The remainder of our stay with Paul and Jeanine was relaxing and comforting in the thought that we were with people who really cared about their friends. Paul's business involved fabricating canopies and roof frames primarily for boats. However he had put his skills to all sorts of jobs that used industrial material and a sewing machine. Both artists had workspaces that wreaked of creativity both with Jeanine's glass art and Paul metal craft. The pics of their art revealed an acute feel for the shape and movement of their animate subjects. On the morning of our departure, I felt compelled to own a piece of this art and acquired 'Dowidat' a bird that Paul had created the day before. I named the bird after noticing that part of the rib cage was fabricated from a Dowidat spanner an enviable piece of German quality tools.

There was still no sign of summer in the air as we rode west to Carcross and on to Skagway a coastal port renowned for providing access for miners to travel to the Klondike gold rush in the 1890's. It required these hardy ambitious gold diggers to mount an expedition over the Chilkoot Pass that took many weeks and took many lives. Like so many gold rush fever episodes the real winners were few and the suffering great. However the legacy of this historic event is well documented along the route. Just building a road over these rugged snowcapped mountains took many years to complete. Skagway may have been a sleepy little town for many years after the gold rush, but today it is a freaking nightmare as 2-3 cruise ships can berth on any one day causing the population of the town to treble for half a day at a time. The businesses in all of the ports that these floating luxury hotels visit are owned by the shipping companies and include jewelery, clothing and foodhalls. They are a sign of the need of tourists who desire constant entertainment and a sense of excitement of travelling together safely in the hands of some very big fish.

We were glad to escape the bedlam by catching the Alaskan Marine Ferry to Haines a port that is only one hours travel but a far nicer place to spend a few days. We took our first tourist trip the next morning on Fjordlines fast catamaran to Juneau which is strangely the capital of Alaska despite being accessible only by air or boat. The skipper and tourguide was entertaining and managed to track many humpback whales, seals, sea lions and dolphins on the two hour journey. The twin engined 1200hp cat made short and comfortable work of the choppy conditions as we were driving straight into a head wind the whole way south. Apart from the revolting 'rubber necks' that had flowed off the three cruise ships berthed in Juneau that morning, we found parts of the city that revealed its true spirit by visiting a small back street coffee shop used by locals and a traditional art show held in a community hall that included artwork, dancing, skulptures and a few alternative medicine practioners. Juneau is home to a large population of Bald Eagles. They are literally everywhere including the town dump as double-up vultures. We also visited the Mendenhall Glacier that is situated just outside the city. I walked up to the waterfall and glacier with three girls who had been at highschool together. One of the Stephanie's had been born with only one leg and hip. But could she walk fast! A very modest young lady, her friends revealed that she had achieved more than 19 medals in three Para Olympic Games and now teaches swimming and sport for the Yukon Province. Back in Haines that night in the campground, we met an avalanche scientist and wave kite guru who was providing some advice on avalache sites as part of a proposal to build a road from Juneau to Skagway. It seemed to me that it was another mining company win as the Kensington Gold Mine is situated half way between the two towns and pulls out a mere 500 ounces of gold daily. I suspect the copper and silver that is extracted pays the wages of the 100 employees and the gold is just profit. We were told of a local pilot and tour guide who had lived, worked and lead many expeditions into the interior of the moutains between Haines and Glacier Bay to the west. It was the tour of a lifetime as we were both stunned by the beauty of the glaciers, and rugged beauty of the coastal mountains. Drake was a very passionate man who just lead us through tight passess, showed us massive glaciers, mountains goats, bears and a very recent catastrophic explosion that had flowed from the desintergration of a mountain down over the top of an existing glacier. We named the event 'Holy Shi£t' as it was the only word that he uttered for about a half hour.

The rest of our trip would seem a tad mundane after our flight, but we solidered on the next day after meeting all sorts of interesting people in Haines including some Aussies who had taught in the tiny community of Atlin some years ago. We could not avoid eating fish and chips in this famous fishing port as Halibut and Pink Salmon were served routinely in the local cafe. As promised by Jeanine, the ride from Haines NW to Beaver Creek was stunning. It took us most of the day to get there as it was freezing cold and raining at times. Altho the scenery was distracting the freeze/thaw conditions had caused many cracks and dips in the road making navigation perilous at times. We had met at least two Honda ST's that had blown their front fork seals on this road. Beaver Creek was a road-side stop but it was teeming with bikes. The 24 hr daylight meant that travellers just stayed up until all hours as there was no way of knowing when to go to bed. A group of enthisiatic Argentinean bikers were making a trip to Anchorage as part of their world tour. Travelling with approximately 12 enduro bikes they were travelling for three weeks then storing their bikes until the next year. One could not knock their enthusiasm as it was a plan that suited them financially and socially. Dominated by BMW F800GS's the group were travelling lightly compared to us as they were accompanied by a Pickup truck with most of their belongings for motel style travelling. We ended up taking the same route the next day south of Tok en route to the Wrangle St. Elias NP. They had stopped at a gas station as one of the crew decided to change his tyre that was showing canvas for more than 50% of the centre line.......on the front!! We also met a couple from Quebec who were riding two R1200RT's both with trailers. The lady was clearly a riding enthusiast as she had owned a R1200R prior. Dell was particularly interested in this couple as it was the only other couple we had met who were touring and camping (albeit with a camping trailer).

With my failing clutch hydraulics and threatening weather, I was less than enthsuastic about riding the 200 kms of rough unmaintained potholed gravel road to visit the Kennicot Gold mines near McCarthy. However Dell seemed enthusiastic enough to go, so we left about lunch time and headed of in a drizzle and very cold air. The ride took well over two hours of tough riding to arrive, but it was worth the trip. Many people used a shuttle bus to get there and a few drove hire cars there despite strong warning about not driving on gravel roads. We actually heard of a company who called their customer to warn them were they were going as the car had a GPS tracking system fitted. The Kennicot Mine was one of the most successful and profitable gold mines ever. The structures and equipment that were hauled in their was a testimony of the tenacity and sheer determination to get the gold out at any cost to man or beast. A rail line was eventually constructed making the operation much safer and easier.

We had camped at Liberty Falls a small road side camp with a thundering river and massive waterfall so loud you could hardly hear a conversation. It was a well known and popular camp spot as we met a host of friendly families all spending a couple of days there. I learned a lot about fishing in Alaska and the management of farming systems as Keith was a natural resouce management officer with the Soil Conservation Service something that has all but disappeared at home. The camping was so tight and rough that platforms had been constructed to erect tents on. A really good idea that managed to control camping impact. Each morning we seemed to get involved in conversations with our fellow campers leaving our departure much later than desired. However it was a gentle reminder of how good travelling can be when one doesn't want to leave each morning for the next exciting destination. The trip to Valdez on the south coast of Alaska was not disappointing as it was lined again with snowfields and massive mountain ranges all the way to the tiny fishing and tourist mecca. It was almost surreal to be surrounded by snow capped mountains in every direction. We forced ourselves to eat some more Halibut, Salmon and chips that afternoon. The Salmon had started to run upstream and there were many fisherman eager to catch a few of of the big fat fish who were all heading for their spawning grounds.