http://www.travelblog.org/Bloggers/Snowhawg/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Snowhawg en-us Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:56:08 +0000 Wed, 23 Dec 2009 07:56:08 +0000 Now to clear up any possible confusion about going to the Gay Bar. I haven't decided to go over to the other side. The sledders who ride up here know that the Gay Bar is just that the bar in the town of Gay MI. Gay is a tiny town that once had one of the many copper mines in the Keweenaw Peninsula. It's located on the eastern side of the peninsula right on Lake Superior.We received a coupl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/UP/blog-462051.html I'm staying at the Ramada Inn in Hancock right across the bridge from Houghton for this trip because it is close to Keweenaw Motorsports. That's because I'll be picking up Jan's new snowmobile there Tuesday. It's a 2009 Skidoo MXZ 600 Etec. That's why I've got the 2007 Arctic Cat F8 for sale on Ebay It's Sunday evening and I had a real nice uneventful trip here from home. Dry roads and clear http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/Hancock/blog-461631.html When I decided to make this trip I really wasn't sure how long I would stay. I thought maybe I'd leave Thursday. That would have given me 3 days of riding. Then as the snow began piling up I told Sandy Krupp that I would leave Friday. On Thursday with snow wrecking driving conditions and the forecast for it to continue to snow until Saturday morning I asked Sandy Krupp if I could stay unti http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/UP/blog-460496.html It's been snowing like crazy the past day and a half. As of this morning I estimate we've gotten 20 inches of snow and it's still snowing. One of the girls here at the Parkview said they are supposed to get over 3 feet by Saturday. It's deep and beautiful. Still very few snowmobilers so I was breaking trail through about 212 feet of snow in a lot of places.My passenger side windshield wiper http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/UP/blog-459577.html Since the snow is thinner to the south I decided to ride north Tuesday. I rode 28 miles up to Houghton to visit the guys at Keweenaw Motorsports and get a cup of coffee. They are a Skidoo dealer and really good guys. Dan the service manager has helped me several times when I had something wrong with one of the machines and got me back on the trails. Marty is the owner and I talked with h http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/UP/blog-459351.html Typical of my most recent adventures I got another late start to this day. I went to the Parkview for breakfast around 1045 AM. By the time I unloaded my sleds it was damn near 100 PM. It was typical early season riding. At this time the wet areas full of creeks haven't frozen yet so I got to do some wet stream crossings. The snow was very good and only a couple sleds are around so its http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/UP/blog-458924.html Well my 1000 AM departure estimate was off by 2 hours. I got going about noon. I'm getting ever lazier in the morning. 460 miles later I'm in Twin Lakes. There's about 14 of snow on the ground and they're calling for more every day. They also have a winter storm forecast for TuesdayWednesday expecting at least a foot of snow in that.I listened to almost all of Charles Kuralt's book afte http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Michigan/UP/blog-458677.html This weekend was supposed to be an overnight in downtown Chicago to celebrate my sisterinlaw Kim and my 60th birthdays. Unfortunately Jan's younger sister Dawn came down with abdominal pain which the doctor thinks could be her gall bladder. Here's hoping it's something very minor. So instead of a weekend of partying with Jan her 2 sisters and the guys I'm leaving a day earlier than my pl http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Illinois/Orland-Park/blog-458356.html Howard the owner of the Susitna River Lodge sent me some pictures he recently took of Brown Bears. They are so cool I had to add them to this story. I guess I always didn't have perfect luck. I wish I had been there when as Howard said they were overrun with bears.Thanks Howard. http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Talkeetna/blog-412295.html I left Weyburn Saskatchewan about 100 in the afternoon because I was able to watch the finale of the US Open in my room. Damn another disappointing finish for Phil but I will still pull for him. While cruising down Highway 39 toward the border I kept feeling a vibration at 75 mph and I was sure I had a wheel out of balance so I found a Cenex shop in Kenmare ND that could check them in a h http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Illinois/Orland-Park/blog-411959.html It's Sunday night Father's Day and I'm in Weyburn Saskatchewan about 112 hours away from the US border to N. Dakota. It's just about midnight here and I've just received an email from Heather Brett with a letter attached for me for father's day and I still have tears in my eyes. On top of that Field of Dreams is on Bravo and I'm crying as I always do when Kevin Costner plays catch with hi http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Saskatchewan/Regina/blog-411019.html As I previously said when I left Dawson I wanted to start heading for home in the most direct way. I headed down from Dawson to Whitehorse where I got back on the Alaska Highway. I ended up putting on over 400 miles and camping on Teslin lake in the Yukon. I was back driving through the Northern Rockies which is a very beautiful remote area. It is chock full of mountian goats bears and mo http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Yukon/Whitehorse/blog-410662.html My next must see location before I go home is Dawson City Yukon Territory but I decided to spend the night in Tok Alaska and see if I could find a new set of tires. One of the things that I pondered long and hard before I left was the tires on the Burban. BTW in my many long miles alone in the car and listening to my Jack London audiobooks I've started to call her Buck after the St. Ber http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Yukon/Dawson-City/blog-410366.html This is going to be a biggie.I headed down the dirt road from Slana and thought 42 miles of dirt road I'll be there in about an hour. Well it took me more like an hour and a half. Mostly because I'm a lifelong flatlander so crossing creeks with big rocks in them is new to me. I stopped at the first one surveyed it then thought I'd better get moving so I don't get stuck. I probably went http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Wrangell/blog-409684.html When I left Seward I intended on driving the Glenn Highway to the east from Wasilla to the Tok pronounced Toke Cutoff Highway and start heading closer to the Alaska Highway which runs through Tok. I spent the night in a campground in a place called King Mountain State Rec. Area. It was about 100 AM when I pulled in there. The Glenn Highway drive is another very scenic area. But I didnrsq http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Valdez/blog-409553.html After my misadventures and adventures in the Talkeetna area I headed south to Wasilla to buy a new digital camera. I was told to go to a Ritz store there so I plugged it into the GPS and off I went. I really wanted another Canon because I've been so happy with the one I broke. I couldn't find the store. It was in a strip mall but I couldn't find it. I ran into a mail man and he pointed to a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Seward/blog-408201.html If you've been wondering why I took so long to add this update read on and you'll find out.I left Fairbanks with Denali National Park as my next destination. Thanks to the good old Milepost I finally found an interesting bar along the highway Skinny Dick's Halfway Inn. I had a beer no Bloody Mary mix or tomato juice and checked out the most extensive collection of goofy utterly tasteless http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Talkeetna/blog-407604.html When I was getting ready to depart Kluane Lake I thought I would plug Fairbanks AK into the where to on the GPS. It just said Turn in 443 miles. I guess I won't get lost. There's only one road to get there. I got an early start. After Whitehorse the road gets quite a bit rougher and the wilderness is deeper. There are more and more frost heaves in the road. The engineers call them th http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/United-States/Alaska/Alaskan-Highway/blog-407276.html By the way If you ever make this trip I highly suggest you plan to bypass the town of Watson Lake. Suffice to say itrsquos a dump. That opinion may be influenced by the hotel I stayed in and the lousy internet connection. I heard from Lucy about this and she enjoyed her stop here. After leaving Watson Lake I stopped at a great place for breakfast called Nugget City with a pretty cool http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Yukon/Whitehorse/blog-407074.html After leaving Jasper I drove to Grande Cache AB and spent Friday night in a hotel. I knew that it was time to start racking up some miles and I was anxious to get to the Alaska Highway. The first stop on Saturday was in Dawson Creek BC the town where the Alaka Highway starts. I picked up BC Yukon and Alaka maps there at the visitor center. I drove another 140 miles and decided to camp a http://www.travelblog.org/North-America/Canada/Yukon/Watson-Lake/blog-406549.html