Bow Tie Tour

We woke early to a steady drizzle and headed out. The trip to the Canadian border was wet and cold. The only incidents were Jason losing his sleeping bag and my bike being knocked over while parked (only a few scratches) it took two of us to pick it up.

By about noonish the weather had cleared a bit and we stopped to eat some salmon burgers.  mmmmnnn tasty   Then we crossed the border back into Canada.

As soon as we crossed the border the skies turned blue and the sun came out.  Back to the fun kind of riding   We retraced our steps back to Haines Junction and this time headed due south to Haines Alaska and our ferry.  We were a little pressed for time so we went as fast as Jason’s Shadow would go for the next hour.  We saw about three cars and traveled 100 miles.  Do the math.

Anyway me made it to the ferry just as it was loading, we strapped out bikes in and met several other bikers doing the same.  Except they all had BMWs

“Taking the Ferry down from Haines Alaska to Seattle. Looking out on the straights from the solarium where we slept out on the deck. Greatest star gazing to date” – Jason

Thus begins our four day ferry ride down to the lower 48

We headed out and the first hour of the ride was nice and semi clear.  We could see the bottom half of the mountains along the way and could only guess what the full view looked like.  I guess I’ll have to go back and see the top half someday    We stopped to see a Glacier but it was too far out so we didn’t get to walk on it.

Eric Jumping for joy because we saw the sun peak through the clouds

A shot of the Mountains

Alas the sun sighting was fleeting and as we continued on our way the sun disappeared and the rain returned

One good thing about riding through the mountains is when you get to higher elevations the rain turns into snow and you don’t get as wet. But there also is the ice factor on the roads which wasn’t very helpful.

We continued in the rain all the way to Gakona where the road forks, one fork going to Fairbanks and the other out to Tok Junction and Canada.  Because of the storm and the washed out bridges (see posts below) all the traffic from Fairbanks to Anchorage was diverted through the small town of Gakona.  When we arrived it was late and there were no rooms available and no camping either.

As we were filling up with gas and Jason was trying to fix an oil leak I made some small talk with an Inuit lady whose pickup truck we had passed a few times on the road.

We finished gassing up at the same time and we started following her so we could avoid hitting wild animals in the dark.  About a mile down the road I though “wouldn’t it be cool if the lady in front of us randomly pulls over and offers us a place to stay tonight, nah that wouldn’t happen… would it?”

Another mile or so down the road she pulls over and one of her kids gets out, walks back and invites us (three strangers on motorcycles) to spend the night.  Having no alternative we said yes.

A few more miles down the road we pulled up to their small house and helped them unload their truck full of groceries. Her names was Brenda and she took care of about 9 foster children in her small house.

We talked, ate some smoked salmon and here is where it gets even cooler. I mentioned that my wife (at the time my fiance) had been up to Alaska on a missions trip a few years ago.  Brenda asked me what her name was, I told her, lo and behold Anna had worked at the nearby church on her trip and had talked to Brenda who also works with the same church.

So off all the people to “randomly” invite three strangers to spend the night it just “happens” to be the one person in Alaska who also knows my wife.  Coincidence?  I don’t think so.

We spent the night in the garage, it was cold and a little damp but much better than sleeping outside with the Grizzlies.

We pretty much rested today, checked out email and played with the kids. Jason and I engaged in a fun game of bicycle tag with them.  We also purchased ferry tickets leaving from Haines Alaska in two days.

Great hospitality and good food

We also stopped by ye olde Wal-Mart to pick up some things we would need for the ferry ride. Then got a good nights sleep because we had some riding to do. 755 miles worth and the weather forecast wasn’t sunny.

We got up and it was still cloudy but the rain had sort of left us.  As we were packing to leave we learned that the bridge we had crossed the previous day had washed out over night as well as the nearby railroad.  We were also informed that the bridge to the south of us was declared unstable.
As there is only one road we headed out and the police let us cross single file in the middle of the bridge.

Driving by the next town (where we probably would have stopped had we pressed on) we saw the effects of the flooding. The entire town was covered in water with only the road above the water line. It was crazy.

I pulled these pictures off an Alaskan news website.

This is what it looked like riding by (minus the boat)

We kept riding and after much shivering and wetness we rolled into Anchorage to stay with a some friends of Eric’s family.

When we got up it was still drizzling rain and chilly so we got packed up and headed out.

Here we are about to leave.

As soon as we hit the road the rain really started coming down. After about an hour of the freezing downpour I was soaked through my “waterproof” gear. Shivering we rolled into a hotel/restaurant on the side of the road. We poured the water out of our boots and headed inside for some coffee. The coffee tasted so warm and good we decided to eat lunch. The food was so good and it was dry inside we decided to get a room and sleep.

Which we did. Jason cooked up a hearty meal of noodles and beens on his camp-stove, we jumped on the beds and got a good nights sleep.