Tuesday May 31st Destruction Bay, Yukon

Left Liard River Hot springs around 6AM....stopped for the night at a hotel in Destruction Bay, Yukon at 9PM after logging a total of 560 miles. Yes, we know that's 15 hours on the road! Totally worth the haul though as we currently sit less than 250 miles from the Alaskan border. So today's adventures consisted once again of incredibly amazing scenery and wildlife - and of course, road construction. Wildlife sightings consisted of many black bears, several buffalo (one which was right beside the road when we drove by, Donnie revved the bike, buffalo reacted by kicking up in the air and spinning around just as I was taking a picture. Cool in a scary sort of way!), a bunch of wild horses, and mule deer. The mountains are indescribable and I'm sure my "on-the-go" pictures won't do them justice. at Several points during the day we were surrounded by their beauty - snow capped glaciers on the left; more directly ahead; rocky or tree covered mountains on the right; and a last glimpse of what had already passed us by in the side view mirrors. Absolutely breath taking! Weather today was an interesting mix - Although by the time we stopped for the night the temps rose to about the 60 degree mark - we did encounter some hail earlier in the day that as you can imagine stung when they hit Donnie's hands as he was driving. Construction - yup that was an issue - just north of the Teslin bridge (another long metal grate bridge) we hit a 24 kilometer stretch of 1st gear hell - freshly graded road being watered a large water truck that drove by us twice dumping fresh water onto the newly graded road - followed by a larger roller rig that we stayed behind for as long as we could until he pulled over - after that it was just us and the soupy gravel for what seemed to be eternity. Hi-fives all around when we finally made it back to hard roads. I promise I'll post some of the pictures of the last couple of days travels once we get settled in Fairbanks. But for now - here's the view from the front and back of our hotel room at 11:20PM. red

Monday May 30: "snow beautiful"

Did not have cell or Wi-Fi yesterday so here's the scoop from Monday May 30th: Left Fort St. John at 5AM….26 degrees! OMG that’s chilly. We left so early all the restaurants and gas stations were closed…so a few protein bars and a sip of water and off we went. Throughout the day the temp fluctuated up to 40, but the higher peaks dipped back into the high 20’s. it was one of the shortest days in terms of miles and coldest that we’ve clocked thus far – only 430 miles – but the trip was absolutely breathtaking to say the least. We encountered snow for most of the day the remains of what fell between Saturday and Sunday – places like Pink Mountain got anywhere from 4” to 2’ depending on elevation. Snow was not an issue on the roads but the construction made traveling sketchy at times. Worst of the construction was just before Liard River – 4 miles or so of heavy stone mud bog¬-we almost went down but Donnie was able to finesse the bike and keep us up right. Not sure how – but he did. He says the mini bike days with the Ricardi’s gave him the knowledge…Happy to be sitting here by the fire after soaking in the hot springs at Liard River park – the same springs Mom & Dad stayed at oh so many years ago. Internet speed still isn't fast enough to upload pictures - sorry Danny! :-( D&C

Sleeping on the alaskan highway tonight!

Left in thick fog this morning, temps never reached 40 degrees, sun came out when we broke through the fog. Donnie prematurely gave a thumbs up to the appearance of the sun as it went away again until just before we got to British Columbia but then it stayed out until Dawson Creek (nice), as I'm writing this post the rain is starting once again. Despite the weather, the scenery continues to be amazing and the road conditions are great. Other than the metal grate bridge we encountered shortly after getting on the Alaskan Highway - approx. 1/2 mile long - thankfully it wasn't raining still - I'm beginning to "hate" metal grate bridges. When we reached the start of the Alaskan Highway at Dawson Creek the odometer read 65 miles shy of 3,000 miles since last Wednesday ~ we've added over 100 miles more since then. We settled in for the night at an RV Park that caters to RV's (not pop up canvas motorcycle trailers) - but it works for 1 night. Sitting here inside the camper listening to the pitter patter of the rain on the canvas brings back memories of my childhood camping in the Apache trailer playing card games in the rain. Awesome!~ oh and Donnie is enjoying watching me write the blog while sipping on a glass of Southern Comfort and ice so he's quite content as well. LOL Oh and Donnie finally agreed to fill the extra gas cans today..... Chat with you all next time. D&C

Made it to Alberta!

650 miles....Donnie loves the time change - gives him an extra hour to drive. So today we started in Manitoba, drove thru Saskatchewan, and stopped for the night 59 km inside of Alberta.  Tomorrow we drive to Dawson Creek BC to the start of the Alaskan highway.


The rain continued for most of the day, temps stayed between 50 and 60.  The last 2 hours of the day were the worst as we drove thru torrential downpours.  Love the heated gear and the frogtogs rain gear!

Donnie loves to ride without holding on.....he learned that from Dave Lafond! 🤗

Heading towards alberta

Up and out at 6 this morning.....the first 3 hours through the Plains cold, raining and constant side wind gusts. Definitely couldn't do that without heated gear and our snowmobile gloves!  Stopped for breakfast and hot coffee at The Russell Inn...great food.....almost ready to get back on the road....still looks rainy outside but time to head west anyways.

Sudbury to almost Terrace Bay Ontario 5/26

No internet access last night - so we're catching up on the post tonight......with that said - you may not see a post from us every night - but we'll sure try~

so, yesterday the 26th of May - we didn't quite make it to the destination of Thunder Bay Ontario due to rain all day.  :-(

We did find an awesome Ontario Provincial Park campground on Lake Superior - the rain stopped long enough for us to set up camp, cook some supper and get some sleep! 

Up bright & early again - with high hopes of getting started before 6AM - but - 1st night re-packing the camper was not a smooth process!  so we headed out around 7:00. 

additional for 5/25...

Here's a few additional pictures from the first day that I didn't post.  Donnie put this on the back of his helmet and didn't tell me.  In addition for those of you who don't like steel grate bridges - this one which is 1.5 mile suspension bridge that goes across the St. Lawrence Seaway at Ogdensburg NY to Ontario Canada.  Its a good thing it wasn't raining or windy~I don't think I breathed the entire way over
~
 

Terrace Bay to Portage la Praire, Manitoba 5/27

615 miles, the first 100 was misty with dense fog, a chilly 40 degrees, by early afternoon the temp rose to around 70 and sunny until we reached Winnipeg Manitoba - then it was very, very windy.  Apparently we just missed some serious rain.  Scenery once again was beautiful - lots of little lakes all the way through Northern Ontario. saw 1 moose, had a deer get awful close to the bike, and saw our 2nd bald eagle.   The roads themselves are absolutely amazing - obviously well taken care of and maintained.  One thing to keep in mind if you ever travel this way is that in some areas gas stations are a bit too far apart for a bike!  A truly memorable moment when I tapped on Donnie's shoulder and told him the according to the GPS there aren't any towns on the map and he said "what do you want me to do about it?"  apparently he was thinking about our dilemma as well.  By the time we were able to fill up - the bike took 5.75 gallons of gas (it's a 6 gallon tank)!  We are carrying 2 empty gas cans with us - but apparently Donnie doesn't want to use them until we hit the ALCAN.  :-(

We are 13 miles shy of averaging 600 miles / day.....we'll have to work on getting that average higher.

D & C

On our way. Destination Sudbury Ontario via Adirondacks.

UPDATE:  long, long day....but awesome riding weather and beautiful scenery ~  over 640 miles in 14+ hours ~ we're officially tired.  Made it to Sudbury - staying in a hotel as there aren't any camping areas here.  Had several issues with electronics - my headset doesn't work and won't charge - can't charge phones on the bike as the cigarette lighter is on the fritz - actually had a charger go up in smoke at Rite Aid in Tupper Lake, NY ~ and to top it off I can't seem to get the new prepaid Canada plan cell phone working.  LOL - electronics make everything better, right? 

time for bed...up and out early tomorrow!

D&C

maiden voyage with trailer

Just back from dinner at http://www.anchorseafood.com/index.html for the maiden voyage with the trailer. Full face helmets and intercom communication devices will take a bit to get used to but worked great.  average 50 mph on the way up and a bit faster on the way back...I guess Donnie is comfortable with the way the trailer follows behind the bike!

Countdown...14 days...so much to get ready.....