No, I'm not getting philisophical and mis-spelling the title, I'm literally wringing out the insoles of my boots.
We left Whitehorse after Paul got his brakepads installed and we were looking at Fort Nelson as a goal for today or tomorrow. That's about a 600 mile journey down the Alaskan Highway. It's a somewhat ambitious length for a clear day, but even more for a rainy day.
We had pretty decent weather with the usual scattered showers. About 20 miles after Liard Springs, the rain started and the sun beyond this cloud never showed. This was about 400 miles into the day.
Along the highway today we had a lot of animal sightings. Two grizzly bears, four moose, and at least fifty Buffalo, but probably more like 100. We also saw a lot of bigger camps along side the highway. I'm guessing they are hunting camps. Whatever they were cooking smelled pretty good from the highway.
The scenery after the springs started to get really nice again. Lots of lush forest, mountain, and river views around every turn. We hit some really nice canyons that reminded me of how I felt riding to Stewart. I wanted to ride the tight corners fast, but the views were just too good.
The road is tricky enough without the rain in this area. It's not that bad but when you see signs that read "gravel next 30 km", it will definitely put you on guard.
It's starting to get dark at night again. I don't think it's getting completely dark yet (or at least I haven't woke up when it was), but as we travel south, our flashlights may get used once again at the camp sites.
Fuel finally came down to $1.12/liter. It seems to be pretty consistent between stations now, even the smaller ones.
Steve wanted to make Fort Nelson tonight so he sped ahead while Paul and I kept the usual pace. Around 8pm we decided to look for camp and found a nice side road that led back to an open area near a the Toad River. It was tricky geting the bikes back here and I can only hope the rain doesn't make it a lot more difficult to get out. The last two moose we saw were just about one mile back down the road.
Once I got the tent up and all my gear inside, I spent about a half hour wiping down the water that leaked in while setting up and wringing out my socks, insoles, and rain pants. Ever since the slide, the rain gear's outer coating isn't doing its job and the water is seaping into the inner layers. I should be able to live with it till I get back home.
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