waking up at our typical 4am (damn my internal clock) the weather outside was soft and misty and a wee bit cold - elevation 944meters. crawling on the bike wasnt as hard as i thought it would be. the morning reminded me of when i was growing up on a strawberry farm. while the rest of my school mates were sleeping in and enjoying summer, my brothers and i were up at 5am facing the same soft misty cold mornings. Hitting the field early so we could get our work done. the rows between the strawberries were mud, the bushes themselves were wet, you learned to kick them with your boots to knock most of the water off it before you picked the berries so your hands could stay a little warmer. the nice thing about those days is that the sun always came out around 10-11am and dried everything up. you would find yourself peeling the layers of clothing off as the morning wore on, and by lunch you were just in jeans and a tank top. I was hoping the yukon territory would be the same.

we got about 30m down the road and my fingers were so cold i could hardly brake.the roads werent bad this morning just a little wet so we were making good time it was just so dang cold. i pulled off and asked clint if we could change bikes. His has a huge windshield.

oh my gosh!!!! his bike is heaven!!! my body stopped shivering.... my fingers could move somewhat freely - i dont think i will ever give his bike back.

about another 30miles down the road and he stops. crawls off the bike "damn woman - you are one tough chick!! i dont see how you rode this bike all this way" he had to add some more layers and adjust some of his stuff so he could stay warm. he would go on to tell every one we talk to from here on out " i wasnt on that bike for more than 30 min before i had to pull over to get warm and she did 1800 miles in that!!!"
i have such a wonderful husband. he makes me smile so big.

We stopped at Wonowon to fill up and the guy running the place told us we just missed the hail storm. hee hee miracles DO happen!!

the ride was incredibly beautiful - up so high - we were riding even with the snow capped mountains in the distance. I was so glad clint changed bikes with me. i was able to stop shaking long enough to enjoy it. we didnt see any animals on the trip down the mountain, a few eagles and lots of hawks. that is ok though, I am thrilled that i was able to see all the bear - 11 total.

i wish i could remember what town we had just left when we saw bear #10. I was on clints bike - so it had to be on this leg of the journey. He was a huge black bear, about as big as my bike. we could see him crossing the road in the distance. so we slowed down. as we got closer, he just stopped in our lane. luckily it was on a straight stretch - i was worried about stopping in the middle of the road and being rear-ended.

we were revving our bikes and inching closer. clint started honking his horn and still the bear just looked at us. he was like a troll that wanted something so that we could cross his road. I was trying not to get too close - you know a bear can be 0-60 in 3 leaps. although that cant keep that up long - it is certainly enough to grab hold of my bike.

it felt like forever - this stand off with this bear - but either he finally figured that we were worth much - or that the noise from our bikes was deafening. he wandered off to the side of the road and we rode past. just around the corner were some tourist parked sideways on the road looking at a moose. silly tourist.... they could have looked a bear right in the eye if they had kept moving.

ahhhh it 'was' going to be like my strawberry mornings!!!! The sun!!! i feel its heat thru all my gear. our next stop for gas - we start peeling layers. What a glorious day!!!!

We decided to take the Hudson Hope loop because it was sunny, the roads were dry and it is a beautiful drive- saves you a couple hours. we were waiting to make the decision until we were closer, mostly because the road has soooo many corners and sooooo many deer.

I am glad we took it - we dropped down off that mountain into some of the most incredibly beautiful farm country!!! and yes there are a ton of deer. luckily they all just sat on the side of the road eating breakfast watching us go by. i thought wow... dinner and a movie for the deer - no wonder they like to eat here.

we stopped at a town called clinton ( hee hee gotta stop there for my husband) for breakfast - peeled off the last of our gear - repacked and we were back on the road. we left our leather on for safety reasons - we are able to go 75-80mph now. the curves are so smooth you dont even have to slow down - wow this is a great day.

prince george is a large town - we were able to find a bike shop with a universal windshield that would fit my bike. it was about 80 deg outside. we had to peel our jackets off for the rest of the ride.

i have noticed now that we are back in "civilization" that people arent as quick to strike up a conversation. no one talks to each other at the gas pumps, no one hanging out drinking coffee outside talking about their adventures. it makes me a little sad. i love meeting people - hearing their stories, hearing their plans for what is next.

i am thankful for this whole trip - with out the rain, the mud, the crappy horrible roads, or if i had a windshield ..... think of how boring my trip would be!!! all these things are great. There would be no trash bag butt, no garbage bag feet..... nothing to tell at all. I love this trip and really am not ready for it to end. even though we are still so far from our destination - i have a feeling that the adventure is over - now it will just be a trip.


we got to quesnel around 7pm - tired, a bit sunburned - starving.
ate some dinner and slept - damn - beds feel so wonderful when you are so tired.
that was the first place with internet access so i was able to start the blog. however, i was too tired to write it all.