I was really worn down and exhausted last night. While eating dinner I was getting the spins and I just needed to sleep as the night before I didn’t get much sleep and what I got was poor at best.
Woke up this morning and I had slept better but not well. The power went out at the hotel and the smoke alarms were beeping like they needed a new battery. We had set a time to meet for breakfast at 7 and then pack up, but as per normal we were all packed up early and all we needed was breakfast. After listening to a grumpy guy mumble about town that he couldn’t find coffee before 7 a.m. we asked our hotel front desk and they said the El Dorado around the block had breakfast.
We headed towards it and sat down. It was like a sauna in there and there was one poor waitress trying to manage all the grumpy people which surprisingly wasn’t us. We got coffee in us and at the stroke of 7 a.m. more help arrived. The breakfast was good enough and we set out to cross the Yukon River and head towards Fairbanks via the Top of the World Highway.
They loaded us on the Ferry and I was ready to hold the bike from falling over which is what it was like the last time I on it, but the Yukon was calm and the Ferry was smooth. As we disembarked we headed up the hill around a really expensive RV that was hell bent on getting up the hill first.
This part of the road is all dirt and supposedly unmanaged. It connects to the border crossing with the United States., but it has beautiful views.
We stopped a few times to take pictures. Because there wasn’t much traffic you can pretty much stop to take them when you want.
We made pretty good time and had no real issues, other than we kept leaping frogging those people that were in front of us in the ferry line. At one point they came up pretty fast and passed in a turn. One of them got pretty close to Harv so I quickly didn’t become a fan.
Eventually we got to the border crossing. There was a huge group of bikes in front of us, so it would take some time which wasn’t bad to just stand there for a bit. The border guard was in a good mood and was being really efficient. I asked if I could stop in the medium just after the checkpoint to put on my gloves. He told me sure, but I could put them on there. I told him I didn’t want to hold up the line and he smiled really big and said, “People have come thousands of miles to come and see me, they can wait another minute”. I wished him a good day and we proceeded to the Welcome to Alaska Sign.
From there we were on the Top of the World highway and headed to Chicken, AK which is really just a kitschy outpost with a souvenir store, a liquor store and a cafe. We sat down at the cafe to have a snack as we were going to eat lunch in Tok when we got gas.
From Chicken the road is called the Taylor Highway and it is a rough road but moves pretty well, I saw a post on the Dust to Dawson page that there was a section with really deep soft gravel so we were anticipating that. However, as we continued on the weather started to take a turn. First a lightning strike, then a few more. Then the hail started. My shield fogged up pretty bad and I couldn’t really see. I wound up doing the yellow line navigation technique.
Eventually we got to Tok, commiserated on how bad that weather was and gassed up. It was time for lunch and the only restaurant in town was Pizza Eddie’s. So we headed over there. As we walked in there was a sign that said:”Please seat yourself”. Alf went to a table that had enough room for our gear and a waitress apparently told him we couldn’t sit there and to pick a 4 seat table. All I saw was Harv and him walking out.
Well, that was when we learned it was the only restaurant in town and then a nasty cell showed up. The hail was crazy. I decided to jump out of the overhang and start playing in it. (See the other post from today with the video.
We eventually got to Delta Junction and pulled into a restaurant that opened in 10 minutes. Harv and Dan got gas and we called the kids to talk to them. We all got the same fish and chips and then headed out. As we were riding it was pretty obvious that it didn’t agree with me and I was struggling with nausea from it. However, I soldiered through it. There were a few rain storms and a few construction sites but we eventually made it to town and went right to the Walmart.
This Walmart is the biggest Walmart I’ve ever seen and it still amazed me even having been there before. I got some bagels and some toiletries and we headed to the house we rented for the night. I was getting that feeling of exhaustion again, so all I really wanted to do was sit. Well, I didn’t notice the checkout person put my stuff in two bags and I wound up leaving the toiletries there. So off I went to go back to Walmart.
Back to the house and then I checked out the bike, added oil and made sure the wheels and brakes were still there and tight :-)
I’m dying to see the video from today and if it came out it will be good. I decided there isn’t enough time here to edit the videos, so they will have to wait until I get home to get through them.
Phat Barstewards 