Day 7. Alaska Ride 2017: Snag Junction Campground in the Northwest Yukon, Canada

I forgot that the time change when you go into Canada, therefore I laid in bed until I realized it was 8:00 am. I got on the road and immediately run into 10 more miles of gravel road. Finally a sign says “End of Construction”.  I journey on without incident until I run into Pine Valley, where there is an Inn and bakery, which is interesting because I am in the middle of nowhere.  Upon entering the bakery there is a French Canadian couple that greets me with Bon Jour. The women is off to the right making something in the kitchen and the man takes my order. The menu is simple:  there are baked goods and Quiche. I order the spinach quiche and a coffee. I go to a table and there are two other groups there. A German group of four and another couple.  Almost immediately, the women brings out my quiche. The quiche is huge and

presented beautifully in a nice looking oblong bowl. For some reason, I thought the quiche was going to be a small round dish. Even the Germans were eying my quiche and saying things in German that I could not understand, but probably was something like “Holly crap, that looks good”.  I quickly finish off the quiche, as it tasted as good as it looked. I stop at the rest room and find that everything is spick and span, just like the rest of the restaurant. These people are serious about their business, even if it is in the middle of the Yukon.  I continue on my way and stop at a town for some gas. I put the credit card in the gas pump and then start to pull it out like normal, but the machine will not let go of the card. I panic as I continue to pull on the card. I have visions of having to go into the store and tell them that my credit card is stuck in the machine. I then see that the machine wants me to pre-authorize an amount for the transaction. I click on an amount, and the machine lets go of my card. That was a first for me.

I go on for a few more hours and arrive at Whitehorse, which is a substantially large town. I decide that I need some Canadian cash for my government camping spot, which was self check-in last night. I left a $10 US note, for a $12 Canadian campsite.  I find the Scotia bank in downtown, which is affiliated with BofA.  Downtown is a happening place. Unfortunately, there appear to be a number of homeless folks hanging around the downtown area. I quickly pop-in a US quarter into the parking meter, run to the ATM and grab some cash before someone tries to jump my bike. On the way out of town I stop at Mikey Ds for a fish sandwich, which tastes significantly better than the US version. I head out of town and run into yet another construction zone. I swear that the construction zones are pre-meditated torture. For this zone I get to wait for the pleasure to ride across a section of road that has been removed right in front of my eyes. In yet another zone, I get the privilege to ride through a

mile’s length of road that has just been sealed.  I exit the zone, pull over and inspect the damage. Hanging underneath a number of sections of the bike are long strings of tar. I start to ride and can hear banging and smacking from tar and rocks being hurled into the bikes fenders.  The tar is everywhere.  I pull into the “Squanga Lake Campground” around 6:00 pm. The campground is just about as nice as the one I had last night. The campground is about ½ full, just as last night.  What is nice with the campground, is that they supply unlimited wood, which is nice but I do not want the hassle of taking care of a fire, so I forego the campfire.

Got time to call out some good and bad decisions that I have made on the trip:

1.    Good call on the Daytona boots. The Daytona boots have Gortex liners so that your feet never get wet. They certainly did not, even when covered in full mud.  I got the touring version which has a flap over the zipper.  This keeps the mud from getting to the zipper.  I knew there would be rain, but I really had not appreciation for the amount of water and mud that the boot would need to put up with. If I had taken my other boots, then my feet would have been cold, wet and miserable.

2.    Good call on the Columbia down jacket to replace my old and trusty balloon jacket that I have owned since I was 17. I was fretting that the jacket was too big, but the size has worked out just fine while camping. The jacket is warm and wonderful. Thanks Aunt Jan for the birthday money to purchase the jacket.

3.    Bad call on the CB radio. Never used it on the trip and sent it packing home.  Many reasons for the thumbs down 1.) the road was just too wild and crazy to spend any time talking on a CB radio. The last thing I wanted to do is say “Hey, good buddy” and then go over a cliff because I was not focusing on the road. 2.) the antenna mount sucked, because I designed and built it. It came loose with the difficult roads. 3.) too much weight with the radio, antenna and mount. 4.) too much space storing the radio.

4.    Good call on the Givi bags for the panniers. I had only recieved one bad last year when I did the across the country ride, so I did not take the one I had received. Without the bags, I would remove the panniers during camping and at the hotels. With the bags I pull them out and leave the panniers on the bike.  I also used the bags when flying to Alaska. No need to send temporary bags back home like I did two years ago on the ride-across-america.

5.    Bad call on the Givi Jerry can: kind of.  The Jerry can would have been great if it did not have several holes in the bottom. Not sure where the holes came from. I hope someone did not do it on purpose, or else I will hunt you down and get even. My solution was to fill the jerry can and then mount it upside down. Good thing that the spiket does not leak.

6.    Good call on the Unifun battery storage device. I can charge the device during the day while on the bike, and at night I can charge my helmet using the device. On previous trips I would need to charge the helmet while I rode, which sometime ended in my head getting jerked around, when I forgot that I had a cable attached to my helmet while dismounting the bike: ouch.

7.    Good call on the crash bar panniers. I saw one of the guys in my motorcycle club had used military bags as crash bar panniers. I copied his idea and build my own design harness to keep the bags in place. The result is I can carry more items and distribute the weight up front. I keep emergency supplier in the bags so I rarely open them. 

8.    Bad call. Going to Alaska late in August. Should have gone in July or early August.