North to Alaska 2009

Day One - July 23, 2009:  Glendale, CA to Tonopah, NV (350 miles)

Angeles Forest Highway, California


My first stop of almost every ride, the summit of Angeles Forest Highway. The ideal spot for a plein air piss, standing by the side of the road in the sunshine.  All movement carries a certain momentum, the larger the vehicle the harder it is to stop. I don't need a parking space, or any particular place.



Mojave, California


Mojave feels like the edge of town, finally. In fact I wont ride in traffic again until I get to Kelowna, BC. Mojave has that light that fades and washes out everything. I used to marvel at that light in LA.



Death Valley, California


112 degrees doesn't feel so hot until you stop. There is no shade so I zip the jacket higher, pull the gloves over my cuffs and wrap up until there is no skin showing. 112 degrees on a motorcycle is pretty similar to 60 below in Jackson Hole.

Day Two - July 24, 2009:  Tonopah to Winnemucca via Sparks (391 miles)

Tonopah, Nevada


Between Death Valley and Tonopah are abandoned mines and dusty brothels and little else.  A red light was glowing, on the bike, indicating that I had fried something electrical in the heat.  Tonopah looks like it is well on it's way to becoming a ghost town.  I left at dawn wondering if the engine would die before I made it to the nearest shop in Sparks.  The road was nearly deserted, and I almost collided with a herd of antelope.  These were some of the best roads of the trip.



Tonopah, Nevada


I made it out of Sparks with a fixed charging system.  Headed east on 80 to Winnemucca for a Basque meal down by the railroad tracks.

Day Three - July 25, 2009: Winnemucca to Pendleton, OR (430 miles)

Roland

The bravest and most loyal of the 12 legendary paladins, or knights, who served Charlemagne. Living as a poor peasant in Italy, he was welcomed to the court of the king after his true identity was revealed.


I ate breakfast in Denio, NV at the bar. It's the only "building" in town, lots of trailers though. There's an opal mine near by and the miners come in for a gin before work. Everyone there is hung over and the bar girl, my waitress, looks like she's just rolled out of bed, which is in the trailer behind the bar, and she cant add, at all.


Roland was hanging out on the porch of a, regular only, gas station in Oregon. He was chatting with the woman who owned the place; she was missing quite a few teeth. Roland was riding from his home in south Maryland to the Oregon coast just because he felt like going for a ride. He ties his small beard up tight with twine. Some guy came barreling out of the scrub brush in a golf cart wearing tight shorts and golf shoes, nothing else. There is nothing but scrub brush and dust around here. He skids up to a water hose and starts hosing off his golf balls.

Day four - July 26, 2009: Pendleton to Kelowna, BC (425 miles)

Eastern Washington

Day five - July 27, 2009: Kelowna, BC  (0 miles)

Day six- July 28, 2009: Kelowna to Prince George, BC (427 miles)


Day seven - July 29, 2009:  Prince George to Hyder, AK (437 miles)

Junction of the Yellowhead and Cassier Highways

The Bear Glacier


Day eight - July 30, 2009: Hyder to Watson Lake, Yukon (405 miles)

Sealaska Inn, Hyder Alaska
In the 130 or so miles between the Yellowhead Highway and here there are a lot of trees and not much else.  The occasional black bear steps into the road.  It's about 50 miles from the Cassier Highway along a gravel road through the mountains and alongside glacial rivers.  The Sealaska Inn is a bar with a few basic rooms attached.  Walk in covered in dust and bugs and feel welcome like you were wearing Prada to an LA opening.  Through the double door the first stop is a long bar with a bartender who loves working here and loves living here, even though she broke most of the bones in her body last autumn falling off her roof and spent the winter in a wheel chair.  Hyder was a mining town in the 70's and "they'd line up 4 deep at the bar for drinks" says the owner who always is sitting at the end of the bar reading a newspaper.  One night there was a gun fight and he caught some shotgun pellets in his head.  Little divits or craters on top of his bald head and in his forehead if you look close.



Main Street, Hyder Alaska

Marina Jetty, Hyder Alaska

Cassier Highway, Upper Gnat Lake

Observation: There are a lot of trees, lakes and flying insects. The insects arrive in clouds forming a gray aura, and will leave you bloody, not a little. Mosquitoes, presumably, sense heat. Infrared vision possibly. A motorcycle must light up like Vegas for them. While moving down the road it's moth to a flame as they smear them selves across the front. When stopped they arrive in thunder clouds, engulfing. Move 20 feet away and the air is relatively calm.
Observation 2: Wasps are carnivores and as such are drawn to the mosquito and dragon fly carnage across all forward facing surfaces of the motorcycle. They swarm by the score arriving shortly after the mosquitoes. They also defend their opportunistic meal aggressively against morning oil checks and tire inflation.

Sign Post Forest, Watson Lake, Yukon



The Air Force Lodge, Watson Lake, Yukon
The best and cheapest hotel in Watson Lake



Bee Jay's Cafe, Watson Lake, Yukon
The best food in Watson Lake, really.