God I’m tired
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Me - in the rain. |
I awoke to the smell of fresh coffee, Jaz was making Kaladi
Brew. We walked over to the main lodge for breakfast and I noted the other
motorcyclists were still sleeping, tents all lined up in a row.
We met one rider the night before, a guy
named Rob from Arkansas. He was on the road traveling for a month and headed to
Alaska, somewhere along the way he met a few other riders... strangers that met
on the road to ride together for a short time. He said one of the riders had motorbike
issues; he road ahead to scout for a place to camp for the night.
After breakfast I noted there was movement in the tent camp
and walked over to ask if they got everything taken care of... if they needed
any tools (recall – my bike is wobbling because I have too much weight from all
the tools I am carrying)? They needed a torque wrench… ummm.. I don’t think so.
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"Camp ArKansas" |
We headed out of Chistochina and into Mentasa. The road was
decent until after Tok, then it went into varying shades of “shitty.”
I mentioned to Jaz that the Alcan was the worst I had seen
it yet, she mentioned that it was always the worst. I agreed. The road, due to
permafrost and heaving, was like melted rubber with trenches that were, in some
places, a foot deep. Given the wobble issue I have been fighting it made it
extra difficult to ride. You really had to be diligent with your eyes… some
trenches had no shadows and blended into the background like a camouflaged
redneck. I followed Jaz close: This way I knew where not to go by watching her
rear end rattle and bottom out from the dips she didn’t see.
|
Jaz recuperating from the trenches. |
In some areas, there were of course the constant patches of
loose gravel. In Canada, the patches of gravel got longer and longer, with two
sections of pilot cars – lots of gravel, lots of pilot cars, and lots of bugs.
The rough road conditions caused slow going, in some cases
only 35 mph. It took us all day to travel 340 miles… and we didn’t stop for
lunch! We did stop at an old abandoned
road stop, called Grizzly bear Flats to poke around… I took the bear spray,
just in case some of those grizzlies remained.
|
Lack of a navigator. |
|
Jaz thinking "Where is that pilot?" |
The ghost stop was overgrown with vegetation. It looked like
an old motel and RV park with a café. We peered into the windows (not all were
broken). It looked like the owners just walked away, in the middle of the day.
Kind of creepy like one of those sci-fi movies where the aliens take people away
or the sun gets too hot and turns everyone into a white powder where they stand.
All the food was there, but the sun and
the critters had gotten into it. Faded boxes of pilot bread, Betty Crocker, and
French Canadian products you couldn’t understand unless you had high school
French. You could smell the rot from 30 feet away. We opted not to go inside since
all the wood was rotting – lest we step in the wrong place and fall through the
floor.
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A cafe begging to be explored. Vegetation has taken over. |
|
Some glass still in place in the motel. |
|
Jaz scoping it out. |
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Old boxes, all faded from age, many showing signs of critters. |
We came across a gravel/pilot section where I thought Jaz
was going down twice! 800 pound bike in soft fill, not yet smashed by rollers…
she was all over the place, I had to back off so that when she went down she
wouldn’t take me with her! Those Canadians were testing our skills, eh.
We got to Kluane Lake and bedded down at Kluane B and B.
Simple, but clean. And even though it reminds me of staying in a shed, I still
like staying here.
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Comfortable in my "shed" |
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Cabin for the night. |
We knew there would be no food here; it is too remote for
even a gas station or food. We brought a couple of cans of chili. How do you
choose a chili brand for the road? It’s not the fat, or sugar or even spice…
it’s whether the can has a pull top (we had no can opener).
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