Day 8 A Much Slower Day Thanks to our New Friends!!

364.5 Miles with a moving average of only 56.2mph due mainly to our slower travel rate and also the fog in the mountains and the construction zones we had to stop for. 

I have to tell you I love this Zumo!  I can’t ever imagine taking a trip without it.  It’s not always one hundred percent accurate but it sure beats trying to read a map while you’re cruising down the highway or trying to thread downtown traffic in a city you know absolutely nothing about.  My Nolan N-102 bluetooth enabled helmet and my Zumo and I’m ready to go anywhere.  I don’t care much for the Garmin route building software MapSource but the hardware is excellent now that they’ve ironed out the bugs. 

Today we travelled from Watson Lake (home of the Sign Post Forest) to Haines Junction with a little side trip in Whitehorse to find tools. 

While it is a known fact that BMW motorcycles never fail, I am just a tool kind of guy and it makes me feel good to have tools that I probably won’t ever use on my bike but I like to look at them.  :)  And now that I have a wrench that will fit the bolt that goes into the transmission shifting pawl and links to the foot shifter, I feel MUCH better.  :)  If anything were to ever happen such as the shift lever not being connected to the transmission, I would be in a position to readily fix such a failure.  But,then I day dream again.

Today was a nice day for the entire travel time.  Sun all the way. 

We stopped for breakfast at another one of those ubiquitous campgrounds you find all along the Alaska Highway.  They get their power from generators, usually their water from a water delivery truck, and they contain a gas station, a restaurant, RV park, cabins, camping and probably a Chinese laundry too. :)  They all have satellite TV and high speed wi-fi.  And I’m thinking they are all one tick away from turning into Jack Nicholson in “The Shining”.  Can you imagine living the rest of your life in the wilderness like some modern day Grizzly Adams?  Heeerrrree’s Johnny ! ! 

I had a cinnamon bun for breakfast and Lyle had the kitchen sink.    This is the same guy who said “I never eat breakfast”!

This camp ground is owned by a John Deere nut.  The guy painted his porch on his mobile home in JD colors, the playground swing set, the picnic tables and chairs and other stuff I can’t remember.  One serious JD person.  What did I say?  TICK

We met a group of Harley riders on their way to the Arctic Circle.  They asked what the road was like above the circle and I told them dirt and gravel.  They weren’t planning on going up it, just to the circle and back home in southern California.

After we left them at the gas stop, they later caught up to us and passed us.  For some reason I wasn’t in the mood to go fast today.  Maybe tomorrow.  After all, before today I was in British Columbia and now I’m in Yukon Territories and the slate has been wiped clean.  It’s almost like someone took all the points off my drivers license and I can start building them up again.     :)

We easily found a room in Haines Junction and are turning in.  Lyle wants to make it to Fairbanks tomorrow and that is five hundred miles from here.  Another long day ahead!

Did I say ZUMO ROCKS ! !