After the excitement of yesterday, I suppose we were in for a slow day. We gassed up at a station about a block from our hotel, then rode about a quarter mile to the Sign Post Forest. Apparently, the Sign Post Forest got started by someone working on the Alaska Highway in 1942, and it just took off. Walking around in the forest is surreal. The number of signs, of all shapes, sizes, and types, is hard to believe. The pictures we took today don’t really do the forest justice.
We left Watson Lake and headed northwest through Tislen and Whitehorse. We passed several large lakes, and the beauty of the water and surrounding areas is still a sight to behold. It was in Whitehorse where we gassed up again and found out there was an open car wash right on our route. Well, after riding around on some nasty bikes for a couple days, we were very happy to get them spray washed and be able to hit the road again on some bikes that actually had some color and chrome showing.
We started riding a little differently this morning. We decided to start rotating point amongst all of us, instead of just the two trail bosses, Mark and Tom. We’d ride 60 to 75 miles, take a short break, and then rotate. We’re flying along now like a flock of ducks or geese – after you’ve been out on point for awhile, you take up the spot in the rear and coast a little easier.
After seeing all the wildlife we saw yesterday, we found it hard to believe today that we didn’t see anything at all – no deer, elk, bears, or buffalo. (We did finally see a few horses (tamelife (?)) in a pasture not too far from our overnight location.) It was a beautiful day, a little cool to start, but mostly sunny all day, and overall, the temperature was just about right. Obviously, the highway’s right-of-way is not where all the animals decided to play on such a nice day.
Ed's wisdom for the day: Sometimes a bush is man's best friend.
We stopped at Destruction Bay, Yukon Territory, for the night. We ate in the hotel's restaurant and all of us enjoyed our meals. One thing that's taking a little getting used to is the lengthening of the days. It is after midnight now, and it's still light outside. Tomorrow should be our longest day, and then they'll gradually start getting shorter.. We logged 439 miles today, making our 10-day total over 4,200 miles. We’ll be back in the United States after about 100 miles of riding tomorrow. We’ve also decided to alter the route of our trip to better allow for us to get the oil changed in our bikes. Instead of making the Alaska loop in a clock-wise direction, we’re now going to Fairbanks first, get our oil changed, and then make our way through the Denali National Forest and on to Anchorage.