Day 14
May 28th 2004
This was a very fun day. Fun despite 700 km or so of backtracking, as there's no other reasonable way out of Alaska. Yep, made it there.
Hyder is a very small place, I would estimate a population of less than 100. It is just adjacent to Stewart, BC, which is considerably bigger, maybe a few thousand people live there. Couple hotels but no Tim Hortons (Stewart that is). There are no American Customs as you enter Hyder, only a Canadian customs as you re-enter Canada. I suppose the Americans don't care who goes in Alaska.
But we're getting ahead of ourselves. The ride to Hyder was nice. Not too much rain, just showers but the clouds were pretty low. I had the impression the skies were going to clear up so I thought I'd take pictures of the scenery on my way back. This was a mistake. It was raining on the way back, so the scenery was even more hidden by clouds. I did manage to get a few shots on the way there though,
This one was actually from my hotel room last night before going to bed around 10:30. Still clear outside.
This was in Smithers, you can get the idea about the mountains.
Here's one from this morning,
Just behind the bike is a lake, I know, the water looks brown, but the sky was overcast and that's what things look like to a camera. What you see behind is Bear Glacier. Glacier ice has a nice turquoise hue to it that you can sort of see in this picture. Again, it's a lot bigger than what it looks like in the picture.
Yep, we're in bear country. This fellow was by the side of the road as I passed, quietly rummaging in the bushes. I stopped and turned around, he didn't mind at all. He just looked up at me, decided that I wasn't much of a threat, and continued mooching away. He was a pretty big one, but I think a bit smaller than the one I saw yesterday. Bears are pretty impressive animals in the wild.
I also saw some other critters, I can't decide if it was a coyote or a wolf. Are all wolves white ? This one was sort of German-Shepherd-like in appearance and color, but was considerably bigger than any German Shepherd I've seen. I dunno. I also saw a bald eagle sitting in a bog and there were 3 crows swooping down on him trying to get him to leave. He was totally ignoring the crows, acting like they weren't there at all. It was a pretty cool sighting.
I also hit 2 more birds today, one was a little sparrow-like one, the other a bigger robin-sized one that hit me in the leg. This brings up my stats to 4 birds so far in this trip, these two, plus the one who scuffed the visor of my helmet plus a buzzard I hit with the bike while doing the Pacific Coast Highway. I had slowed down by the time I hit that one that he didn't even fall to the ground, just stumbled a bit and kept flying. Buzzards are pretty big birds, sort of like a smaller version of a vulture, a bit bigger than the large crows we have that dine on roadkill.
Weather was decidedly cool today. This morning there was a bit of ice on little ponds by the side of the road. I had my electrics on and was wishing I had brought my electric gloves for this trip. I recall my thoughts as I was packing for the trip were "It's not like I'm going to Alaska or anything..." After a while of wondering if my heated handlebars were working, I put on my 'overgloves', sort of waterproof thing that turns gloves into mitts. This made a big difference and no longer was cold after that.
After reaching Hyder and taking the picture, I went back to Stewart, where there was a whole bunch of Long Distance Riders at a local restaurant. I decided to stop for a bite to eat.
I was told that 175 riders were coming for the weekend, from all areas of the United States, Canada and even Europe. HyderSeek is Hyder's biggest event of the year economically. If you were to see a high-res version of the first picture, you'd see that the sign just above the bike's front tire reads "HyderSeek Alaska Welcome IronButts"
In the restaurant two guys invited me to join them for breakfast. One of them was from Seattle, the other from L.A. The one from L.A. had just finished the 49 states tour but included Mexico too. He had done it with Lisa Landry, who is the ultimate Long Distance Goddess. She was also the Rallymaster (Rallymistress ?) for last year's Iron Butt rally. They had done all 49 states, plus Mexico and Canada in 7 days 11 hours. I thought for sure that was a new record, but he told me no, there's quite a few who have done it quicker. He had done the Iron Butt Rally last year and his name has been drawn to do the next one in 2005. I'm terrible with names and promptly forgot all the people's names today, except Lisa Landry, I already knew about her.
I did see someone I knew, but he was exiting a gas station as I was entering it, so he didn't recognize me. All in all, it was pretty neat to sort of participate in a HyderSeek gathering, even if I couldn't be there for the banquet.
This picture was actually in Hyder. This is where the banquet will be tomorrow night.
The breakfast I had with the guys was a fairly heavy one, two eggs, a pancake and a slice of ham and coffee. Usually on the road I eat much lighter, usually breakfast is "Hotel coffee". Lunch will be either a sandwich or something light from somewhere like Taco Bell. I know my body, and if I eat too heavily, I'll get sleepy.
Sure enough, a few hours after my breakfast (which was around 10:00), I started getting the nods. As it wasn't raining at the moment, I decided to stop at the next "Iron Butt Motel" that I could find. Happily, it came in the shape of a picnic table at a rest area a few minutes later. I didn't remove my suit or helmet and just lay there on the table. The suit and helmet make even a hard surface like that pretty comfortable. Before falling asleep I wondered what the bear situation was like right here. Oh well, my suit and helmet should offer me some protection from a mauling...
I slept for maybe about 15 minutes or so but woke up feeling rejuvenated. I had a little moment of bliss upon awakening where I was just thinking "This is the life". Just riding around, fairly flexible schedule, if you feel like stopping by the side of the road for a nap, you just do it, no questions asked. Yep, this is the life. This is one of the reasons why it is easier to travel alone than with someone else. You just do what you feel like doing. It's a pretty stress-free lifestyle. I think that this will become another one of those "defining moments" for me.
The rest of the ride was uneventful, made it to Prince George by around five o'clock and went for a walk in town.
Two weeks done, one week to go. I don't want this adventure to end, but on the other hand, I miss Hélène and I miss home. I also miss my espresso machine. I don't miss mowing the lawn though.
Day Stats
Total Distance: 1 070 km (Smithers, BC, to Hyder, Alaska, to Prince George, BC)
Total Time: 10 h 56 minutes
Overall Average 95.5 km / h