Whitehorse....DRY Whitehorse!

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Hello Folks,

Well, I sit here in a dry tent after a 900 kilometre ride through the wettest storm yet. As previously described, Anchorage was wet….very wet. When I left on Thursday morning at 7am it was still wet and I found out that the storm system creating this was all over the southern part of Alaska …..almost to Whitehorse actually. I rode through this using waterproof pants that were torn to shreds by the Dempster so 20 minutes after setting out I had wet feet….for 900 kilometres. About an hour after crossing back into Canada the weather dried up a little and I booked into the Talbot Arms Motel in Destruction Bay Yukon (sounds great eh?). It’s a beautiful oasis when everything you own is drenched I can tell you!
I now sit in the campground at Takhini Hot Springs in Whitehorse in my DRY tent surrounded by DRY gear typing this blog onto a words document so I can copy and paste Saturday morning. Life is good, I think, rain is in the forecast for tomorrow but I hope to escape this by heading south to the village of Atlin 200 kms south and across the Yukon border in BC. I’ve never been there before and have heard it’s beautiful so hopefully I get to post some photos for you in the next few days.
I have now purchased a new pair of CanAm waterproof pants and they’re made of ripstop material so I hope they’ll last a little longer than the old ones. I also bought some SealSkinz socks as well…heard they were good and waterproof. My hope is that highway 37 south , the Cassiar Highway, will re-open in the next few days. If this weather system overtakes me tonight and continues south it might be enough to put out the blaze that has caused the road to close. I really don’t want to have to ride all the way back on the Alaska Highway but obviously will if needs be.
My spirits are high and the sense of humour hasn’t waned yet either . Not sure about the sanity though. If someone put a microphone in my crash helmet in the last few days they would have heard the worst singing on the planet! Renditions of 80’s classics to humming Beethoven’s “Ode to Joy” were all butchered by me. I also take the time to reflect on the achievements so far…..I crossed the Arctic Circle twice on a motorcycle……I think my typing has improved…….got to the two most northerly points in North America accessible by roads (loosely termed roads) and have now ridden every inch of the Alaska Highway, all 2500 and something miles of it.
Does anyone want to buy a slightly used BMW? It’s only had one owner!
What to do next……..?
Any suggestions?

Speak to you all soon

Nevil 

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