So we made a compromise. To far to Prudhoe Bay but a nice (800km!) day trip to the arctic circle.
All warned us, Dalton Highway is a pretty rough track but at the end it was quite a nice gravel piste. Very good to ride even without knobbies..
Dawson City via the Klondike Highway. Gold rush! A short ride from Carmacks.
Such a beautiful town filled with crazy people. Met Eugen and Engelbert from Watson's Lake again and had a great evening first at Westminister Tavern and later at Diamond Tooth Gertie's.
The town is made in the Gold rush style and has really character. The Westminister Tavern is highly recommended. Filled with locals. Gertie's is more touristic but a must see.
From Prince George we took the Hart Peace River Highway up to the North. The scenery changed into a more greener Canada with huge farms and rivers.
So we got the bikes back and finally we are on the road. First thing is getting out of Maple Ridge into the nature.
The plan was to reach Kamloops, northeast of Vancouver and we got really surprised from Canada.
We had something like 40 degrees and drove through a desert like region. Everything brown, if not black from the wildfires, dusty, sandy. Never expected that in Canada. We spoke with the people there and it definitively is a dry area around there but it's one of the hottest summers at the moment.
The whole region is stricken with wildfires. We rode through a few of the but saw the heavy smoke at the sky.
Good to ride again.
From Kamloops we headed northwest to Prince George and on that way the scenery changed to what you expect from Canada
After 9 hours in the plane we finally arrived in Vancouver, Canada. Flight went well with no special incidents. But of course we had to go to the detailed customs procedure, together with a puking American. Mumbling something about bad sushi yesterday.
During the declaration process Jo informed me about his switchblade he has with him. Damn I never knew that and to make matters worse switchblades are counted as weapons in Canada. Together with the Russian motorbike insignia we have on our jackets it cost us 2 hours not to get arrested and process through the customs. Without the knive as you assume!
A pretty good start.
Afterwards we headed to Maple Ridge to our bike shop to yield the axle clamp we brought over from Germany and to check the bikes.
Mine is still a bit crinkled but it will work. We'll get them today and the plan is to head north tomorrow.
See what Canada shows us.
The first post in english. So please don't be to critically with me about grammar, wording and orthography. As we have many followers from all over the world in-between we decided to change languages. Hope that's ok for you all!
So the bikes finally arrived in Vancouver last week. And after loads of mails and paperwork we managed it to clear customs for them. Wouldn't worked without the help from Gabryelle from Astra International. You did so well my dear, thank you so much.
The further plan is to get the bikes serviced and repaired, see what Craig from Maple Ridge Motorsports can do for them and in June/July we are hopefully on the road again.
At the moment, we are about to decide, which way we go. See Inuvik and get the bikes shipped back from Anchorage to Vancouver again or do a roundtrip through Canada and Alaska...
But one thing is sure, we have to see the bus where Christopher McCandless spent his last weeks. A great movie to see! Into the wild! And what a character!
So stay tuned for further information...