We are ready for the Alaskan Leg, our fights are booked and the bikes are currently being serviced and most bikes are getting a new set of rubber. Dog and Tex have once again done the Route Planning and the first day of riding is Monday the 16th of July. Originally we were not going to ride the bikes all the way back to Seattle after reaching our most Northern part of the route, which is actually at the top of Alaska at the Sea of Beaufort, at a town called Dead Horse (so at least we know what to expect there, not much,) but my cousin Rassie and his friends were going to fly in to Fairbanks and then ride all our bikes all the way back to Seattle, making our trip only 2 weeks long, (which is just the right length, any longer result in our wives losing their sense of humour and us men start getting irritated with the other guys jokes and time-keeping, they way they chew their food and how often some want to stop for ice-cream and then there is the issue with “Kronkel-Paadtjies” (curvy roads,) which some guys want to do for 12 hours a day and others only a few hours.)

But Rassie and his friends are no longer available so now we will have to ride the bikes back ourselves, making this Leg 3 weeks long.… Read More

Olympia (120km North of Seattle to Cache Creek 798km

There is nothing like a 700km, 12hour day to kick your Jet-Lag in the butt !!! But I think today cured my Jetlag.

Last night while all the guys were blocking the entrance to the Day’s Inn, (it started raining and they simply moved their bikes under the Roof at Reception,) packing their bikes, I tried Suzi (my GPS) again and it would not turn on once in the Cradle, so I tried the only thing I knew in Fault Finding, and discovered that when KTM changed the battery they did not re-connect the GPS’s power supply, so it was a quick fix, and Suzi was ready for action.… Read More

My story today is very short, 80% of the day was in the rain, and when it rains the Touring stops and it becomes a ride from point A to B, and no photos in the rain, so I hardly have photos of today’s ride. We are still riding in the State (Province) of British Columbia, so there are many names dating back to the Colonial days, like Lake William and Prince George, and there are so many lakes here that they don’t each get a name, just a number, like “7 Mile Lake” and some Villages also don’t have names, they get called by their distance from a place, like a Port, and we passed places like “70 Mile House” and later we rode through 100 Mile House.… Read More

Correction, I see I am getting the days and the dates wrong, that is because I look on my watch what day and date it is, but that part of my watch is still on RSA time, so if I do the Blog late on my side, it is already past midnight in RSA, so now that I know this I should get this right going forward.… Read More

Another correction, today is Day 246 as yesterday should have been 245, I suspect the 3 very long days are messing with my mind, will get it right before the end of this Leg.

This was the sign outside our Motel last night:

We left just after 7h00, without our rain-gear on as the sun was shining, since early. We are far North already, so this is the amount of Day-Light we are having now, and it is going to increase as we continue heading North.… Read More

Yesterday evening we went out to dinner at Kathy’s Kitchen, we could either eat there or at YFC, which is exactly like KFC, but instead of red and white, Yukon Fried Chicken’s colours are Yellow and White. We thought about going to YFC, but as we entered, there sat, “Die Pappagaai” (The Parrot) as we had named the guy from the road-works who earlier in the day had lost-it, and shouted at Pie and Rocky.… Read More

Last night we rode to the River Front to go and look at an old steamboat that used to move Ore and mining equipment between Carcross & Atlin during the Klondike Goldrush (1936.) The steam-boat is also called the Klondike and had a very flat-keel and was propelled, not by a propeller but by a Water Wheel as this boat had to go down rapids and shallow areas, so it could not sail with its keel to deep in the river.… Read More