Server is finally back up!

UPDATE: July 19, 2010: I am back from Spokane Raceway and will resume updating both Journal Entries and Pictures. I’ve found that processing and sorting through all of the pictures is taking a lot longer than I anticipated.

Hope to get all of the Journal Entries up to 9 updated with pictures, and then post the rest of the Journal Entries.

UPDATE: July 16, 2010: I have up to Day 9 currently posted. I am going to work on going through pictures to add to each of the entries.  I realized I’m going to get way to far ahead of myself if I keep posting Journal entries without pictures.
I took nearly 3000 pictures, so I need to start at Day 1 (Which is the easiest day) and sort through them to find pictures I want to add to each post as I read through them and match them up with the area’s.

I’ll be gone this afternoon through Sunday Night without internet, so I hope to get all of them posted up before the I head out for the weekend. We’ll see.

UPDATE: July 20, 2010: I have pictures now posted in each journal entry up to Day 9!  I will be working on getting the rest of my Journal Entries up over the next day.

UPDATE: July 23, 2010: All Journal Entries are up to date! Enjoy! Note: All entries are post dated to the appropriate day.

Day 20

I woke this morning just before 6. I didn’t sleep to well last night due to anticipation of getting home today.

I was quickly packed, mainly due to me preparing the night before by packing almost everything up minus the items needed for the tent and to sleep.

I made my way out of the park just before 7am and made my way into Quesnel.

Passing through Quesnel, I topped off my gas tank, and noticed a Denny’s.

Knowing I had a long day ahead of me, I decided to stop in and grab some breakfast.

My waitress inquired about where I was heading to, and I said home to Seattle. She said I had a long day ahead of me, and she moved my order up so that I could get out quickly.

I ate quickly and left her a good sized tip equal to the cost of my meal for her generosity (Still have a ton of loonies and twonies on me).

Soon after I was on my way.

And on my way I was.

I didn’t stop. I rode like mad for hours straight, only stopping for gas, but never leaving the seat of my motorcycle.

Construction seemed to plaque 97 where they were widening it.

Eventually I hit Cache Creek and was headed down Canada 1.

Now, while the Fraiser River Valley is beautiful, and I really enjoyed the ride through this whole section of road, OMG Canada!

Road Construction seemed to plague this section of highway every 5 miles! This wouldn’t be too bad, except for the truck traffic, and the slow slow moving of said trucks up the hills!

I passed where I could, and continued on as the day heated up.

Eventually I made it to Hope, where Canada 1 meets with Canada 5 and headed towards Abbotsford.

Once in Abbortsford, I followed the signs to the border crossing and soon was at the Canada/US Border.

The line was short, and the wait was short as well. Within 10 minutes I was up to the border and greeted by a Fellow American.

He asked the standard questions of where I went, what I had on me, yade yade. I answered them, and he soon let me on my way.

I pointed my direction toward Bellingham, and not long after I was on I5 heading south.

Just 90 miles and my trip would be complete.

As I was heading down I5, I decided I should pull into a rest stop, and take a brake.

There, I took a brake, called my parents to let them know I was state side, and had a couple pieces of Jerky while resting under the shade of a tree.

After about 20 minutes, I hopped back on and headed south, my last big push of Highway in front of me.

The time seemed to fly by. Soon I was passing Everett and on 405 I headed.

Coming into Bellevue, I sighed a sigh of relief.

I was finally back.

Now… Most people would most likely rush home.

Not me…

As I got on to the 520, I took the first exit, and up the road a bit to Eastside Motosports.

I needed to order a brake line, and no, it could not wait!

With that, I pulled in, and was greeted by the staff.

I hung out for awhile then made the last couple mile ride home to be greeted by a dead web server, and 3 weeks of amazing memories and a shower.

I’ve looked into why the webserver is dead.

It comes up for a bit, but then goes back down. I think it may be a bad hard drive. I’ll look more into it in the morning.

Right now, I just want to go get some dinner at Yummy Teriyaki and some rest.

Until Next Time…

It wasn't long before the mountains towering above me, moved into the distance

Day 19

I awoke this morning around 2:30 to see complete darkness for the first time in several weeks.

This actually made me rather happy, as I was able to fall back asleep rather quickly.

I awoke later around 6am. I sat there in my tent thinking of the last couple of weeks and what may plans would be.

I had originally intended to be home around Thursday or Friday, but with making up more distance the day before, due to not exploring Telegraph Creek or the abandoned town of Cassiar, I was much further down the Cassiar than I had originally planned.

I got up and took a shower, and went back to my camp to start packing.

I thought about maybe heading over to Hyder, but after a bit, I realized that what I really wanted to do now, was just start heading home. I’m close enough home, that I figure I can take a few days and explore this area some more being that I live so close to the Canadian Border.

So with that, and being all packed up, I finally set out.

The morning was a bit chilly, which I noticed when I woke up.

Leaving Bell II Lodge, I crossed over the Bell River (Crossing #2 of 2) and made my way down the highway.

As I rode along I stopped a couple times and snapped some pictures and eventually crossed over the Bell #1 crossing.

It wasn’t long before the scenery started to change. The mountains that once surrounded me, were now receding further into the distance.

Wooden Decked Bridges such as this, are common on Highway 37

Further down the road I crossed over the Nass River, took some photo’s and pushed onward.

Eventually in Kitwanga, I fueled up and had some lunch at the gas station on the Junction of Highway 37 and Highway 16.

The little restaurant inside was not bad.

I ordered fish and chips and was surprised that it also came with fresh made soup, a decent side saled, and a bowl of coleslaw.

Only wanting the Fish and Chips, and to be on my way, I ate quickly, and soon left heading East on Highway 16. A highway I had been on just a couple weeks back when I set off from Jasper to the Junction to Highway 40 to Grande Cache.

I decided that I would push on to Prince George and make my decision how far South I would continue.

Most of the rest of the day was spent riding along, and stopping only at the road construction area’s.

Fueling up in Burns Lake, I pushed on through to Prince George to hit Highway 97 South.

After fueling up outside of Prince George once on Highway 97, and taking some time to rest a bit while eating some Jerky and a Cliffbar, I looked over my map on where I would plan to stop for the night.

Noticing that Quesnel was not too far South of Prince George, and being that I was back where the sun set, I decided that would make a great place to stop, as I noted the Campground just outside of town on the map.

I put my mind on auto pilot and continued to ride south, eventually reaching Quesnel and setting up camp at 10 Mile Lake Provincial Park.

10 Mile was a bit different then the other parks I have stayed at in the past. Instead of dropping off your payment to be collected, the Park Host drives around and takes your payment from you.

I was greeted by the park host about an hour after I had arrived, with camp already set up.

Looking Down The Nass River

The host was a sweet young lady, and she was more than happy to take my handful of looney’s, as she said she could always use the small change to break the larger bills people pay with.

With that, I paid her, and she asked if I minded taking a survey. It was hard to resist, and I did, and eventually she took her leave and I decided to sit down and make dinner for the night of Biscuits and Gravy.

After dinner, I went over my map, and calculated my route home.

490 miles to Seattle, I decided that I could easily do that the next day.
I figure if I made it out of the camp around 7, I would be able to make it home around 5 or 6, depending on construction, traffic, and the border crossing.

I mentally made notes of my route, heading to Cache Creek, hitting Canada 1, down to Hope and across to Abbotsford before crossing back into my home State of Washington in Sumas.

Thinking about it as I write, I am looking forward to finally being home. I could definitely spend more time riding around and camping, but being this close to home, all I can think about right now is my own bed.

Speaking of bed, the sun has set, and it probably would be a good idea for me to get some rest.

A small lake not far down from Jct 37 on the Cassiar Highway

Day 18

Woke up around 5am this morning not feeling well, so instead of getting up to start packing, I decided to sleep a bit longer.

Finally rolled out around 8, and took a shower, still feeling a bit under, the shower helped a little, but my head still bothered me, so I took a couple ibuprofen.

First thing, I checked the JB Weld to make sure it set up overnight. It seemed to have, so I went ahead and checked my brake fluid level.

I still had “some” Fluid in the reservoir. Not much, but I bled the brakes a bit, and got some pressure.

Good enough.

I then packed up camp, and headed out down 37, the Stewart Cassiar Highway around 10am.

Not but a couple miles down the road, I saw a sign greeting me to British Columbia. Passing the sign, I noticed on the left hand side, a small bear hanging out, eating roadside vegetation. I stopped to turn around, in hopes to get a quick picture, but it decided to wonder off into the woods.

The start of the highway reminded me much of what I’ve traveled much of my trip, but soon after, the mountains begun to rise around me, and more and more rivers and streams appeared. Little ponds and lakes seemed to pop up as often as the tree’s themselves.

I rode on a bit, stopping a few times for some pictures, before finally coming to Dease Lake. I’d heard about Mamma Z’s cafe here for some time, and wanted to stop in and grab some breakfast.

A quick stop in Jade City to buy some trinkets

After fueling up, I rode down the road. There I found the cafe, closed.

It was a shame to see, as I heard such great reviews of the place, specifically their cinnamon rolls.

Disappointed, I continued down the road

Not far out of Dease Lake, I came to the Gravel Section that everyone had been talking about that I heard from travelers that had brought 37 up to the Alaska Highway.

First thing I noticed, is it wasn’t bad at all. Very smooth, hard packed, and they had construction going on in what looks to be preparation to surface this section of road.

I used my rear brake lightly, the JB Weld job I did seemed to hold up, as I continued to use it lightly, mainly for stability in the corners.

As I came to the end of the gravel stretch, I knew I was through the worst of my journey home from this point forward(if you could call it that, it wasn’t bad at all. I’ve now learned that what may be terrible for people who grew up on tarmac their whole lives, is just another day for a farm boy).

I continued on, and finally made it to Tatogga Lodge.

This is another place I’ve heard about many of times, that they have the best hamburger in Canada.

I stopped in, and they were open, yet extremely vacant of any travelers.

I was greeted by a young women and her sister. After a few minutes of sitting around, I realized the lodge was ran by a Mother and her two daughters.

I ordered up the tatogga burger, a ½ pound double patty burger with cheese, bacon, and it also comes with mushrooms, but I don’t like mushrooms.

Highway 37 offers some breathtaking views

After ordering it, I noticed the young women in the kitchen, patting out each patty.

Made from fresh ground beef, I was looking forward to this burger.

When it finally came, I also took notice of the extremely large pile of fries. Much more than you get at most other places.

I loaded up my burger with some ketchup and mustard before finally biting in.

The burger was fantastic.

Cooked through, juicy, and tasty.

The bacon was thick cut strips of smoked bacon, cooked not too crispy as to give it some density to stay in once piece while biting through.

Although a bit on the upper end of what I’d pay for a burger (Bill came to 15.40 with coffee), it was well worth it in many ways.

I finally got dressed back up in my gear, with my full belly, and set out.

I came across several places that I wanted to take pictures. Many of which were just beautiful views of the mountains and river. However, their was not much shoulder to pull off on so I waited for a pullout in hopes to find one that offered a great view.

Finally I found one such pullout, and pulled off. I took a few pictures, and continued on down the long stretch of highway ahead of me.

It wasn’t long when I came to a hill that offered another great picture opportunity, as I was going down it, I noticed a turnout and the mountains behind. I pulled on my front brake, and slammed on my rear forgetting the delicate nature of the brake line. The rear gave a bit, then nothing. After finally stopped, I looked at my brake line and it had served all it could serve.

The view from my camp spot at Bell II Lodge

For the most part, I am happy that it lasted that long. I wasn’t really expecting it to work at all. But it performed its duty for the most needed section. From here on out, I would need to just take it easy, and plan my stops well in advance.

A couple spots I tried to stop quickly, the front brake just doesn’t have the ability. They quickly heat up, loosing much breaking power, and with the combined downshifts, makes for extremely long stopping distances. I continued to ride on, stopping several times, taking photo’s here and there, and just admiring the whole of this route. Next to the Brooks range, this ranks up there with shear beauty.

As I finally came into Bell II Lodge for fuel and to camp, I reflected on the day. There was much out here, but the traffic was extremely light.

I wonder why more people do not take this route. Either toor from the Alaska Highway.

I thought about it, the towns, and the people along the way, and I will save my thoughts for a separate article. But for right now, as I am halfway down the highway, I can’t imagine a more pristine piece of area than this.

Crossing back over the Continental Divide

Day 17

Slept really well, and woke up just after 7.

For the hell of it, I decided to take another shower. It felt good the night before, and the warmth of the water will help me wake up, and energize me for the day to come.

I packed up, and finally got out around 10:30. I’m in no rush today, as it’s a pretty short jaunt from Whitehorse to Junction 37 where I plan to camp for the night.

All packed up, I pull next door to the fuel station and fuel up before heading out of Whitehorse.

Not long after leaving out of Whitehorse, I hit some rain. Nothing terrible, but today I’m a bit more prepared.

I checked the weather, it says 20% everywhere. I learned my lesson yesterday, so today I am not just wearing my comfy warm gloves, but I am also sporting a full cold gear under armor.

Even though my jacket works exceptionally well (I have yet to get any water on me), without the liner in it, the water sucks your body heat away pretty fast, so wearing some extra layers will help prevent that.

I ride straight to Teslin, where I stop for fuel and decide to get some breakfast.

Forgetting the last time coming through, that they don’t serve breakfast all day, I settle for a terrible bacon cheeseburger.
It was dry, tasteless, and overall just terrible.

After my meal, I push on to Junction 37.

In and out of rain most of the way (See, 20% is pretty close to 100%), I finally stop at the Continental Divide. I wanted to stop my last time through here, but the rain prevented it. This time, I was in a dry pocket, and took the opportunity to snap a few photo’s of the sign.

Safety Wire and JB Weld is the new Duct Tape and Zip Ties!

Back on the road, it was a quick ride to Junction 37, where I finally ran out of the rain about 10 miles before.

Once fueled up, and tent spot paid for, and made my way to my spot and quickly setup my tent, knowing the rain would most likely make its way here.

Not 5 minutes after setting up my tent, the wind and the rain came.

The rain lasted maybe 5 minutes. The wind never stopped.

I decided to look my bike over again for anything out of the ordinary.

I had noticed the night before, that the kickstand was a bit wet, but shrugged it off, thinking it was just water.

Noticing that my kickstand was wet in the same spot again, I began to worry.

I got down to see if it was gas leaking on it. It wasn’t, but had a bit different odor, that of battery acid.

Again my heart sunk. Did I manage to crack my battery?

I pulled the side cover and battery cover, and was relieved to find out that my battery was fine. What I saw was from the battery, but the drop tube had come off, so the boil over was seeping down the cover and dripping on the kickstand.

I put the down tube back on the battery, and hosed it off.
Next I decided to see if I couldn’t come up with some clever way to attach my brake line.

I went through my supplies and got out the JB Weld, and some safety wire.

Using the safety wire to firmly keep the hose aligned on the break, I applied JB Weld around the area.

Letting it sit until firm, I removed the brake line from the caliper, and applied another layer of JB Weld followed by coiling more safety wire around the length of the area,with another layer of JB Weld.

It doesn’t look pretty, but I’m hoping it holds. In testing it later on in the evening with what little fluid was left in the line, the fluid flowed fine through it. I will need to locate some brake fluid on the Cassiar, I’m hoping that Dease Lake will have some at the service Station.

After fidgeting with my brakes I went to the store, and made a call to my parents to say “hey”, and pondered on whether I should wait for the wind to stop, or just walk across the road to the Cafe and grab some dinner.

I inquired to the store clerk if the Cafe was good and when it closed. He said it is good food, home cooked, fresh bread, and they close at 8.

With that, I walked across and ordered a bacon cheeseburger.

Unlike Teslin, this burger was excellent.

Fresh pounded patty, 2 pieces of cheese, thick cut slices of bacon, all piled on a home made bun.

I finished up my dinner, walked back to camp, and planned out the rest of my trip.

I’m thinking of pushing on to Bell II Lodge tomorrow, and camping there instead of in Dease Lake. I want to explore the abandoned town of Cassiar, as well as Telegraph Creek, but without knowing how the rear brake will hold up, I’m going to have to save those two spots for another adventure.

Breakfast at Momma Z’s in Dease Lake, a Tatoga Burger in Tatoga for lunch, and then I’ll cook dinner if the wind cooperates. I just do not feel like having to cook in my vestibule with my wind blocker around my stove.

Tuesday, I hope to push on to Kitwanga, then Wednesday to Williams Lake or Cache Creek.

Thursday is my planned return to home, and the end of this trip.

As much as I have enjoyed every bit of this trip, I am really looking forward to getting home, seeing familiar faces, and sleeping in my own bed.