We left Dawson City about 7:30 because we wanted to beat all those motorhomes to the ferry across the Yukon River.
I was excited to start on the Top Of The World highway. The road on was a broken asphalt and mostly powered gravel. Hard packed, good traction but required a light touch and constant attention. As we climbed up the mountain into the low overcast I was very disappointed to think we would miss all the incredible views. We got into the cloud layer and it was thick fog and slow going for a while. Temps in the 50's so we had to turn the electric jackets on.
But after 20 or 30 minutes of winding our way up we started to come out on top of the clouds and had some incredible views of the mountains with all the clouds in the valleys below us.
The road winds along the ridges of the mountains instead of down a valley because they are gently rolling hills and not rugged rocky mountains. We saw a little sun, got into more clouds, a little rain, then clear again so we could see a loooooong way. Incredible experience! It would have been nice to have a clear day but this was a much more interesting and varied experience.
We finally got to the US border and went thru the northern-most border crossing post. Standard questions - where are you from?, carrying any weapons?, where are you going?, how long have you been in Canada?, did you buy anything there?
I made it to Alaska! Add another state to the list!
The road on the US side went in much worse shape. Instead of a gravely, broken asphalt it was a brown dirt surface with lots of potholes and muddy places that were slippery and had ruts from the morning rain. It was quite slow going for a few hours to get over the 40 miles or so to better road at Chicken, Alaska. We bounced and weaved and sped up and slowed down for hours! It was a lot of work and concentration and the poor bike was battered severely. Everything held up well though.
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| Mud and crap on my boot shows how sloppy it was in places |
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| Gift shop in Chicken, AK |
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| Parking lot of that gift shop shows the recent rain |
After a few hours we made it to Chicken, Alaska, which is only a few roadside cafes and gas stations. The girl in the store said there were about 22 people who lived there, and about 5 stayed there over the winter. I can't imagine...
From Chicken the road got a little better but still lots of potholes and washboard. Some more great views though.
I don't remember now but after another 60 or 90 miles we finally got down to Tok, Alaska. From there we got back on the Alaska Highway and were back up to 65 mph. It was a loooong and boring ride for the next 3 hours up to Fairbanks. The only interesting thing was a moose beside the road - our first moose! Very cool!
Once we got into Fairbanks we rode over to the University of Alaska and found the dorm office. They have a great policy of renting our unused dorm rooms for $40 per night during the summer when everyone is gone. A great savings over the local hotels which start about $150 or so. A hot shower and firm bed was a welcome end to a long day.
As I unloaded the bike I looked at my trip #2 odometer which I use for oil changes. I changed my oil at home just before I left and it now read 4992 miles! In 11 days! That really is hard for me to comprehend right now, but it feels like a million miles away. Someone just pinch me so I will wake up in my bed with my wife and my dogs.
