The spell of the Yukon

Riding Day 27 June 26

Whitehorse, YT to Dawson city, YT

Ride Mileage : 345 Weather condition: chilly in the morning to warm

Total Mileage : 5912

I had a very nice evening yesterday, this motorcycle park, although still in construction is a great concept and the tent that they are building are very comfortable. There is a restaurant and bar in this facility and I had a beer with a UK guy riding an old BMW from the 80s.

John, with whom I have been riding for the last couple of days, took a motel downtown Whitehorse and wanted to leave early to Dawson.

So today I was back on a solo ride. Long day over 340 miles, I left quite early before 7am and arrived in Dawson in the afternoon around 3pm. Almost non stop except for a really good breakfast 70 miles out of Whitehorse. I was a bit pissed off this morning because I couldn’t find my gas bottle to heat up some water for coffee. Starting a ride without a coffee…not something I enjoy at all.

Anyway, I stopped first at a gas station to fill up my tank in Whitehorse before this long ride, and obviously the pay at the pump option did not work (each time I’ve try that in Canada it didn’t work), well maybe this is the beginning of insanity because it’s the third time I’m doing it without any luck…tomorrow I’ll pay cash!

All that to say that it did add to my coffee frustration and it was time to decompress on a peaceful ride…

And indeed it was for the most part of the day. The last 100 miles were a bit annoying because of major road construction. Very dusty and muddy but overall quite a good ride.

Last night I did book another tent for the night in Dawson at the Whitehouse cabins. I was pleased to discover something different, a refreshing change to the too frequent double queen motel room.

I’m going to have issues with my rear tire pretty soon, it’s wearing faster than I was expecting and it may not work for the Dalton hwy, an 800 miles of either very abrasive or very slippery gravel road depending on weather condition.

Tomorrow will be a good test because going to Tok through the Top of the world hyw is a challenging gravel road.

While writing this post, I just realized that it’s been a month since I left home. Tomorrow will be my first day in Alaska.