Day 30

Day 30 - Amarillo, TX to Home
Miles today - 357 miles
Total miles - 10,927 miles

We rode into Fort Worth under cloudy skies and 83 degrees - we thought it would be much hotter. We were so happy to see the signs for home.



The best part of coming home was being greeted by Abbey. It was unclear as to who had missed whom the most.

Abbey had lots of kisses for mommy!

A special thanks to Landon for taking such good care of Abbey and the house. We had complete peace of mind knowing all was in good hands at home.

We were truly blessed with a wonderful trip! Everything went as planned - in some cases, even better. We had good weather, no problems with the bike and saw so many amazing sights. Thanks to all who emailed us, sent messages, commented on the blog and said prayers for our safe trip. It was fun knowing friends and family were following us. This was definitely the trip of a lifetime for us and we enjoyed every minute.

Days 28 and 29

Day 28 - Billings,MT to
Colorado Springs, CO
Miles today - 657 miles
Total miles - 10,198 miles

Day 29 - Colorado Springs, CO to
Amarillo, TX
Miles today - 372 miles
Total miles - 10,570 miles



We rode all day with Hardy and Hal. At this gas stop, Hardy left his ignition on and ran his battery down while we were taking a break. Thank goodness for jumper cables! We were off again in no time.





We had all decided we were ready to get home so we would ride together as far as we could. We blasted through Montana, Wyoming and into Colorado. This is some of the scenery in Wyoming.

Hal is a retired Navy Captain, so he has access to lodging at military bases. As his guests, we were allowed to stay at Peterson Airforce Base in Colorado Springs in their very nice hotel - the best room for the lowest price during the whole trip. Thanks Hal!!!

Hal Gulledge from Boerne, TX - riding down the road in Colorado.

Hardy Baker from Buffalo, TX - riding a goldwing the same year and color as ours.

We said good-bye to our new friends in Amarillo as we would being going different directions from there. Even though we had only known these guys for a few days, it seemed like we had known them forever! We really enjoyed our time with them!

Day 27

Day 27 -High River, AB to
Billings, MT
Miles today - 547 miles
Total miles - 9541

As we drove through the farm lands in Alberta, we saw these fields of yellow blooms everywhere. We finally asked someone what it was and found it is canola. They use the black seeds from these plants to make cooking oil and fuel.


We had to make a quick stop to wash at least the first layer of dirt off the bike. It was absolutely covered in dirt after riding through rain, mud and construction zones. We met two guys from Pennsylvania at our first gas stop and mentioned we were going to wash the bike. One of them told us we should consider the dirt to be a "badge of honor" for going to Alaska and should not wash it until we got home.

We're back in the lower 48 and now headed straight for home! Unfortunately it's going to take a few days to get there. We crossed the border at Sweetgrass, MT.

Shortly before crossing the border, we stopped for lunch in Milkweed, AB. We met these two guys from Central Texas - Hardy and Hal. Turns out they know many of the same people Chris knows from Two Wheeled Texans. We rode with them the rest of the day, ate dinner and had a great visit. We are riding out with them in the morning.

Day 26

Day 26 - Jasper, AB to High River, AB
Miles today - 337 miles
Total miles - 8994 miles

What a difference a day makes! After yesterday's rain, we were thrilled to have a beautiful day for a ride!
We left Jasper and headed out on the famous Icefields Parkway. It is one of the most spectacular drives we've ever been on.

The Athabasca River roars through this narrow gorge.
Chris is standing at the falls beyond the gorge.

The mountains had many different shapes. This group looked as if the face had been sheared off.

Just one of the many amazing sights!

A roadside stop - with an awesome view!

The glacier at the end of Lake Louise.

Behind Chris, you see Lake Louise. The turquoise color of the lake comes from the pigments of the melting glacier.

As we rode toward Calgary, we went from the Jasper National Park to the Banff National Park. It was worth the trip north just for this one stretch of 154 miles. You could spend several days here if you had time to stop and hike on the all the trails.

Day 25

Day 25 - Dawson Creek, BC to
Jasper, AB
Miles today - 341 miles
Total Miles - 8657 miles

The Alaska Hwy begins at Mile 0 in Dawson Creek. Dawson Creek was an important funnel for supplies and equipment during the construction of the Alaska Hwy. in 1942.


When we got up, it was raining and it rained most of the way to Jasper. Late in the afternoon, the sun started to come out and the scenery improved.

We entered the Jasper National Park in the early evening and spent the night in the city of Jasper.
Jasper is a popular ski area in winter and has all kinds of summer activities too - so it was really crowded and hard to find a room. Sure glad we did because it rained all night and would have been a soggy night to camp.

Day 24

Day 24 - Liard, BC to Dawson Creek, BC
Miles today - 485 miles
Total miles - 8316 miles

The Alaska Hwy became very narrow as it wound around Muncho Lake. The lake is gorgeous! It is 7 miles long and a mile wide.


Muncho Lake is known for its beautiful deep green and blue waters. The colors are attributed to copper oxide leaching into the lake.

We have crossed many of these steel grated bridges. It's slow going on these when you're on a motorcycle - and we prefer not to meet any big trucks that rattle it a bit as they blast past us.

"Stone sheep" - not to be confused with mountain goats, are seen along this area. We saw several.

Day 23

Day 23 - Whitehorse, YT to Liard, BC

Miles today - 424 miles

Total miles - 7831 miles

This morning we left Whitehorse and stopped in Teslin for a little break then headed for Watson Lake - something we had been looking forward to.


We got to the Sign Post Forest in Watson Lake early in the afternoon and had time to check out the interesting signs and other items people have left over the years - everything from motorcycle parts to hats to flip flops, with their names written on them.

The historic Sign Post Forest was started by a U.S. Army soldier that was in the company of engineers working on the construction of the Alaska Hwy in 1942. There are now more than 61,000 signs.

Hey John - this picture is for you!
When Chris was here five years ago,

his Brazilian friends posted this flag. It's a bit faded - but still here!

Of course, we had to add our sign to the collection. We had been carrying it around for over 7000 miles!

After leaving Watson Lake, we began to see lots of interesting sights on the road! This buffalo was just ambling along. We saw another one as well.

We saw eight bears along the way. Four grown ones and four babies.

We camped at a campground across the road from the Liard River Hotsprings. The campground there was totally full! You have to have reservations way in advance to stay there. We walked over to the springs and there we saw a mama moose and her baby. There is a pool there where you can get in the springs, but the mosquitoes were out and we decided to pass.

Day 22

Day 22 - Dawson City, YT to
Whitehorse, YT
Miles today - 354 miles
Total miles - 7407 miles

We left Dawson City today and headed back to Whitehorse.
Right before we got to Carmacks, we stopped at the Five Fingers Rapids. It was named by the early miners for the 5 channels ,or fingers formed by the rock pillars. We hiked down to the bottom to get a better look at the rapids.













The Five Fingers were considered to be a navigational hazard when the gold seekers were coming up the river. The safest passage was through the nearest or east passage.

A self portrait on the trail!

Behind Chris you can see the river and the "Five Fingers."

In order to get to the bottom to get a better look at the rapids, you had to go down 219 steps and take a 0.6 mile hike. Going down isn't too bad - it's going back up that wasn't too easy. Of course, doing it in motorcycle boots and pants made it a bit more challenging as well!

Days 20 and 21

Day 20 - Tok,AK to Dawson City, YT

Miles today - 733 miles
Total miles - 7053 miles

Today we left Tok and headed to Dawson City - the long way around. We intended to go at least to Whitehorse and possibly a little farther. It was slow going because of construction areas, but we made it to Whitehorse and decided to go as far as Carmacks - 120 miles down the road. When we got there, we ate dinner and decided we were still ok and we knew that even though it was 8:30, it would still be light pretty much all night - so we decided to keep going. We arrrived in Dawson City about 12:30 A.M. It had been a 15 hour riding day! We rode into town and it was rocking - due to the 30th annual Dawson City Music Festival. We decided that at that time early Sunday morning - we were quite possibly the only sober people in Dawson City. After checking a couple of hotels, we quickly found that there were no empty rooms in town, so we went to a campground outside of town and set up our tent. It still amazes us that we can set up camp in 1:30 A. M. and it is as bright as if it were daytime at home.






Sunday morning, after sleeping in, we went into Dawson City to explore the town. We ate breakfast at the Downtown Hotel - Jack London Grill. It is named after the famous author of Call of the Wild and White Fang.

Outside of the hotel, we met one of the locals - who had obviously overly indulged a bit the night before - and wanted to take our picture. We are standing by the stone that is a monument to those who are a part of the "Sour Toe Club" some special drink that is a part of the folklore there.

As previously mentioned, the weekend of July 16-18th was the 30th annual Dawson City Music Festival. We actually just stumbled into it, but it was a great weekend to be there. Lots of "want to be" bands as well as some better known area musicians were there playing through out the weekend.

We took a walking tour throughout the town to soak up a little of the history. Many of the buildings are designated as historical markers. This building has been left "as is" to show how the "frost heaves" the melting of the perma frost, affect the buildings.

Many of the historic buildings, such as the Dawson Daily News, have displays in the windows that tell about the history - even if they are no longer in business.

This is the SS Keno, the last steamer to run the Yukon River when she sailed from Whitehorse in 1960 to her present berth on the riverbank in Dawson City.

We ate dinner here at Klondike Kate's. This building was originally built in 1904.

This sign painted on the side of one of the buildings caught our eye.

Although it has been long since closed, the Flora Dora Hotel is typical of the type of buisinesses open during the Gold Rush Days.

Many souvenir shops and little stores now line the streets next to the riverfront. All of the current day stores are built to fit into the original style of the old days in Dawson. All of the roads in town are still dirt roads.

The river you see here is the Yukon River. To get to Dawson City to go over the Top of the World Highway, (when it's open) you must take a ferry across the river.

At our campground, we met another new friend with an interesting motorcycle. Zeddie, who is originally from Czechozlovakia, and now lives in Vancouver was driving this Ural motorcycle with sidecar.