Alaska Day 10 part 2

 

Presently at a beautiful roadside restaurant and rv site eating pizza. I have set up camp for the night and this is my view from the restaurant and front of my tent.  They say the next village is Palmer Alaska…..I am in the countryside.

I awoke at I don’t know what time as I hadn’t changed my watch from Central Time and I think there is 4 hours diff. Yes my computer, says it is 11.30 pm and it is 7.30 here.

The sun may not set…..tried staying up last night….to see the northern lights but it was still sunny and my eyes suddenly shut down…….

THE ride today started in Tok and along hwy 1 towards Anchorage. the hwy started out nice and smooth but changed to frost heaves and in some cases gravel sections of 100 to 300. feet and with little warning.I bottomed out more than once……need to slow down. In the 1st 2 hours of the ride I met only 2 vehicles. The scenery is spectacular …..wild life was not present except for a cow and her calf …..I turned around to get their pic but by the time I had the camera pointed, they had had enough of me and disappeared into the bush.

Yesterday I forgot to mention that I met a young lady riding out her vacation not on her GS 650 but in the seat of a pickup. She had started out from Edmonton with 2 other Adventure Riding Gals but one of the girls crashed her Gs . The bike sustained damage, the rider was not seriously injured but her trip was over. The other girls returned home but this lass continued on. Her GS looks new, though its a 2002 with over 200 th k……so she is a rider for sure. The bike developed electrical problems near Tok. It was being taken to Whitehorse for repairs and she had already arranged for parts to be shipped from Edmonton.

She was telling me of rounding a corner in the mountains which had concrete barriers on both sides…..a BIG Bear confronted her….she managed to get stopped but was unable to get by it and it decided she was interesting enough to approach….she says she was trying to back peddle, knowing that a tractor trailer she had passed was not far behind and she was concerned that both she and the bear might become road kill……She thinks the bear sensed the truck from vibration on the road and it scampered off …….I have met a number of people who have stories including an older East Indian who has been in the Yukon over 40 years….he owns a hotel at Beaver Creek which is at the border crossing on the Alaska Hwy. He is retired from the Yukon Roads dept with over 30 yeARS SERVICE, also owns an Apt Building in Whitehorse. He recounted how business dropped off immediately after 9-11. Americans, as tourist were a large part of the Yukons business. Prior, gold and copper mining employed thousands but the mines had gradually closed up, leaving business destitute as seen by the number of boarded up places along the hwy. People when engage in conversation enjoy talking about their life….normally I shy away from this, I am trying to overcome  and enjoying the change., Now for some pics….   the 1st a Glacier as seen from the hwy near my present location…Mantanuska ?   Good night