Crazy Day

Well, I had an interesting night last night. Went to bed at a reasonable hour. I awoke in the night and checked the time. Arrrg!!! 1:00 AM. Just as bright as when we went to bed. Official sunset was 11:30 PM and official sunrise was 4:30 AM. I asked a waitress at the diner we had dinner at last night where the best location was to see the bridge outside the back of the diner. She said that most people take it with a great sunset shot in the background; she hesitated and said, never mind, the sun just doesn't set this time of year. Call me crazy, I knew Alaska was called the land of the midnight sun but hadn't thought about the Yukon. Actually, this hasn't posed a problem till last night. They just had blinds which did not block the daylight. Terrible sleep!

I was able to get a photo of the Teslin River Bridge this morning. Notice the great sunrise photo I captured!

Oh, I forgot…you can’t see the sunrise as it was overcast and raining and 42 degrees. We checked the weather for our 185 mile journey today. I read a report that said part of the Alaska Highway was closed due to black ice, sleet, slush and snow. There is no go around to get to where we need to be. There are these really tall mountains in the way. But what’s the worst possible thing that could happen; it’s not like we could skid off the mountain or anything, right? We waited until 10:00 to give the weather a chance to warm up a bit. Our plan worked just like government work…it warmed up to 42 and felt like 35. Actually we are okay with whatever weather comes along. I have up to 6 jackets I can put on. Today was a 4 jacket day.

After we headed 85 miles up the road, the rain subsided; after 130 miles up the road, we certainly saw where the snow had been. There was even a little slush left in the roadway that I was easily able to maneuver around.

We enjoyed a stop at the historic Canyon Creek Bridge where we walked across part of it to say we walked where others walked from 75 years ago.

 

The river was rushing due to the unexpected precipitation.

The mountain tops were awash in white with their new blanket of snow.

As we were coming into our stop for the night, the snow along the side of the road was more evident. We stopped for gas and there were other bikers there filling up. We swapped stories of who was the coldest and commented that only crazy bikers would be out in this weather.

As we checked into our motel for the night, arriving very safely at 2:00, the clerk told us that it never snows this time of year. She said that they have an annual bike (pedal variety), race. This year was to be the 25^th annual where people from all over the world travel to be in the race. Due to overnight weather, it was canceled. Wow! And we got to witness this first hand!

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/kluane-chilkat-bike-relay-canceleld-1.4165844

Tomorrow’s forecast calls for highs in the mid 60s. I always enjoy my day, but tomorrow looks to be just a bit more enjoyable.

Thanks for riding along! Turn up the heat!

Till Tomorrow!