Yesterday we were so worn out from all the rough riding we both crashed early. Early to bed meant we both woke up early. So early we had to wait for a gas station to open before we could leave Beaver Creek.
We left Beaver Creek around 6:00 am and soon crossed the border into Alaska proper above the 60th parallel. The miserable roads of yesterday soon disappeared and we had smooth sailing from there on. That’s not to say Alaska does not have its share of frost heaves and gravel patches… It does. But at least they do repair them and gravel sections are measured in yards, not miles.
Alaska has many roadside pull offs with detailed explanations of what you are seeing.
A hundred and ten miles later we arrived in Tok, AK where we had a great breakfast at the legendary Fast Eddy’s. The next stop on the ALCAN was Delta Junction, another 110 miles up the road. Somehow it seems like everything on this highway is 110 miles up the road.
We've seen a lot of game along the way. This cow moose was grazing in a small pond along side the highway. We also had a cow with a small calf cross directly in front of us today.
We also stopped at the "Official" North Pole along the way. No.... we didn't make any special requests due to our less than stelar behavior of late...
We are in Fairbanks, AK tonight. We cancelled our reservations at the FE Gold camp, preferring to be in town close to better restaurants and Wi Fi service. We have officially ridden the entire 1488 miles of the Alaska Highway.
It’s nice to be back in the land of dollars and cents. Ted and I both had a time getting use to Loonies (one dollar coins) and Toonies (two dollar coins). More times than not we would both stand there with a dumb look on our face while some clerk dug around in our outstretched hand to find what she needed. All in all, their system works pretty well. They have no one dollar bill, preferring to deal in coins for anything under $5.00.
There were also other areas that required getting use to. Such as kilometers, liters and temperature. Kilometers were pretty easy to figure out since both bikes have both mph and km's on the speedometer. We still have not figured out how many liters are in a gallon and it's probably just as well, considering the high price of gasoline. In trying to figure out how to dress for the next day, we would watch the nightly news. We would see something like 10 centigrade and have to figure out a formula to convert it to Fahrenheit. Our shortcut method would be to multiply the ten by two and add 32 to come up with 52 degrees Fahrenheit.
There were also other areas that required getting use to. Such as kilometers, liters and temperature. Kilometers were pretty easy to figure out since both bikes have both mph and km's on the speedometer. We still have not figured out how many liters are in a gallon and it's probably just as well, considering the high price of gasoline. In trying to figure out how to dress for the next day, we would watch the nightly news. We would see something like 10 centigrade and have to figure out a formula to convert it to Fahrenheit. Our shortcut method would be to multiply the ten by two and add 32 to come up with 52 degrees Fahrenheit.
Another story worth noting is Ted’s innocent habit of letting me lead the way through border crossings. It has become apparent that I am always up front, passport in hand, getting grilled. When I have satisfied the guards up rolls ole Ted, with nothing but his drivers license in hand, which seems to work well once the guard determines he is riding with me. He screwed up at the Skagway crossing though. There he had his American Express card ready for the Canadian guard. The guard got a kick out of it and told him "Don't leave home without it." LOL
"To those who can dream there is no such place as faraway." ~Anonymous~
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