Skittles vs. Marbles

We woke well rested in the Downtown Hotel, in Dawson. It was Canada Day, so the troops were out early handing out flags and wishing well. Everyone was excited on account of Prime Minster Justin Trudeau coming by to visit.

Michael walks Rasta near the mighty Yukon

Downtown Dawson

I placed my Canadian Pride on the back of my bike.

Breakfast was as expected in the Yukon – large and good. There was only one slip up. We think the kitchen buttered our breakfast toast with garlic butter rather than regular butter! It did not go well with jelly. We said goodbye to single ply toilet paper and an ice machine that sounded like Darth Vadar when he breathed into his mask. The skies were sunny when we headed for the Dempster.

I have never driven the sidecar farther than 200 miles without refueling. This road is a challenge because the next gas station is 256 miles away in Eagle Plains, our destination for the day. The side car gets only about 30 miles to the gallon. We are carrying extra gas. The KLR gets about 60 mpg. I was going to see how close I could get before I ran out of gas;  we made it.

Sunny skies and semi dry road!

Rasta has been enjoying the ride. She naps, then plays with Wookie, pops up and checks out the scenery, then repeats. I try really hard to not hit potholes for comfort. Just before we left, Sharon suggested we buy an outdoor cushion, the kind you put on your lawn furniture for the bottom of Rasta’s floor. It was the best idea! She has added comfort and we don’t have to worry about her bedding getting wet.

The road stretched out for miles. It was mostly smooth, although I hit a patch of thick mud that was challenging in the sidecar. I also found sand! The sand was easier to drive through because it didn’t cover the entire road. So either Rasta’s tire was in the sand, or the motorcycle was in the sand. Whichever was not in the sand brought a little bit of stability to the entire rig. The mud covered the whole road, and it was thick, and the road had recently been graded in that area. The mud would drag Rasta’s tire forcing me to pull hard left on the handlebars to keep the bike from veering to the right. The motorcycle would get caught in a deep rut of mud and the pull to the left requiring the opposite maneuvering. Rest assured I will have arm muscles of steel, especially the triceps after this summer!

We stopped every 50 miles to let Rasta stretch. We were tired and Michael was wishing he had a cold Mountain Dew to help wanting to doze. We stopped at one campground to hit the outhouse and the mosquitoes were so bad we couldn’t stay. Michael had to use a towel to keep the mosquitoes off Rasta while I ran to the outhouse. We got out of there and searched for a large opening, gravel pit for our break. Mozzies be damned.

Avoiding the mozzies in open gravel areas

We stopped about 50 miles from the end of our destination for a break with a very nice overlook. With clear skies and the sun out most of the day, the road was dry and temps were in the 70s. At this pull off, we were joined by a large group dual sport riders. They immediately fell in love with Rasta. We had taken a Rasta break so the guys that were missing their dogs back home got to visit. Rasta enjoyed the attention. These guys were coming from Tok, and they described the roads above Fort McPhereson buried with inches of “skittles.”  Skittles are you guessed it, not marble sized gravel, but skittle size gravel. We will find out when we get there.

Rasta trying to get the harness off her. She isn't interested in the view at all.

We made it to Eagle Plains for dark beer and dinner and headed for the room. The shower felt amazing after a long hard day in the dust, even if the shower was built for little people with the shower head directly blasting you in the face!

We travelled 256 miles today, of which only 28 were paved.