Today's ride was a tale of two halves. But first! Since you are eagerly waiting to know. Today's Sunday installment of start-your-weekend-mornings-with-a-bike-tipover was (...drum roll please...) a centre-stand whoopsie! I cruised back over to the PetroCan air hose, to finalize my tire pressures (more on that in a bit), and promptly dumped Badger on his right side while pulling him up onto his centre stand. The ground may not have been perfectly level, I may not yet have reached peak muscle activity for the day, and, well... I can sure pick him up! Today, crossing through that critical leverage point, I grunted so hard I unwittingly spit my gum clear out of my helmet. That all taken care of ("tick"), I turned left onto the Alcan Highway to head for the Yukon. |
North of Muncho Lake, the sun returned, the road surface dried out, and shortly thereafter so did I -- with riding gear, and all of Badger's frontward faces, all washed clean of dead bugs. Thankyou. Otherwise, I kept mentally occupied thinking about alternative timings to break up next week's return trip home, thinking that I could condense four days out into three days back (between Whitehorse and Yellowknife), so keeping out an eye for good lodging options accordingly.
I arrived into Watson Lake to the still-impeccable Air Force Lodge and its friendly German proprietor, Mike. One still takes one's shoes off inside, one still keeps it down at 10:30, and one still feels totally clean walking on the carpets barefoot and in the bathrooms in just socks. The only think that seems to have changed since I first stayed here in 2013 is that Mike's stable of 650's has grown by one KLR.
After unloading, I went into town to find some supper, some premium, and some free paper towel to clean and lube my chain. I sat around at the Sign Post Forest and heard the story of my newborn niece's birth last night.
Everything is running well. So far, I have only two reliability issues -- one with the aperture ring on a camera lens, and the other with a pocket zipper that split open (just once, then fine) on my riding pants.
For the first time this trip, tomorrow holds the promise of new roads.
Day total: 539 km, 7h35m Trip total: 1,712 km | Start: Fort Nelson, BC. End: Watson Lake, Yukon. Soundtrack: Foamy silence. |