24 May 2016: Cold, Wet and Miserable

T – We crawled out of the tent into a very chilly morning. Though there was some blue sky around, so fingers crossed that it would clear up today!

We hit the road reasonably early having both had a pretty decent night's sleep. Today we had no idea as to where we might end up. There was a few km’s to go before we hit the border so we figured we might get somewhere close to that.

Being as there is no back road options up here we were resigned to the highway. Also we knew that because of the longer distances between towns that we were more likely to just knock a few  long km days out until we got to Anchorage.

The road wound down and down from where we had camped. We played leap frog with 3 or 4 caravanners all day today. Stopping behind them on the road when they spotted a bear eating grass on the verge.

Then we hit a beautiful lake. The hills around it almost devoid of vegetation. It was quite stunning and such a sharp contrast to snow covered mountains that had become a part of our daily travels. It was here that a couple heading south on a XT660Z Tenere passed us. I stopped on the shoulder, kind of hoping they might stop to say hello. But they waved cheerily and kept on motoring. I miss my Tenere some days.

C – As we moved further into the Yukon, the scenery changed to a more arid landscape. It was amazing to see the transformation, as we could still see a snow capped mountain range in the distance. I loved the bareness of the landscape – incredible!

T – The temperature by now had dropped and we were both shaking  from the cold. We were wearing everything we owned but that wind was forcing its way in every little gap. Then came the kicker. Rain. That was the final straw for Mabel who cut out almost immediately. There was barely even a wet sheen on the ground Mabel. What are you doing????

C – We were both begging Mabel to keep going until we could find somewhere to give her a thorough going over. There was about 46km of road works along this stretch so it was difficult to find somewhere to get off of the road. We were both feeling a bit miserable and then after a sudden realisation that we were riding postie bikes to Alaska and all was well with the world again!

T – We limped along through some road works before finally coming to a Yukon State run camp. We decided to stop here tonight so I could finally sort Mabel out and because we knew that there was firewood supplied at these camps.

I set up camp while Chantelle got the fire roaring and under drizzling rain stripped Mabel down. I had figured the water was being sucked into the top of the carby where the throttle cable entered through a rubber sleeve. The sleeve was warped and the water pooled around it made me suspect that was Mabel's issue. One of them anyway! I also checked her wires for shorts but found none and so squirted some WD40 into her plugs and rewrapped the wiring loom in cloth tape. Then I fashioned a little umbrella for the top of her carb to hopefully stop the water getting in there. I shall call it a Carbarella.

C – Todds imaginative design had us laughing in front of the fire whilst making up new words to that song Umbrella ‘under her carberella, ella ella, ehh ehh’.

Then it was dinner time and bed. We were exhausted, wet and cold and it was time to bury down in the sleeping bags and sleep.

Tomorrow we shall cross the border proper into Alaska!