Saturday, June 19

We made it to Alaska. Woo Hoo!!! Wow - it was a rough day (at times). We left Whitehorse at 7:30 a.m. and arrived in Tok, Alaska at 5:30 p.m. (which is 4:30 p.m. Tok time - another hour time change). Long day.

The day began fabulous. Couldn't believe it, but another day riding in gorgeous weather between snow-capped mountains. This time, we were even higher in the mountains. When we looked, we were actually even with the snow in the mountains. Temperature hung right around 50 degrees most of the day. Absolutely fabulous. Scenery again amazing. We also saw a bunch of elk, a moose, a mountain goat and, the best of all, a grizzy bear with her cub right along the side of the road. I even got pictures! Duane almost stopped the bike, which freaked me out - but I got the pictures anyway. Then, in all my fluster, I thought I lost one of my gloves and Duane was going to turn around and pick it up right in front of the grizzly (I said forget the stupid glove), but fortunately I found it underneath Duane's butt. I must have shoved it there in my panic (now you know not to get me panicked - you never know where I'll shove things). Anyway, the shots turned out great. Hopefully, Duane can post one of them one of these days.

Speaking of pictures - we purchased a new camera for this trip. That was a great decision! I literally take pictures "on the fly" (that's what Duane and I call it - it means as we're going down the road) and they turn out fabulous. Good decision.

Before I get to the rest of the day, let me update you regarding last night. We stayed at "Canada's Best Value Inn," which I was concerned about, but it was very clean, a big and nice room, had a television, wireless internet service and even a bathroom with switches for the fan, light and heating light individually - I knew we were up in the world. However, I didn't realize how thin the walls were and what an unusual place it was. As I was walking down the hall, I happened to glance into a room and they had string across the room with laundry drying on the string (lots of laundry). Duane said he's quite sure people stay there permanently. I got quite concerned when the dude "came home" next to us and I heard him go to the bathroom, take a shower, talk to some chick, pass gas, watch TV, talk to some chick again. I thought, oh, no, what next?!!?! But, the next thing I heard was snoring. Thank goodness. Duane slept through all of it. That's good - he was pooped.

So, back to today, the first part of the day was amazing. However, we then ran into the Canadian version of road construction and what Jesse had warned us about - roads suffering the damage of permafrost. Once again, Jesse did not exaggerate! WOW! Were they bad. The best way I can describe it is the road looks like a small roller coaster except big chunks of the roller coaster road are missing here and there and you're just supposed to guess when and where. I did get some pretty good pictures of it "on the fly." Maybe if you see it sometime, you'll understand. I know for a fact that some spots, if we would have hit them with the bike, it would have taken the whole front tire of the bike into the hole. Yikes! So, Duane had a rough day of it. We had about 140 miles of permafrost and 30 of construction (gravel/rock/they pour water on it/you drove on it behind pilot car - nasty). It took us 3 1/2 hours to do the 140 miles. We're pooped.

Will have to blog more later and check this later - battery running out and don't want to lose this. Duane might have to change my miles and hours - I just guessed

Gayle - BOTB

News from the Front. Wow what a day. Imagine driving through an Iowa plowed field on a two wheel 800 pound bike. There were places where the road sank, and the groove in the road looked like a plowed furrow 6" deep and meandering across the road like a snake for 30 or 40 yards. Now try to drive through it without getting yourself tossed off!

I now know how they keep people in Canada, they make the road to get out of the country so damn bad, you don't dare leave!

The good news is that with all that slow travel, I averaged 46.9 mpg for the day, with one tank at 57.3 mpg. Unbelieveable, but I checked it several times.

Tonight we stayed at a Westmark Inn, in Tok, that advertised the "largest Margarita in Alaska", of course Gayle ordered one, it is 46 ounces, (more than a quart) and was darn good! (don't worry, I took pictures, it's as big as Gayle's head!!!!!!!)

On to Anchorage tomorrow to see Jesse!

Thanks for checking and your prayers!