Gravel......the prefered road surface of the North

Whitehorse is the capital of the Yukon, taken from Dawson city when the gold ran out. A poor move in my opinion, but more on that later.

We stayed at a campsite with a hot spring which was nice, and we ate and drank well. Fully recharged we set off again this time for Dawson city. Well, I had heard of Dawson City and knew a bit about some gold rush stampede that went on but nothing could prepare us for what we saw.

This place is genuinely old. The town looks much the same as it did in its hay day and what a history it has. A few short glory years when people from all over the world descended after a terrible journey upon this city in the search for gold. The lives they led is evident everywhere around you. We loved this place and it is highly recommended. We stayed an extra day to take everything in. Lots of bikers on BMW's too all doing the Dempster highway and enjoying themselves.

I also decided that the sheds rear shock should be removed to make adjustments, So Sandra and I striped the shed down and rebuild her, we even enjoyed doing that.

Like I say we loved this place and it should be the capital of everywhere.

Anyway to get out of Dawson and head for Alaska you have to take the ferry across the Yukon. This is a free service and gets you across in about 10 mins. You can see Dawson as you leave, which is also nice. I had calculated that we could get to Fairbanks in one day.....WRONG.

From Dawson to the Alaskan border is 107 miles, all of it rough road and gravel. It took us 3 hours and was hard work. At the border it was time to meet the United States bureaucracy head on. We crossed the border at the most northernly land crossing and found all the lights out. The US customs and Immigration had a power cut. The officer processing us was really very good keeping a good humor as we battled against bureaucracy and a stubborn generator. After 30 mins or so we were all up and running and allowed into the land of the free and the home of even more poor roads.

We had to go all the way to Chicken (more goggling for you) where we stopped for a bite to eat.

Sharpe eyed Sandra noticed we had fuel pouring out of the shed after we refueled. This was traced to all the dust blocking the fuel tank vent and a quick blow up a tube removed the block and we were off again. Thank goodness the Dawson Chicken run was in great weather or we would be still riding it now.

The delays meant that Fairbanks was not possible so we camped in Tok. Now normally when we meet people theryare friendly nice and very helpful, but today was a little different. An old chap came up and chatted about the bike, his life in the military and we swapped stories, then out of the blue came a string of racist comments that I could not or want to repeat. I ended the conversation as politely as I could but couldn't help being shocked by this.

A rainy morning woke us up in our tent so a quick pack up and it was off to Fairbanks The weather picked up and on the way Sandra saw a mousse. I, however, saw endless miles of road and I am now one down in the "I have seen a wild animal" game.

We have had our first stay in a hostel in Fairbanks, GoNorth is a small group of cabins and tent pitches, We met some great people there and the site was just really helpful. Jim was a lone traveler who we met, an ex layer who has thrown in the towel and is traveling. A great chap who we had dinner with and swapped stories.

We have delayed our departure for Coldfoot and Prudhoe bay waiting for the weather to break, so we have treated ourselves to a Motel in Fairbanks. It's right next door to a, well lets say a 'gentlemens club, but Sandra says I cant go.