Adventures By Guy

Slept 7 hrs. That is the most sleep I have gotten this trip. Woke up Jeff was sleeping so I typed out Day 12.
Then got up, showered then put everything on a cart and hauled it down to the bike. I was wondering how I was going to figure out how everything went back in. It did with some room to spare. I was full so the guys went down to breakfast. When Jeff came back he said… ya know, we were talking about you this morning. How it’s nice to have you along as you’re mechanical inclined and have tools. (They have some tools.) A couple of days ago I thanked Mike for allowing me to come along as this has been a group that has been meeting up once a summer since 2001. He said he was glad too as it has been a pleasure. We’re getting along great. You never know as I had never before seen any of them or talked with them. Mike said he thought it would ok as he watched what I had posted on the Tenere forum. It was educational and interesting.
Jeff is always popping out some weird different saying.
After riding in the middle of the pack yesterday we got done and he said…”Man, I ate so much dust today I’ll bet if I swallowed a watermelon seed I’d poop out a potted plant”
We checked out and headed for North Pole, Alaska which had a manual car wash. They weren’t going to wash their bikes until they got home. If it was just dirt I would agree… but this had calcium chloride mixed in it. Very corrosive.
I pulled up and somejust left and the nozzle was pressurized. So free rinse off. Jeff did his bike too.
Next we headed down to Tok to gas up and eat a late lunch. Fast Eddie’s is crowded but they are fast and very good. They had chicken noodle soup. Real chopped up chicken and homemade noodles cut with a knife. Large and thick.
I was so impressed with this place that I bought a t-shirt from them. It’s the first town from the border on the AlCan hwy. We left and 11 mikes later turned North to Chicken, Alaska. It is a gold camp. Going on a tour of an old gold dredge. Tiny little place.
Alaskan 5 was winding around quite enjoyably. Smaller mountains wide valley’s that were old burns and now the Aspen/Poplar trees were covering everything. Very pretty! Just as we were coming into Chicken I saw to coe moose feeding in a pond. Water up past their bellies. Their heads and shoulders were under water for quite a bit as they were eating. Only their rear ends and half their bodies were showing. I stopped and one raised her head. I hadn’t seen the other one yet which was straight down the embankment of the road. Then her head raised up and I saw her. I hesitated to get my phone out as she was only 25 feet away and could charge up that embankment very fast. They just stared at me so I started to get my phone out of the holder. Was moving it to video when Jeff beeped his horn and then yelled at Mike to get him to turn around. They started trotting off. I got a short video of her. With that done we went the ½ mile into Chicken Gold Camp. Sat around and chatted for a few hours and took some things off the bikes. This place is so far out we as a group decided to leave most stuff on the bikes. We are sharing a one room cabin made of squared off logs. I have to get some ear plugs out to sleep. They’re all 69 so they call me the kid.
No rain today and only warm for about 2 hours. A good day.
Oh, my fork seals have now quit leaking! I believe that they got junk in them and by my riding it over all these frost heaves which really work your suspension it either worked the dirt out or flushed it out. If they continue to be dry then I will get my Brakleen out and clean the rotors and calipers then replace the front brake pads… which I have on board.