back from alaska - part 3
Posted: Sun Aug 27, 2000 12:13 am
I woke up kind of late as things dragged on at Eagle Plains. Most of its
guests had long since departed. I had dried all my gear in the motel as
well as cleaned the mud off my riding clothes. It's an amazing place
because they are self-sufficient generating their own power and pumping
their own water. In retrospect this motel was inexpensive. It is a clear
day perhaps 45F and the road was still covered in puddles. My bike was
covered from top to bottom in mud and I arranged to borrow the shop's
pressure washer for $5.00Cn. Mainly I wanted the mud out of my radiator but
cleaning the rest of the bike was a nicety. When I arrived the night
before, the restaurant had already closed so this morning I had a terrific
breakfast to make up for lost weight. As I departed, a woman who was
perhaps in her sixties also was packing her bike. She had ridden (not
trailered) her 1200 Sportster from Idaho with her dog on the back in a
little cage. I was soon corrected and the cage was in fact a kennel. Her
goal was to go to the Arctic Circle, which is about 200 miles short of
Inuvik but still a hefty achievement. She spent the night at Eagle Plains
because she fell on an iron grated bridge that was slippery from the rain.
The mechanic at Eagle Plains welded her exhaust back on and she was good to
go. At some point she lost he spare gas can and would probably not have
made the entire leg without one. I never went on reserve and was happy to
unload mine for the price of the gas in the can. She gave me two toonies -
two dollar coins.
Travel was once again good. Scenery awesome. I saw a wolf, a fox and a
bunch of Dall sheep and a couple of caribou. The good times lasted about
100 miles and the rain returned. I was numb to rain at this point and I
wasn't bothered by it as much as before. Never the less, it slowed my
travel as my visor fogged from the inside as did my glasses. It forced me
to drive with the shield continuously open just to keep from fogging up.
The Dempster is periodically marked with signs that tell you to look out for
aircraft. The road widens and then it becomes dual use - runway and road.
I'm making reasonable time and prior to Tombstone pass I come across a
"runway" and several people are waving their hands signaling for me. I pull
over and two planes were grounded due to low visibility. They wanted me to
call the tower to let them know they were taking precautionary measures and
would not meet their flight plan. An hour later I see two small planes fly
by doing wing-overs but I wasn't sure if it was them. About 7pm I finally
got to the end of the Dempster. I still called in their possible delay.
I was cold and wet and the rain just would not let up. As I was drying out
in a gas station/restaurant, three people show up on two BMWs - one with a
side hack. They were also from Germany. We decided to rendezvous to Dalton
City together and get a motel. Motels are priced like the Hilton and look
like they should rent by the hour. The German family and I decide to camp
in a provincial campground. We shared a campsite and split the cost of
$8.00Cn per night for the site. This included firewood that was too wet to
burn. Dalton City is very touristy and you get immersed playing tourist. I
met people I had seen the previous days on the Dempster. I also ran into
the pilots from the day before. I never took my helmet off but they
recognized the KLR. They thanked me for calling it in. During the day, I
went to the Napa auto store and they were kind enough to let me use their
shop to do an oil change. That evening I went with the Germans to the
casino for the Diamond Tooth Gertie Show, which turned out to be very
entertaining.
From Dalton City I did the Top of the World Highway to Tok, Alaska. Ten
minutes after packing up, it started raining again. The US/Canadian border
is 40 miles away and that section is chip sealed and in good shape. It is
another awesome road that I could not really enjoy because of the weather.
The road runs on top of a mountain range with views forever. I was playing
tag with biker on an Africa Twin. We kept switching lead as we stopped for
more rain gear. When I got to the border I could not believe how easy it
was to get. Four questions and I was good to go. As I was starting up the
guy on the Twin shows up. The immigrations officer asked him where he was
from. His answer: "Dalton City". I knew that was not the right answer
and he was going to get hassled. I took off and stopped one mile later in
Boundary Alaska - a town of one gas station and three people. While drying
off I watched for the guy on the Twin but an hour lapsed and he never
passed. Later I stopped again in Chicken AK. I was hoping to make it to
Fairbanks but soon realized this wasn't going to happen. I calculated 160
miles or so to Tok but erred when The AAA map was in Kilometers for the
Canadian side and miles on the US side. I assumed all Kilometers and it
turned out the largest chunk was in miles - all unpaved and now 60% further.
I met a Swiss bicyclist while having dinner at a Salmon bake in Tok. He was
totally demoralized as he had sheltered in his tent waiting for a break in
the weather for five days. This wasn't for me and decided to sleep dry in a
motel. The only room available was above a bar at the Tok Lodge for $79US.
It had a tin roof and the all night downpour made for a rough night's sleep.
The next morning at 11:00am the temperature was 36F and everything towards
Fairbanks was completely snowed covered - including the highway. A first in
forty years in August. I decided I needed to retreat and scale back the
plan. At the visitor center I checked into getting the ferry from Skagway
to Prince Rupert or to Bellingham but it only departs on Mondays and its
Tuesday. I would have to wait six days and still be a standby - they can
always squeeze in a bike but other bikers were also calling it quits. My
game plan was to drive back.
-svt-