AK Trip - Day Thirty - Sunday, July 15th.,

This morning we woke to a light fog and a chilly drizzle. The temps started at 52 and reached 70 for a very few minutes. The rain lasted the entire 460 miles between Prince Rupert and Prince George.

Throughout the day we could see the rain front to our left (north) and clear blue skies to our south. Mother Nature teased us all day as the road would bend to the south and the clear skies only to quickly return left just at the last minute. Somehow we were never quiet able to turn far enough right to get out of the rain.

As you can imagine, pictures were few and far between today in the rain. We left Prince Rupert with an early start following the Skeena River up through the mountains that border the British Colombia coast. We had the good fortune to find very little road constuction today. That has not always been the case. Canada has such a short summer season road construction normally takes place seven days a week regardless of the weather.

One of the cross roads on the Yellowhead Hwy leads to Hyder and Stewart, AK. Hyder is significant because it is the closest Alaskan city to the conteniental US, some 1,500 plus miles south of Anchorage. The Ironbutt Association sponsors a ride between Hyder, AZ and Hyder, AK each year. Since there is no NP stamp there, and we had other more pressing things on the agenda, we passed on that side trip and continued on to Prince George.

Throughout the day we hopscotched many of the riders we had gotten to know on the ferry. Since there is really only one main road out of Prince Rupert that was not very remarkable.

One of those riders camped near Terrace, BC last night. He had previously told me he had made the mistake of taking a goose down sleeping bag on this trip and gotten it damp. As you probably already know, goose down is almost impossible to dry completely in a short period of time. It also loses it's loft when wet. Loft retains body heat. This morning we met him again when we stopped for a mid-morning breakfast. He told us he, and all his gear, was now simply soaked, way past damp. He was not a happy camper. I took it last night was a rough night to camp. I also made a note to be more grateful for our motel rooms.
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We have resumed normal mileage days once again. Tomorrow we turn south and run for the Washington border, about 532 miles. Thats a pretty fair day by our standards. We will cross the border at Sumas, WA.

My V Strom must feel sympathy for Ted's Wing. Today I felt a thud and realized my right forward highway peg had simply broken off and bounced off the highway, hitting the sole of my right boot. I have to believe I broke it when I dropped the bike in that motel parking lot, way back when. I will simply do without it for the rest of the trip.

One last note for today; Once in a while I re-read the previous day’s post and realize I left something out or omitted something. Such was the case yesterday when I failed to label the Mendenhal Glacier picture. Mendenhall Glacier was easily the bluest glacier of all we’ve seen. I would rate The Worthington Glacier at Valdez as the most impressive.

The world is a book and those who do not travel read only a page. ~St. Augustine~