22 - Alberta, Banff, BC

In mid-May, while in Vermont, a fellow riding a Honda older than mine came over to chat.  His recommendation for changing oil in a parking lot, a Turkey Pan.  It's cheap and recyclable.  You can't see it in the picture, but it worked like a charm.  The guys at Tire-O-Rama lent me a funnel and then recycled the oil and the pan.

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There was no line at the border and I crossed quickly.  I had no idea what I was in for.  $1.25 per liter at Petro Canada.  A $15 tank of gas now costs $25.  Ouch!

Once in Alberta, I stopped for lunch at the first place I'd seen in 20 miles.  I looked up above the register after a particularly good bite of buffalo burger and saw a sign that read: Cigarettes $14.

I'm sure glad I wasn't buying those.  What a rude awakening as I later learned that high prices aren't limited to fuel and smokes.

Upon arriving at the Alcan, (Alaskan Highway) I joined the short queue of riders waiting to get their picture taken at the monumental mile marker zero. Two guys on new Goldwings from Ohio came over to talk.  I wasn't in the mood as I'd just had a ten minute conversation with guys on KLR's (like Ryan's bike from Old Faithful)  They told me that Prudhoe Bay was a hard ride (1,000 miles of gravel with nothing north of Fairbanks until the Arctic Ocean,) but that it wasn't a technically challenging ride.  If that ride is ok, then the ride to Chicken can't be too bad.

 

 

   Turns out that the guys from Ohio had been rained on the entire time they were in AK.  They had an interesting story about how they ended up in AK.  The one guy's buddy backed out and while mentioning his dilemma to a non-riding friend, the friend interrupted and insisted they drive down to the Honda dealership.  He'd never ridden, but bought a brand new Wing, zero down, zero interest, zero payments for six months.  He rode to Alaska and will sell it as soon as he gets home.  Interesting.  At 6'6 and 300+, beginner's mistakes are easier to overcome.  Still... Alaska? 

 

 

 

 

 

The road deteriorated just a bit, but was still fine for 70 mph.  The rain was light and the temperature manageable. 

I made it to Banff National Park around 11:00 pm, still about 1/2 hour from twilight.  After riding through three campgrounds and finding them all packed, I began to worry.  Wildlife was everywhere and darkness approaching.  I sat on my bike to consult my Milepost (a 500 page book that details every mile of the Al-Can and all other AK roads.)  A guy came running down the hill and approached: "If you need a place to set up your tent, there's a bit of space in our campsite."  Wow.

This guy and his wife were spending their vacation running 10 marathons in 10 days.  There were no blacktop miles among their 260 miles of running.  All took place on trails in the mountains.  They were getting ready to go to bed, but we talked for a bit.  And they thought I was nuts for riding a bike so far!

The next morning, I had to be up and out by 6:30 so that they could get their camper out of the campsite.  That day, I rode 800 miles along the Al-Can to Fort Nelson.  Around ten, I pulled into a gas station to talk with another biker.  (It had taken 15 hours to ride 800 miles!)  Bob was a private-equity guy from Phoenix. He was headed home and gave me the lowdown on his ride, then we went to a campground a split a site.  Two tents and one fee.  That was a pretty cool thing for him to do as I can't imagine anyone in private equity worrying about $9.

 I headed north around 9:00 the next morning.  That day proved to be a long one too.  Also, it was the day of the wildlife.  I saw so many animals: hundreds.

 

 

 

(Different animals from different encounters.)

 

Check out the road conditions.  Narrow, very coarse, no shoulders, loose rock in the roadway, and no guardrails.  Nice!

I took this picture when I thought it was odd.  During the past two weeks, I've realized that planes sitting by the road are as common as seeing a car in someone's driveway.

 

The two long days on the Al-Can can be characterized as days spent passing.  Passing RV's and passing trucks; hundreds each day.  The bike accelerates quickly and pulls hard from any speed to top speed. The trucks make it easy.  The RV's are often clueless. I took this picture just as I pulled left and passed the entire line of RV's.

Just after I got around them, we all stopped to wait for the sheep to clear the roadway. This one was taken with no zoom.

It's a 1911 something or other.  I saw them at a gas station.  Wow - The Al-Can via a 1911 automobile.

 

 

 

All of the trucks have giant brush guards on the front of their rigs.  They're made from 4 inch steel.  A buffalo, moose, elk, caribou, etc... would destroy a radiator and more.

Buffalo are HUGE!

 

 

 

 

The headlight was freshly cleaned four hours ago.  There isn't a single mosquito in the Yukon.  They are all married and have very large families.

 

 

I left Fort Nelson without eating oatmeal. Yuck!

But lunch was delicious... and so were the perfectly pack leftovers.

I'm not worried about botchulism evidently.

 

 

This was a pretty small bear, but a small bear is still big. 

 

This was really fun.  There is a wall of signs.  Over a dozen walls actually.  This represents perhaps 5% of all the signs in the park.  People bring them and add new ones each day.

 

Ahhh, a metal bridge deck.  Bob told me of how he cut down a tire on a metal deck.  His rear wheel comes off with five bolts. Mine comes off with five hours.

A flat tire would be awful... especially up here.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The wi-fi is sooooo slow. 

It's Sunday the 12th, 11 days since I took these pictures.  I'm between Anchorage and Denali and have ferry reservations for Saturday.  I'll spend the next five days getting to Haines and covering about 1,500 miles.  I'd like to make the blog current before leaving Alaska.  Stay tuned.

 Next:  23  -  Whitehorse, Dawson & The Top of the World Highway into Alaska