Day nine.....sunshine! And a mountain

We wanted to be able to take our time today so we woke up at 5:30 and got out by 6:30. We said bye to Dennis and wished him luck on his trip to prudhoe bay.

The ride from Fairbanks to Denali was really fun. Nice big turns and a smooth road. Well it was smooth most of the way.....then the construction started. We had three long sections of dirt construction roads but after that we had smooth roads to Denali. 

Stopped at a pizza place outside Denali and got the best pizza that's ever been made. We went in the park to the visitors center but I wasn't about to pay the money and take up a whole day to go see a mountain.....next time I will fly here and do the tours.....this is a motorcycle trip! That being said.....I did stop and get some pictures today.

Saw a bald eagle hunting while we were stopped!

Then after Denali it was just few short construction filled miles to anchorage. We picked out a home for the next three nights and moved in. We just got back from dinner.....more sushi! It was amazing you guys....like no joke....it was just amazing. I've never eaten that much sushi in one sitting. 

Day eight.....Fairbanks with a new friend!

Today we woke up at the crack of 9 and packed up. Dennis was headed to Fairbanks so we all traveled together. The ride was our shortest...202 miles....and of course it rained again but just for the morning. The ride was really boring actually.....the trees are getting shorter and more grass is growing. We kept joking that this just looks like California. We stopped in delta junction and had lunch at buffalo center drive in....and they had a Ronald McDonald......weird.

We did stop at North Pole and see the year-round Christmas magic......it made me sick. If you don't know......there is a town not far from Fairbanks called North Pole and they decorate for Christmas every day......here is a plaque on a piece of cement to give you all the details.

And here is a giant Santa to get you in the Christmas spirit

The closer we got to Fairbanks the hotter it got.....and I mean HOT! By the time we got there I was about to pass out....I had way too many layers on......it was 80 degrees! Fairbanks was kind of boring......just another city. We were having more fun riding out on the highway. We tried finding a campground but everything was far away or right in town off the side of the freeway. Tempers were starting to boil from the heat and chaos of being in a city and we finally just gave up and pulled in to a hotel. Split three ways worked out pretty good. 

Once we settled in and got cleaned up we walked down the road to dinner at Alaska Salmon Bake.....o my goodness.....I thought I was in heaven. All you can eat salmon, prime rib, and cod plus all the normal fixins. For 30 bucks! It was great! I would have taken a picture but nothing stayed on my plate long enough. The walk back to the hotel was a lot longer than I remember it being on the way there.

Then we hung out for a bit and went to sleep.......Dennis is officially the loudest snorer in the history of ever.

Tomorrow Denali and Anchorage!

Day seven.....yay...rain again

Well we left Whitehorse around 6:00 this morning and headed towards Tok. It was already raining when we woke up so we just bundled up and went for it. 

The rain didn't look like it was ever going to stop. We stopped at a gas station about 20 miles before Haines junction and a lady there told us that we were headed towards snow at the "summit". She said if it was snowing at the summit it would be snowing in beaver creek which was about 200 miles away so it could be pretty bad. We decided to go for it and see what would happen. 

We rode....and rode....and rode. And eventually we got into sunshine.......then we got to beaver creek......hm I guess it didn't snow....wait! "Do you remember going over any kind of summit?" "Nope".....I swear the lady was just trying to get us to stay at her camp ground.....nothing she said was accurate but she was really pushing the bad weather at the "summit". And there is only one road....I don't know....it was funny.

A couple hours later....WE MADE IT TO ALASKA!!!! And we stopped and clapped! Then we did the border crossing and had to get used to miles again.....I miss kilometers now.

Yeah my face is smooshed.....what's it to ya?

The rest of the drive was pretty much the same old stuff. The trees are getting shorter the closer we get to Fairbanks.

Got to Tok and pulled in to Thompsons Eagle Claw campground and claimed the 4 person bunkhouse.  We decided to go get some dinner at Fast Eddys. Good choice! When we got back from dinner guess who was right across from us in the camp? Dennis from Whitehorse! He had gone a different route the other day and happened to be in Tok at the same campground....crazy. So we all hung around the fire showing off our gadgets and gear till it was bed time. Tomorrow Fairbanks!

Day six....a day off

Today was spent just hangin out in Whitehorse. I'm glad for the chance to relax and stand up but I'm ready to ride tomorrow.

We woke up a bit late today in our campsite. I froze my butt off and had to wake up and cover up with whatever I could find in my tent. When I woke up all the way I was under a motorcycle gear pile. I was woken up to the sound of Enrique taking pictures. 

"What are you doing?" 

"Taking a picture of this fox next to your tent."

"Oh.....wait what?!"

After we got camp broken down we hoped on our bikes and went in to town to find a hotel. We wanted a hotel cause we were planning on being gone all day and didn't want the bikes sitting in a parking lot with all our luggage.

We found a nice cheap one with secured underground parking and came up to settle in and do laundry. After that we headed out for a walk and made our first stop the museum across the street. It was a neat place but nothing too amazing.

Then we walked down the main road in town towards the S.S. Klondike and took a tour of that. It was a paddle wheel boat used to take people and supplies up the Yukon river to Dawson from 1937 to 1950. We took a few pictures but I can't get them off Enrique's phones so heres on from google.....

After the Klondike we walked around looking for lunch......it turns out that resturaunts open late here cause the sun is out so late......we couldn't find anything other than subway so that's what we got.

But......three things about subway in Canada....

1 they don't have pepper jack cheese

2 the foot long costs $11.45

3 they don't call it the .304meterlong

Then we relaxed till dinner. We just got back from a sushi place.....I've never had tha much sushi for so cheap! And it was great! Now it's bedtime. But first one last picture

It's 10:00PM!!!! And it will be this bright till after midnight......

Day four......May he rest in piece

I want everyone to please read this post....please if you only read one post make it this one. I purposely waited to post this until we were home safe because we didn't want to worry anyone while we were on the road. It was a pretty stark reminder that life is fragile and we can so easily take the most amazing things for granted.......slow down and see the sights....take the time to meet people......say hi to a stranger in a resturaunt. And most importantly make it home safe. 

Well I'm going to start this one off with a disclaimer.......WE ARE OK!!!!! But it was still not a good day.

We started our day out in New Hazelton. It looked like rain at first but after a few miles we came out from under the clouds and it was sunny for the rest of the day. We made it to Kitwanga about 9:00 and fueled up. Kitwanga is the south end of the Cassiar Highway and marks the beginning of the longest stretch between fuel stops on the whole trip. So we made dang sure our tanks were tippy top topped off and made our way to Bell 2.....160 miles. That doesn't sound like much but keep in mind our tanks only hold 4-5 gallons. 

The ride to Bell 2 was gorgeous and filled with all kinds of wild life. We saw a few bears and a moose and even a rabbit. We also decided that British Columbia is the dandelion capital of the world. They are EVERYWHERE! Lots of pictures from the bike...didn't really stop to smell the roses....dandelions sorry. 

The Cassiar highway also has a lot of bridges and they are all either wood or metal surface. The wood ones are not too bad but the metal ones are scary cause you can see through them down to the water. 

We made it to Bell 2 around lunch time and decided to stay for little while. I'm glad we did. We sat down in the resturaunt next to two older guys and ordered our food. While we waited we got talking to the guys next to us. They were from Tennessee and were out here fishing and doing regular old guy stuff....driving slow....talking about stories from the past. They were some cool dudes. We talked for a few more minutes and then a fellow motorcycler came in and sat next to us. Hes from Michigan and is out here doing the same route as us to meet some friends in anchorage and then travel up to the article circle. He was riding a big BMW adventure bike with all the shiny bits attached to it. We asked where he was headed for the night and he said Whitehorse......woah dude! That's where we are going to be in 2 days! But he insisted that he does that kind of mileage all the time. After that the whole group of us were talking about the tail of the dragon which is a very popular road for motorcycles and is in Tennessee. The old guys and the BMW rider exchanged stories while me and Enrique listened. It turns out the BMW guy goes there every year and does tons and tons of miles a year on his multiple motorcycles.....sounded like the bachelor life to me......4 BMW bikes and many trips a year on each one.

After we all finished eating we said bye and parted ways. The BMW rider took a picture of us right before hoping on his bike and heading off the same direction we were headed. We got fuel and headed out. The rest of the day was pretty much the same as before....really pretty and really sunny. We stopped for fuel and rested a few times and tried to eat up the 460 something miles.

 Also....lots of bugs along the Cassiar highway. Took this picture at the end of the day.

We were both getting antsy and decided to stop at Boya lake and stand up and shake out for a few minutes. As we are standing there we hear a helicopter coming. It comes out from over a hill and goes right over head....that was weird. Then a minute later a police car goes by lights blazing and doing atleast 100 million kph......hmmmm....I wonder what's up. We got back on the bikes and made it about 10 miles and saw a helicopter landed in the road and a fire truck, ambulance, and two cop cars......oh no. I'm really concerned at this point. I was in front and as I slowly came up to the scene I spotted the one thing no motorcycler ever wants to see....a fellow riders ride in a mangled heap off the side of the road. His panniers were about 100 feet away from his bike and the bike was almost unrecognizable. I asked Enrique over the intercom if that was the bike we saw at lunch...our BMW rider friend. 

It was. I will never forget this moment for my entire life. As I sat there on my bike an officer came up to me and asked me if we were traveling with anyone else. I said no but I think we met that guy at lunch. "Is he doing ok?"........."no it's been a fatality....".....oh no. The officer told me that they believe he was speeding and lost control. There were reports from other drivers that he was passing people and driving too fast. 

He asked us if we knew any personal information or anything about him. We said no and proceeded through the scene slowly and carefully. As we passed his bike I got a good look and it was definitely his.....then a few feet away was a lone blanket on the dirt....I'm assuming it was covering his body. I've never seen such a collection of sad shocked faces.....every officer and paramedic that watched us ride by had this look of helplessness. And every set of eyes that made contact with mine seemed to speak the same thing.......please be careful.

I've never seen anything like that in my life.....we just had lunch with that guy. There's a pretty good chance that we were the last ones to have a conversation with him. And we may well be the last picture on his camera. The hardest part for me is that I don't even know his name.

Please guys.....be careful! There is no way to protect yourself from everything but there are speed limits for a reason and that reason isn't to make your trip take longer. If you find that you have to speed to make it to your destination on time then you have planned your trip incorrectly. Motorcycles are dangerous......please just be careful. 

As you can imagine this really changed the mood for the last 100 miles of our day.....lots of intercom silence and a pretty somber mood. We made it to watson lake and had to back track a bit to find a camp site. Got set up, had dinner, and slept.

Day five......a bit better

A night of sleep certainly helped with our moods and we felt refreshed. Went back in to watson lake and hung my sign in the signpost Forrest. That was a neat place! Basically it all started back when the alaska highway was being built. A homesick soldier hung a sign with the distance to his hometown.....and then other people did.....now there are thousands of them.....and one really awesome one from Salt Lake City!

Yaaay! I carried that stupid thing all the way from Utah on the back of my bike just to nail it to a piece of wood! Wish I had brought a Solitude sticker for it......how funny would it be if I came back years from now and someone had tagged it with a Brighton sticker?!

The ride from Watson lake to Whitehorse really wasn't that amazing.....lots of trees and a few bears. We did however meet some more people today. Lots of people in cars that though we were cool/crazy and a few other bikers. Two of them are on the same route as us and are in the same camp ground right now. We hung out with them after dinner. They are just a couple guys that met along the way on their separate trips and decided to hang out! Tonight is their last night as a team though.....but we are all going to anchorage so we will probably meet up again.

Our camp

Our new buddies!

Then we went for a walk around our campground and found a walking path. It went to a bridge....weird....another bridge. And then a dam.

Annnnd....a seagull eating his fresh kill...

Not much else to speak of today.....got here....ate food. Now were camping. Tomorrow is a day off and we are going to either take a train ride or a boat ride......