Day 29 - Muncho Lake, British Columbia to Dawson Creek in 459 miles. From Indianapolis, Indiana they have ridden 8,027 miles.

The temperatures are so pleasant that you sleep with the window open at night.  At various times, they all could hear the rain coming down.

Ron said, "When I finally got up and opened the curtain, a steady light rain was falling."

Each one of the guys had to go outside into the rain in order to retrieve their rain gear from the bikes. Reservations had been made for the night in Dawson Creek, which was some 450 miles away.  When the group assembled at the bikes for the 7:30 a.m., departure everyone was already in full rain gear with helmets on.

The first two hours of travel was in a light to moderate rain.  They rode around Muncho Lake and over Stone Mountain.  Full attention had to be paid to their riding/driving because the weather conditions were not conducive to sightseeing.  The guys were sure that their surroundings were probably beautiful and they missed it.  Because of the rain none of the guys were able to take any photographs.
Why didn't they wait until the rain stopped?  In the mountains, it could have rained all day!  As it was, after two hours they were out of the rain for a while.

Shortly after hitting dry roads they ran up on the Tetsa River Outfitters Outpost and Coffee Shop.  They stopped.  The proprietor of the shop makes the biggest and best cinnamon rolls around.  The guys just had to taste those cinnamon rolls for themselves.  A huge cup of steaming hot coffee to wash the sweets down was a must.  There was drying of eyeglasses, face shields and breaking out the dry pairs of gloves.

Wow!  That is a huge cinnamon roll, David.

Cliff Andrews, proprietor of Tetsa River Outfitters has been catering to the needs of the traveling public, here at mile marker 375 on the Alaska Highway for over a quarter century, pumping gas, fixing tires, making beds, baking bread and cinnamon buns until we have become the undisputed, "Cinnamon Bun Center of the Galactic Cluster."  During the winter Cliff acts as a hunting guide.  He has cut more trail, outfitted more hunters and packed more Elk and Moose in 50 years on the Alaska Highway than they care to remember.  It says so, right on their website.

We're not talking Schwinn or Huffy either.

Mike kept his rain gear on to ward of the evil weather spirits.  The guys got lucky and  missed a couple of really ugly low hanging cloud systems that threatened to dump rain on them.  The weather held out and the group eventually took off the rain gear.

 This is probably a female Caribou.  Santa would call her a Reindeer.
Both male and female of the specie grow antlers, although the bull's antlers are much larger.
This one appears to be shedding, badly.

By now, it is early afternoon.  We know the morning was rainy and that the weather had cleared lulling the guys into a false sense of security.  This caused them to remove their rain gear.  They were discussing a plan of attack about lunch when their weather luck ran out.  

Suddenly, seemingly out of nowhere, the sky opened up. Quarter inch size hail balls were being pelted onto the group!  It was too unexpected to try to put on rain gear.  At least they were wearing full leathers.  There was no place to take cover so the five continued to ride right through the hail storm.  Ron had almost 3/4 of an inch of hail piled up in the seat right in front of him.  That five to eight minute hail storm seemed like an eternity, the guys were now soaking wet.  It was a good thing that lunch wasn't very far away.

  

 Joe and Fred enjoyed being out of those wet leathers.

The tall and the short of it, Mike finally saw a Sasquatch. 

 Dramatic changes in the scenery are becoming evident.  From the mountains to rolling wooded hills and then  flat or rolling crop land.  The guys were seeing hay and canola fields again.

The weather made for a long hard day of travel.  They sure were glad to see the Dawson Creek sign.

Dawson Creek is located in northeastern British Columbia.  It was once a farming community, but is now a well appointed regional center since the Alaska Highway had been built.  The current population of Dawson Creek is slightly over 11,000.  The town is named after George Mercer Dawson, a surveyor, who led a surveying expedition team back in August 1879.

Mr. Mercer, as a statue,  points towards the Alaska Highway.

This is the point where the highway begins.

Ron, Mike, Fred, Joe and David at the 0 mile marker on the Alaska Highway.
This is where the highway begins.

At some point these guys had to give up on having spanking clean motorcycles.
  This must be difficult for them!
The bikes now look like they have been painted with a flat finish paint.

Day 28 - Whitehorse to Muncho Lake, British Columbia. 448 miles traveled today. 7,568 total miles ridden since departure from Indianapolis, Indiana.

The guys traveled the entire day on the Alaskan Highway.  In fact, they road a total of 448 miles today.

This morning the group started out under a somewhat overcast sky.

 The clouds in the sky were absolutely amazing this morning.
As the five bikes traveled on they left the Yukon,

 and reached British Columbia.

Experience has taught us that these five guys firmly believe that warning signs aren't meant for them.  

Remember the pipeline incident?  Maybe they'll pay closer attention....

Not very far from the wildlife sign, almost on cue, this little guy appeared by the side of the road.
That patch of clover must be pretty tasty.  

He wasn't but 50 feet away from those noisy motorcycles.

 Then they saw these beasts having a dirt bath.

Construction zones on British Columbia, Canada are just as dusty as they are in Alaska.

Just in front of the last bike are two more.  You can barely make out one on the right side of the  road.
That's a lot of dirt in the air. 

A short break after enduring that grimy construction area.
The guys had to clean their face-shields and glasses.  Joe and Mike are ready to roll.  

  The guys ran into a Buffalo jam!  Right there on the Alaskan Highway!  A Buffalo herd comprised of almost 100 head had the guys stopped on the road.  It took the slow beasts about 10 minutes to mosey themselves away from the roadway.

He must have wandered through that construction zone too.  Look at the dirt on this creature!

There's a storm brewing up yonder!  

Believe it or not, the five barely got wet.  They were able to get ahead of the rain before it cut loose.

The day was as beautiful as the sky.

 Muncho Lake - smack dab in the middle of absolutely  nowhere.

Northern Rockies Lodge in Muncho Lake, British Columbia.  Population: 20 or 26 (depends on the source).

This hotel features, no telephone service, unless you brought your satellite phone.

No internet service and no electric.  The entire facility is powered by its own generator.

They do have a campground, marina and boat ramp, lodge, restaurant,
several sea-planes and two pay telephone booths.

The guys enjoyed a great dinner, probably better than most they have recently had.

Day 27 - Tok to Whitehorse. 396 miles today. Total from Indianapolis, Indiana - 7,120 miles

There seem to be two seasons in Alaska, winter and construction.  These guys just keep hitting construction zones.  Actually, road construction in  Alaska is a constant when the weather is nice.  Because of their wet, cold winter weather the soil under the road base frequently freezes.  When this happens the road will ripple and break up.  This is called frost heaving.  For road construction crews keeping the roads in good shape is a constant battle.

Nobody has ever really accused this group of being "slow".  But, the older they get.....

Pilot cars, that looks like a pick up truck to me, frequently escort traffic through areas of construction.
Motorcycles are usually brought to the front of the line of traffic.
This is done for safety and to reduce the amount of dust on the riders.

Speaking of dust!

After picking their way through the construction zone and dust, the group stopped at a roadside visitor station.  Mike fed the telescope trying to find a Sasquatch.

Fred, Mike, David and Ron

The guys have left Alaska in their mirrors and have re-entered Canada.

Making their way to the border crossing.

David checking through, Joe waits patiently for his turn.

The five iron horse adventurers are now traveling through the Yukon.

Can you see the amount of dirt on Joe's boots, chaps and motorcycle?
Check out David's blue bike.
That's some caked on, good quality Alaskan dirt, mud and crud .

                                                

Mike's ready to roll again.

Luckily the guys did not get wet this time!  That rainstorm to the right missed them.

Eastbound and down all day,  with the Wrangell Mountains to their North, or right side.  

The guys remarked on how beautiful the sky was all day, except for the dusty construction zone and that brief rain shower, then they weren't certain what the sky looked like.  They couldn't really see it then.

 They arrived in Whitehorse, where they would spend the night!