Ride on, Highway Cat !!: The Junction

DAY 4, Saturday Aug 29 2015
Easy 30 km ride from Otter Falls Cutoff to Haines Junction Yukon

Got up @ 6am. Terrible sleep. Staggered over to the diner for some hot stale Joe and an interesting omelette. Actually, it was good. Anything that is hot and full of calories is good. I spent a great deal of time just staring out the window. The weather looked so so. I decided to pack up my wet tent and roll on. HWC wanted joe for the road. (7 sugars and 1 catnip.) They told us to get the Hell out. The woman that seemed like the owner was happy to see us leave. She probably prefers dealing with her standard trucker customer, not a city spandex freak and a toy cat. Ha ha. Right back at ya babe....YUKK!!

It's been lovely, and I hope to celebrate an important milestone of some sort here one day but until then, sadly, we must be going...

Nice relaxing ride knowing that I was only going 30 km to Haines Junction and there was no wind or rain, YAY! Only downside is (I always seem to find one.) that my knee was Evil. Looks like "swollen knee syndrome." (S.K.S.)
I passed "Pine Lake Campground" It's a nice little gov. site. I probably should've held on for the extra 20 km and stayed there last night. Oh well, whatever.
Anyway, once in the village of Haines Junction, http://www.hainesjunctionyukon.com/
I found some nice accommodation at the Alcan Motel. There was a "No Vacancy" sign out, but I decided to look anyway. Glad I did. Nice little place with a view of the quiet highway and snow capped mountains. I spent most of the day just goofing around this tiny place.
I happened upon a cyclist that lives in H.J. He made a bee line straight for me wearing a huge smile. Unfortunately but not surprisingly I forgot his name. I think that it may be "Bob" (sorry dude if I'm wrong) Anyway, he was so excited about my trip and had so many good things to say about the area. He was riding a nice "Specialized" mnt. bike but spoke highly of the new Surly fat bike that he just got from Icycle Sport in Whitehorse. It's expensive and must be a dream to ride on snow and ice. The bike of choice in these parts for sure. So cool! It was such a pleasure talking to this former parks guy. He said that I was an inspiration. He got it wrong. With the medical hurdles that he was overcoming, I want him to know that HE is the inspiration to me. Ride on dude, thanks for the great chat!

Super nice "Bob?" I Wish I had his jacket

Despite all the good things "Bob" said about Kluane National Park" I wasn't feeling optimistic but was a bit more pumped for the 250 km ride into the wild. I thought that it would be a good idea to check out the weather and stuff for the region, so I went to the library for it's intergoogles. Of coarse it was closed for 3 days. The visitors info cen. doesn't have access either. Sigh. Oh well, riding blind I guess.
Anyway, headed back to the motel after getting beer, pizza and ice. Beer and Pizza was for my gut and the ice was for my knee. I was nervous about the mornings ride. It would be a "No turning back" scenario. Was worried about my knee, weather and grizzlies...
Beer helps. HWC had no helpful advice as usual. Pizza was amazingly good for such a tiny community. ..."burp."