Alaska Day 14 update

 

..it’s now 4:11….no change,no traffic,tent set up to wait it out…heard the Cassier is also closed….I xpected this to happen in South America not here……

Update on day 14…..as you know I road about 100 miles of dirt on the Top of The world Hwy and 10 hours in the saddle ;  spending the same time inside your helmet leads to many thoughts. One such idea formed, prospecting,this led to a small adventure. I didn’t have a pick or a pan or a floppy hat so I would improvise. The Discovery Channel once had a program on searching for Gold…I remember a good place to start would be a bend in a creek….why….because gold is heavier than sand and tends to collect at these spots or eddies. I passed a small gold dredging operation and then came upon a likely area about 1/4 mile up the road. This would be excellent, the water was flowing towards their operation, the gold had to get by here. I parked the bike, put on my Voyager hat backwards and with water proof boots walked the shallow creek bed……wasn’t long before I came upon the shiny stuff and gold fever took over. In my excitment I slipped on the rocks and my boots were no longer so waterproof…….I needed a sample for Assay purposes….I had pill bottles with me…would it be heart or blood pressure…heart lost…threw those pills out and filled the bottle with mud and the shinning flexs….claims are staked with 2x2 posts…..I had passed such a post with a red flag near a bump…..this would be my stake….now to register and get the assay….Stopped in Chicken and a Sign said assay office and gold panning excursions.

Two old timers that looked like they belonged in the gold rush period approached me, can we interest you in a little prospecting they said. No, I have already found the mother load, they snickered and I proudly held up the speciment bottle  which wiped that smirk away. The one with the new sears rubber boots said, where you get the mud . In the creek down stream, I replied. Claim Jumper he said to the heavy bearded guy……..what, I babbled….10 years, he said to rubber boots. By this time they had the pill bottle. I excused myself, for the bathroom. I headed down the hall and out to the outhouse. My bike was parked next to it, and without further hesitation I cranked her up and hit the road…..10 years ? Didn’t stop until I was back in Canada.