July, 21st, 2026
Whitehorse, Yukon Territory
Woke early, probably around 6:30am. Laid in the tent for a bit and finally
bladder told me to get up.
Crawled out and stumbled around a bit as my legs did not
want to work, then wandered over to the outhouse to relieve the bladder.
Back in the tent we sat there for a few more minutes and
then started to get ready.
First was changing into clean clothes and getting riding
gear back on. This is always an
adventure in a tent.
Then we pulled off the rain cover and laid it over the bike
as the humidity from my breath had condensed on the inside of the cover. (I am
guessing, not sure where the moisture would have come from otherwise?)
I packed up what I could, then packed the tent, uncovered
the bike and loaded things up.
When done, I rode over to the fuel station across the
highway to fill the tank as I was probably not going to have enough to get
where I was going today.
Got onto the highway about 9:30ish to head south.
Road was a bit rough, and pot holed badly, and the shadows
from the trees made perfect camouflage for the holes, was a real fun game
trying to avoid them.
Hit gravel again for a few miles, then later came upon
another one-way, though I arrived just as the line was moving, so rode fast as
I could to catch up to last truck as it was going and joined the end of the
line.
Very rough section again with lots of rocks, uneven ground,
loose dirt and gravel, and quite a bit of dust to blind you.
Once we reached end of the work zone, the gravel continued
for a few more miles, but truck in front or me waved me around, so at least
avoided the dust some. (Camper in front of me kicked up some, but not near as
bad as the semi did.)
Finally, back on asphalt and made better time.
Passed some slow vehicles and pulled into the general store
in Carmacks. Wanted to buy a drink as I
had not had anything food or drink wise yet.
Then stopped bit farther down the road to use the toilet and
take a photo of the welcome sign to the town.
Then was just time to put miles behind me. No filming today as the bracket is holding
with the tape, but camera weight would likely be enough to move tape or bounce
around to much.
I stopped once along a nice view of a huge lake, otherwise I
decided to skip most of the viewpoint stops (some of them require you to hike
back to actually see anything, and that never works with all the gear on the
bike being left unwatched).
So, while there were some really nice views today, they will
only live in my memory, you will have to come drive the Klondike highway
yourself to see them.
Eventually came into the edge of Whitehorse. I had routed myself to the pizza place I ate
at last time as the food was good, and very reasonably priced, even before
converted to US dollars. (Which is not quite as good, dollar is buying about 2
cents less than it was last month.)
Once done eating, I had found a car wash along the highway
and routed myself over there.
I wanted to wash off the heaviest of the built-up mud,
calcium chloride and dust from the bike.
Pulled into the building, they have 2 lanes and each can
have 2 cars going at once, looks like the front of each lane will have
attendant wash, back side is self-wash?
Bit odd.
I pulled in behind a pickup that was being washed and using
the coin operated wash station I was able to run for bout 5 minutes to get most
of the heavy muck off the bike. Still
some spots up under the frame and lots of drips that did not get washed, and
plenty of dust I missed as well.
Bags were still on bike too, so sprayed them down to remove
the heavy build up on them as well.
Once done, I headed out of town toward the Yukon Motorcycle
Park.
Arrived and they were able to check me in.
As I was walking out, I saw the owner coming back in and he
greeted me in a way that made me think he might remember me? I responded that I was back again to spend a
few days and mentioned I had just completed the Dalton and Dempster.
He then asked if I got my sticker, to which I had no answer,
as I was not sure what he was referring too.
Turns out they have stickers for those doing the two
highways, either each singly, or both together as I did. If you can show proof that you did the
rides.
He did not aske me to show anything, guessing my offering
the info without knowing about them was enough to convince him. I will email my proof to him anyway as they
post on their own social media.
I then rode over to the wall tent, parked the bike and
opened up the room to drop off the helmet and such.
There was a guy at one of the nearby tents and he came over
and started to talk.
Probably spent 20-30 minutes talking. His riding partner then showed back up from
his trip into town for an oil change, so I returned to unloading the bike.
Inside the tent was the same as last time, only there was $5
laying on the top shelf. Figured the
cleaning crew forgot to grab it, so will drop it at office later. Also noticed there was not bag in the trash
can, but not a big deal.
Once everything was inside, and organized so I can use it as
needed, I opened the window covers to allow a bit of airflow while I did some
research on the parts I was going to need to fix the instrument mounting
bracket on the bike.
I then went out and pulled the bracket off.
I realized now that I did not bring an Allen key small
enough to pull the small set screw out, so would need to take the whole bracket
with me to verify the screws I was hoping to buy.
Loaded the few things on the bike, locked up and rode into
town.
I stopped first at Canadian Tire, thinking they had a decent
amount of stuff. I could not find any
bolts. Turns out this store does not
have the bulk bolt bins, and the packaged stuff was very limited and it was all
square machine screw heads, no Allen, Philips or hex head bolts at all.
Seems a bit odd, as very little application outside of
campers would use the square machine head bolts.
Finally gave up on the bolts, but want to get an Allen key
so I could at least tighten the bolt in there.
Had to look them up on website to find the aisle, and when I
did, most of the keys were either huge sets of 20+ keys which I do not need, or
small sets of really large keys.
Finally found the sets I wanted, but of course, the metric
sets were all gone. They had the metric
set sold with an SAE set (which I do not need), and it was almost twice the
cost. But only option, so had to buy it.
I left the store and while I was loading the tool on the
bike and getting ready, a guy who pulled up next to me asked if I had ridden up
and told him my short version of the trip.
Got on the topic of hardware and he recommended the Home
Hardware store down the way.
Stopped on my way over to put fuel in as the indicator was
starting to blink, so tank was very low.
I probably still had enough to get to another station closer to the
motorcycle park, but easier to just fill it now.
I wandered a bit and finally found the fasteners.
Much better selection, but I asked the staff and they did
not have the type of screw I needed. I
decided I would have to use regular bolts and finally found the right
size. Longer than I wanted, but should
work, and will use a little Loctite on it to help.
I then left to load things on the bike and then realized I
had forgot to look for new angle brackets to hold the mounting bar since the
one bracket had broken in two.
Went back in, showed a guy the broken and he took me to
where similar things were, and finally found a very similar piece, bit larger,
but will still work. Bought two as the
other one was taking all the weight for a day, so probably weakened it. Will replace both.
Loaded them on the bike and then went back over to the
Walmart to buy something to drink and eat.
I have never seen a Walmart with so many empty shelves and
such limited choices! It was not this
bad last month, so either they have a messed-up ordering system, had a run on
supplies, or some kind of shipping delays.
I found only 2 bottles of water left in the size I needed,
so bought one and then had to buy a 12 pack of the tea as they had nothing left
in bottles.
I then forgot to even look for snacks, but probably for the
better anyway.
Took stuff out to the bike and got ready to leave.
Now I am hearing a clunking sound at low speed in 1st
and 2nd gear, but goes away when I get going faster.
I am thinking the chain is probably ready to be adjusted,
will check it tonight.
Reached the park and put bike up on the stand outside the
tent.
Unloaded the stuff and then went out to check the chain.
It has not moved since I checked it in Fairbanks after the
Dalton.
Chain is pretty dry right now after the car wash, so hoping
a good coat of oil will help. Will go
ahead and try the adjustment as well, but hoping there is nothing else going
wrong.
I also looked and felt up around the headlight to see if
there was a loose connector, but do not feel anything, so assuming the
headlight bulb went bad or vibration killed it.
Odd that the high beam and small daylight running bulb both still work.
I am not going to tear that apart here though, will just
ride without the headlight as still stays light till late up north, and by time
I get back in the US, I will not be riding late anyway.
I then changed out of the riding gear and grabbed a towel to
go take a shower.
After I reached the shower a was hanging the towel and it
felt damp? I wonder if they did not get
dried before being put on the shelf.
Showered and dressed and went back to the tent.
The other towel was also wet, and now I noticed they had
slight odor as well.
I then took a closer look at room. No trash bag, money still on shelf, wet
towels, and bed covers were a bit wrinkled, pillow too, at least on the bed I
was going to sleep in.
Pulled the covers down and sheet was all wrinkled and looked
slept in.
I went out and asked the guy at the other tent if the place
had been occupied the night before and he said yes.
I am fairly certain it was not cleaned afterward. (The same
guy mentioned later he saw a kid on one tent nearby, but not the others,
including mine).
I walked over to the office to complain.
The only solution they had was to move me to another tent,
but I did not want to do that.
First off, I chose this tent for the location. And since the other tents near it were also
used, and likely not cleaned, not going to help me.
Secondly, it would take me 30-40 minutes to pack up again
and walk everything to another tent and move the bike.
They said I could get some towels in the laundry room and
would have to come back tomorrow to talk to someone as the manager was not in
and no housekeeping staff was there either.
Well, no towels in the laundry. Oh, there was a huge stack of towels on a
table, not folded, some wrinkled and even a bit smelly, so without knowing for
sure if they were clean or dirty, I will not take any. I will just skip my morning shower until I
can talk with someone.
Back in the room I moved all my stuff from the other bed and
it looks like it was not used, enough that I will risk it tonight at least.
I will go over tomorrow and say a few words; I want clean
towels and both beds changed at minimum.
I then setup my chair and did some stuff online.
Then I walked over to the restaurant to have dinner.
Sat down, menu was brought, got my drink, and in a few
minutes ordered my food.
Ages went by (I was busy researching stuff online) and
finally girl asked me if I had ordered, and then seemed to remember taking it.
She runs back to kitchen and shortly brings my salad out,
but main dish still took time, so likely they had lost the order or it was not
put in.
So far not having a good experience this time around.
Ate my food, then went back over toward my tent.
I stopped at the wall around the main fire pit to write my
name and dates of my trips on the Rode Dalton and Dempster achievement board.
I then went to tent and both guys were out around a fire,
smoking cigars, so sat and we talked bikes and stuff for a while.
They turned in and I walked back over to change my writing
on the wall, just realized I had put wrong dates.
While doing that I guy saw me and came over. He was from Japan and has been riding the
world for many years, doing the last continent (North America) right now.
We talked a bit, but his English was limited, so could not
grasp everything I said.
I then returned to the tent an pulled out the laptop to
update my financial records and balance the books.
That took longer than it should to match up everything as I
did not get receipts from many places (too busy, out of paper or something
else).
Had to use my phone to get online as the camps wireless does
not work, or the password they have on the page in the tent is no longer valid.
I tried to use the phones internet, but the connection along
with the VPN was so slow nothing was working, but the phone by itself was okay.
Once done with all that, I tossed the paper receipts I did
not need and got to work on this blog entry.
Its now almost 1:00am, and actually pretty dark out, just a
gray glow in sky, big difference from last month.
I am ready for bed now, and it is getting cold, will have to
bundle up tonight.
Will upload this later.
2 more nights here, so plenty of time.
Todays Route:
No comments:
Post a Comment
Tell me what you think?