It has been three days since my last post. On Tuesday Rene' and I started back to Anchorage from Healy. We stopped back into Talkeenta for a late second breakfast at the Roadhouse Cafe'. This place was featured on Man vs. Food. They have huge portion's, and the whole little town is cool. Lots of young adults hang at the park and it reminds us a little of the Jackson, WY community. We got into Anchorage and checked into our room before grabbing a shuttle into town. Rene' wanted to check out some of the trinket shops. There were a lot of drunks, and vagrants on the streets. We had dinner and went back so we could get some sleep for an early wake-up on Wednesday.

A sad day as Rene' was leaving my company, but good in that it was kind of a half way point where I would be headed, at least generally back towards home. I rode with the shuttle driver as we took Rene' to the airport. He was kind enough to let me come along, and he dropped me off back at the hotel. I had packed all of Rene's stuff to be shipped back, and I took it to the UPS store where some of my stuff was waiting. AAAHH a light bike, and no more three trips into the hotel with bags. I like traveling this way. After the UPS I headed to the dealer to have the slave cylinder changed, and an oil change. It doesn't seem to have made much of a difference, but it is working (the clutch). When the bike was finished it started to rain, eight days in a row I had been riding in the rain at least for a little bit. I started for Tok. Now on Tuesday, Terry one of the Denali Dome owners got an update for me on the Top of The World Hwy or Road. The AK DOT advised they were planning on opening the road on Thursday, but that it would be very rough, and extreme caution was advised. So while riding from Anchorage, having left at 12:45 I was considering my options. Do I go through Tok and onto Whitehorse or stop in Tok and hopefully the road and the weather will cooperate and I can try the Top of the World Hwy. Going through Whitehorse would be a 500 mile detour.

Some of this was determined on my ride to Tok. My neck was bothering me and I put on my heated gear and cranked it up. AAHH the heat on my neck was wonderful, but it was making me groggy. I started nodding off, not recommended at speed on a motorcycle. Finally when I "woke" to see me headed for the shoulder which was a mound of loose stone, I decided I better pull off and walk the haze off.I hate to say it but I don't remember alot of that trip. I turned off the jacket and was good from then on. I stopped in Tok at Fast Eddies for dinner. They had an update and that said the road would open at 0700 on Thursday and extreme caution was advised. I decided I would do the detour and head to Haynes Junction for the night. I thought it was about 200 miles, but when I came to the sign that said it was 289 miles, and it started to rain on me again, I decided to turn back and see what things were like in the morning. I slept real good, I must have been tired.

That brings us to today. Now if it was raining again, I was going to bag things and start towards home. But it wasn't raining, and it didn't look like it was going to. I met 5 guys at breakfast who were from Colorado. Three of them, Mike, Wayne, and Barry were headed to Chicken, and they asked if I wanted to join them. I did, and it was a nice easy relaxing ride. I had been tearing up the roads for weeks now, it was nice not to go like a bat out of Syracuse. The first video is on that road to Chicken, a neat little town I really enjoyed.

I finally came across some wildlife I could get my camera turned on to. We came across a Moose and her calf crossing the road just outside of Chicken. I forgot I have the little point and shoot in my tank bag or I would have taken a picture with that too.Mike, Wayne and Barry hung out in Chicken for a little and headed back towards Tok. I took this oportunity to pan for gold. For a $5.00 deposit you can get a gold pan and pan for gold from a pile of rocks from an active gold mine. This is of course one of those things on my bucket list, so I went for it. I didn't do it long as I had to hit the road, the Top of the World Hwy for Dawson. I actually found three little specks of gold. I fell four pounds short of my four pound goal of gold nuggets, but I was real happy just the same. I will definitely go panning again. I started out on the ToW Hwy and found it to be very easy to do. I was sweating it for nothing. With the riding I did with Ken and Dave, I was very prepared, and handled it easily. I was even passing slower traffic, including two RVs. I have nothing against RVs as someday I may find myself traveling that way too. But some people really shouldn't be behind the wheel of them. I passed two of them on this road. The first I beeped my horn a few times to try and get them to use a half of the road other then the middle. Didn't work and I passed the white knuckled driver with about a foot clearance between my handlebars and the ditch. This next video shows the ToW and me chasing down and passing another RV that would not give up the center of the road either.I passed through Canadian Customs with a few standard questions and aired up my tires. I was expecting a smoother ride from that point but found the Canadian portion to be a lot of loose gravel that is a little more challenging then dirt on the American side. Again the lessons learned riding with Ken and Dave were invaluable. I might still be up there slowly plowing away if it weren't for that experience I have gained these last few weeks. A word for other riders thinking of it, as a matter of my opinion. If you are not comfortable with dirt, gravel and loose stone, then this highway may not be your thing. If you are thinking of doing it on something other then a dirt or adventure bike, then you need to be proficient with gravel or you will find it a long road to haul. Another note. I had this idiot in a motorhome coming at me on the loose gravel at about 60 to 65 MPH. These things throw up stones big time and I got peppered. I don't thing my bike received any damage, but I haven't checked it over yet. I was hoping he would fail to negotiate one of the next curves!

The top of the World Hwy seems to be exactly that, on top of the world. The views are vast and spectacular.

Into Dawson City. This place is like a throw back to the western days. The streets are dirt, the sidwalks are wood planks, most of the buildings are 1800s era built. I felt like a cowboy walking the sidewalks with my riding boots clunking on the wood. Pretty cool place. I leave tomorrow hopefully for the arctic circle. I was advised by more then one that if the road to Eagle Plains is wet or there is a threat of rain to re-consider. They advise that a slimy layer of slick clay develops on the surface and they found it very difficult to navigate with their knobby tires which give more grip then the Anakee 2s I am running. If no threat of rain for two days a long the route, it will be a go!