Day 8

Not much to report.  We mostly did errands and got a tour of Fairbanks.  Highlight was homemade ice cream at a little stand and a visit to the Alaskan Museum at the University of Alaska, Fairbanks.  Home again and Leonie cooked up a dinner of Moose burgers.  Oh were they ever good.  We discussed our amended route and will be heading to Denali tomorrow via the Denali Highway which is mostly gravel.  Can't wait to see this famous park.  Hoping to catch a glimpse of Mt. McKinley.  20,000+ feet tall.  We set up the tent to dry in Leonie's Squash Court so it should be ready for the next leg of the trip.  Not sure how I am going to get all my stuff back into the bags I arrived with!

Day 7

Packed up early in the rain this morning.  But we were on the road by 9:30am, early for us.  A bit chilly and the rain was lifting to cloudy skies.  The entire road was full of potholes and frost heaves, very challenging riding compared to previous days.  I commented to Kurt over coffee that I was surprised to not see one single solo female rider yet.  Many two up, but none on her bike.  Next thing you know we are stopped at a construction zone waiting for a pilot car and there are two Honda Trans Alps in front of us from Germany and one of them is a women!  Frank and Simone are traveling on their MCs for the next 2 years.  They were just finishing up 3 months in Canada.  Best quote of the trip so far came from Frank.  "I only know of one other woman that rides your bike (my KTM 990) and she used to be a man!"  Kurt quickly assured him I was NEVER a man!.  We came across them several more times during the day which is inevitable when traveling in the same direction.  I believe we will run into them again before we leave Alaska.  We arrived at Leonie's house in Fairbanks in time for a scrumptious dinner of Alaskan King Crab legs and garlic Bread.  Kurt was in heaven.  We also celebrated with a great Teldeschi Zin by Ravenswood (a must try if you ever see one in the store) and a bottle of Silver Oak that Kurt got me as a celebration wine for making it to Alaska.  Needless to say we nursed a bit of a head ache the next day since we were not able to pass on all that good wine.  I got my dog fix with Charlie, her adorable golden retriever.  Tomorrow we are taking the day off!  Just starting to look like twilight at 11:00pm. 

Day 6

Finally caught up on emails and finished our blogging.  Wow it was noon before we knew it and we didn't even stop for breakfast.  We packed up in the rain and headed out to the Edgewater for a breakfast of smoked salmon egg benedicts.  Yum...  Can't go wrong with salmon in these parts.  Did a few more emails and headed out for supplies and gas.  Hit the Canadian Superstore.  Looks and feels like a Wal-mart, but they had great food selection.  Gourmet sandwiches and salads to go.  Picked up some wine at the liquor store my advice is if you are headed through Canada and like your wine, bring it with you and lie at the border.  :)  Its 3 pm and we are headed to Tok our next destination.  At least it stopped raining.  We headed out of town surrounded by mountains on both sides of us.  As we approached Haines Junction is becomes even more dramatic.  The mountains are tall and close.  Snow seems tucked away in the crevices and shadows of these big beauties.  We stopped for a photo outside of town and notices a sign that pointed out several peaks that were 15,000 feet tall.  Too cloudy to see them.  But we caught glimpses later in the trip.  Every time we stop we are engulfed by bees.  I found out that they are carnivores that are feeding off the carcasses of the dead bugs on our bikes.  They aren't going to go hungry around us that's for sure.  As we head out of Haines Junction we start looking for a campground hopefully on Kluane Lake.  No such luck so we push on.  To the west their are glaciers on the mountains and they are close by.  We finally find a campground on a river, not as beautiful as the others, but nice enough.  The skeeters are really big here and are not intimated by the fire we have lit.  Off to bed early with a good book.  Reading the Big Burn.  Can't put it down.

Day 5

We woke to helicopters staging to fight the forest fires.  Clear sailing as we leave, no smoke in sight.  It is getting chilly and the skies are clouding up.  Time to leave.  I am trying out the video camera on my helmet today so I can get some shots of Kurt.  Some expansive valley views surrounded by mountains.  Lakes and rivers are everywhere.  The Teslin Lake is miles long and really enhances the beauty of the ride for us  We are seeing about 3 Harleys for every adventure bike on the road... where are you guys?  We pulling into the town of Teslin and stop by the Yukon Hotel for a very mediocre meal.  As we were heading out Kurt suggested I stop in the gift shop to see if I can find a cool sticker for my panniers.  While I was looking around I noticed a display of 4 or 5 large stuffed fish in a back room and decided to check them out.  Wow was I ever surprised by their Wildlife Museum.  Some of the most realistic animals I have ever seen in a regular museum.  The taxidermist was a true artist.  He even posed a large bull moose on one leg being attacked by 3 wolves.  It is a must see!  We also continue to be impressed by all the government campgrounds.  They are in the countrysides most beautiful settings.  We are headed to Whitehorse for a bed and bath and a good dinner!  Can you say Margarita?  Not really sure that 3 weeks is enough time to really seeing this country and we haven't even gotten to Alaska!  We finally pull into Whitehorse and scope out hotels settling on the Klondike Inn.  The room is satisfactory and the bathroom has a big bath tub for soaking in.  That is where I am headed.

Day 4

SIGNPOST FOREST

MUNCHO LAKE

Got an earlier start today with the goal to hit the Liard Hot Springs, just a couple of hours away.  Doesn’t that sound great after 3 days of riding?  The drive was down a wide valley with sculpted mountains all around it.  Lots of sweeping curves a motorcyclists dream.  We came across some goats lying in the middle of the road, not particularly afraid of the traffic.  More sweeping curves into the Muncho Lake region.  Very spectacular lake with a curving road that ran the length of the lake at lake level.  It lasted for several miles. We pulled into the hot springs and a nice park attendant let us park up front and she watched the bikes while we took a soak.  You walk about 1/3 of a mile on a wooden plank sidewalk to get to the springs.  It is a very popular place.  The upper pool was closed due to a bear sighting.  The lower pool was already around 105 so we weren’t missing much there.  They had built nice cement benches in the water so you could easily relax.  It felt great!!!   Ran into the same 7 people riding group on their way to Haines and a nice man that was at our campsite the previous evening.  We chatted a bit and then headed across the road to the Liard Springs Lodge for lunch.  Lodge is really what we call a motel in the states, just built out of logs.  Nothing extraordinary.  But the lunch was great, best Onion Rings I have had since Sam’s in Tiburon.  Headed down the road to Watson Lake and are keeping our fingers crossed that the fire doesn’t impede our route.  Gas is getting really expensive the more remote you are and often they don’t have High Test.  We learn to fill up at major areas no matter how much gas the KTM has left.  We finally came across a herd of probably 30 – 40 bison on the side of the road.  Quite funny looking creatures.  Weighted so heavily on front end that they look like they could topple over at the slightest push.  We really expected thick smoke by the time we got to Watson Lake, but the incoming storm brought a nice wind that seemed to blow out most of the smoke.  Watson Lake itself is a very dismal town with a very odd attraction.  The Signpost Forest.  They have created a maze of poles that are covered in signposts from all over the world.  Something like over 67,000 were posted and I saw a man with a hammer so make that one more…  Rain is coming and we need to make a decision for camping, town it out, yuck.  So we head west with our eyes on a campground 35 miles away.  Just outside of town we find a state park that is right on Lake Watson.  It’s a go.  Again, fire ring, picnic table Not as nice as the other sites but very private.  We broke Kurt’s rule and at my insistence put up the tent in the rain.  Good call we needed to get the gear out of the wet.  Not as much fun camping when it is raining.  Tomorrow night is a hotel and am actually looking forward to it!  Apparently they are now allowing Pilot Cars on the Cassiar highway which has been closed for several days.  We know of two bikes that are trying to catch the car at 9:00am and join the caravan.  We luckily are headed west.  

Day 3

TETSA RIVER CAMPSITE

WINE BY THE TETSA RIVER

Today’s goal is to make it to the Tetsa River Campground just outside of Fort Nelson.  Well we did make it after a very long uneventful and kind of boring riding day.  The scenery is much like you experience going across say, South Dakota.  Not many trees and rather flat.  Lunched at St John at Mr. Mikes, overpriced like most of Canada.  Kurt’s lunch was excellent (of course he was starving), mine mediocre.  Saw a group of seven en route to Haines to take the ferry to Bellingham.  We saw our second KTM Adventure.  Hey where are all you guys who ride this bike?  We have seen more Harley’s on this trip, strapped to the gills with gear than we see Adventure Bikes!  After lunch we had more of the same scenery until we got nearer to Ft Nelson, the sight was more like the blue ridge mountains of our east coast, especially with the smoky haze.  We pushed the KTM’s luck on gas and stopped to turn on the Adventure Tank 2.2 gallon reserve AND filled up the tank with our portable ½ gallon emergency stock.  Tough going down the road with a 1200GS ADV and its 9 gallon tank.  But we made it to Ft Nelson to refuel.  As we head west out of town we see fewer and fewer cars and rvs, even though it is still very light at 7pm.  Now the terrain changes and become very dramatic leading us up and then down to the Tetsa River Basin.  We find the campground and score yet another picture perfect campsite with fire ring, picnic table and view of a roaring river.  Their state parks truly are something to experience if you are a camper.  Each site is so private you hardly notice another human being.  Kurt cooled off in the river after a very hot day of riding.  Very strange to head off to bed when it is still so light out.  

Day 2

MARTHA JUST SOUTH OF JASPER

Morning coffee by the roaring river, my idea of how to start the day.  The color of the river is sea foam green due to the silt from glacier run off.  Quite beautiful.  The road up to Jasper is one of the most dramatic roads we have ever ridden.  It was a bit hazy so pictures really don’t capture the beauty.  I am a bit surprised by the amount of Japanese tourists traveling in this area.  Also heard a lot of Russian, met some New Zealanders.  The Ice-fields on the way to Jasper are indescribable.  I have not experienced anything like it.  Looks like ice and snow is oozing from the mountainside at a very slow pace.  Tour buses are everywhere which is an immediate turn off to me and Kurt so we slowed down to experience it on the bikes without the crowds.  We stopped in Jasper for lunch and to pick up dinner supplies.  Lunch at Earl’s consisted of a sandwich of grilled chicken, melted brie, sautéed apples, fig jam and garlic mayo.  Considered one of the best sandwiches I have had.  Sat on a deck overlooking town and the surrounding mountains.  We ran into a GS rider along the way and he confirmed our suspicion that the haze was smoke.  There are many fires burning west and south that are wreaking havoc on the forests and closing roads to the traveler.  We hope it doesn’t ruin our plans.  The rider gave us great advice to check in with the information centers in every town for updates.  We made it to Grande Prairie and stopped to camp at Saskatoon Island on Bear Lake.  I was later informed that it was the second state park created in Alberta.  They have huge campsites (common in Canada we have found out), fire rings (free fire wood), and SHOWERS!   Of course we used our last Loony ($1 coin) for the campsite.  Kurt luckily bummed one for a neighbor so I could grab a shower in the am.  Kurt got a campfire going for me and we settled in for cocktails and dinner.  It is still light at 11:00pm!  

Day 1

KURT, MARTHA AND LIBBY 

We hit the road a little after 8:30am.  Photo ops with bikes and Libby.  I was a little rusty at first, but fell into the rhythm by the time we hit the border.  I suggested a different route than the one we took to Banff a couple of years ago, thinking new scenery would be nice.  Big mistake.  Highway 1 was stop and go (mostly stop) and what should have taken 45 minutes took 2  hours in blazing heat on a bike on asphalt.  I quickly got cranky… Once we hit the 93 at Lake Louise, we started seeing some of the most amazing scenery.  We passed by Bow Lake and caught a glimpse of an old lodge on the shore and looked up at our first massive glacier.  As we drove by I suggested that we do a u-turn and investigate and at that point we made a promise to not let all these sights get lost in our journey on the pavement.  The lodge is called the Num-ti-jah and ran $350 a night.  We noted the beauty and headed in search of groceries and a campsite at $17 a night.  We made it to The Crossings to pick up dinner which ended up being an over-priced sandwich, chips and water.  Tested out my new waterproof tank bag, the Enduristan, took just a minute to expand the top to fit our groceries.  Nice, no re-packing.  So we ended up stopping short of Jasper, our first nights goal, but found a great little public campground at Rampart Creek.  Big sites, fire rings, picnic tables, river roaring in the background and nary a neighbor.  Set up new Nomad tent,  took no time – blew up mattresses, took more time.  Now time to open up a 2003 A Rafenelli Zinfandel – yummy – vacation has officially started.

A RAFANELLI A TOAST TO OUR VACATION

It's time...

4 dogs, 2 cats, 1 broken leg...  3 weeks.  Kay is priceless.  She is willing to watch the brood while we travel.  Dean is willing to hold down the fort and ship.  Good friends will make for a great adventure with little worries.  Black Dog (Libby) knows somethings up, she isn't leaving my side.  I think she wants to go with us.  Too bad we don't have our friends side car, now that would be fun.  We are off. 

Almost Ready...

LIBBY TESTS THE NEW TENT - SHE THINKS SHE'S COMING TOO!

It sure does take a lot to get out of town, especially when you have your own business and you are the business.  But we made a commitment to ourselves to not get so consumed that we forget why we are in the adventure bike business and that is because we want to make our own adventures.  Last year I did my first solo trip on my new 990 Adventure and now it is time for a couples trip. So Alaska here we come. I can't wait.  "dabomb" is all packed and ready to go.  Now just a few loose ends and Kurt and I will take the night off and relax on the beautiful Pack River and enjoy our last night in our own bed.  Then it is camping for 3 weeks.  Can't wait.