June 21st, 2014 – Liard Hot Springs, BC to Pouce Coupe, BC ~480 miles
Left the lodge the next morning, and was greeted by this sign explaining how screwed you were if you needed gas or mechanical assistance. Nearest gas was 90 miles north or 35 miles south. Good news was we were going south.
Encountered a herd of buffalo.
Bui waits to see when the best time to split the herd is.
Babies!
Wiggle wiggle. Certain parts of Canada have bridges with metal grates that are incredibly slick when wet.
Beautiful black bear off the side on the road:
Which was soon joined by her baby:
Further along, we saw a guy who might have been getting a little too close to a black bear. It’s one thing if you’re this close on your bike so you can just take off, but I suspect most people wearing motorcycle gear are losing a foot race to a black bear:
Like any group of guys, his friends were waiting at a safer distance. I’m not sure if they were taking pictures of the bear or of their friend in this situation. Like they say, you only have to run faster than the slowest guy in the group, right?
Encountered a couple of other gentleman that were (if I remember correctly), riding across Canada:
Thought I’d explore a side road that had some sweet construction equipment…quickly found the end of the road:
Baby Jack was so saturated with dust that I could backhand a cloud out of him.
Starting from Fairbanks, we had traversed the entire length of the Alaska Highway, albeit in the opposite route from how the road was initially laid down:
In Dawson Creek, we stopped at the local visitor’s office to find a good campground:
They had built the visitor’s center out of a ’30s railroad station that had been refurbished, which included this clock-accuracy-maintenance system:
As this was the longest day of the year, Dawson Creek was hosting a “Summer Solstice” run. Apparently it brings out a lot of crazy people, like individuals who keep giant bison heads in the beds of their trucks:
Baby Jack gets comfortable on yet another milestone:
We camped out in a public park in the tiny town of Pouce Coupe. The guy who runs the campground has a classic Triumph and was very excited about our trip, so he gave us a free chunk of firewood, several gallons of water, and little commemorative pins of the town. Cute. We met two brothers who were about to head to the top of Alaska and so they had plenty of questions for us. The guy on the right has a truly impressive collection of classic British bikes. I didn’t realize that Bui was taking a photo, so I was enjoying my flask and going through that day’s photos. Oops:
Go to Day 19:
June 22nd, 2014 – Pouce Coupe, BC to Banff National Park, AB ~500 miles
Go back to Day 17
June 20th, 2014 – Whitehorse, AK to Liard Hot Springs, BC ~400 miles