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Published: September 22nd 2011
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Yes we are alive.
We left our friends in Wasilla to go up to Hatcher's Pass before heading to Anchorage. Hatcher's Pass was a nice view. We had a couple errands to run in Anchorage. I needed a new part for my clutch lever, and we needed to exchange some stuff at REI.Dan switched out the hatchet for one with the saw that is in the handle and I exchanged my boots, the old ones soles were coming off.
We asked a few locals what there was to do in Anchorage, and they all said that they have to get out of town to do anything fun. The only concession was to ride up to the mountains to the East of town for a nice view on our way down to the Kenai Peninsula. We went to Girdwood, home of Alyeska. Alyeska is the only real ski resort in South-Central Alaska. We stopped into Silvertip, a local bar where we met some cool guys that work there. They told us some good places to go camping, but in the end we settled for the park in town. There was a covered pavilion there where we pitched tent, it was drizzling there the entire time. It was a rain forest after all.
We spent two nights there before heading down to Seward, a town adjacent to Alaskan Fjords National Park. The park was only accessible by boat, and the season had just finished. We stayed in a Motel that night, and watched Boise State eek out a trouncing of Toledo. We stayed one night and out of Alaska we went.
Our first stop was back in Anchorage. There we pitched tent behind the Harley Davidson shop. They have a free camping spot available to cyclists only. We went to the Great Alaskan Bush Company for a couple beers before heading downtown. There I got tired and headed back to the tent. Dan came back the next day round noon. he had a minor spill on his way back when he laid his bike down to prevent diving into a four foot trench that was dug in the middle of the road without any caution signs! We packed up and headed toward Tok. When we got to Palmer, 20 miles out of Anchorage Dan needed to rest, not much sleep the night before. I told him to meet me in Tok, and I had the most scenic ride so far in Alaska. the fall foliage was in peak and the glaciers were immense and bright. Mostly sunny skies kept me warm as I pulled into Tok at sunset. Dan rolled up a couple hours with the same impression of the vistas, and the bull moose he saw cross the road ahead of him.
We camped behind a closed-down shop in Tok, and got breakfast at Fast Eddies before hitting the road. We got to about an hour before Whitehorse when we stopped for the day and camped under some power lines. The next morning when we were about 40 miles from Whitehorse, Dan's chain snapped! We took it off and we hopped on my bike to get to town. There we went to the motorcycle shop and the guy working there had read about us on ADVrider.com and said he would update the thread that we had made it as far as Whitehorse. Just as we finished fixing the bike two Indians pulled up and made us have a beer with them and chat for a minute on the side of the highway. We headed out and got a kebab in Whitehorse before hitting the road. We rode for about 500 miles that day and got to Dease Lake, BC around midnight and ended up pitching the tent in a neighborhood near the truck stop. The Mounties came into the diner in the morning and told us that we needed to pack up immediately.
The Cassiar Highway (RTE 37, the one we were on) had been washed out and they were piloting cars through every other hour through the washout points. It was just before then when I noticed my chain was really loose. I checked it out and my rear sprocket was shredded, nearly rounded off. So I tightened my chain and hoped I could make it to Prince George on it. We got to Telkwa to Tyson and Opal's place where we spent the night last night. Now Dan is changing out his tire and I will wait for the cheaper prices of Prince George to change my chain and sprocket.
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Dan
non-member comment
We're missing the best part of the story
What was Weiner up to when he \"came back the next day around noon\"? I feel like we're missing the best part of the story.