Alaska Done Part 10 of 10

Alaska Done

Part 10 of 10

Lillooet Connection

Unused Fuel

She Carried Me Home

Lillooet Connection

About a hundred kilometres south of 100 Mile House I came to an intersection offering me the choice of getting back to Vancouver by continuing along Hwy 97 South or by opting to turn right at the junction of Hwy 99 which would in effect be a shortcut going through Lillooet, Pemberton, Whistler, Squamish and then Vancouver. It was the first stretch leading to Lillooet that I was unfamiliar with. The rest would be easy since I had covered it many times before. I chose the Hwy 99 route and I'm glad I did. The road was in excellent condition; camper vans I met along the way slowed me down a little and the occasional farmer's horse and cart slowed me down even more - but I didn't care. The ride was through some of BC's most beautiful scenery and featured fast-flowing rivers and streams; mountains galore and narrow one-way bridges at frequent intervals to add to my motorcycling enjoyment. The town of Lillooet offered the chance to get a nice meal; take more photographs and rest for a while. I had the remainder of the day to get back to Vancouver. It would take two to three hours only on the outside.

Unused Fuel

It crossed my mind that I still had two full containers of fuel in the cooler at the back of my motorcycle and that I would not be able to take them back to my home located in a high rise apartment building. The best place to deposit that fuel would be into my Harley gas tank. Consequently, I monitored my fuel level until my gas gauge read less than half-full. I found a quiet, out-of-the-way vacant area with a stone and crushed-stone base and I carefully transferred all of the spare fuel without spilling one single drop. I left the caps off the spare fuel cans for a while. I placed them directly in the sun to aid in the evaporation of any residual fuel before I replaced them back on the Harley to take home. No problem.

She Carried me Home

The rest of the trip was both familiar to me and delightful. As I was riding it came to be that all my pre-trip worries had come to nought. I hadn't needed to carry the extra fuel cans with me. As well, there had been no accidents or injuries; no flat tires or broken drive belts and no battery problems. Apart from me being just a little windblown and weather-beaten everything had worked out just fine.

When I reached Burnaby I treated myself to a large ice-cream cone before heading off to my building. Saddlebags, boots, gloves, jackets and my helmet were dropped to the floor while I opened the door of my fridge and poured myself an ice-cold Coors Light beer in a crystal glass. I can see why they call it the Silver Bullet. I raised my glass in the direction of my Harley Davidson motorcycle pictured on my front hallway wall along with my granddaughter. I raised by glass and I said said out loud “Thank You Miss Harley for carrying me home!”

The Yukon Alaska Trip had taken 15 days in total. My Harley odometer was zeroed at the start and it read 4966 Kms upon my return. Port Hardy to Prince Rupert by BC Ferry had been 632 Kms making a grand total of 5598 Kms for the entire trip. It had other unexpected benefits well. It served as a good-weight loss program. My body weight on leaving was 175 lbs. On my return I was 163 lbs. What a blast!

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