Tuesday, January 22, 2008

ALCAN - Day 1

I've got a confession to make. For the next two weeks, my stories will be completely composed from my memory. I quit journaling until Sept 28th. If you are new to the blog, you'll know my memory has some very distinct memories and some others are vague at best.

So...we rode on today and went through Delta Junction. Delta Junction is the official start of the ALCAN highway. I was geeked in a geeky sort of way. Not everyone gets a chance to travel on the ALCAN and even fewer get a chance to ride it. Pretty darn cool.

John took this picture. I pushed my bike into the ditch to stand next to it. Click on the image and study it for a minute. Notice anything strange about this picture?



Several things stand out to me.

First, the date. We are starting on the ALCAN a day after the No Studded Tires ban ends. Hmmm......?

Second, notice the height and size of this sign. I'm just a little shy of 6 feet tall. Why is it so big and tall?

Third, notice the clothing. Yeah I know I'm a stylish guy, but I'm in full coverage head to toe. I'm even wearing gloves. It is starting to get cold. Real cold.

I don't remember the name of the place we stayed at on this day. All I know is that we rode the ALCAN today and are heading south toward Canada. The ALCAN goes right through the Canadian Provincial Park Kluane. For reference, Kluane is a Canadian version of Denali. To many, Kluane is quite possibly even more amazing, remote and rugged than Denali.

4 comments:

MG said...

BIG trucks. yeah, i bet there wasn't a lot of traffic... but what there was, i bet it was BIG.

so it sounds like it was starting to get pretty rugged, 'eh? nice. i bet it was beautiful. beautiful enough that it didn't really matter what clothes you were wearing. that wasn't the point.

adventure is always in style.

cheers,
mg

WUNNSPEED said...

My guess as to the size of the signs...snow. That way you can read them over the snow (even if you're not supposed to have studded tires).

Fashionable guy there.

Guitar Ted said...

I noticed you looked pretty layered up there.

I also noticed that I can't see a bike. You said it was in the ditch with you. All I see is a huge pile of bags that your hand is leaning on. ;>)

Your picture reminds of riding in a Menominee Indian Reservation in northern Wisconsin. A tunnel of trees and sky up above.

MG said...

yep. pretty deep ditch, it looks like. lotsa' snow up there in the winter... speaking of snow, we had some killer fast snow last night for xc skiing -- rippin'!!

heck, it was -5 down here this morning, i can't imagine what the temp probably was up there at the same time!

hope to get the la cruz built up in time to try it out tonight. she came today, and she's beautiful... look for pics on the dirtblog soon!

cheers,
mg