Day 14---July 16, Friday

Friday (just to remind us Palmer, AK to Burwash, Yukon, Canada)


Awoke at 7:30-8am: It was raining and good to sleep in the rain. We had told the Palmer, AK Homestead Campground hosts we were getting up early in the morning to get on the road and they were a little bit worried about us waking up the other campers with the diesel truck and motorcycles….HA…. Um...we rolled a little later. It felt good to sleep. Note to everyone: This campground is right off the Highway 3 on the Glen Highway…just .5 miles and better than the other campgrounds in Anchorage. It is about 30 miles north of Anchorage. We rate this campgrounds bathrooms #1 in our whole trip and that is saying something. It is a well kept campground and has WIFI. I got some pictures of the 2 nesting eagles off the backside of the campground.
Our drive on the Glen Highway from Palmer to Glenallen was a 140 miles and then from Glenallen to Tok, another 140 miles. The road is a mountain road that is well kept and has passing lanes. It goes through the Matsunuska Park. It is home to the MatSu glacier.
The road took us on a path of unforeseen fortune to come very close to the glacier with spectacular views. The drive through this pass was as beautiful as our drive through Denali Park and the roads were better kept. Gas at Glenallen was our most expensive of the trip with diesel at 4.01. UGH.
The guys had to drive through intermittent rain and wet roads. We hit the Canadian border at about 8pm. There were 2 girls manning the post. Unlike the crossing from Montana, these girls were friendly and fun. Our bikers had renewed energy and wanted to hit the most notorious piece of road on the Alaska Highway …even tired. From the Border to Burwash is frost heaves, gravel, and broken road. We only launched like Dukes of Hazard on a couple of occasions. This was by far our best wild life day. We had a black bear and a moose walk across in front of us. By the time our cameras got in focus, they were gone. Missed the shots. Dang.
We rolled into Burwash around 1030pm. The day’s total mileage was 503….a new record and we were tired. Since it was so late, we forewent checking into a campground. As mentioned previously, Canada towns roll up their carpets at about 8pm. We found a “subdivision” in development outside of town called Copper Joes. We pulled in and found a spot to set up camp along the north shore of Lake Kluane. At this point, food was a time barrier to sleep. We grabbed finger food and hit the bed. (Note: The subdivision is only identified by the wilderness due to a developer putting a sign on the road and some roads into the unknown)
Some view points
• We really don’t get to talk much. When we stop at night, we go to bed!
• When we stop for gas, the other bikers all share east/west bound information and our guys get to talk to each other. That is a price we are paying for not having a communication system.
• We thought that at night it would be PARTY. We go to sleep ASAP. No cards, no movies…..
• We knew from the start that this vacation was about the trip and not the destination to Alaska. Each day is an adventure and one would think that we would get bored, but there is always something new and beautiful that we have not seen before.