Moose, mosquitos, and mangy buffalo!

Smoke from the fires made a small part of the ride harsh, but thankfully the wind was in our favor, driving it in the opposite direction we were headed.

Here we found our first buffalo, grazing in a field of dandelions, with the wide angle, I was actually only about 20 feet from him here. He appeared to weigh at least 1200 lbs.

Here we are at the start of the Alaska Highway, mile 0, with a friend we met, Stephen from Zurich. Very cool guy who is currently riding his bicycle, yes, bicycle, from Vancouver to Alaska. Talk about legs of steel.

As of yesterday evening we had found ourselves a new companion, been bitten in unspeakable places by mosquito's big enough to be shot, witnessed a short Canadian man bless out a cook in Tim Horton's before ordering food, met a hardcore cyclist from Switzerland, riding from Vancouver to Alaska, and been told that the route we were taking (the only route we could take from our position) was closed due to forest fires. Overall a very productive day.

Today however, we rode past forest fires on roads that weren't closed, saw numerous buffalo, black bear and moose, and managed to snake our way to Watson Lake. The ride grew boring after some time, reaching long straight roads that seldom connected with anything of interest. We passed over grated metal bridges that like to jerk the bike a little. These were found to require the most concentration. Overall I found myself thinking of strange things to keep my mind occupied. Sometimes I would do math in my head, calculating distances and times, figuring kilometers to miles, and back. At other times, I start imagining the "what if's" everyone who has ridden a motorcycle past a transfer truck has thought about. What if I rode too close and fell off the bridge? What it a moose runs in front of me (which one did) and I can't brake or swerve enough to avoid it? I wear lots of protection, knee, elbow, back, good helmet, good jacket, kevlar long underwear, knee high riding boots, I'm protected more than most linemen, but you still ask yourself, could I hold the bike up if I rode through that bush at these speeds (often exceeding 70 mph). I like to think I could, and if I do go down, I feel pretty good about the fact that I'll be alright.

Now we get back to Ed, the guy from Chicago who had dinner with us and camped in Grand Cache a few nights ago. Well we ended up riding together the past few days, enjoying his company and the stories he can tell from working with the Chicago paramedics. He's just a good, solid guy. However, in his trip to Alaska, it seems like everything has gone wrong. To date, his passport was lost in Chicago City Postal, the riding partner who had planned to go with him for well over a year, backed out the last week, his tire is wearing unseasonably fast, we are hitting far more construction than anticipated, slowing down our approach to Alaska drastically, and to cap it all off, he desperately loves and feels the need to be with, his 7 month pregnant wife, who it is obvious he constantly thinks about. Not to mention he has to be back at work on the 21st. When it rains it pours. Because of these tribulations, he's been considering turning back the past several days, but persevered, now, with news finally reaching us that the upcoming road is filled with over 80 miles of shale and gravel, Ed has decided to head South, taking 37 South, past Skagway, touching Vancouver before heading East again to Chicago. It's been a good ride, but sometimes you have to make a hard choice, and heading home now is probably the wisest thing he can do. We will sorely miss his company.



Zack