Started out in foggy conditions... which made seeing through the moisture on the windshield tough and also to see the road. Looking over the windshield I don’t see close... just down the Road. I have 2 tank slappers in the gravel in the first hour.... and another an hour later... before the first ferry. Up on the pegs and accelerate out of them works.... but the experience makes me more cautious. Long day overall. I met up with Sean, Ingrid and Kate again... they were just short of getting to Eagle Plains. When I got to Eagle Plains myself.. I left my credit card number for them to take a room for the night., since Sean said they would be camping.... I thought a night in a bed would be good for them. That Dempster Hwy was a lot more of a challenge for them than they anticipated... but they have 2 years of challenges ahead of them if they stay out that long to South America. The room cost was $139... a bit more expensive than I thought it should be.... considering the motel is rather plain.... just the only one around for hundreds of kilometres which explains the cost.
Later, I would reflect on that this generated one of the most rewarding moments of my trip, with the positive feedback I recieved, and the personal satisfaction.
After Eagle Plains (still 370 kms to the end) I ran into a short but hard rainfall for about 5 - 8 minutes. It was enough to start to turn the surface into a wet and slippery mud, but thankfully it stopped before it turned sloppy. I rode that part very carefully.
Towards the end of the Dempster, the road conditions were the best - hardpack and scattering of gravel, my mind at maximum tired and I was caught up from behind by the first large transport truck of the entire Dempster journey. Being passed by one of these rigs was something I wasn't looking forward too, unless I was at a full stop, because the dust will be blinding for a long time after. This guy was in ahurry, and gave me a hard time about my blocking his progress, while I looked for a good spot to pull over. He zoomed up on my rear, maybe 15 feeet behind me and then engaged his jake engine brake to make the maximum noise and intimidation factor. I put on my signal to pull over and slowed to the shoulder in the deeper gravel, while he passed without allowing me time to even slap my visor down. The dust took waht seemed and eternity to clear, must have been at least 4 minutes before I could satrt out. The trees blocked any air currents to clear thre dust, so I had pockets of dust to ride through.
Long story, I took many rests, shot lots of photos... and made to km 0 about 10 pm. That made the entire trip down a 15 hour journey. I had made it!!!
Daryle and Karen were at the Klondyke Lodge campground at their RV as they said they would be, greeted me warmly, Invited me to stay the night and eat with them, which I was pleased to accept. I used the car wash pressure washer to clean the bike off of the heavy dust coating everything, particularily the wheels which had a very thick layer around the circumference. I also took my gas can which I had picked up at this location, emptied it again into my tank, and took it into the store, wrote a marker message for the next rider to find it, to use it, and Pay it Forward.
My hosts plied me with homemade red wine... which I drank the better part of 3 bottles that were shared. Crashed into a foldout bed comfortably and slept soundly. Woke with a well earned hangover at 8:15 am.
PS: weeks later I found out that the rider that left that gas can for the next rider, was my friend Steve Rudd, and reading his blog he made reference of leaving the gas can with the note for the next rider. We both found this co-incidence rather amusing. We live about 15 kms apart, and left home 7 days apart. We compared notes later on our trips, and there were many more times out paths crossed, even though our routes were nearly reversed in direction for much of our trip.
McKenzie river
ferry
ferry bridge
more gravel- all gravel
Ferry
Dempster Highway
Dempster Highway
Dempster Highway
Dempster Highway
Dempster Highway
Karen preparing dinner
my Camp for the night - Daryl and Karens fifth wheel trailer
A frend and I left Anchorage in June 1983 to Ride the Dempster to Inuvik on a 1977 BMW R100/7. Bob was on an 83 GS 850. It was a wild and very enjoyable ride. Yes we stayed at the Eagle Plains hotel and visited Artic Red River and Fort McPhearson. The town of Inuvik was celebrating an anniversary and we arrived there on 21 June 1983. The people were very friendly and made us feel at home. A wet and muddy ride part of the way and when you encountered the mud.... as words of previous travellers had stated, "Aim for the wet spot" the road under the water was hard packed and the water did not turn into mud.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the photos and memories they brought back. Bill Morgan (billdebyker@gmail.com)