June 12, Dease Lake, BC to White Horse, Yukon Territory

Big Bear here tonight.  Grumpy Bear did his part to catch us up.  We rode 400 miles today (that's a bunch of those kilometer thingies). 

We started out at about 44 degrees this morning and didn't see warmer weather until we got to the Alaska Highway, but no worries since we had the occasional drizzle of rain to go with the cold.  Within the first 10-15 miles of leaving Deason Lake, we encountered a flatbed tractor trailer rig with a small dozier on the back turned over in a ravine.  We stopped and I climbed over to look in the cab.  No sign of anyone inside, but there was a strong smell of diesel and it looked as though it had turned over during the night before.  Onward and upward.

Our next surprise on Highway 37n was a rather large moose cow standing in the middle of the road just as we rounded a curve.  Good thing I had Grumpy riding point for me.  I would have probably hit the darned thing.  You absolutely could not take your eyes off of the road.  We went through miles of pothole minefields, patches of gravel, and construction areas.  Oh yeah, and don't foprget to look up and see that RV parked in the road taking pictures of the huge brown bears standing on it's hind legs and taking it all in.  He decided to head for the woods before we could get stopped.

We stopped for breakfast and gas at Sally's at the intersection of Hwy 37 and Hwy 1(Alaska Highway).  We filled up with gas across the street (your choice of regular or diesel) and then headed over for one of the best omelets that I ever ate.  It was one of those little bitty things that covered the better part of half a plate.  Canadian toast is either white or brown...and this was homemade wheat.  It was just plain good after about 4 hours to cover less than 150 miles.  I think we averaged less than 40MPH(again, not sure of those kilometer thingies).  As soon as we hit Hwy 1, we managed to pick our average up a bit.

After we hit the Alaska Highway, we did get better and warmer weather for a bit.  The rain stopped and the temp rose to about 65.  Not to worry though.  Before we got to Teslin, we had to stop and re-cover our stuff for more rain.  We we took off again, the temp dropped from 65 to 45 is less than 5 miles and the rain came down pretty hard and with plenty of wind,  I have to admit that crossing the Nisutlin Bay Bridge in Teslin (longest bridge on the Alaska Highway) it one of the scariest thing I have ever done and definately the scariest of this trip so far.  It's one of those metal surface bridges and we got there in the worst of the rain storm and went over in rough cross winds.  A motorcycle doesn't act like your run of the mill family sedan on metal bridges,  It feels like it's walking all over the place.  This felt like we had absolutely no control.  Big sigh of relief on the other side, where we immediately pulled in for more of that fine regular or diesel(you choice) fuel.  Check out this link for a picture of the bridge on a nice sunny day.
http://www.yukonvisitor.com/teslin.html
We rode maybe another 20 miles before the rain stopped and the temp started back up toward 65, which is about what is was when we pulled into White Horse, Yukon.  We have decided to spend two nights here.  The bikes are tired and want a bath.  We need a day to rest and wash a few clothes.  Besides, the internet service here seems to be pretty good.
Even with the scary bridge, I've loved every minute of this. 
Tomorrow is my anniversary.  We've been happily married for 22 years...married for 33, but happily for 33(she knew I would throw something like this in).  It's been a great 33 years with a wonderful and patient bride.  Happy Anniversay.  I miss all of you, especially Jed, Olivia and Dax.
love to all,
bb

This is not GB and BB, but rather two of the seven bears we saw on the same day.

Not as big as the cow standing in the road this morning, but our first moose of the trip.

Where we just came from.

And where we are headed.  GB indicating that we just passed the 4000 mile mark also.

Curt got a favorite sign, so here's one of mine.  The first couple of times I saw one of these yellow signs, I thought...how cute.  They're warning us of mountains ahead.  That seems a bit obvious.  Nay I say.  These little signs that are about 2ft square(I'm sure it's really metric) warn that you are about to hit dips or rough spots in the road.  Like the smaller warning signs that say "SLOW" they are place about a meter before you actually hit the pothole, gravel patch, or dip in the road.  Clever the way you can send someone out to drive signs in the side of the road instead of having them fill the hole.

The dot in the road is my point man.  Hard to drive the Alaska highway through Yukon territory, still keep up with Grumpy Bear, and take a picture.  Hhhhuuummm.  Probably not considered very safe driving, but look at the mountains.

More tomorrow.  Grumpy is over there snoring.  My turn for retribution!

PS:  We are reading all of your comments and REALLY appreciate them.  Last night we had really crappy internet service along with the two extended power outages.  It kind of makes it tough to blog and download pics under those circumstances.  Hang in there with us.  Hello to every one at Bikes and Trikes and at DJ's Cycle.  What a ride you are missing!