After a rough night of sleep in my teepee, I finally got out of bed, to face the day.  The group at the end of my road grew as the night went on. There were about 12 bikes and 12 tents placed anywhere the ground was flat. These guys partied until around 3:00am. I got packed up early and headed to Fast Eddies in Tok for some breakfast. There is also a Honda goldwing rally in Whitehorse which is the next town south from Dawson. This restaurant was full of motorcyclist of all types. I sat with a guy named Chris who camped near us the night before. The rest of my crew turned up after a while. When breakfast was finished we all went outside and suited up for the big day. The road from Tok to Dawson is about 180 miles, and crosses the Canadian border. Out of that 180 miles about 110 was rough dirt road. I was a little worried about this but looked forward to facing the challenge with a positive attitude. Once we got onto the dirt the rain begin to fall turning the soil into a slippery mud surface. After about ten minutes of the drizzle we arrived in a VERY small town called Chicken, Alaska. Downtown Chicken consisted of a gift shop, liquor store, bar, and a cafe. We all bought some Chicken stickers and a couple of Chicken souvenirs. After a 30 minute break I was ready to tackle the last 100 miles to Dawson. The road we were on is called the "Top of the World Highway", while only about 3000 feet up you feel like you really are on top of the world. The views all around this area reach for many miles, looking down into valleys. We crossed the border with no problems as usual and carried on. We pulled off the road at a viewing spot to dress in our rain gear as we saw a rain cloud approaching.  And once again putting the rain gear on seems to keep the rain away, so we stopped a little while later to pull it off and release the heat. The temps here are around 80 and very sunny. We stopped once again about ten miles outside of Dawson to relax our hands and legs. When riding in the loose gravel we have to stand on the foot pegs and let the bike "float" underneath you while you apply plenty of throttle to keep the bike pointed straight. Standing in the wind works your arm as you have to keep your weight centered over the bike which is very tiring. We descended into Dawson arriving at a ferry crossing to take us to the town. We boarded the ferry for a 5 minute trip across the river.

 Once in Dawson, I felt like I traveled back in time. This town hasn't changed much since the gold rush days. All the streets are still dirt, and the sidewalks are made of boards. The buildings are original or at least built to resemble the old style of this town. There are about 200 people here on motorcycles similar to ours.  Everyone is here to relax and enjoy each others ccompany.

Tomorrow the main street will be closed and everyone will park their bikes down the sides, and at 12 midnight there will be a photo taken in front of the downtown hotel.

I'm glad to be here in one piece, after a couple of days here, we will begin the journey south. I will be back in Atlanta two weeks from today. I will unpack, shave, shower, and then repack the bike for my trip down to Key West. 

                                                My path to the steam shower

                                                The steam shower oven
                                   I did bump my head on the way out
                                                That's why the duck is here, so you...duck
                                                Pot-ery
                                    The morning after
                                    Downtown Chicken 

                                   Some of the dirt roads

                                   Top of the world?
                                   These orange signs are the only indicator of the pavement ending



                                                City sidewalks