The Robert Stevens campsite in Tok is not a fancy place, but it is pretty. Unlike many campsites that are no more than a bulldozed gravel parking lot or a stump field, the Robert Stevens site had left half the trees untouched and made sandboxes for the tents to pitch on. The best part of the camp was the location. It is just outside of downtown. A short walk and you can do your shopping, eat or do laundry. For many vehicle-less hikers, this is a God-send. For me, it was just nice to walk and explore. Behind the campground is a glacier-fed stream and a small island. The town has spent a ton of money to place a bridge over to the island, so that visitors can go explore. (Bridge to nowhere) The signage points out that the island has plant life (berries and flowers) that was planted by the original setters. Fascinating!! Ok, enough about all that.
For those of you who are wondering why in the hell I am doing this trip if I’m not interested in all the minutia of a town’s history: I am doing this trip to enjoy the process of travel. New places and people are really relaxing and enjoyable to me. The history of Alaska and its people is interesting but I know really don’t want to spend all my waking hours focused on the deeds of dead people. So once again back to the story.
After getting woke up, I started tearing down the camp and packing. Ken was still crashed out and I didn’t want to wake him up so I drug all my stuff over to a neighboring empty site and started the folding and stuffing process. After about a half an hour, I was all packed up. Ken climbed out of his tent and couldn’t believe I was all packed up. Today we were headed off in different directions. Ken was getting new tires for his bike and then heading straight north to Inuvik to meet some friends. I was heading on to Tok, Alaska. This is the last stop before Anchorage. Today's trip is about 400 miles total. We said our good-byes and I was off. As I was heading out of town I stopped at Walmart to get a couple of things. In the parking lot I saw two fellow bikers that I had talked to a couple of times earlier in the trip. I parked my bike and walked over to say hi. Joe and Larry were couple of really nice blacks guy from Louisiana on a pair of Goldwings with trailers. They weren’t in as good a mood as they had been in our previous meeting. They were headed up the Haines Hwy and Joe had hit a big patch of loose gravel and dropped his bike. It had broke the mirrors and driving lights off. The rest of the damage was scratched up paint and chrome parts. He was still able to drive the bike, however, he said it was totaled. His bike was a 2000 with 190,000 miles on it. The cost of replacing the broken parts was more then the value of the bike. He was pretty upset but said “I guess it's time for a new one.”
I laughed and said well if you had never come to Alaska this wouldn't of happened, but then again you would still be at home and not in Alaska. He agreed and laughed.Once I got my supplies and gassed up I figured out the challenge of today was to stay warm. I drove about a hour and the weather was really starting to hurt. The over cast sky had dropped the temperature down into the 40s and it was raining lightly. I pulled over to warm up and get gas at Haines Junction. I had all my heavy gear on and I still was loosing heat. Pushing on I stopped after an hour somewhere outside of Destruction Bay to use the restroom at a rest stop and realized that my heated seat wasn’t working. I have to off load all my gear to get to the fuses. While I was looking for the fuses, an older couple pulled up in a Toyota Prius to use the bathroom. I said hi and asked about how their trip was going. They were migrants from Iran and lived in Michigan. They were traveling to Fairbanks. The lady disappeared for a minute and then handed me a hot cup of tea. I was so thankful and surprised. We were 200 miles from nowhere and the rain was starting to sink in. I tracked down the fuse and reloaded the bike while we were talking. The lady was now handing me pretzels to eat. I smiled and thanked her again. We said good-bye and I started my bike. I stood there with my hand on the seat while the bike iding to check if the seat was going to work now. (BTW – When your butt gets cold on a bike your cold all over. Heated seat and hand grips rock.) I was so happy to feel the seat warming my hand that I didn’t realize that couple had pulled there car up behind me. The lady was wanting to give me some granola bars. I smiled and laughed, thanking her again. She said “I can’t help it you remind me of our son.” It sure is funny just how nice people can be to each other out in the ass of nowhere. I sure wish it was that way everywhere.
Back on the road, I was starting to warm up and make time again. Now that I wasn’t freezing my butt off (literally) I was able to enjoy the just how beautiful the scenery was The area around Destruction Bay is barren scrub ground with huge mountains that feed lakes and marshes. The cloud ceiling was kind of low making the mountains even cooler looking. I stopped again to top off my tank and got a bowl of hot soup in Destruction Bay. This was the last stop for 120 miles. As I headed out of town I saw a sign that said "rough roads to border". They weren’t kidding. The frost heaves have made the road a wreck. The wild part was that a lot of the heaves ran down the road. This creates a really wild bike ride, to say the least. I dropped down to 45 mph and start finding the challenge of the road a welcome change to the smooth and freezing roads earlier. A group of Germans rolled up on me about half way to the border doing 65 mph. After they passed I fell in behind them. I watched to see which one was bouncing the least and tracked them. The heaves were so bad that the kickstand would drag and throw sparks when you bottomed out.
We all pulled over at the “Welcome to Alaska” sign to shoot pictures. They were going all the way to Prudhoe Bay. They were are crazy as hell. I left them behind as they heated up a cup of tea and headed to the border crossing. Thankfully, I got right through. The last hundred miles to Tok had some road construction, but the good thing was that the sun was out and it was in the 70s. The roads were a little broken up here and there with a little patches of loose gravel to boot. A gas truck was now following me and he was in a hurry. I was running 70 on the good spots and he was right on my butt. I would shake him on the hills but he would catch up to me really quickly. I want to keep in front of him because the rock and dust those trucks kick up is horrible. Needless to say I got to Tok in about an hour and a half.
The town was packed and I was really tired. After the cold and rain I wanted a shower and a bed for the night. The first two hotela were sold out, but I got in at the Tok Hotel on the edge of town. It was 85 dollars a night, with no internet, but I wasn’t interested in the blog after that drive anyway. The room was nice and clean I unloaded the bike and called Becky to say hi and that I was safe. After 15 minutes of TV I decided to just go to bed and shower in the morning.
I had a great nights sleep and the weather is perfect. Today, I plan to do the last 355 miles to Anchorage or at least get somewhere outside of it. It is the 13th of July so I have a couple of days to burn before my family flies in. I do need to find out about getting my tires mounted. One of the guys that I met in Fort Nelson was from Anchorage and gave me a number for a guy that might be able to point me in a good direction. I already have tires for my bike sitting in Anchorage, I just need them mounted. The BMW dealer in Anchorage didn’t seem too interested in the idea of installing tires that he didn’t sell me. I guess there is not enough profit in labor for him. I figured I would go and talk to him, but I am not expecting a warm welcome. Well I have spent enough time talking about the past I better pack up and see what the day has to offer.
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