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Alaska Done
Part 1 of 10
Foreword
Pre-Trip
Hiccups
The Box Man
Foreword
I'd
tried this trip once before in 2010 leaving from Ottawa and it took
seven straight days of heavy rain; a collapsed Trans-Canada Highway;
uprooted railway lines; a sea of mud and the Declaration of a State
of Emergency from the Premier of Saskatchewan together with my
poor, limp, water-soaked and battered body to give it up as a bad
idea. This time, however, I was determined to make it to the Yukon
Territory and the State of Alaska come hell or high water - or die
trying. Well, I'm still here and I'm proud to tell you that I made it
successfully notwithstanding being somewhat weather-beaten and just a
little bum-sore. The awesome scenery; the animal life; the mountains
and the sparse, barren beauty of the far north made it well worth the
effort. I would like to acknowledge and thank my two English cousins
Shirley Sidlow of Atherton and Lesley Gee of Lowton for volunteering
to track and monitor my progress from across the pond and for
generous doses of encouragement and support.
Pre-Trip
Hiccups
A
loud low-frequency whine suddenly erupted from my Harley Davidson
motorcycle after making a routine stop at an intersection in
Squamish, BC. I hit the kill-switch instantly; put her on her
side-stand and looked for oil-leaks underneath. There was nothing.
Everything was clean and dry. I even checked my dip-stick and my oil
indicator warning light. Everything looked fine. I wasn't very good
mechanically with bikes and I had no idea what might be wrong but
what I did know was that I was supposed to take this bike to Alaska
and the Yukon in less than six weeks time. I was divided in my
thinking. How could she let me down like this just before my long
trip – and – thank God she broke down now and not in some remote
location in No-Man's-Land at night-time. The Harley dealer told me
that my Cam Chain Adjusters had failed which in street language means
that she'd suffered the human equivalent of a major heart attack. The
next few days were difficult. Do I fix her? Do I cancel my trip? Do I
take my Yamaha Virago instead? What on earth do I do now? I decided
to get her fixed-up again. Within a week, and after a very expensive
repair bill she was ready to ride again. However, would she be able
to take the punishment of a Yukon / Alaska trip of over 5000Kms?
....I guess I was going to find out.
The
Box Man
I
couldn't get a straight answer from anyone about whether or not there
were going to be enough gas stations to see us through the whole trip
without running out of fuel. More importantly, it was simply not
possible to get advance information about whether or not a gas
station was going to be out of fuel which was often the case in the
far north. Since I was not prepared to get out of gas and stranded in
grizzly bear land I took the precaution of buying two safety approved
one-gallon gas containers to carry with me. The next challenge was
how to carry them on the Harley. I built a wooden box exactly the
right size to hold a large zippered cooler bag and the two gas
containers. Perry Dyck, an artist and friend of mine designed and
painted the box with an attractive design saying – Long Way Up!
Everyone was so impressed that he earned the honorary title – The
Box Man.
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