Additional photos

As a finale, I am posting some additional photos I thought were special.

These are the beer bottles found at the Mascot Saloon in Skagway when they excavated the site for restoration.

Rick during the morning of Day 44 when we traveled from the junction of Alaska Hwy and Hwy 37, to Iskut.

Rick was the all-day SAG driver from Destruction Bay to Haines, AK.

Bert is taking it all in at a roadside stop as we got closer to Haines, AK.

I am at the same roadside stop as in the picture above.

Check out the tan lines on Bob's hands. Yes, his gloves had all those little holes and the bigger hole in the center. Also notice what Bob is drinking as we cruised south towards Haines, AK after a long day's bike ride.

Rick was the driver that day, and Bert was co-piloting into Haines.

This is in Fairbanks, right next to the motel. Janet and I were walking a few yards to the all-you-can-eat sushi restaurant where I savored the 44 pieces of sushi after riding 120 miles that day. The next morning, Bob, Derek, and Rick ate breakfast at this "famous" Denny's.

Nice picture of Tomoko Stock in Denali when they went shopping for bread, but refused to pay $6.30 for a half-loaf.

I am at the 106-mile rest stop into Fairbanks where the TV news man was interviewing some of us.

Derek, Bob, Rick, and Jessica at the Denali Brewing Co in Valkeetna, AK.

Bert at one of our rest stops on the rainy day into Cantwell.

Tomoko was helping everyone on that rainy day when we took our breaks.

This was in Seward as we prepared for our 5-hr cruise.

Bert on our day into Grandview, AK back on July 16 as we were getting closer to Anchorage.

This picture of Rick is from the same day as above.

Derek powering along on our day from Tok to Grizzly Lake, on July 15.

Bert, on the same day as above.

Bob had an epic day riding into Chicken, along the Top of the World Highway.

Feels good to be done

This is my final photo from the incredible bike trip, Five for Alaska. It is in the Greyhound Bus station in Prince George, British Columbia last Monday night (July 30). I am about to embark on my bus ride back to Clarkston, WA where Janet and her family are. The other riders will continue on back to Butte on Aug 7, where Janet and I will greet them when we get there the next day.

I am writing this final posting from Clarkston. I have not had Internet access since last Friday morning (today is Thursday) when I posted the previous blog. Let me pick up starting last Friday evening.

Day 43 Friday, July 27. Haines, AK to the junction of Alaska Hwy and Hwy 37. No biking miles other than a few in Haines prior to boarding ferry boat.

We cruised the Inside Passage!! Well, a short distance, but still, I got to see what an Alaskan cruise would be like as we ferried the RV and all of us from Haines to Skagway. Janet had been here on a cruise, and so had Bert and Rick. It was gloriously new for Bob, Jessica and me. So beautiful up this fjord, with waterfalls and mountains and mist.

The day started with rain as I rode my bike in street clothes first to a massage therapist, and then to a bike shop on the other side of town. (Then back to the therapist to pay her since I needed to go to an ATM machine after my bike derailleurs got adjusted.) Felt great to have my first massage in two months, after being used to weekly sessions. Her last name was Roberts, which is the same name as my therapist in Ohio. Her home is on the Haines walking tour, having been built 98 yrs ago and lived in by her grandmother. Her great grandparents were in Skagway in 1897 when the Klondike gold rush hit, and he led gold seekers up the trail toward Whitehorse, while she had a clothes laundering business. Those two made more money staying put than 99% of the seekers headed north to Dawson City.

They wanted us at the ferry two hours ahead of sailing time, but all we did was sit from 10:45 to about 1:00. But we finally cast off on the M/V Malaspina for our one-hour cruise. Here is just one of many waterfalls we got to see:

Approaching Skagway, we could see three huge cruise ships. Here are two of them, and Janet was thinking the third one, the Sea Princess, was the exact one she had been on when she was here several years ago. Isn't that a coincidence? Aren't these ships just monstrous?

Once we finally drove the RV off the ferry and parked it in town, it was 2:30 pm and we had 310 miles yet to drive, and also would lose an hour when we crossed back into Canada. So, we had only one hour to see Skagway, the primary dropping-off spot for the Klondike gold rushers trying to go another 500 miles north to Dawson City. The town still has its old charm, and many buildings are original from 1897 to 1910.

This photo is of the Arctic Brotherhood Hall, and it's stood since 1899. (It got some new driftwood siding in a 2004 restoration, but 60% of the 5300 pieces of wood on the front were retained.)

This is a restored original, the Mascot Saloon (now run by the National Park Service). It dates to 1898 when there were 80 saloons in town! It was one of only 10 that remained in operation until 1916. Inside and in the windows, they have artifacts dug up when they excavated the site. See all those beer bottles in the windows? They were found intact under the floors and in walls.

Here's a shot of the old railroad depot that remained in operation until 1969. You can still take the narrow gauge railroad as a tourist trip up to White Pass, which Janet did when she was here. When the railroad was completed to Whitehorse in 1900, it was just as the gold rush was ending!

As quaint as the town is, it still has become a shopping mecca for the cruise ships. In the old historic buildings were jewelry stores, fur stores, and other touristy shops.

At 3:30 I pulled out of town and drove until midnight! We stopped only once, for dinner, in a spot we had ridden past on our way to Alaska. It was the Yukon Lodge in Teslin, and we got to watch some of the Olympic Opening Ceremonies on TV. Yes, today we actually went the opposite direction (eastward) for about 200 miles on the Alaska Highway where we had been weeks earlier. When we got almost to Watson City, our new road, Hwy 37, headed south. It was there we stayed the night in an RV park. It was actually dark outside! We had to park the RV quietly in the dark, and do all the hook ups, and then faster than you could shake a stick, everyone was in bed asleep. Except the driver. I wanted to settle down after driving all that time. So, in pitch black, I stood there in the RV finishing a beer and then eating a piece of cherry pie. Pretty funny.

Day 44 Saturday July 28. Junction 37, Yukon to Iskut, BC. Biking distance 122 miles. My distance 103 miles.

We started by driving 90 miles straight south until we were about 122 miles from our day's destination, a stop in the road called Jade City where they cut and sell jade:

All went in to see what they sold (except me since I was cleaning the RV), and Bob actually bought a jade stone. Even though I'd driven the previous 401 miles, I was the day's first driver for another 17. Here's a shot of Bert flying by at high speed while I was sagging the team:

When it was my turn, I rode the next 22 with Bert and Rick while Bob drove. When I got started again during Bert's turn to drive, I never stopped or even got off the bike for the remaining 81 miles. I felt strong, so I pushed pretty fast, and actually got to the RV park about 15 minutes before the RV since they stopped to shop for groceries. Here is a shot I took while riding toward our destination:

While I had my camera out, I got this "artistic" shot of my afternoon shadow:

The RV park was really nice with beautiful mountain views. It was my last location to connect to the Internet until today. Here's a shot of the view we had from the RV window:

Day 45 July 29. Iskut to Stewart, BC. Biking distance 91 miles.

We started the day riding 55 miles, then we packed the bikes to drive the middle part of the day, then rode the final 36 down to sea level at Stewart, BC and Hyder, AK. I did not have to take a turn driving other than when we all were together, so my total miles were the day's total (91).

It rained off an on, so I did not take many photos. But here's a good one of Bob and Jessica with our typical fabulous scenery:

As we were getting ready for the second riding portion of the day it was raining pretty hard. So, I decided not to take my camera. HUGE mistake. During the final 36 miles from the junction of Hwy 37 and 37a to Stewart/Hyder, we had the most beautiful scenery of the entire trip, in my opinion. There were numerous glaciers coming right down to the road, dozens of spectacular and tall waterfalls, a foaming, rushing river right next to the road, and two big black bears on the road that I had to wait for until they meandered off. The only photo I have is one I took the next day on the drive out:

I was in awe for much of those 36 miles through narrow canyons and with the mountains on both sides rising to as high as 9000 ft. I sure wish I had my camera.

When we all arrived in Stewart, we locked the bikes to our campsite table (except I put mine on the motorhome from where it has not moved since, and will remain until Janet and I get to Butte on Aug 8). We drove across the border into Alaska and on about four miles to a salmon-spawning site, where bears frequently go for meals. We stopped on the way to photo this bald eagle:

At the salmon-spawning site, the park service has constructed a long viewing bridge which was full of people waiting for bears. While we were there, we did not get to see any bears, but watching the spawning salmon was fascinating! Along this creek were dozens and dozens of mating pairs, facing upstream but remaining in the same spot. Here's an up-close shot of two chum salmon, which it said get twice as large here as usual chum salmon:

The pair would remain calm, until sometimes they thrashed around a bit, and then would go back to being "still". I loved seeing this. We eventually drove back to Stewart for some groceries and dinner at a small Italian restaurant. Here's a picture of some of the old buildings with the giant mountains behind. You can see Bert, Rick, Bob, and Jessica in this photo:

When we could not get the free WIFI, and it rained most the night, I got in a sour mood and decided I would take the next day off and SAG the entire day. Bert pretended to take my forehead temperature, as I must be ill if I was not going to ride the bike. I did not know yet that I would not be riding again on our Trip to Alaska.

Day 46 July 30. Stewart to Smithers, BC. Biking distance 71 miles. My distance zero miles.

We all drove back up to the junction with Hwy 37, and continued on until we reached Hwy 16. 16 continues hundreds of miles west across the entire province, and we were scheduled to be on it most of that distance. Today, the group would ride 71 miles to Smithers. I sagged them for part of the way, but then drove on to Smithers to get another new tire. We had noticed yet another flat spot on a rear tire the evening before. We learned that these tread separations keep happening because the RV tires were so old - 9 yrs old.

I did get the new tire, and also did some thinking and decided I wanted to end my ride and go back to Clarkston. I needed to drive one more day to a large city of Prince George to catch the bus to Vancouver/Seattle/Spokane/Lewiston, ID. Once the riders arrived and we checked in to our riverside campground, we drove back into town to eat at McDonald's where we could get Internet service. However, for some reason I could not connect. Before Jessica closed up, she graciously let me use her computer to send Janet an e-mail and check the Greyhound schedule.

Day 47 July 31. Smithers to Prince George. Biking distance zero miles.

The riders were planning to pedal about 100 of the 240 miles, but it didn't turn out that way. When we arrived in the intermediate city (Fort Fraser) to unload the bikes and begin riding, Bert noticed a bulge on the left front tire. We decided to try limping at slow speed into Prince George, but it didn't work out that way. Even though I did not exceed 40 mph, the tire blew with a mighty pop and I pulled to the shoulder. The highway had barely enough shoulder to be able to replace the left tire, but we all teamed up to change it efficiently, quickly, and safely.

The downside once we started again was that the spare we had just installed had a huge bald spot we knew was there. Way back on July 1 when we had our first tread separation, we saw this other bald-spotted tire and used it as the spare not knowing it was a true tread separation. Now we had to drive on it, and it made the entire RV shimmy badly, even driving no faster than 35 mph. We just prayed it would not blow because we no longer had a backup (although Bert wasn't worried, as he had said a week earlier that that tire would easily go 500 miles in its capacity as a spare).

Well, we made it to Prince George! I drove straight to the Greyhound depot, grabbed my bag, and departed the motorhome saying goodbye and good luck for their final week. Unbelievably, I forgot to take my computer case with me, which had my passport. So, I had to bother the guys one more time. Using the service desk phone at the nearby drug store, I left a message at the campground. I stayed by the store phone, and eventually they called when they arrived at the campground and later Bob drove back to give me the computer. A few hours later I was heading south on my long bus ride.

In sum, it was a wonderful bike tour! Trip of a lifetime! I rode a total of 3120 beautiful miles. Thanks to all, especially Bob who planned the entire schedule and route, and served as "captain" of our daily routines and plans.