June 25 - ALASKA!!

We made it!

Man! I don't even know where to begin! It was an incredibly tough day. The 9 1/2 hour drive from Whitehorse to Tok was actually 12 hours and took us along the wonderful (did you hear the sarcasm?) AlCan Highway - 400 miles of horrible road, construction delays, and dirt, dirt, and more dirt. How these people could have built this entire road in 4 months and left it in such awful condition for the next 50 years is beyond me. We met plenty of people along the road to commiserate with, but it was not a trip I want to take again - yet we HAVE to. Since this is the ONLY road in to and out of Alaska, we get to do this again in about a week.

It was certainly a day of "good news/bad news." Good News: We got to enjoy even more beautiful scenery and the day itself was just beautiful - sunny skies ALL day long with temperatures that even allowed us to shed the heated liners and chaps by late afternoon.

Bad News: Still no wildlife. The people just ahead of and just behind us on the road saw grizzlies and black bear, but we were in the wrong places at the wrong times - again.

Good News: All of a sudden, the bike has started getting more than 40 mpg!! We don't know why it's happened, but it has. This last 5.5 gallon tank of gas lasted more than 220 miles. Until today, we've been getting between 30 and 32 mpg and now - BOOM! We're thrilled!

Bad News: No sooner do I say that we haven't had any mechanical problems with the bike than, squeak, squeak, squeak...brakes. Yep. We need a brake job. Now. So...we talked to one smart ass in Anchorage who says he's the only guy in town who will work on a Gold Wing and that our odds are 50/50 that he'll even look at it by Saturday night. Then, if we need parts, we might have to wait 7 to 10 business days to get them shipped in. He doesn't think he'll be able to "work us in"; we'd just have to take our chances. After resisting the urge to throw the nice stranger's cell phone across the room (since Jack's doesn't get service here), I called another place that's about an hour this side of Anchorage and they are willing to look at the bike tomorrow. We'll still have to wait if they need to order parts, but at least the guy sounded like he understood our dilemma and was a decent person. We'll see what happens! The very worst that will happen is that we'll have to leave the bike for repair, rent a car, and travel through the rest of our Alaska stops on four wheels instead of two. We're hoping, however, that we'll simply take the bike in, they'll have the parts we need, repair the brakes, change our oil, and send us on our way. I'll let you know tomorrow how it worked out!

Another concern is that we've been told that the road ahead is also under construction. Since crossing into Alaska, it hasn't been nearly as bad as it was in the Yukon, but the delays could mean a problem getting to the repair shop on time. It's about 300 miles and with the brakes being weak, we've got another real "adventure" tomorrow. Jack is using downshifting and the front brake on the bike to get through all of this and he is doing a WONDERFUL job, but he's exhausted by the end of the day and we'd like this to be a little more fun and a little less work.

We fully expect to make it to Anchorage by late tomorrow (which will be a good thing since the wedding is Friday!) and I will post again then. Take care of each other and WRITE. Let us know what's going on there - we miss you!

L