Sunday June 22, 08

Well, our time in Dawson City was some of the most fun I think we’ve ever had. I don’t think I have ever laughed so much. The group of guys that we hung out with were some of the best people I have ever met. We all just clicked and had a riot, usually at the Downtown Hotel for a few beers and ending up with a good Harley bashing. Thursday Brian and I just hung out and checked out the town and some of its features like the Robert Service and Jack London cabins. It was pretty amazing what people used to live in compared to what they seem to need to live in today. A lot of the buildings here are from the turn of the century and are kept up quite well. Some are a little rough and looking a little lopsided but still cool. The weather was hot, sunny and fantastic. The first real great weather we’ve had since April. The whole way up here everyone we have talked to has had the same nasty weather that we have had in RD. Cool and rainy and not like it usually is. I stopped in for a massage, that was great to loosen up my tight shoulder muscles while Brian went back for a nap. Seems that was the plan for the day with everyone. Naps. I guess we are all too old to stay up till the bar closes without having to nap it off the next day. Too funny. I think we are trying to conserve our strength so when the party happens on Friday night we will be able to handle it. Right guys? Friday was the banquet for the Dust to Dawson ralley. I guess there were over 130 people for the dinner, with awards and door prizes and a whole lot of stories about getting up there. I won a door prize, a BMW touque so small that it is lucky I won it because it wouldn’t fit any normal persons head. I am not saying that I am not “normal” just that I have a small head!! My friends all know how “normal” I really am!! Haha There was also a bike rodeo thing that happened in the street in front of the Downtown Hotel which included some obstacle course type stuff like seeing who could drive the slowest, and blindfolded driving, and a bunch of other goofy stuff, it was pretty entertaining. The BEST entertainment of all was when Sgt Marty(an excop from Colorado) had to direct a bunch of tourists from getting hit by the motorbikes participating in the bike rodeo, as they would exit the street that was blocked off to regular traffic. It was so funny to see how he totally took control of the traffic situation in Dawson City where it is rare to see more than one car drive down the street at a time. I dont even think they have a street light. Dawson City is such a laid back place you wouldn’t think there would be a need for a traffic cop but I guess Sgt Marty was in the right place at the right time!! He had no idea we were all watching him and laughing our asses off. Juneau Dave went down and told him and Sgt Marty gave us a special salute. I guess once you are a cop you are always a cop. After the biker games, we went into the pub and had a few more beers, had some more laughs before heading outside to take some more photos of all the bikes. They all had to be lined up in front of the Downtown Hotel at midnight in order to get a D2D(Dust to Dawson) sticker and to see exactly how many bikes there where. I guess there were about 167 bikes lined up and down the street. It looked like a beemer convention with a bunch of Kawasaki KLRs added to it with a Russian Ural in the middle. It was pretty impressive. I am sure there were millions of dollars sitting on the dirt street of Dawson City that night. I am also sure these bikers were probably more likely to be firemen and city planners and maybe even the odd coast guard worker, than the bikers of the 70’s! . A strange thing happened to me in Dawson. I found out that I graduated form Robert Service Secondary that same week. Juneau Dave was reading the Dawson paper and found an article about the graduating class (6 kids total) and a picture of one of the girls graduating, valedictorian actually, looked EXACTLY like me! I graduated again!! YAY!! I even thought it looked like me. Too bizarre. I had to give an acceptance speech over a few more beers in the pub, it was all good, the guys were proud.
We all met for breakfast the next morning before saying goodby and heading off in our different directions. I was filled with mixed emotions. It was hard to leave all these great new friendsthat we had had so many good laughs with, but I was ready to get back on the road. I am sure we will always keep in touch.
We left Dawson and drove the Top of the world Highway. Very cool, scarey as hell and hugely exciting at the same time. The road is straight up the mountain with a lot of curves and absolutely NO shoulder on the right hand side of the road. It drops off into nothing. Crazy, I tried to stay close to the yellow line as I was cranking my bike around the curves. We followed Andy up to the top and it was such a wicked view. On this trip I have seen more truly spectacular views of mountains and scenery that is so completly awe inspiring. It really makes you realize how truly insignificant our regular home life is when you see such amazing things. We all drove on to Chicken,AK and that is where it went from gravel back to pavement and we said goodby to Andy. He was headed to Haines, AK to catch the ferry back home to Juneau and we were headed towards Anchorage. We stopped at a gas station in Tok,Ak where I ate a Reindeer hotdog! There will be no Rudolph this year!! He was pretty tasty too. We made it to a place called Paxon,AK where we got some gas and had more to eat. It was kind of a dumpy place and the people there were a little off I think. We didn’t stick around too long. Drove a few more miles to Tangle Lake campground where we chatted with a couple who were camping next to us. They had brought there cat with them which was kind of funny. they said they didnt go anywhere withiut their cat. Our tent glowed like a light bulb. I haven’t seen the sun really go down since I left Grande Prairie. I think it is getting easier to sleep the whole night even with all the light. The next morning we headed west on the Denali Highway. The day started out sunny but true to form, the clouds rolled in and we headed into some really crappy weather. The road was the shits too. It was full of washboard and pot holes. Just about the whole way was gravel, again. I am getting a little tired of gravel. The Dempster Hwy was WAY better than this road. When we got to the end it started to pour down rain so we found a gas station and pulled in for a hot coffee. While in there we met up with a few other bikers getting out of the rain and we decided to get a cabin near by instead of going south to Anchorage. We found a place about 8 miles north and dried out all our stuff. My radio is now hoped and we have no communication between us. It really hadn’t worked that great for the most part but now we are back to hand signals and swearing in our helmets, or maybe just my helmet! While having pizza and beer at a local restaurant, Brian found a local paper that had the most hilarious personal ads in it that we had ever read.

This is straight out of the Pioneer Press:
Woman seeking man- SWF 50’s seeks man 50’s to mid 60’s for romantic hikes and general good humoured get togethers. Must love dogs, walk gently this good earth and have a reliable vehicle.
Man seeking woman- human shipwreck seeks experienced diver to search for lost treasures.
These two should get together. If you know anyone who might fit the bill I have kept the paper and I can give you the numbers!!