Following is an excerpt from the chapter of my book "Motorcycling Stories - Adventure Touring from the Northwest Territories to the Yucatan Peninsula" regarding this trip. The chapter is called "Alaska 6 - The Three Musketeers.":
"Day 5 - Having eaten too much too late I didn’t sleep too well. We left at first light knowing it would be a long, tough day with a lot of dirt roads. After entering Saskatchewan we had a spectacular view of the sunrise directly behind the huge smokestack in Flin Flon. The Saskatchewan border is at the west end the town. The temperature dropped to 46 degrees during our first two hours on the scarcely traveled and very rough road.
"We stopped in the middle of the road around eight o’clock for a nature break. Bud said, "What are we doing about breakfast?" I reached into the trunk of the Gold Wing for a can of sardines. Bud’s first remark was, "You’ve got to be kidding." Breakfast in the middle of the dirt road consisted of canned sardines and granola bars; and although Bud refused to partake of the sardines, he was carrying a few sticks of his own beef jerky. Many flies, gnats, and huge mosquitoes swarmed around as we ate.
"We rode about 65 miles of rough dirt roads to reach Rte. 2, where I planned to get gas. We found no gas near the intersection so we went north into the town of La Ronge. We encountered considerable construction in the next 100 miles, with much loose dirt and coarse gravel. We met logging trucks traveling in both directions on the dirt road. Upon entering Alberta the roads improved. We saw wheat and canola growing and cattle grazing in the fields. It rained for the last 20 miles of the day. Our reservations were at a beautiful, modern inn at Athabasca. It was by far the longest and toughest day of our trip. We covered more than 700 miles in 13 hours, of which about 175 miles was on loose dirt and gravel."
Click on the photos to enlarge:
Click on the photos to enlarge:
We could see the entire rainbow.
Leaving Jake Herzog's farm in Slingerlands, NY
Central Manitoba
Entering Flin Flon, Manitoba
Leaving Flin Flon behind at first light. We left before any breakfast places were open.
Breakfast of sardines and beef jerky on the road
Not much traffic in this part of Saskatchewan.
Muncho Lake Lodge on the Alaska Highway
We were stopped for road construction on the AK Highway.
Signpost Park in Watson Lake, YT gets bigger every year.
Cabin at Mukluk Annie's on the Alaska Highway - upgraded from past years.
Lake Kluane Provincial Park, Yukon Territory
The highway here was in great shape.
Guy from Brazil found Jake's saddlebag along the road.
We're changing oil at Rey and Becky's house in Anchorage.
Gold mining dredge in Bonanza Creek along the Taylor Highway
On the ferry, crossing the Yukon River
US Customs station at Boundary, AK at start of Top of the World Road
On the road to Haines, AK
At Haines, AK, waiting for the cruise liner to take us to Skagway.
Getting gas at the famous "Jake's Corner" on the Alaska Highway
Unpaved section of the Cassiar Highway
Our lodging in Dease Lake, BC
A single-lane bridge along the Cassiar Highway
Bud is mixing up a batch of whiskey sours at the motel
Along the road to Telegraph Creek
That's fresh moose dung
Stikine River Canyon in northern British Columbia
Stikine River
Ferry across a lake in Alberta
Stopped at Phil Bourdon's to change a tire on my bike.
We stopped at the AMA Headquarters in Westerville, OH
Great motoring adventure, and not to mentioned - those bikes are really cool.
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