Stewart to Dease Lake

Last night we suddenly decided we had not had enough riding for one day, so we loaded up on the bikes again and headed for Alaska. We crossed the US-Canadian border onto a peninsula and into the town of Hyder. What a neat little logging town with gravel streets and store fronts squeezed all together. Fred was in charge of finding an eating place so we stopped at his first choice. Fred went in to check out the cuisine but came back out and said it was full to capacity with senior citizens and he didn't think we fit there! So, off to another place of his choice which turned out to be excellent. We all had seafood of some variety except Mitch who chose steak. Our seafood was the best any of us had ever had. One of us ordered Halibut and it was so good we passed it around the table like a community dish. It was fabulous. Cudos to Fred for finding us that place. We rode back across the border to Stewart for the night but before the night was through, we met up with a group of Harley riders and all of us sat around the motel taking it easy, drinking lots of beer and telling big lies.

So, this morning Smoke had a hangover. The waitress asked him what he had been drinking and Smoke thought she asked what was he thinking and he told her that was sort of personal!
Anyway, we left Stewart and followed a river basin that was framed by gorgeous snow-capped mountains. The wilderness was green and lush - breathtakingly beautiful. It rained most of the day and the temperature was 48 from the time we left until this posting. Even with the cooler termperatures, we are all having a great time and enjoying every minute. Smoke keeps eveybody laughing and even with the long, wet, cool ride today, everyone is in good spirits.

We are having some trouble with fuel. Because the fuel locations are 200-250 miles apart, we had to buy gas cans and strap them to our bikes.

As for wildlife, a moose crossed the road directly in front of Ken and Pawn Dog today. That was awesome to see. We also saw a herd of wild horses and they were beautiful.

We rode about 20 miles of gravel road today which gave us a taste of what to expect as this ride continues. We will have lots of gravel roads to travel.

Everyone is sitting on the front porch of the motel drinking beer with mosquito nets over their heads. It is a site. John has his net on and his famous hat on top of that. Hopefully someone will get a picture of him.

Off to the Yukon Territory tomorrow.