June 30, 2008: 331 miles, from Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada
This morning, I found Mike at the Walmart after he’d bought some oil for the bikes. We borrowed a pan from the car service guys at the Walmart auto center, and we changed the oil in his and my bike, in the car park next to the auto center. As we were changing the oil, a guy in a taxi rode up and asked us what we were doing. We got chatting, and he was clearly just biding time while waiting for his next client.
After packing away our tools, and handing our dirty oil to the friendly Walmart auto guy, we headed back to the campsite where Jaryd changed his oil. We then headed out on the Alcan/Alaska highway, in the rain for a few miles, until the junction with the Klondike Highway (HWY-2), which heads almost due north to Dawson City, Yukon.
On the way, we stopped at Carmacks for gas and a bite to eat, and to pick up some mosquito coils (those surprisingly effective scented coils that you light and they produce a scented smoke which drives the mosquitoes away).
We picked up some sandwiches from the local store (where we chatted with the cashier, who told us she was from the city of Windsor, the twin city to Detroit, and just across the river from us back home. Small world!). As there was no place to dine inside, we sat outside on the little retention wall, and watched the crows dive for scraps, while we ate.
The rest of the day’s trip was one of those days where we were a little tired, the weather was dark and gloomy, and loaded with moisture. We skirted a number of thunderstorms before and after filling up at Pelly Crossing, where the gas was the most expensive of our entire trip so far, at around $1.75/litre ($6.62 / US gallon). Crazy prices, but one really must expect to PAY for gas in the more remote places.
We took no more pics until we arrived in Dawson City, Yukon, which is our last significant town before heading out on the Dempster Highway.
We are now only 165 miles south of the Arctic Circle! We are buzzed…and filled with just a little trepidation for the remote ride on the Dempster “highway” to the Arctic Circle and beyond, to Inuvik…
Earlier, we’d met some guys at Whitehorse, who promised to reserve (pay) for a test site at the campground just before the bridge, opposite the NAPA store, in Dawson City for us, if they arrived there first, and we agreed to do the same, if we arrived first.
So, after finding the campground, we rode around to see if we could see them, and it was apparent they’d not arrived yet, so I went inside the gas station office (which was also the office for the campground), and paid the VERY attractive young lady for a full tent site and an extra tent space, big enough for all 5 of us to pitch our tents.
As we wanted to go into town for a bite to eat, before tackling the onerous task of changing SIX tires from our street tires to the dirt tire we had carried stupidly all the way from Michigan, we left the campground and rode off into town, expecting the 2 guys from Whitehorse to be there by the time we got back.
One thing to note here, is that being so far north, and right at the time of the summer solstice, we experienced virtually endless daylight while up there. The darkest it gets at this time of the year, is a light dusk, but it’s light enough at 2:00AM in the morning to easily get around without lights.
So, we entered town and found a nice looking Greek restaurant in one of the main streets, which by municipal regulation are dirt only, with wooden walkways to preserve the historic gold-rush feel of the place.
Here’s the restaurant….
Now, this is funny. The three of us, dusty, dirty looking bikers walked up the stairs to the sounds of much laughter and chatting and activity within the busy little restaurant, but as we walked through the door, it was as if though we were transformed into the 1800’s as three outlaws walking into a saloon! All talking stopped, and folks seemed to freeze, literally! I guess we did look a sight, with our muddy black biking gear on, gloves and black balaclavas in hand, big boots, and carrying our helmets into the nice and neat little restaurant! 
We asked for a table, but were informed that nothing was available until closing time, and the waitress recommended that we try the restaurant down the street instead….
Oh well, as we were hungry and open to walking round the little town, we left the The Drunken Goat Taverna, and headed for the other restaurant, which was also about to close, but the staff took pity on us and promised to feed us if we ordered something simple and straight from the menu! We did so, and were rewarded with a decent meal, very quickly.
Afterwards, we headed back to the campground to get cracking on changing the tires out, and to meet the Whitehorse riders, but it was clear they’d changed their mind or had some problem and were not joining us for the night after all. Oh well, the extra campsite was only about $20 extra or so, so no harm dones…and we now had more space.
With the gas station office and pumps closed for the night, we decided to pull the bikes around to the front of the gas station, under the covered pumps area, on the nice, smooth cement pad, and work there. While we had no lights, the midnight sun provided more than enough daylight for us to work from.
Now, let me tell you that if there’s one motorcycle related job I literally HATE doing, it is changing tires by hand. I believe Mike feels the same, and Jaryd has never done it, so this was going to be a long, LONG night.
While we toiled over the tires, removing all 6 wheels and tires and tubes, and re-installing new tires, tubes and replacing the wheels, pumping the tires and checking for leaks, etc, a local biker arrived to see what we were doing. This must have been about midnight or so….and he stayed and chatted until we finally finished at about 2:30AM. I think he was a little bored and just wanted some company, and to talk with us crazy bikers. He had lots if questions about our bikes and riding experiences, and seemed a friendly and inquisitive fellow.
Anyway, as we were tidying up, he left and made the mistake of pulling out on the highway without stopping completely, and unluckily for him, a police car happened to be riding by at that exact moment. Now, we felt real sorry for him for whatever ticket he was getting, but we thought it quite hilarious that while we’d not seen a police car in the last 3000 miles or so, there would be one right there, and in the tiny town of Dawson City, of all places! We just never thought there’d be a modern police car in that little 1800’s looking dirt-street town!
On a different note entirely, we were worried about the recent rains in the area, and the forecast of much more rain over the next 2 days or so, because one thing everyone has told us, and what we have read about, is that we do NOT want to be traveling the dirt Dempster Highway to Inuvik when the road is very wet. The calcium chloride they use to reduce the dust in summer, together with the dirt road surface, turns into a thick, gooey, slimy, clay that sticks to the tires and fills the tire treads to the point where there is virtually zero traction. This makes any progress on two wheels almost impossible, in parts of the road.
And it started to rain. And rain. And rain. And rain!
We went to sleep in the rain, and woke up in the rain.
[EDIT] Mike sent me his notes on this day, to include in the blog. Here are his thoughts for this same day….
Hey y’all…Mike here!! Yeah, I’m from down south…
Just when I was starting to feel better finally, the morning was cold AGAIN. Near constant headache and stomach doing loop-dey loops (whether I ate, or not) were wearing me down, but this was the trip of a lifetime, so there would be no going back. Temps were about 34*F that morning. I hail from Indiana originally, and love the cold weather but not when caught ill-prepared!! I have spent too many years in coastal South Carolina for this cold!! My sleeping bag was ok, but I am too tall to curl up inside to cover my shaved head. I determined to find a knit watch cap for my head…and what better place to look than Wal-Mart! They have everything, right?? WRONG. I scoured the store, and found NO cold weather gear whatsoever…I suppose this Yank’s definition of cold, and Canadian’s definition of cold are two different things!! Barry joined me in the parking lot of the aforementioned local Wal-Mart for some roadside maintenance on the KLRs (Wal Mart is now & forever known as The Evil Empire, due to the campground receptionists’ distaste for the store chain.) We bought our oil and the guys in TEE’s tire shop were kind enough to let us dispose of our used oil and filters. We headed back to the camp site with oil for Jaryd’s bike. Whilst we packed up, young Jaryd changed his oil for the very first time…
A word about Jaryd is in order here: What a great kid! Prior to this trip, he had very little street experience; one might think taking such an inexperienced rider on a trip of this sort would be foolish, but Jaryd would prove any doubters wrong, and in fine fashion. I have yet to meet a young rider who is half as conscientious as cautious as Jaryd. Not to mention, he kept us in stitches with his AH-nuld/The Governator impressions the whole trip!
We set out on the road…and man, is life ever tough up North in the winter. But in view of what such a harsh climate can bring, I must say the hospitality and friendliness of Canada’s citizens cannot be overstated. The road between Whitehorse and Dawson City was quite often gravel or dirt, with rare patches of decent pavement in between. At one particular station out in the middle of Nowheresville, we met a young couple on a Suzuki DL650 VStrom (or “WeeStrom” to its fans.), and a couple folks on the tasty BMW 1200GS adventure bikes (appropriately tricked out with ALL the goodies, too)…it made me feel quite pedestrian on my humble little KLR. But, not a hiccup of trouble out the little Kawasaki so far, so I ain’t complaining!! After we were done chatting and fueling, Barry apparently thought I was taking too long, and began riding circles around the gas pumps at the end of the building…laughing all the while. However, as we pulled out, he promptly turned around, as he had forgotten to pay for gas…so I was able to return the favor…laughing all the while!
We were really starting to get into remote country…the scenery has been amazing!! We rolled into Dawson City and got a camp spot, and were lucky enough to be tended to by the station/campground owner’s daughter…quite the lovely lady. (Remember, we had been in the middle of nowhere for better than a week…). I browsed around desperately for a wool cap or something warm for my head, but again, NOTHING. First question out of my mouth was, “Ma’am, please tell me you have some more winter gear stowed away upstairs?!” She asked what I was looking for, and headed upstairs. She came back downstairs after a few minutes with a small basket of balaclavas, neck gaiters and knit caps for keep the noggin warm. I quickly claimed a cap and paid her for it, while simultaneously declaring my undying love, and offered to marry her on the spot! That is how much I enjoy being warm while I sleep. Alas, she declined…
We got our spots, and then got the tents set up, and headed out for grub…we went into Dawson City proper, and promptly found this interesting place:
We went in, and the small restaurant was PACKED…maybe 30 people. The door hadn’t shut behind us, when EVERY SINGLE PERSON stopped their conversations and looked at us….dirty, dusty and unshaven. Like something out of an old Clint Eastwood western, I swear! Only thing missing were spurs on our boots, six guns on our hips, and maybe a tumbleweed or two. They had no room for us, and we got lucky (not THAT lucky, we just scored food…get yer mind outta the gutter, perverts!) across the street. The name fails me, but their food was excellent. When we got back to the campsite about 10pm, we set about changing tires on the bikes. Little did I know we were in for the fight of our lives. Without going into too much detail as to our struggles, let’s suffice to say that if Barry and I had any desire to starve ourselves to death, we could open up our our tire changing business, and do all the work by hand!! Some 5 hours later, we were done…finally. More Dawson City (and rain!!) tomorrow…