Today started with breakfast at Bee Jays, an old gas station, but it has great food.
Then off to the Sign Post Forest where over sixty four thousand signs are posted . This all began years ago when a soldier placed a sign indicating how far it was to his home town. Since then it is a ritual for travellers to post their own signs. In 1998 I posted a sign for Carp, the town I was living in at the time. I can't find it, but each time I pass here I spend some time looking for it, but so far, no luck.
At this park is a Visitor Information Center which has a very good eighteen minute film about the construction of the Alaska Highway.
I then turned off the Alaska Highway onto Highway 4 towards Ross River, but the construction conditions forced me to ride at 35 Kph and it would take ten hours to reach Ross River, then I needed at least four more hours to ride back to the Alaska Highway. So I did a U-turn and returned to the Alaska Highway where I made great time.
Along the route were a couple of bridges that had a sling system located right next to them. I'm thinking that if the road bridge gets washed out, then people can at least cross on the alternate sling.
Another curiousity along this section is people leave names and messages on the roadside slopes . Very interesting.
At one point I thought my bike might have a problem as a smelt oil or gas fumes, when suddenly I came across the line painting crew. We had a laugh over my concern as we talked about the smell of drying paint.
One of my favourite stops is at Walkers, located a the Continental Divide. Good food, good people, a warm fire in the stove, and hot tea.
The longest bridge on the Alaska Highway is at Teslin. It was a challenge today as it was very, very windy, it is a steel grate bridge and it was wet. It was nice to make it safely to the opposite side.
I also stopped at Mukluk Annies Salmon Bake, for another chance to warm up with a cup of tea.
I had my electric vest on, an extra layer of fleece and my rain gloves over my normal gloves, but still the chill got through.
It got to be very cold, and the mountain overlooking Whitehorse had fresh snow on it, so all I wanted was a warm room with internet coverage. It was tough, as there were virually no rooms left in Whitehorse, but I guess I looked pretty wet and cold as I talked to the desk clerk at the 202 Hotel. He said they have this one room that is called "the last resort" room. It has no windows, but has a skylight, and the Wi Fi is stron and best of all it is WARM.
A curiousity I have found as I crossed many provinces. They have differing views about what their animals look like, particularly moose. See the variation in the attached photographs.
Distance Travelled: 484 Km