No "Top of the World" for you!

Well, it looks like The Top of the World Highway will be closed for the next several days.  We don't have time to wait for it to re-open, so we've turned around and headed south from Dawson City.  Our first alternative was to ride a highly recommended scenic loop between Haines Junction YT, Haines AK, and Skagway AK.  It would be tight on time, but at least we'd get some riding done in Alaska and see some wonderful mountain views.  Unfortunately, we discovered the ferry schedule between Haines and Skagway wasn't going to work for us at all, so that side trip is out.

We stopped in Whitehorse to nab some wifi

The Beard Shame continues

Having cut out the Haines/Skagway route we should now have time to ride out to Telegraph Creek BC off the Stewart Cassiar Highway, that is, if the Stewart Cassiar isn't closed due to forest fires.  That latest news is that they're piloting groups through the fire area, so we'll show up in the morning and see what we see.  We've ridden as far south as we can today, and we're still a couple hours north of the start of the Stewart Cassiar.

Tonight we've just setup camp down a trail on the side of the Alaska Highway.  The first trail we tried  tonight started with a climb up a rough hill with some large rocks.  I bounced up the trial OK, but Dad hit one of the rocks dead on, and when the back end came up I think he accidentally twisted the throttle.  The back tire landed and immediately whipped out counterclockwise a full 180 degrees, leaving the bike on the ground pointing downhill.  I didn't see it happen, but the bike is fine and Dad swears he's OK.  We rode a bit further down the road and found a gentler trail to camp along.  We're not far from the highway so the trucks are still pretty loud, but I'm sure we'll have no problem sleeping.

Layover in Whitehorse YT

We're staying in Whitehorse for the day because we have to wait until Monday morning to have our knobby tires installed. It's a bit frustrating that we arrived on the 1 day out of 7 when we can't go get our tires, but it gives us a good opportunity to clean up a bit and get some blog posting done.

That beard thing still isn't working out for me.  Can I shave now, Jess?

When we arrived at the campground last night, we were met by a German guy who was very eager to give us his campsite for free. It turns out he wasn't so much eager as he was rushed; he'd just developed an upset stomach (pronounced as a German would - "stum-atch") and was in a hurry to find a place with better facilities than the campground. He couldn't get a refund, so he wanted to be sure someone got his site. We took the site, but managed to pay him for it as well.

Although he was in a hurry, we still ended up chatting for a while with he and his wife. They're both German, and this was something like their sixth or seventh visit to the Yukon! They love it here, and come every other year. They'd found out about a marathon taking place on Sunday, and had just signed up to run a half-marathon and bought some running shoes since they hadn't brought theirs. Dad got pretty excited, and we decided to enter the half-marathon as a team (just over 10km each) since we hadn't been training for running at all.

By the time we'd learned about the marathon on Saturday night, almost everything in town had closed and there was nowhere to get info or sign up. Dad got up this morning and went to find out what he could about the race. Unfortunately, he found the event shortly before it began, and there were no registration slots left. He hadn't had breakfast yet, and there was no time to come back and get me to run the other half of the half-marathon. The organizer invited him to run as a "bandit", but without time for breakfast and some digestion, even that wouldn't have been a good idea. In the end he went for a run while I stayed at the campground and make some blog posts.

Baby Face

My wonderful, but sometimes naive, wife thought this trip would be the perfect opportunity for me to finally try growing a beard.  When she says "beard" what she really means is Bradley Cooperesque stubble.  I've tried to explain that I just don't grow enough hair to have any kind of beard.  I don't think 6 weeks is going to help that fact.  Six weeks will simply give me a longer, very patchy beard instead of a short, very patchy beard.  More time != more stubble.  A face full of stubble will never happen.

Here's what about 8 days of "beard" looks like.  Note the distinct "no hair will ever grow here" zones.  Who thinks I should give up this experiment now and save myself further humiliation?

Thanks to all the friends and family who refrained from asking what was wrong with my face, and apologies to the children I've scared.