June 10th, 2007

Back on the road at 6:30 and rode up from Quesnel to Prince George for breakfast. Coming out from breakfast we looked at my rear tire and realized that it was wishful thinking to think that it would make it all the way to Anchorage where we have tires waiting for us (my dealer had assured me that it would make it to Anchorage, but probably didn't take into consideration my "riding style"). Anyway we found a Yamaha dealer and he amazingly had a tire to fit the very unique wheel size on my BMW. Of course it was about the most expensive tire he had. They stopped what they were doing and put it on and in less than an hour we were on the road again. We took hwy 97 north toward Mcleod Lake and Chetwynd. On the map it shows some small lakes along the highway. Folks, what to a Canadian is a small lake or river, is huge by our standards. It is positively stunning how much water is up here. We stopped at Bijoux Falls and took the accompaning picture. The amount of water flowing down these falls is something to behold. The spray will drench you if you get close. We rode by and over lakes and rivers so large that they defy descripton. Yes, they are having a lot of flooding from record snowfall last winter but even without the flooding the number a lakes and large rivers is stunning.

As I drove through this part of Canada I was struck by how daring humans are. The power lines, dams, natural gas pipelines and, yes roads that were carved out of areas so remote and difficult to get to that you wonder who would do this? Well, it is the nature of man to take on the impossible and do it. While it distinguishes us as a species, it could also be our downfall if the global warming experts are right. Regardles of your thoughts on this, it is pretty stunning what they have done up here.

From the Bijoux Falls we went on up 97 to Chetwind and took a bypass (hwy 29) around Dawson Creek, the actual beginning of The Alcan Hwy. We turned left and headed up the Alcan toward the Yukon. We stopped at Fort Nelson for the evening after riding just under 600 miles. We got rained on for about 20 minutes, but after Salt Lake, it was just a good soaking. I discovered that they have lots and lots and LOTS of bugs. After one day riding I could barely see through my windshield.

The Alcan is really quite a good road with about a 100 foot apron on each side that they are constantly clearing of bushes and new trees. They keep this wide apron for snow removal and so you have plenty of warning of when game approaches the road. We had a deer come out of the forest and head for the road when all of a sudden she started shaking her head and jumping around like a tweeker. The only thing we could figure was that Frank has two of those ultra sound devices on his bike that are supposed to warn off deer. Maybe they really do work!

I saw two black bear today but they were gone before I could get stopped and get my camera out.

Speaking of the woods, the trees are packed together so tight I don't know how anything gets through it and it is so thick as to be very foreboding. It goes on for miles and miles. Next to the water, the size of the forest impresses me most. I don't know how it compares size wise the the Amazon but this forest defies discription, and it's contribution to cleaning our air must be significant. I never thought I would get tired of seeing trees, but we have been driving long miles for several days and never gotten out of it. I am sure that the size of all this probably inspires some and leaves others intimidated by the magnitude of it all. The early people to come here were truly very brave, I can't imagine trying to travel through this country on foot. The isolation even today is really palpable. This early part of the Alcan is pretty boring, that's why no pictures (and again, it's hard to take pictures in the rain). Tomorrow: To the Yukon

PS

Please remember that I am typing this with two fingers after a long days ride while Frank snores. I can't figure out how to use spell/grammer check on this blog thing so bear with me. Thanks

Jeff