We spent the first quarter of today in Alaska and the remainder in the Yukon Territory. Along the way, we crossed uneventfully into Canada and weren't even asked to give our names or show our passports. Clif and Marty orchestrated a group photo session at the border as you can see below.

This was a day that I had been dreading due to uncertainty about the kinds of roads we would encounter. The Alaska Highway is paved all the way from its start in Canada into Alaska. However, due to "frost heaves" from the freezing and thawing of the tundra, the road is in a constant state of maintenance during the short summer. This usually amounts to first stripping off the heave/hump and then temporarily patching with gravel. The gravel is often loose and if the patch is long it can kick up a lot of dust. Or the highway department will water the gravel to keep the dust down, resulting in a potentially slick surface for motorcycles.

Charlie, Clif, and Tom had been over this stretch their way up and had some amount of trouble with dust and mud. We had much less difficulty on the way back. The traffic was very light and only a couple of RVs and large trucks were in front of us. The Alaska portion was in very good shape. The Canadian stretch had a large number of long and short patches, so many so that it seemed that it would have been cheaper to just mark the good sections. But there was not much dust or mud and the weather once again cooperated. We arrived at the Beez Neez hostel in Whitehorse without incident but with very dirty bikes.

The scenery on this stretch was again very pcituresque. However, the road conditions made it impossible to take your eyes off the road for very long. We also had a lot of clouds which made picture-taking difficult.

We walked around Whitehorse and had dinner. Charlie entertained the citizens by playing his harmonica on Main St. We passed the park where the SS Klondike is housed. It was the last of over 250 sternwheelers that used to ply the Yukon River from Whitehorse. Then it was back to the Beez Neez where we have three bunk beds in one of their bedrooms. A young woman has the sixth bed; that's the way it's done here. An interesting place and I've always wanted to stay at a hostel. (Somebody in the other room just said, "Eh", the first time I've heard that typical Canadian expression since we arrived.)

One of the things that has been surprising has been the lack of bugs. There have been a few mosquitos but nothing of the magnitude that I was led to expect. Perhaps the very dry weather (and fires) this year have mitigated the bug problem.