the last leg

The last leg of the trip really started yesterday, Saturday, in the cool of a Wyoming dawn, behind the Bighorn Mountains.
By the time I had turned south onto I25, there at Buffalo,  I'd enjoyed the day's first shower -- brief and cool. Wyoming on my windscreen.
As a truck driver told me at the Piegan border crossing,  "it's beautiful when it's green." And right now it's all green.
Cattle, horses and antelope scattered across the folded hills of Wyoming east of the mountains. The pavement's good, deer mind their manners, I can think about the scenery and the trip.
Reflecting...
I trimmed four days from the schedule -- opting out of the Arctic Circle and a meander down the center of Wyoming. Before I left home, in one of her worrying moments Jessica asked what I'd do if I got way up here and I got tired. "I'll come home," I said. And so I did. On the way south, sort of, eventually,  I made good on my goal of visiting Stewart/Hyder, camped in the shadow of Mt. Robson, had my breath taken away by the Skeena, Stikine, Fraser and Bulkley river basins along the Yellowhead Hwy.
I met a terrific fellow -- Theo Huisman -- who's exactly the sort of fellow you'd want as a neighbor... a do-anything guy who in some ways reminds me of my brother-in-law.
Saturday included north-Denver traffic, even worse than I remembered -- and lunch at Johnson's Corner,  a lunch I'd promised myself many times through the years. (The coconut pie was quite good, but not Bumbleberry Pie good.)
Worn out from the Wyoming cross-winds and the heat that began to build along about Cheyenne. I pushed into Kansas, eventually quitting at Russell.
I like Kansas, both the hills and the flatness.  This June it's wet... so wet the wheat farmers can't get their combines in the field. But the corn is crazy.
Today, Sunday, the last day, second half of the final leg. Eight miles from Russell, I take shelter in a truck stop -- hiding from one of those gawdawful Kansas storms with jagged bolts of lightning exploding a dozen at a time.
Eventually, the worst of it passes and I mount up, grateful for the rain and the coolness. Oklahoma is ahead and it will be a hot slog through the day. Yep it was.
The thing about an Oklahoma road is this: if it's not a toll road, it's ragged; if it is a toll road, it's merely rough, pitted.
I cross the Red, flowing a bit downstream from Texarkana, and I'm two hours from home.
Except what genius decided that US Hwy 271, four lanes wide, should have a 60 mph speed limit from Gilmer to Gladewater?
I arrive, the garage door is open, Jessica's waiting.

Home. Good to be here.  Great trip, eye opening,  jaw dropping. But it's good to be here.

Friday

Beautiful ride today through lush western Montana. (Except for Browning. That town just feels mean-spirited.)
The trip down 89 from the Piegan border crossing

featured a long-legged, adolescent -- I believe-- black bear high-stepping across the highway like Deion Sanders crossing the goal line.
I-15, heading into Helena, though an interstate is a twisting, turning, heaving jewel of a highway.  It passes through Prickly Pear Creek Canyon before dropping into the capital city.
The grass is, no exaggeration here, belly deep on the cows. Water is standing in all the low places and those with deep-ish, established marsh grass are alive with birds.

Crossed into Wyoming just ahead of bed-time. In this state. Where one of  the mottos is "always western," there's a community called Ranchester. I suppose it's like Rochester -- except western.
I admit I'm ready to be home. I'll leave early tomorrow and push hard for 2 days... should be home Sunday night unless the weather goes seriously south on me.
P.S. really, Browning, clean up.  Get the drunks out of your convenience stores, get rid of one or two of the dog packs clogging traffic. What a mess.

wednesday/thursday

I'll never get why some campgrounds in the middle of the wilderness don't have WiFi! Just kidding.
Anyway, last night's Northwoods beauty (pics below) on the banks of the Fraser was without connectivity.

Yesterday I was determined to find a tire, preferably in Smithers where I'd found room at the inn. Got online, found a Honda shop... but they really only do ATVs. The Yamaha shop was closed. The Harley shop is, well, it's a Harley shop.
I sat with a cup of coffee and a strudel at Tim Horton's, considering my plight as any civilized adult would do... over coffee and a pastry.
At the next table were three guys,  they all appeared to be retired and in town for socialization.
Eventually they noticed the bald guy with the gray beard and wearing a motorcycle suit. As so often happens, they asked questions and I answered. Where I'd been. What I'd seen. One of those guys was Theo Huisman.
Theo observed my rear tire was fairly smooth. I explained.  "I've got one in my shop," he said. "What size?" "I don't know. I bought it to fit my bike but I haven't needed it."
He assumed it would fit (I assumed it would not) and went back to discussing the sights of BC, Yukon and Alaska.
Eventually we left, me following Theo out of town to what I first imagined had to be a movie set... lovely home with exposed timbers, glass all around, decks overlooking the mountains, the Bulkley River below,  and the cattle. Theo and his wife l live there. In the garage were Theo's Harley and his BMW R1200GS. We went to his capacious shop -- big enough to tend to his logging equipment before he sold out.
There on a shelf was a brand new Heidenau K60, size 110/70/17.
He threw it in the back of his truck and led me to Sam, who builds custom motorcycles, and we left it for him to mount it on my wheel.
Rather than stand around for an hour, Theo gave me a tour of his hometown, Smithers. He showed me the park with the broken 727 fuselage -- the park where they filmed part of The Gray with Liam Neeson.
By 11a.m.  I'd seen Theo's beautiful home and was headed down valley toward Prince George. Great visit, Theo. Your hometown is like something out of a movie, even without the movie. That's Theo's guest house... built it last winter because he was bored.

Today, I traversed Mt Robson National Park and rode back into Jasper.  I was heading south, back down the Icefield Parkway on a SUNNY day.

The bike was humming, new rubber was comforting, sun was smiling at me, mountains at every point of the compass, the smell of spruce and fir and young alder and spring flowers. This is why we ride.
South of Calgary,  the weather.turned downright cold and it started raining again.  I found a motel.
At dinner, I struck up a conversation with another motorcyclist.  In addition to riding (he and pals are riding the Continental Divide Trail -- tough, tough, tough) Shawn is the mechanical systems guy for Earthship, builder of those otherworldly-looking houses you've seen in the desert just across the Rio Grande from Taos, NM.
He and his co-workers have ridden to Alberta to build an Earthship at Lethbtidge. Fascinating dinner convo.
You meet the nicest, most interesting people when you ride.

Tuesday

My tent and sleeping bag this morning were so warm and dry. Inside.
Outside the tent the sky was gray and spitting rain -- temp probably in the 40s. Neither warm nor dry.
I dragged my self-supporting one-man tent and fly to the porch of the shower room. Nobody else was up, no one to complain.
Finally, camp broken and bike loaded, I'm away... focused mostly on the state of my rear tire. Jessica has phone number for my towing company, if needed. I can send a satellite help request and she can act on that, if it comes to that.
Two close calls with bears later, I figure I should focus on the road.
After a gas and fuel stop at Bell 2 Lodge. -- I was just thinking this looked like heli-skiing territory, and there sits the chopper at Bell 2.
The road dries, more or less, and after another 20 or so miles, actually comes to resemble keep a highway -' even has a center stripe.
At the turnoff to Stewaet/Hyder,  I hang a right. Going to see Bear Glacier. After, I continue into Stewart then clear customs and am in Hyder, Alaska, billed as an inhabited ghost town. Apt. I'd say. The road ends there.  Literally.  This is a tiny US outpost with no road in or out except through Canada, much like Pt. Roberts, WA.
Back in Stewart, I grab a burger at Dash Burger,  a food truck parked in the center of a deck. The whole thing is covered and enclosed by plastic wind-wall. Outstanding burger but best is the beverage. .. ginger tea with lots of locally-grown mint. Cool, popular place -- as popular as it can be in a town with maybe 500 people.
Stewart and Hyder sit on the Portland Inlet, a narrow body of ever that slices through the coast range to the Gulf of Alaska. I've accidentally found myself in a coastal fishing and logging town.
Back to the Cassiar, southward again, the country almost immediately feels less wilderness-ish. It's not, really, but the nature if the mountains has changed.
I end the day at Smithers,, on the Yellowhead Highway, where I hope to secure a tire tomorrow.
Then east

to Prince George and back to Jasper before turning south through the Kootenay to Idaho.

sunday, monday

Yesterday,  I decided to head south from Tok, skipping the 375 miles from Tok to the Arctic Circle.  Variety of reasons, but mostly I was ready to go home.
Gorgeous ride down the Alcan (I know it's not called the Alcan anymore,  but it works for me.) The road runs along the border if Kline National Park with stunning lakes and the St. Elisa Mountains.  Quite a bit of construction on the Yukon side. Lots of gravel and water trucks.
I saw a couple if grizzlies. Went back to get a picture if one but he was quicker than I.
In Yukon, bridge crosses a little crick at the bottom of a narrow canyon. They call it Georges Gorge. Yukon humor.
Today was a bit trying.  The Cassiar is a beauty --2 lanes, no shoulder, no center stripe and black bear around every corner.  In other words, handsome but slow.  Like some people I've met through the years.
Nice breakfast this morning with Penny, th e operator for three days now of the cafe at Johnsin's Crossing.  Historic placr. Part of the as r my hung out there while building the Alcan in 1942. Jaw-dropping bridge over the Teslin River.  The bike does get squirmy on those steel grate bridges.
Camped tonight at Shadow mountain near Iskut on the Cassiar (hwy. 37.) Thanks heavens for DEET.

Awesome day. Heavy rains early this a.m. left Dawson "pavement" a mess... and I had Top of the World Hwy ahead. 100 miles of gravel turned out to be 60 miles of great mud and 40 miles of (sometimes soft) gravel. More than one biker went down today.
Eric, Chiletha and I -- riding companions for the dsy, met them last night at Dust2Dawson dinner --dropped as it pressure in our tires to 24 front 27 rear and proceeded to ride carefully. Lots of slipping and sliding,  no sudden inputs, momentum is your friend, thank goodness for Heidenau tires -- K 60s would have been better than my K 76s,  but what I have got the job done.
West of Chicken the road becomes mostly paved, but it was on a paved curve that we saw the upside-down motorhome.
Much of this road is at elevation and the vegetation is stunted because the ground stays frozen much of the year and root systems done develop.
We did traverse a designated 'federal subsistence hunting area' and nobody shot at us.
Today I decided to turn home from Tok rather than continue north.  I've seen bear, moose,  elk, glaciers, the Klondike, crossed the Yukon,  motorbiked in alaska,ridden wooden bridges and steel grate bridges. Still to come is the Cassiar Hwy, Hyder glacier,  Idaho panhandle and Flathead Lake. That's a lot of amazing stuff;  I'm ready to go see Jessica.

So I'm skipping the Arctic Circle. It's been awesome, lots of awesome still ahead.

Officially, the sun set last night about 1 a.m. I don't believe it ever set... certainly it never got dark.
Sitting in Dawson hotel room this a.m. listening to the rain. Not good. The "highway" between here and Tok, reconnecting me with the Alaska Hwy, includes 80 or so miles of gravel/mud and it's the consistency of grease when wet.
AccuWeather says sunshine coming, but...

Yesterday I visited both the Robert Service cabin and the Jack London center. I knew far less about both than I realized.  I'm going to have to read more when I get home.

The Dust2Dawson not-a-rally was as expected. Lots of motorcyclists, including some who ride a LOT. At my table was a woman who last year completed an iron butt rally -- she touched all lower 48 states in 10.5 days.

Local volunteer fire department grilled steaks for all 200 or so who were present. Door prizes,  motorcycle skill games and such occupied the schedule until time for the group photo,  outdoors, natural light at midnight.
In a bit, i'll upload some pics from yesterday's sight-seeing in town.

Fairly uneventful day yesterday.  Key events included a short detour to Lake Laberge, see note below, and BumbleberryPie, see pic above.

Note:

The strangest sight I ever did see

Was the time on the Marge

Of Lake Labarge

That I cremated Sam Mcgee.

(Excerpt,  by Robert Service)

I'm in Dawson City all day today and will mark the summer solstice here tonight. In a bit I'll upload a photo I shot through my hotel room window at 1 a.m. today.

I will do laundry, wash bike, visit homes of Service and Jack London and do the Klondike mining history tour. 

Streets here are a peculiar gravel/mud/calcium chloride consistency. Rain is as messy here today as 100 years ago. Wooden sidewalks.  And cold -- 34f this morning.  Swimming is not a big sport here.

Photo at 1 a.m.

Tech diffs, as the millenials might say, last night... no connection.
I've about run out of adjectives to describe the scenery. I will say, though, that if you're not moved by the Alcan between Fort Nelson and Whitehorse, you can't be moved.
Surprised by the traffic - lots of it. Road condition is better than Louisiana state highways or Denton city streets.
My inner Marquez (if you know anything about MotoGP, you know Marquez) wants me to ride the snot out of these curves, but the outer grandfather in me says enjoy the scenery and watch for critters. Lots of bears, many in the road. Lots of bison, not on the road but threatening.  Saw black bears and brown... apparently not grizzlies because they weren't eating salmon or people.
Distances are immense. 175 miles between gas station s is not unusual.
Incredibly dense, expansive  forests... sometimes. you can't see 10 feet into the woods.
Camped in Robert Service Campground beside the Yukon in Whitehorse.
Today I rode with Doc Walker from Denver. we were both buying gas in Watson Lake and both going to Whitehorse so we led each other to the campground. Doc, who has done just about every thing every place one can do it, is riding the Alaska Highway because it was built the year he was born -- 1942. Doc was good company with fascinating "career development" stories.
Two great days of riding. More to cone.

From  muddy Alberta... like Midland in the rain. Oil activity and mud everywhere. Lots of scenery today

 See above. Someday you should ride Icefield Pkwy on a motorcycle. Or in a car with your head hanging out the window. In August.

Gotta run. Late start today. 

Today had Larry McMurtry written all over it. Gus and Woodrow should have gone to the Musselshell instead of the Milk... worth dealing with Blue Duck.
In Pincher Crek, Alberta tonight. Missed my target by about 60 miles.
My new favorite road is Hwy 89 from Browning to Babb, Montana.  What a drive! Slow, though. Rubbing shoulders with the aspen while deer,  horses, cattle and foxes insist on sharing the road.
Hwy 17, north of Babb, nips a corner of Glacier before becoming AB Hwy 6 at the border.  Waterton Lakes Park -- the tiny bit I saw -- matches its reputation.
Tomorrow Icefield Parkway.

Haiku the easy way
It rained, hailed, blew, rage
Eastern Wyoming predict-
Ably in the spring

Crossed Colorado and Wyoming today. Colorado traffic was bad, Wyoming weather matched it, though.
Missed THE food and fuel exit in Cheyenne... ok, gas in Chugwater.
THE gas station I'm Chugwater burned down in 2012 when the owner set his car on fire and drove it into the store
 9 people unemployed, everyone drives to Wheatland for fuel. Unless you find the emergency guy --cans of gasoline in a storage building. He sold me a gallon or so for $10. I was glad to get.
Wyoming looks good in green. Normally it's dust-color.  North Platte running more than full. And the smell -- sagebrush and alfalfa after being pummeled by hail exude an intoxicating aroma. Nothing like it.
Motel tonight. New rule: never pitch a tent at the end of a day that includes 400 miles of brutal crosswind,  hail, and Temps in the mid 40s.
G'night from Sheridan.
PS, Clark... Casper offers good coffee at exactly the crucial moment.

Crossed into New Mexico and am unloading at Raton Pass RD Park and campground. Showers and WiFi. 

There's water in the Prairie dog fork of the Red today and The Canadian is actually flowing toward Lake Meredith -- 

Haven't seen water there in a long time. Other nores: Dumas Noon Lions Club claims to be 5th largest in The Nation. And apparently ne'er-do wells have been trying to crash the Elks Club in Clayton, NM... big sign advises it's only for Elks And Bona Fide Guests. Will report later on quality of wood-fired-oven pizza in Trinidad.

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sredir?uname=100835127122289785522&target=ALBUM&id=6011427700444359777&authkey=Gv1sRgCKimpoPfk9uU8AE&feat=email


A link to my billonabike.blogspot.com photo album.

I'm away in 30 minutes.

I got an email today from Terry, my long-time riding partner. "What time is departure," he asked?
"3:30 a.m. But it might as well be midnight for all the sleep I'll get tonight," I answered.

Tonight, a short sleep. Tomorrow Raton, NM.

I'm thankful for today's rain -- at least it will be cooler in the morning than it might otherwise be.

Adding coal to the boiler, building a head of steam.
All the shopping is done. The bags are loaded and last night I strapped everything all in position. It fits. It's balanced. And it feels secure. Most of the additional weight is in the side cases and down low.
The first day is pretty much a straight, paved shot to Raton, NM... a low-risk opportunity to make sure everything stays in its place.
Today I'll visit with Verizon about ways to control phone costs in Canada. (Accomplished. You can get 1000 minutes of talk and 100 mb of data for use in Canada/Mexico for $40 per month. 100 mb isn't a lot -- WiFi has become very important.)

Fewer than 48 hours to go.

I didn't get all the last-minute shopping done last night so I'll get that done as soon as i can get out of the office. I will ( I WILL) practice-load the bike tonight.

Beyond that, it's really only a matter of working the next few days -- Lord knows there's plenty of that; it seems like the office is conspiring to drown me -- and trying (TRYING) to sleep soundly.

I spent a few minutes with the route today. I may enter Canada slightly farther to the west -- going in through Chief Mountain Entry Point at Waterton Lakes (Canadian) National Park rather than through Carway Entry Point to the east. It's quite a haul from Sheridan to my planned overnight, but if I can get up and away early enough, I will probably enter through Waterton Lakes. It'll be an entry fee and a slower pace, but it could be my last chance to add that park to my list. Jessica, Terry and I left Canada by way of Carway three (?) years ago and I've seen the lovely metal sculpture on the U.s. side.

Oil changed. Clothes are in the right-side case liner. With these spiffy Givi E41 side cases, I can also top-load a small amount of additional gear. In the right case, I'll top-load the Aerostitch pullover and the heated jacket liner.
Tonight, I'll finish up the shopping: first aid kit, hand cleaner, tincture of iodine (for purifying water if I get in a bind for drinking water), Advil, omeprozole (can't leave home with indigestion), some new bungee cords, 2-gallon Zip-Lock bags, duct tape, Off (gotta have DEET), snack bars and maybe some jerky.
Three-and-a-half sleeps (I won't sleep much Thursday night) until departure.
I'd like to load the bike tomorrow, be sure everything fits cleanly.

P.S. Remind me to stop in Canada and pick up a can of bear repellent.

How about that for a tire? Heidenau K76 -- ready for Top of the World Highway.

I have decided I'll "tent" most of the way up and back. I say tent rather than camp because I don't plan to cook in camp. I'll find a park near town or eatery, set up my tent and go get dinner... then come back to the tent for the night. I do have a room reserved 2 nights at Dawson City -- the prospect of camping with 200 other motorcyclists makes me tired -- and two nights at University of Alaska/Fairbanks. At UA/F. I can get a dorm room for $37... pretty cheap for a real mattress, shower and access to full laundry.
I bought a Eureka one-man tent, mummy bag and a Thermarest self-inflating pad. (I also learned the trick of inflating the pad with four breaths and a trash bag... pretty cool and easy peasy.)

Two hundred bucks worth of camping gear --net savings of several hundred dollars vs. motel rooms.

Ten days. I'm beginning to feel the pressure of last minute details.
Tonight I take the bike to Tyler -- my pals Jay and Dutch will mount a new set of Heidenau K76 tires. The rest of the week and much of the weekend is booked, so the plan now is to change oil and final drive lube Sunday evening.
Early next week -- Monday evening? -- I need to get EVERYTHING packed and see how it best fits on the bike.