As we are packing up the bikes this fine morning a nice lady comes up to Bill and tells him that her son loves motorcycles, and because he is 4 also teddy bears. He calls motorcycles 'go go's' and teddy bears 'softys'! Last night when the family arrived he ran to Bill's bike, still sporting his sheepskin seat cover (the bike, not the kid, that would be creepy!) and petted it calling it a 'Go Go Softy'! Here is a quick video to remind you of the 4 year old's object of affections!



This is from the ferry from Skagway to Haines. When I went searching for pictures of Bill's bike I found that there where not many, although there are no shortage of Rocket images! I will need to correct that next time. Anyway, I think it is clear to see why 4 year olds think this way!
(Note; as soon as I said that I moved to the next day's entry and there are 2 pictures of the mighty Sprocket!)

Sorry Bill, you don't get to pick your own nick name, nor your own call sign!

It was very important for me that this incident was recorded for posterity!

Although we discussed that we both need fuel I choose to ignore the gas station right beside the mo'tel, albeit behind us, and drive towards the edge of town instead. Go Go Softy reminds me of this by surging up beside me and pointing to his tank. This is maybe the second time, in over 8500 kms driven together, during the whole trip, that Bill has ever exerted any type of an opinion about anything. Honestly, it catches me off guard, and is a little startling! It might even have been scary except that it was Go Go Softy so it illicited more of a smirk than anything else!

We turn back and go to the station that was behind our mo'tel. There we see the pair of Miata's with the homemade Davis to Deadhorse stickers on them. I catch a glimpse that one is driven by a man and is full of junk food wrappers and the other by a woman, and it is full of Teddy Bears! I'll ride in that one if I have my druthers! I searched the web for anything regarding these vehicles or that trip, but I guess there was no blogging, nor did I take any pictures. Just for the record; Davis, CA to Deadhorse, AK is a round trip of 7190 miles.

This gas station is Grand Central Station as it is the only game in town. We top up and split, east and south bound.

I should mention that today is a beautiful blue sky day and although a little coolish, due to the early morning hour, it promises to be a hot day. I dress in layers. Also notable is despite having driven over 8500 kms thus far we have only seen very few instances of wildlife. Don't misunderstand, coming around a blind corner at a buck forty and finding the road filled with a herd of wildebeests does no one any favours, except maybe the dry cleaner, but a little variety is nice.

Our animal count as of today is 4 I think, all of them bears that either crossed our paths, or appeared at the edge of the road, plus one unidentified member of the rodentia family that was in the middle of the road many days or weeks ago. I remember driving right beside it as oncoming traffic left no other options. Bill said it jumped straight up in the air out of fright as I roared past it. Neither of us saw it for more than a few seconds so we don't know what is was, but it scored a 6.75 on the Rat-O-Meter!

This will all change on todays short run of just over 500 kms. Just outside of Watson Lake there is a big sign warning you are entering a wildlife corridor, but you know, signs are like talk; cheap some times. Take 'Prepare to Stop'. Seen so many times without ever having to stop when I actually see a flagger I am shocked into action. Maybe they do that on purpose?

About 20 minutes after that sign there is a lone Bison standing in the ditch chewing his cud, he is huge and magnificent, also shows great aplomb, not being flustered by my loud pipes. As soon as I see him I close the throttle for some quick compression braking, then pull in the clutch to take the motor to idle and take the decibels down so as to not spook him into bolting. All the while I am covering the throttle in case he does something stupid like cross my path, this guy does nothing. But chew!

I try to engage my helmet cam but don't have enough time. A little while later I see cars parked on both sides of the highway and people milling about, a sure sign of wildlife. I slow down and engage the helmet-top HeroCam. Sure enough there are about a dozen Bison in the ditch on the opposite side of the road. A number of very young and smaller ones presided over by the Grand Matriarch & Patriarchs sitting in a spot worn of grass. Remember Gorillas in the Mist? This Buffaloes in the Ditch!



Later we see another bear, more buffaloes, singles and a herd of Big Horn Sheep, what we think was a young Moose, and a bushy tailed Fox! We literally see more animals during one tank of gas than what we saw the whole rest of the trip combined.

We stop for lunch in a Chalet in the middle of nowhere, I have my usual, of late, luncheon staple; soup and a sammich. I am officially a soup guy when on the road, you need some gas in your own tank to stay warm. Speaking of warm, I am wearing 2 layers and I remove one at lunch. It is the first time I have not been cold (and wet) while riding in prolly 2 1/2 weeks. Makes you wanna travel by motorcycle too doesn't it?



This Patisserie item was available for dessert, but we passed. That kind of floury sugary item is nap inducing for sure! Over my 30 years of riding I will admit to having fallen asleep on my bike maybe, half a dozen times. Usually the act of waking up on a motorcycle travelling at 100+ kph releases a triple shot of adrenaline that keeps you awake for hours. Other times a nap in the ditch is the only cure. I once woke up to the sound of 2 staties discussing whether or not I was dead!

The riding today, by the way, is spec-fugging-tacular. We have seen a lot of trees and mountains and lakes etc over the past few weeks but the scenery, made up of the same, in the Muncho Lake Provincial Park, is really a stand out.

Here is several minutes riding beside Muncho Lake accompanied by Joe Satriani!



Bill's tire pressure was stable today, that has been fixed so we are no longer thinking about it. Unbeknownst to me he started having an additional dashboard warning of an indeterminate nature towards the end of the day. We pulled into Ft. Nelson mid afternoon and at the first possible mo'tel we back into the curb in front of some people sitting on a bar patio, they all freak out at my dirty license plate saying the cops will have a field day if they see me. One guy even offers me his napkin to clean. I decline, got rules, remember? Nothing comes of it.

Passing further through town we found The Blue Bell Inn, a place I remember staying at the last time through. It is a little pricey, but then again everything is. I used to allocate $200/day but I see now that has suffered inflation along with everything else. That budget needs a raise to $250.

The mo'tel is right next to a Boston Pizza where we share a tropical chicken grease wheel and have a few TABs! We agree on a 0900 breakfast at the A&W across the street.

Watson Lake to Ft. Nelson
513 kms today, 9024 thus far
7 hours in the saddle