KS. the word of the day is rain

This one is hard to write, not because of writers block, cause I ain't a writer, but because after two wet nights in tents, we sprung for the upgrade of a wall tent in Whitehorse, BC. Currently, I'm laying here in a warm dry bed with a thick mattress, listening to raindrops falling onto the metal roof above me, so before I fall asleep, I should tell you about our day. Now lets back this up just a bit.

We woke up in Eagle Claw motorcycle camp in Tok Alaska, after another damp night in the tents.  Breakfast was leftover pizza from the night before, it's always a bit dicey keeping leftover food on the bikes in bear country,(which is everywhere up here, and they've got big ones, in both colors, brown and black) I'm certainly not keeping it in the tent with me, and for some reason, Chip gets, well, let's call it unhappy, if I try to stash food items around his tent at night.  On this morning it was in the low 40s when we broke camp and went to fuel the bikes before heading back towards Canada. This was the first time I have been able to use my heated jacket, after finding the proper power cord in Anchorage. I'm sure in a dire situation that a functional workaround could have been created, but I'm trying to keep most of my electrical systems in factory condition. I had forgotten how nice it was to be surrounded by warmth in my riding jacket again. Up to this point my main source of insulation has been an alpaca wool sweater, purchased from a street vender in Peru on our journey to the bottom of the South American continent.  I remember the reason I bought it, I was cold, and it seemed like it would help fix that situation. Again, not a writer because I'm rambling. 

We rode about 2 hours to the Canadian border, experiencing a couple rain showers during the journey, and ultimately we were allowed back into British Columbia with very little fuss from the border agent, (there's a lot of countries that could learn from this type of efficiency)  From there, it was a pretty uneventful journey, rain, rough road, construction, mud, more rough roads, followed by more rain.  When I say rough, I'm talking about stuff that can destroy a car over a certain speed.  On the bikes we have the luxury of being able to thread the needle thin line between potholes and stand up on the footpegs to help the suspension absorb the larger hits.  I'm pretty sure I've seen at least one oncoming car become airborne during a passing maneuver today.

As we reached Haines Junction in the Yukon, after several more bouts of rain, lightning and and even some hail, we had a change of plans.  Originally we were going to get a tent site at Yukon Motorsports Park outside of Whitehorse,  but with the impending rain, we decided that the minimal upgrade in cost to rent a wall tent, versus a campsite, was likely going to be worth it. So we actually made a reservation ahead of time, I'll try not to make a habit of that, with planning ahead being a personal nemesis of mine.

The last couple hours threaded us around the edges of some rainstorms, and right through the middle of others.  As we came through the town of Whitehorse, we hit the mother of all rain.  A solid heavy downpour, with water flooding across the streets, and just general cruddy conditions that left us soaked (technically speaking, just the outside of our gear was soaked, but it's still not the most pleasant feeling)  but we knew we had a roof and two beds waiting for us at the end, so we pushed on through the deluge. Finally, we reached our destination, finding our reserved wall tent, and then the camp restaurant in short order.

Which brings us back to where I am now, a wonderful meal from the camp restaurant in my belly, a soft bed in a heated wall tent, and raindrops falling on a tin roof overhead.   Proof that even when the weather is bad, life is still pretty good.... really good actually. 

KS