Having enjoyed great success with the Saturday morning sleep in to 0930 I further negotiated a Sunday morning sleep in going all the way to 1100. OK, that was actually the departure time, but quite the change from 0900! As it turned out I was up at 0800 to blog anyway. I would suggest the daily time commitment to the blog is in the 2 - 4 hour range. I wonder why that is and then I see the length of tomes I am writing!

While I hope my readership enjoys my manuscriptions, the true reason for this blog is for my own enjoyment, perhaps in a future that won't include motorcycles! That is a scary thought! Bill is 71 and is still riding, I hope I am as lucky!

At 5 minutes to 1100, I see Bill is on The Patio reading his iPad. I need 30 more minutes to finish the day's submission, I am at the proofreading stage. He graciously grants the extension which takes us to 1130, then 7 minutes to pack and load the bike.



I take my room key to the Bakery to pay, apparently when Bill did that hours ago he got a sticky bun as his free continental breakfast, but no bun was forthcoming for the late risers! Bill is being generous with our time this morning as we have but 106 km to drive today.

When we asked the Carcross Tourism Info desk ladies about the ferry from Skagway, AK to Haines, AK we were chagrined to find there is no Sunday sailing. We had a parking lot discussion and decided to come here on Sunday anyway, and then hang out for part of Monday, waiting for the 1815 sailing to Haines. Again the beauty of a motorcycle trip is the flexibility, the ability to adapt to unknowns and just make them part of the magic, instead of getting all bent out of shape because our schedule got messed up.

There.

That is the trip distilled to its purest form.

We don't have a schedule to get messed up!

So we head off, southbound now to the port city of Skagway, previously spelled as Skaguay, it is an aboriginal word for Windy Place, and they aren't kidding. As the road wound its way up the mountains and down to the fjords the wind blowing down the highway became brisker and harsher. As we approached one mountain range you could see big fluffy clouds crashing into the mountainside.





While we were at sea level we passed through the Canada Customs side, US customs is another 27 km south. From there we climbed steeply headed straight for the mountain with its top shrouded in cotton candy. There was wayside turnout right where the cotton candy touched the earth, and amazing spot surrounded by tall peaks, with a waterfall and a fingerling lake, and a brisk humid 14C wind that rattled your cockles! Bill made his videography debut there, sorry for the fingers......Bill!



From there the road descended sharply down a steep, winding narrow road blasted right out of solid bedrock. Abruptly we came upon US Customs, which passing through was a breeze. The CBP guy was a little older than the usual power hungry youngsters those positions seem to draw, we had a cordial visit and were off.

From there Skagway was about 15 minutes, mostly because we were stuck behind a semi doing >25 kph. The next day when we redrove this road in a tour bus I saw a sign limiting trucks with more than 5 axles to 15 MPH, so the trucker is forgiven, and hopefully so will I considering my language when I was stuck behind him!

Pulling into Skagway we drove the entire length of the town going all the way to the Ferry Terminal. The cruise ship dock is next to that and had a couple of whoppers in it! I guess we'll be partying with Julie, Isaac and Capt Stubbin tonight! If you don't know what I am talking about, you are too young!



We went into the Ferry Terminal and booked our passage on the 1815 sailing to Haines for Monday afternoon, no sense leaving that to chance and being forced to wait! The nice lady who took our money also recommended we stay at the Sgt Preston mo'tel, and dine at The Skagway Brewing Company, especially as they had their any burger $10 deal on Sunday nights. In such a small town she is prolly in cahoots with everybody, but so what. They were nice places. Well, mostly nice places........





Bill & I walked up one side of Main Street and down the other, stopping into a few shops here and there along the way to look at trinkets from the natives. I bought a T-shirt and Bill a lil somethin'. As is always the case, within looking at the tourista ***** in 3 stores, you have seen it all. Subsequent stores are just a rehash. We stop into a bar for some tasty adult beverages and split an order of chicken wings.

In the North they hold chicken wings in a particularly high regard and we have often seen incredibly high prices for an order of wings, like sometimes $2 each. It is a far cry from 0.15 cents wing nights. This is especially troubling for 2 guys that consider chicken wings to be a food group!

Following the light snack we were heading back to the mo'tel to have a rest before supper. We're on holidays remember, well at least I am, Bill is on a permanent vacation! We had seen these old fashion yellow buses conducting city tours so we poked around trying to find out where we could book one for Monday as the ferry does not leave until late in the day.



It took 2 stops but finally got directed to the right place where the nice man told us to return at 1015 for the 1030 tour start. What a reasonable time for a tour to start! It will last 2.5 hours, giving us a leisurely afternoon before the ferry trip to Haines.

Back to the mo'tel I do some blogging, catch up on emails, and have a nap, then blog some more. I am 2 days behind and trying to catch up. It would be great to be able to write about the most recent adventure, rather than the one before it. My memory's not as good as it used to be, but I do find when I am 'in the moment' the details come flooding back to me.

We had a lobby call for 1800 but when the time comes I am on a roll and Bill agrees to delay supper for another 30 minutes. We are going to the Skagway Brewing Co. for their Sunday any burger deal, and some craft beers.

This what downtown Skagway looks like on a Sunday evening.







Bill, who is a grain goer againster has a shrimp po'boy, and I have a Big Kahuna Burger, we split a lox appetizer. I would give the food 6 mehs out of 10, but the service is good and bar stocked a plenty. I sample a few of their bespoke craft beers, the last one called Spruce Tip that tasted like french kissing a pine tree, no make that a spruce tree. Anything to be different I guess.

There was a big concert just out of town that was drawing everyone to, I would imagine anything that breaks the tedium around here gets a big draw. Neither Bill nor I have any interest in that but it did have the effect of siphoning every living entity out of the downtown area, as evidenced by this picture shooting straight down Main Street.



Then it was back to the mo'tel for the evening.

Carcross to Skagway
106 kms today, 3452 thus far
2 hours in the saddle