Day 11 - Final Run from 100 Mile House to Home

It's hard to believe but our great Alaskan / Yukon adventure came to a close today with our safe arrival at home. I'm composing this on my home computer which is considerably easier than the little netbook I packed with me. But before that occurred we had a terrific 389 mile ride south from 100 Mile House.

After a very good night's sleep at the Red Coach Inn, we departed 100 Mile House at just after 7am. We fell into our regular routine of Bear Bingo, stops every 50 miles; and for the whole day only saw one deer in the early morning and one eagle after we arrived back in the states.

At one of our rest stops in Clinton, BC, there was a nice sculpture of a cowboy bathing and a little rubber ducky with him.


Tim2 remembered that he had acquired 4 rubber duckies at a trade show (2 yellow and 2 red), so we all installed them on our radio antennas. Of course Tom led us in a chorus or two of the Rubber Duckie song.



We took on fuel at Cache Creek and noted that the terrain had changed dramatically from the alpine forests we were used to to dry sagebrush.



There was also a major car show just beginning, so we were treated with all sorts of cool custom cars coming towards us much like several days ago outside of Watson Lake.

The next part of the ride was one of the real treats: Riding down the Thompson and Frazier River Canyons. Traffic was light and Tom rolled on the throttle.

Not another waterfall:



One of our goals was to stop at the Hells Gate Tram on the Frazier River which we did and rode the tram to the bottom, took pictures, had a nice lunch (2 salmon burgers and two regular burgers).








While down there a fellow approached us and complimented us on our bikes. He was riding a GL1800 like 3 of us, but his had a turbo installed on it. Here are a few pictures of that bike.




Then it was more riding down the canyon and through many tunnels.


There were also lots of rapids and water movement.

We also observed lots of bikers out for their Saturday ride, and little did they know our grizzled pack of 4 had just returned from The Great Land.

Arriving at the US Border around 2pm, we cleared customs and took a break to call our respective loved ones.

And we got our "ducks in a row" if you know what I mean.



We then decided to not ride the super slab home; rather take WA9 south. While it was twisty, some traffic tended to hold us up. But we stuck with it and eventually connected with WA522 and then I405, I90 and our eventual destination of the Mercer Island Lid Park for a little end of ride celebration. My wife, Angela, and Tim2's wife, Cindy, showed up to photograph us coming in and that was very special and moving. After taking a few pictures to commemorate the end, we enjoyed some cold drinks that Cindy had brought.




Neil, Tom, and I then rode south on 405 to our respective homes.

It was a great 10 nights and 11 days with 4 friends. We all learned more about each other, worked through the challenges of each of us being "wired" differently, appreciated each person's contribution to the ride, and even dreamed about doing something in the future. Who would have thought that I could don mesh vented clothing in Seattle and ride to Alaska, BC, and the Yukon and be totally comfortable. I didn't wear my thermals or electric clothing that I brought.

And now to one of the last steps:



But that will have to wait for another day.

I'll post an epilogue in a day or so before signing off this blog. Suffice it to say, it was a fabulous trip, a dream of mine to be able to visit my native state on the 50th Anniversary of statehood. Doing it with 3 friends using our respective motorcycles was just icing on the cake. Like we said many times during the trip, "We're living the dream!" We just didn't stop with the dream. I would encourage you to live your own dream whatever that may be.

Feel free to contact me if you have any questions about a ride of this sort.

Day 8 - Teslin to Ft. Nelson

Everyone strap on your adventure boots for today's blog is going to be unlike any that I've experienced.

We camped the night at Teslin, Yukon Territories at the Yukon Motel. The campsite was literally 3 feet from the water's edge and about 6" higher than the lake level, but woke up to rain. We decided to delay our departure and have breakfast at the Motel as it opened at 7am. Mistake. We were there at 7am and I had a feeling that it wasn't going to go well when the waitress wiped Neil's fork off with her fingers. Then it went from bad to worse. Every order was wrong and the hash browns weren't even cooked. Sorry there's no picture of those bad boys.

We headed on out for Watson Lake and that part of the trip was pretty uneventful except that we began seeing vintage British touring cars from the 30's, 40's and 50's. It was way cool to see them heading north. Arriving in Watson Lake, we noted that the Cassiar Highway was closed due to a culvert washout (fortunately we made it through that area several days ago. We refueled the bikes and grabbed a quick burger, and took pictures of Yukon animals so that we would at least have some pictures of the animals we weren't seeing. We enjoyed a great laugh over that one. Neil and I also picked up an appropriate bumper sticker with wording to the effect, "Yukon mosquitoes are not single, they are all married and have large families." Is that ever true! Here's a UNIMOG that refueled with us. I've always thought they looked pretty cool.




Leaving Watson Lake we started playing "Bear or Critter Bingo" once again. We started seeing bears along side the highway and the road was really good. By the way, Tom became a pretty fair announcer to our little game.



However, the smoke was getting worse and worse from a forest fire of some type. Then we rode by an area that was burning along side the road. We stopped for some pictures, but we were buzzed by a helicopter that flashed lights at us to get out of there.



Just as we arrived at Llaird Hot Springs, they closed the road behind us. So we motored on to the Northern Rocky Lodge for refueling (and very poor customer service). Just after refueling, we saw a couple of small herds of mountain sheep and watched one come down a 75% rocky slope to the edge. It was impressive.



Riding on, we started to see a weather change, so we stopped to don our raingear. Good thing we did as we rode through a hailstorm with near zero visibility. Fortunately we did ride out of it to then encounter a very nasty road construction project that presented some harrowing riding on a Wing. Leaving that challenge we went back into Bear Bingo mode and proceeded to see several bears including one that just wouldn't leave its spot along side the road. It was then only a 45 minute ride into Ft. Nelson.

Arriving in town, it was packed for two reasons: the road was closed going north because of the fire and the local oil plant was shut down for a tri-annual inspection and all the workers were in Ft. Nelson. Not good news for getting a room. We stopped along a frontage road and a couple of ladies (Judy in particular) tried calling B&B's for us which was a kind gesture. But we really were blessed when David Moore the manager of the local hotel, Woodland Inn, pulled up and said he was a motorcycle enthusiast and were we looking for a room. His hotel was full but he had a meeting room and 4 hide-a-beds available and would we like it. We didn't hesitate and said "YES!". He called ahead and arranged for Yvonne to receive us which she did.



Below is a picture of our accommodations. Nice and cozy and it's the first time we've slept in a conference room!



Our total miles for the day were about 487. We experienced a forest fire up close and personal. We saw 2 new species of critters in 2 1/2 rounds of "Bear Bingo". We rode the knarly roads. We experienced some of the best in human kindness. And we slept in a conference room. Yes, we're living the dream!

End of Day 1 - Cache Creek

We ended day 1 at the Brookside RV Park in Cache Creek with campsites, pool, WIFI, and showers - all for $17ea Canadian (Canadian money is almost par with US$). We elected to cook at the park and Neil had Dinty Moore Stew, Tim2 had a dried camping meal that he reconstituted with water, and Tom & Tim enjoyed Chicken ala King (another camping meal) which was actually quite good.

The ride up was incredibly scenic and BC99 is a motorcyclist's dream. It follows the fjord for a long while. Eventually we headed up and over a very scenic pass and along the way near Pemberton we encountered some very dense and dangerous tar snakes. One simply couldn't avoid them and the m/c tires really slipped on them.

Temperatures were consistently in the high 80's farenheit which is very hot for this part of the world. I believe the high was 92f. We were in our vented clothing and took numerous stops for fluids. Who would have thought it to be this warm this far north?

We saw one very ugly deer. It was black and brown mottled kinda like an Australian shepherd dog. 3/4 saw it. Fortunately it stayed on the shoulder of the road. Our critter sighting rules are that two Amigos have to see a critter and since Neil & Tim2 saw the squirrel (Neil just missed hitting it). So we have tally of 2 for day 1.

The SPOT tracking seems to be doing well. It will cut out in the mountains and we do make U-turns. So don't be alarmed if there's no signal for a while or we seem to be backtracking.

Our plan for tomorrow is to depart around 7am and go as far as New Hazelton and camp in that area.

Stay tuned.

We're Off

All the planning is complete. Packing lists have been checked and triple checked. Electrical gremlins have been sorted out. In about 20 minutes I leave to meet up with the other 3 Amigos on Mercer Island for a starting photograph. The goal for today is Williams Lake, British Columbia some 400 plus miles north of Seattle.

Now would be the time to subscribe to the blog using your favorite RSS reader.

Until later,

Tim

Trip Prelude - Hyderseek

Since 1998 a group of long distance riders have marked the conclusion of a 49 state motorcycle ride by gathering in Hyder, Alaska called Hyderseek for a little celebration of completion of the event. If you would like more information about the event, go to: http://ronayres.com/Hyder2009/HyderSeek.aspx

Since I was born in Alaska, I thought that this year would be a good year to pay a visit to my native state which is celebrating it's 50th year of statehood. What's a better excuse to do a 5,000 mile motorcycle ride!! So I approached 3 friends about joining me on the ride and all enthusiastically agreed to come. So we paid our registration fees and began planning.

Here's a little background on our small group of riders who became good friends and riding buddies through our local Gold Wing Road Riders Association group, Washington Chapter A in Seattle:

Tim (that's me) is a CPA who runs the accounting department for a major real estate franchising firm in Seattle. He's only been riding since 2002 but has logged well over 100k miles. I'll be riding an '03 Red Gold Wing GL1800A.

Tim2 is an executive with a large software company in Redmond, WA. Tim's been riding for many, many years and will be on a '03 Yellow Gold Wing GL1800.

Neil is a retired engineer in Arizona and rides a '02 Yellow Gold Wing GL1800 with over 200,000 miles on the odometer. Neil's also been riding for many, many years and has ridden to Alaska many times. Neil's our chief route planner.

Tom is an attorney who is in private family law practice in Kent and rides a '95 Red GL1500 SE with over 125,000 miles on it. Tom, too, has been riding for many, many years.

Our general plan is to take 3 days to ride the 1,000 miles from Seattle, WA to Hyder, AK, spend 2 days in the Hyder area, and then ride north through BC to Watson Lake, west to Skagway, ferry down to Haines and then ride back up through Alaska and back to Watson Lake. We'll then head for Ft. Nelson, BC, take a 400 mile detour up to Ft. Laird, NW Territories, and then head home.

We'll be doing a combination of motelling and camping and this blog will be updated as we have access to an internet connection.

You'll be able to track our travels using a satellite tracking device that will be sending a periodic signal which will be plotted on a Google Map. I'll provide the link just before we leave. I think you'll find it pretty nifty to be able to follow us.

We also hope to do a live interview on a motorcycle oriented internet based radio program located at www.sidestandup.com on a Tuesday night during the trip, again assuming we have an internet connection. More details will also be posted later on this aspect of the trip.

Come join us as we share our most excellent adventure. Feel free to post questions.