Day 09

Another day in Dawson. The morning was again beautiful, I have been fortunate to wake to such beautiful weather.

Sleeping in a bit this time, until 9, I got dressed and soon after Geoff and I walked into town to have some breakfast again at the wonderful Chinese restaurant.

Outside, Stewart and Carl were packing their bikes for the ride home, stopping off in Fairbanks tonight.

We said our goodbyes, and they were on their way.

Both Stewart and Carl are great individuals, and I hope that we are able to meet again in our adventures.

After a breakfast of Ham and Eggs, we sat down for some coffee at the Internet Cafe, where the young lady made a wonderful (One of the best) Vanilla latte’s I’ve had in ages.

Speaking with her, she hopes to one day open her own Coffee Shop. She would do extremely well in the Seattle area, and hope one day she is able to make her way somewhere and open herself a coffee shop.

After coffee, Geoff and I headed back to the Hostel, geared up, and went for a ride.

Exploring some of the side roads, and old forest and mining roads, we also took the tour of the #4 Mining Dredge, one of the largest ever built.

The whole history behind, and the operation of a dredge is very interesting. The destruction they left behind though, will be apparent for many generations to come.

Having done the tour, we set off again to do some riding, exploring some old forest roads, crossing a few streams, and making our way up into the mountains.

Eventually we turned around, and headed back into town.

A stop at the local market, and some browsing down the street, we went back to the Hostel for the evening to make our dinners.

Geoff made Spaghetti while I made Alfredo.

We decided to hang out the rest of the evening, just lounging around camp, when a young KLR Rider came riding up.

Just as he was unpacking, it begun to rain slightly.

He had rented a tent spot, and we offered him to go ahead and just roll his sleeping pad and bag on the floor of our cabin, as their was plenty of room.

Nile, the young rider, had just started riding earlier this year.

He was inspired last year to pick up a motorcycle, when he saw the thousands of bikes while he hitched hiked across Canada from Toronto to Inuvik, to study the local culture for a paper he was writing for class.

Having picked up a bike this time, he was enjoying himself tremendously, and was excited by the way he had been treated by the motorcycle community around him.

Having heard Nile’s story, and knowing he was tight on funds, I offered him up a bunch of my freeze dried food I had prepared for the trip.

I had brought not only enough for my trip, but for a bit longer, and on top of that, I was not eating breakfasts, and I was eating out a lot more than I had previously planned on.

With that, I gave him enough meals for 2 weeks of dinners and a week of breakfasts.

I also, while going through my things, gave him the spare inner tube I had won as a door prize at the D2D Banquet.

He was extremely grateful of the generosity that Geoff and I had shown him, and I hope to hear of his travels one day.

After getting Niles all settled in, Geoff and I finished getting everything in order for our departure the next morning, and we set off for a nights rest.

Tomorrow night we will be in Fairbanks with another down day on Monday while we prep the bikes for the Dalton with new tires, and if all goes well, in Prudhoe Bay by Wednesday.