group (HOG) Rally, on a Softail Springer and Electra Glide, frantically searching the sides of the road for a lost bag. Valerie said that their “entire vacation was in that bag,” their passports (Can’t enter Alaska without them), her money, her cell phone, and her purse. We exchanged phone numbers and told them we would look for it on our way north. About ten miles down the road, John spotted the bag in the grass along side the road. Just as he got it secured to his bike, Valerie came by. To say she was overjoyed would be an understatement.
A hundred miles later we stopped at Toad River for gas and more pictures. Valerie and Roy showed up again and we took pictures with them. Departing Toad River, the motorcycle gremlins jumped on John’s bike again and it abruptly just shutdown altogether for no apparent reason. Turning off the switch and starting it again got it going, but it would not idle. Not a good situation hundreds of miles from nowhere.
We rode on to another beautiful location, Muncho Lake, where Lane, Tim and Sylvia stopped for photo opportunities, see photo, and John rode on toward civilization. We all met up again at Watson Lake, BC, where John put a call into his new best friend, Len Hall, owner of Prince George Harley-Davidson. Len suggested removing the seat, and both side covers and giving the bike the “wiggle test” by disconnecting and reconnecting and wiggling all of the wire bundles and connectors. We followed his advice, but didn’t find anything unusual. Putting it all back together it started and ran as though nothing was amiss all the way to Watson Lake, BC, our final destination for the day, some 136 miles away.
Entering Watson Lake, BC, we found the Alaskan Highway’s famous Sign Post Village, where travelers have posted street, city, and personal signs, now numbering thousands.
Today was a banner day for sighting wild animals. We saw several bears, Caribou, Dahl Sheep, Bison and Moose.
On the down side, we experienced some of the worst road conditions today. The Provence had graveled the highway in several locations causing an unsure road surface for motorcycles, but more importantly, created blinding dust clouds from approaching commercial trucks, totally obscuring our view of the road for a few precious seconds.
More on the downside, we just found out that all of hotel rooms in Whitehorse, our destination for tomorrow, are booked. Apparently, there are several major events in Whitehorse.
During dinner, we overheard a conversation at the next table talking about Santa Clarita and found a couple who lived in Saugus, CA, but were moving to Anchorage to open three new Target stores. It really is a small world.
We only traveled 313 miles today, stopping early at 1730 hours (5:30 PM) to upload some photos and update our blog, instead of our usual 2030 (8:30 PM). We are now over 2,600 miles into our journey. We turned in at 2300 hours (11:00 PM) with the sun still high in the sky. That takes a little getting used to and makes one want to stay up later than one probably should.
Departing Ft. Nelson, at 0830, we continued north on Canadian Hwy. 97 under partially cloudy skies, but no rain. It’s the only road, so it’s hard to get lost.
We stopped for a potty and photo break at Summit Lake, where we contacted a couple, Valerie and Roy from Toronto, en route to Palmer, AK for the Harley Owners’ Group (HOG) Rally, on a Softail Springer and Electra Glide, frantically searching the sides of the road for a lost bag. Valerie said that their “entire vacation was in that bag,” their passports (Can’t enter Alaska without them), her money, her cell phone, and her purse. We exchanged phone numbers and told them we would look for it on our way north. About ten miles down the road, John spotted the bag in the grass along side the road. Just as he got it secured to his bike, Valerie came by. To say she was overjoyed would be an understatement.
A hundred miles later we stopped at Toad River for gas and more pictures. Valerie and Roy showed up again and we took pictures with them. Departing Toad River, the motorcycle gremlins jumped on John’s bike again and it abruptly just shutdown altogether for no apparent reason. Turning off the switch and starting it again got it going, but it would not idle. Not a good situation hundreds of miles from nowhere.
We rode on to another beautiful location, Muncho Lake, where Lane, Tim and Sylvia stopped for photo opportunities, see photo, and John rode on toward civilization. We all met up again at Watson Lake, BC, where John put a call into his new best friend, Len Hall, owner of Prince George Harley-Davidson. Len suggested removing the seat, and both side covers and giving the bike the “wiggle test” by disconnecting and reconnecting and wiggling all of the wire bundles and connectors. We followed his advice, but didn’t find anything unusual. Putting it all back together it started and ran as though nothing was amiss all the way to Watson Lake, BC, our final destination for the day, some 136 miles away.
Entering Watson Lake, BC, we found the Alaskan Highway’s famous Sign Post Village, where travelers have posted street, city, and personal signs, now numbering thousands.
Today was a banner day for sighting wild animals. We saw several bears, Caribou, Dahl Sheep, Bison and Moose.
On the down side, we experienced some of the worst road conditions today. The Provence had graveled the highway in several locations causing an unsure road surface for motorcycles, but more importantly, created blinding dust clouds from approaching commercial trucks, totally obscuring our view of the road for a few precious seconds.
More on the downside, we just found out that all of hotel rooms in Whitehorse, our destination for tomorrow, are booked. Apparently, there are several major events in Whitehorse.
During dinner, we overheard a conversation at the next table talking about Santa Clarita and found a couple who lived in Saugus, CA, but were moving to Anchorage to open three new Target stores. It really is a small world.
We only traveled 313 miles today, stopping early at 1730 hours (5:30 PM) to upload some photos and update our blog, instead of our usual 2030 (8:30 PM). We are now over 2,600 miles into our journey. We turned in at 2300 hours (11:00 PM) with the sun still high in the sky. That takes a little getting used to and makes one want to stay up later than one probably should.
1 comment:
Hi John,
It's Mariah. I hope your trip is going well, and that you are having the time of your retired life!
You should have attached a sidecar and took me with you!
Be safe, and don't get eaten by any strange animals.
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