Chuck:
It was another quiet night. Two other RVs joined us during the evening. Today I took the road bike because we did not expect much gravel. After 10 miles I had a flat on the rear tire (later found a very small pin hole, maybe a result of a chewed up tire with steel belting). When I was replacing it, I realized that my “new” wheel does not accept Schrader valves, only Presta. It was a slow leak, so I put the old tube back in, pumped it up and got about 4 miles, pumped again and reached Betty who had stopped for lunch. After a bite to eat, the old tube comes out yet again. What! I have four spare tubes and they all have Schrader valves. My old road bike, which I sold in Anchorage, took Schrader and would accept either. ‘Plan C’ patch the old tube and use it; I have not had good luck with patches, eventually they let me down. However, this one got me 24 more miles down the road. There may be a bike shop in Watson Lake, about two days ride.
Not enuf? Betty parked for the evening at a Rest Stop. As I was putting the road bike in the back of the CRV, I noticed that the front tire on the mountain bike was flat. It was fine when I rode it yesterday. This one is an easy fix, all my mountain bike tires have Schrader valves (another very small pin hole, more road debris??). It was even easier when Betty brought me a Yukon Red Ale.
Today, we crossed back into the Yukon. Also, we crossed the half-way point on the Alcan, 693.5 miles each direction. I forgot to mention, nine days ago Betty noticed that we became “3 digit midgets” with less than a thousand miles of biking to go. Today we also crossed the northern Continental Divide, water on the SW side flows into the Teslin River, then into the Yukon River and on to the Bering Sea. Water on the NE side flows into the Rancheria River, into the Laird River, then into the MacKenzie River and the Arctic Ocean.