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Sep, 6th- sep 7th. Bock Bock
From chicken I rode southwest towards Tok to spend the night. Gib told me about a motorcycle campground named The Eagle Claw in Tok and I wanted to check it out, also I wanted to check my voicemails after 2 weeks. I got to the campground and saw a sign that said “Pick a spot, we will be around later”.
This campground is a marvelous place. Clean as it can get with teepees, cabins and tent sites. There’s a steam room, an unbelievably clean outhouse, dish station, ready cut firewood and real flowers on the table. There was also a stove and a pot to warm up water for cleaning dishes at the station. I was the only person in the whole area and no one came around, so I made a good fire and put Brian’s moose steaks on the coals. Dinner of moose and mashed potato and hot chocolate for dessert caped off the night. I packed up in the morning and turned the switch to on, pulled the clutch in and heard a snap.
Lots of people made fun of me for taking spare parts with me but dammit I was right. In the middle of nowhere, I had a brand new clutch cable sitting in my saddle bag and the tools to pull off the job. I got to work and unloaded everything again since I had to remove my seat to take the tank off. The weather was perfect and I was amused that my preparation paid off. The new cable was not an exact fit but I made it fit anyway.
I loaded everything back up and stopped at the cabin to pay my camping fees. I knocked on the door and waited for a while but no one was home and there was no drop box anywhere. I remembered seeing an ad for the place in the gas station that I filled up the night before so I went back to the station and got the number and call the owner. She was a very nice lady and even told me to not worry about the camping fees but I went back anyway and left the money in her car. If ever in Tok, don’t miss this place.
Crossing back into Canada was a breeze and the Alaska Highway was in its best shape. I stopped in Beaver Creek for a sandwich and met two guys on BMW’s. Stephane vachon is a French Canadian who’s been living in Panama for past 15 years and Oliver Fecht is a German teacher from south of Munich. They both met at the same place and I walked in and sat next to them at Buckshot Betty’s. I think it was the buckshot Betty herself who was serving since she wasn’t very nice but the food was great.
Oliver went looking for a campground, Stephane and I went to find a hotel room for him so I could use the internet and then I was going out of town to pitch my tent somewhere in the bush. The single bedroom was $90 but the double bed was $69 so Stephane invited me to stay. Stephane is riding a GS1200 BMW which he bought in Florida and has been touring Canada and Alaska for a while now. He was heading back to Whitehorse so once again I found a cool travel mate. After answering emails and updating the website, we both crashed and before I knew it the sun came up. It was -2C outside with a good frost covering everything. The morning started cold and stayed cold well into the afternoon. We hooked up with Oliver at Betty’s and road out south all together changing lead every now and then. I wore everything I owned and had to bust out my ski gloves since my fingers where freezing but it was a beautiful ride.
At the Haines junction, we said our goodbyes to Oliver as he rode south for Skagway and we went towards Whitehorse. We are staying at a hotel in Whitehorse (courtesy of Mr. Vachon) as I’m writing these and will go our separate ways tomorrow. Stephane will go to Skagway and take a ferry south, and I will head for Prince George in British Columbia. Stay tuned…
First I like to thank Ronald Schulten and Sarah Olson for their generous donations.
If you go to northern Alaska, you have to visit Chicken. It is laid back, fun and in the middle of nowhere. With the population of only 27, chicken was settled by gold miners in the late 1800s and in 1902 the local post office was established requiring a community name. Due to the prevalence of ptarmigan in the area that name was suggested as the official name for the new community. However, the spelling could not be agreed on and Chicken was used to avoid embarrassment. I was pumping gas when I saw a Cessna 150 pulled in next to me and started filling up. The highway is used as a runway for aircrafts also. You don’t see that in New York City.From chicken I rode southwest towards Tok to spend the night. Gib told me about a motorcycle campground named The Eagle Claw in Tok and I wanted to check it out, also I wanted to check my voicemails after 2 weeks. I got to the campground and saw a sign that said “Pick a spot, we will be around later”.
This campground is a marvelous place. Clean as it can get with teepees, cabins and tent sites. There’s a steam room, an unbelievably clean outhouse, dish station, ready cut firewood and real flowers on the table. There was also a stove and a pot to warm up water for cleaning dishes at the station. I was the only person in the whole area and no one came around, so I made a good fire and put Brian’s moose steaks on the coals. Dinner of moose and mashed potato and hot chocolate for dessert caped off the night. I packed up in the morning and turned the switch to on, pulled the clutch in and heard a snap.
Lots of people made fun of me for taking spare parts with me but dammit I was right. In the middle of nowhere, I had a brand new clutch cable sitting in my saddle bag and the tools to pull off the job. I got to work and unloaded everything again since I had to remove my seat to take the tank off. The weather was perfect and I was amused that my preparation paid off. The new cable was not an exact fit but I made it fit anyway.
I loaded everything back up and stopped at the cabin to pay my camping fees. I knocked on the door and waited for a while but no one was home and there was no drop box anywhere. I remembered seeing an ad for the place in the gas station that I filled up the night before so I went back to the station and got the number and call the owner. She was a very nice lady and even told me to not worry about the camping fees but I went back anyway and left the money in her car. If ever in Tok, don’t miss this place.
Crossing back into Canada was a breeze and the Alaska Highway was in its best shape. I stopped in Beaver Creek for a sandwich and met two guys on BMW’s. Stephane vachon is a French Canadian who’s been living in Panama for past 15 years and Oliver Fecht is a German teacher from south of Munich. They both met at the same place and I walked in and sat next to them at Buckshot Betty’s. I think it was the buckshot Betty herself who was serving since she wasn’t very nice but the food was great.
Oliver went looking for a campground, Stephane and I went to find a hotel room for him so I could use the internet and then I was going out of town to pitch my tent somewhere in the bush. The single bedroom was $90 but the double bed was $69 so Stephane invited me to stay. Stephane is riding a GS1200 BMW which he bought in Florida and has been touring Canada and Alaska for a while now. He was heading back to Whitehorse so once again I found a cool travel mate. After answering emails and updating the website, we both crashed and before I knew it the sun came up. It was -2C outside with a good frost covering everything. The morning started cold and stayed cold well into the afternoon. We hooked up with Oliver at Betty’s and road out south all together changing lead every now and then. I wore everything I owned and had to bust out my ski gloves since my fingers where freezing but it was a beautiful ride.
At the Haines junction, we said our goodbyes to Oliver as he rode south for Skagway and we went towards Whitehorse. We are staying at a hotel in Whitehorse (courtesy of Mr. Vachon) as I’m writing these and will go our separate ways tomorrow. Stephane will go to Skagway and take a ferry south, and I will head for Prince George in British Columbia. Stay tuned…
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