Day 16: Long Hard Road to Destruction Bay

Today we are starting out in Valdez, and need to get to Destruction Bay.  This day is a challenge for the following reasons:

1.)  Need to travel 480 miles, 50 over our daily average. 

2.)  The motel/restaurant at Destruction Bay closes at 10 pm, so if we don’t want to sleep on the porch, we need to arrive by then. 

3.)  We also loose an hour with the time change when crossing into Canada.

4.)  We know we have 90 km of road construction between the Alaska border and Destruction Bay.

We departed Valdez at 8:30 am, after breakfast.  That’s really good!

The wild black bunnies of Valdez

What hands looks like after too many motorcycle miles

Back into the clouds through the pass.

....clouds and snow.

My hand is shaking too much to focus. 

Hit new record low:  46 F.

Please . . . Please . . . Please  NO RAIN NOW!!!

Clear skies and warming on the other side of the pass

Alaskan Pipeline running down to Valdez where it goes into Exxon tankers.

I’m at the end of my rope!

Apparently Mick’s new Octane boost is not covered by the MSDS I read. 

It started a normal pale yellow, but something happened and formed a muddy brown precipitate and stained the bottles. 

Needless to say, this was not used, and disposed of in an appropriate and safe manner!

What is a slough?  

No this is not the new contest question.

Unexpected road construction/gravel on Road to Tok.

Lost about 1 hour waiting for the pilot car and slower pace.

Road Construction . . . Bad!  

It wasn’t raining. 

They use a truck to spray water to keep the dust down, and make wonderful mud for bikers!!

At this major construction, we had to help the pilot car driver set up a traffic light before we could proceed. 

Well, we didn’t have to, but no one else jumped to help, and time was fleeting.

We are very use to this sign.

Contest Question #2:  

What does this universal language sign mean - quick you have just 2 seconds before your vehicle hits the bridge?

Road to Tok, after the construction

Ham!

Sometimes its easier to use the mirror

Tsk Tsk. 

Passing on the double yellow line. 

(I was just checking!)

Looks like rain ahead!

Yep!  It’s . . .

. . . Rain

More gravel and idiots.  

This guy decided to pass in the new loose gravel zone.

Glare from Mc’s mirror . . . in the gravel.

What happened to this trailer?

Looks like a double blow out!  

Most likely caused by GRAVEL!

Destruction Bay! 

9:30 pm, local time.  Still open!

End at the end of the day . . .

. . . Riding out of the sunset

. . . and gravel.

Today’s Stats:

Arrival Time at Destruction Bay:  9:27 pm

Riding Time:  9 Hrs. 13 mins.

Today’s Miles:  479.5

Total Miles:  6315

Today’s MPG:  50.7

Today’s MPH: 53

Tomorrow’s Destination:   Whitehorse, Yukon, then maybe a side trip to Skagway.

161 Miles to Whitehorse

240 Miles Skagway round trip

Mc