Chuck:
We wake up to more rain. By the time we finished breakfast and I put on my biking and rain duds, it was only a cold drizzle. We arranged to meet about 9 miles down the road to add or subtract apparel. The gravel road was uphill and so muddy due to the rain that the RV, the car, my bike and I were a mess. A mud rooster tail from the bike put a speckled stripe up my back. I stand in the entry and Betty brings me a snack. Back on the gravel road, the rain has stopped and I keep warm pedaling. A caribou walks across the road in front of me. Betty told me to expect to go over the summit soon. It was great. On a downhill run, I had to brake to maintain control on the gravel. Then, asphalt pavement, and downhill for almost 8 miles. What a great feeling. It seemed like only a few minutes and I was entering Haines Junction. I will meet Betty at the Kluane Cultural Center on the edge of town. This is the same place we dry camped on our way driving north with Brendan and had a few beers with a Spanish couple, Artes & Jorge. Haines Junction is so named because the road to Haines splits from the Alaska Highway at this point. We do not know if our German friends, Marty and Doerte’, are in front of us or behind but this is where our path split; they go to Haines and we stay on the Alaska Hiway. The next large community on our way is Whitehorse, about 100 miles ahead. We checked the Cultural Center’s guest book but none of our traveling friends have logged in. We most likely will not see them again. Bye guys: for our German couple “Auf Wiedersehen”, for Andre’ “Adeus” (Portuguese), and for Kevin “Slan” (Irish).
We had dinner at what may be the only restaurant in town that is still open. They specialize in Chinese food; we had sweet & sour prawn with fried rice & mushrooms, it was good. The recession has hit businesses along the Alaska Highway hard. Many nice places are boarded and out of business. Some are quite large so that they could accommodate large tour busses. They really depend on USA travel dollars. Back at the RV, we get to sleep with the sound of rain on the roof, again.