July 23rd - Along the Yukon River to Dawson City

What the heck is it with all this rain? We started out dry with sunshine but before the end of the day encountered another monsoon. Bummer. At least my new red rain suit proved it's merit, I stayed dry and warm so I guess that's a good deal.

Mac and I have developed a riding system that seems to work well, neither one of us waits around for the other once we've started out for the day. We more or less establish where we expect to end up and if by chance we get separated we at least know where to head at the end of the day. Sometimes we ride together but more often than not we ride at our own pace and wave to the other guy as we pass one another. Usually at a rest stop taking pics, etc.

Today was no different, we both found places for pics along the Yukon river and later on I spotted a motor home from Oregon, the very same model as ours so I turned the bike around and went back to chat with them. I couldn't believe it as I pulled up, they were sporting a license plate bracket with our own dealer's name on it, Porter's RV in Coos Bay. The owner was outside for a stretch and we talked about how small the world is sometimes. He and his wife live in a tiny berg by the name of Powers which is fairly close to where we live. In fact his wife knows where our house is as they have friends who live close by.

There is plenty of road construction going on everywhere which is normal for both Canada and the US when it comes to the northern areas. I was at one long enough to take a few pics, then went on to buy gas from the most indifferent Shell gas lady I've ever met. Actually I can't claim to have met her as she was on the phone the whole time chatting it up with her friend. Totally ignored me but managed to run my Master Card through the machine and collect the gas money. No hello, thank you, good bye, nada, just take the money and keep on yakking. Damnit I hate being ignored by sales people but that seems to be fairly common in these parts. Probably due to the "captive audience" approach to marketing, take it or leave it. After that I drifted over to the adjoining restaurant where I was treated like royalty by the operators. Go figure. Mac arrived just as I was finishing up breakfast so I waited and we headed up the Yukon together.

We continued on our ride to Dawson City where we holed up in another motel, this one much nicer and operated by people who seem to care about you. It's clean and warm and dry, etc. and outside it's on or off again raining. Before landing here we took the tour of down town Dawson via the quaint dirt streets, then decided it would be best to get out of the core area as some of the folks wandering around looked more than a little scruffy. Neither of us took any pics of the old buildings as it was raining so maybe tomorrow we'll do a couple on our way out of town.

Tomorrow it's on to the Top of the World Highway and Chicken, one of my personal goals.