Days 69 - 71

2004_0611Image0001.JPG Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake - Over 50,000 signs 2004_0611Image0004.JPG I had to photograph one with the "Don't Mess With Texas" bumper sticker 2004_0611Image0007.JPG The point where I and my stuff start traveling the same route 2004_0611Image0009.JPG the jacuzzi tub in my room - note the artist for the mural 2004_0611Image0015.JPG 2004_0611Image0016.JPG hillside rock graffiti 2004_0611Image0018.JPG Oh boy, more mountains coming 2004_0611Image0020.JPG 2004_0611Image0023.JPG 2004_0611Image0026.JPG a great place name, say it 5 times fast 2004_0611Image0031.JPG 2004_0611Image0032.JPG 2004_0611Image0035.JPG 2004_0611Image0037.JPG the bridge over Teslin Lake is the longest on the Alaska highway 2004_0611Image0042.JPG 2004_0611Image0047.JPG 2004_0611Image0052.JPG the Yukon River 2004_0611Image0054.JPG I hadn't realized I'd gone this far west 2004_0611Image0055.JPG the view of the Yukon from Whitehorse

Day 69 - 6/09/04
Watson Lake, YT to Northern Beaver Post, YT
15 miles

Well, I only made it about 30 minutes out of Watson Lake before it started pouring rain, and it rained solid all day.  I met up with the route that Anna and Daniel took with the U-haul, so now I'm traveling the same route as my belongings did a couple of weeks ago.  I stopped in at Northern Beaver Post, which I think is the place they recommended for food.  Anyway, the baked goods were great and the little cabins they had to rent looked nice, so I stopped for the day to get out of the rain.  The rooms were filling up quick, so they ended up giving me a discount on what is basically a honeymoon cabin with a jacuzzi tub.  The owners, Scott and Linda, were really nice people.  This place was one of the stops for the Houston Police bike relay trip to Alaska that they do for charity.  It turns out the parents, and I met the father, came up originally for gold mining and have some claims in the area.  It turned out the guy in the cabin next to mine had done a bunch of long-distance cycling in Europe and Asia, so he was pretty interesting to talk to.  Overall, it was a pretty good day of rest.

Day 70 - 6/10/04
Northern Beaver Post, YT to Teslin, YT
152 miles

I decided that I'd like to get to Whitehorse in time to take the day off and see the sights on my birthday, the 12th.  Unfortunately, Whitehorse is about 265 miles away, so I'm going to really have to bust it.  I hadn't really planned to cover 150 miles of it the first day, but my info was out of date and the place I had planned to stop at (at 130 miles) was boarded up.  This is a one-day personal distance record that I will probably never break.  I crossed the Continental Divide for what I believe is the last time.  The mountains seem to be a good collection point for clouds, so I was rained on for about an hour and a half as I crossed the divide.

I notice that it's a fairly common thing up here for people to arrange rocks on a roadside hill to write their names or make some message; sort of a wholesome, all-natural, graffiti.

While descending from the divide I ran into a couple of guys, brothers I think, who were riding a tandem from the Alaska border to Florida.  One looked to be early 20's and the other about 16.  They are taking a route that will avoid most of the mountain ranges on the continent, but they are going to broil if they make to the south and central U.S. 

I popped not one, but two, spokes on my rear wheel today, and I've run out of spares.  So I trued it up the best I could and will be riding a slightly wobbly wheel into Whitehorse.

Day 71 - 6/11/04
Teslin, YT to Whitehorse, YT
114 miles

I got into Teslin late enough yesterday (11:00 p.m., which is sunset this far north) that all the hotel rooms in town had been taken, so I just popped a tent in a corner of one of the local RV parks.  I got up at about 6:00 a.m., had breakfast, and hit the road again.  So I am really tired and feeling really rank this evening, but I made it to Whitehorse by about 8:00 p.m. so I'll be seeing the sights on my birthday, which by the way is unfortunately my 40th. 

When I stopped for lunch I ran into a group of 4 people that had briefly asked me about my trip when I was at the Liard Hot Springs several days ago.  I mentioned that they must be traveling pretty slowly if a guy on bicycle was keeping up with them, and they said it was a working trip.  It turned out that they were a group of geophysicists, two advisors and two grad students, deploying broadband seismometers across the Yukon for a deep crust / mantle imaging experiment.  What an odd coincidence.

I ran into a young couple, mid-20's, biking from Skagway to Oregon.  They seemed to be having a good time and looked to have a pretty good set-up of gear.