2009 Summer Motorcycle Trip: Day 19 Skagway to Junction 37– top of the Cassier Hwy

Some days start better than others. This was not the best start – frustrating to start. When I got up I planned to hang around to do laundry and check in since the camp was closed when I arrived. I figured 8:30 the office would open. Nope.. there was a sign saying back in 5 minutes, but it never happened. I start for a shower and realized they were pay showers, and I had no change and the office of course was closed. I wanted to do a load of laundry while showering too, again, no go, no change. I had breakfast, and then cleaned the bike pretty well using Pledge. It has a good amount of bug crud and dust everywhere. I just cleaned the obvious top and side surfaces, the rest would have to wait. Took me an hour to clean it and the office didn’t open. It was no too late to shower and do laundry, so I packed quickly and left without paying. It was just past 10 am. I rode back to downtown Skagway to check out the main street – a tourism Mecca. There was at least 2 cruise ships in town and the place was swarming with tourists. I blended in taking pictures of the buildings all in the gold rush style similar to Dawson City but more closely located together and much more geared to a high volume of spendy tourists. There were tour busses and train tickets to buy and loose diamonds for sale and shows to see... etc. It was a happening place for things to do. It was hot... about 30C there at 11 am. I dressed down my riding gear as much as I could and found out the location of the Chilkoot Trail up the mountain. Unfortunately I was told it was 8 miles down a gravel road and then a hike to see any photo opportunities and time was not on my side... nor the ambition. Riding out of own looking for gas I realized there was none that way. A town bus driver told me it was all the way back near the ferry dock, so I finally gassed up and headed out, past my campground that was still closed. Unreal! I made Canada customs and toured north through BC and it the Yukon where I caught that dubious road that was actually great. The rode to that point was also very scenic..... but not as nice as the Haines side yesterday coming down. On the Alaska Hwy I headed east. Road was good, no construction, 100 kms zone all the way. But the weather got cold, I had to stop and gear up and this ride seemed to take forever even though it was a short day riding. The wind came up for the last 150 kms and I struggled with the cold, head and gusty crosswinds that came from nowhere but were there all the time. It was hard to keep speed feeling the cold (about 8C) and wind and I was tired and thinking of other things. My new IPod kept me company. Maybe part of the discomfort was I had no stopped for lunch and it was headed for 6 pm. I made the Junction 37 services and gassed up and check-in for a tent site... rather nice place with laundry, free showers, nice sites, not busy and certainly not modern but serviceable. $15 for the night. No cel, no wireless, and lots of mosquitoes before dusk. This place has is all. I found out that Sally's Cafe across the road was soon going to shut down the grill, so first order of business was to eat. Small cafe, shared a table with 2 truckers that had I had seen along the road. After dinner, located a campsite – arrived the same time as another guy from Wisconsin on his FJR. He had just come up the Cassier and when asked his response was "not worth it". Not good scenery for a lot of it, slow going, patrolled heavily, and the last (first for me) is very rough. There are stretches of hard pack unpaved for 100 kms long. That would not be so good in the wet. So I have a choice tomorrow, go back on the Alaska Hwy I have already seen (Laird Hot Springs are there - bonus) and better road, but 140 miles longer and not a perfect road. I am behind where I hoped to be... Whistler to see Lisa is still a long ways away. If I went the Alaska Hwy, I will miss Hyder and repeating what I have already seen... some in the rain, though with Tyler. I will decide in the morning.
I got laundry done – hooray, am fed well, camp is comfortable and I am ready to turn in now for the night. Not sure the time.. computer says one time, my watch another and over ½ hour different. I will go with the computer clock... since it had no opportunity to be reset wrong. I also lost an hour today crossing from AK time to Yukon time. I am still in the Yukon, but very close to BC border which is the same time anyway. All parts of AK are in the same time zone... even if they are surrounded by BC or the Yukon. Weird to get used to switching time zones 2-3 times per day yesterday.
Well, time to shut this down and save battery on the laptop. I hope to connect with home tomorrow along the way with cel or Skype.... if I take the Alaska Hwy. No hope for either on the Cassier until the bottom.

Skagway downtown - a tourist Mecca