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Yukon, Canada

July 18 Destruction Bay to Sulphur Lake 63 km We were greeted in the morning with a stiff head wind, the locals said the wind would die down at the end of Kluane Lake so we pushed on thinking things would get better. Then we hit the construction zone and it took us over a hour and a half to get through.  This always breaks up the rhythm of the ride.  Back on the road we could have pulled over at Kluane Base Camp but decided to push on because it wasn’t raining. Well we fought the headwind all the way up the passes, finally we made it.  We set up camp and watched a beaver build it’s dam while we ate dinner. We also heard wolves howling in the night.  A nice peaceful place to spend the evening.

July 19 Sulphur Lake to Pine Campground 49 km More head winds with rain and sleet to the point where I felt like I was being pushed backwards, we knew once we were over Bear Summit it would be a nice downhill to Haines Junction, well almost all downhill, it was so cold on the way down I felt like a Popsicle. We found a great bakery in town, had lunch and got on line to check a few things. Earlier in Destruction Bay we had posted to a bike forum that we had completed our second book and were back on the road in Alaska.  You would think that other bike touring cyclists like ourselves would be interested in our book or just plain ignore it.  That is when we saw the nasty posts, we were called shills, freeloaders, our web site was ugly and my blog was boring. Ok not in all one post but in a combination of many. There were a few good ones in there but they were trampled by the trolls. We were really bummed to read all the nasty comments and responded the best we could by apologizing and moving on, we chose not to engage anyone and hoped the whole issue would drop.

July 20 Pine Campground to Rest Area 90 km. The provincial parks in the Yukon are stellar, nice camping areas with a table, cook shelters, and firewood.  We set up camp about 6 km from town and tried to dry everything.  The weather has been wet, windy and miserable. Today however, we had an awesome tailwind and we cruised along, a pleasant change.

July 21 Rest Area to Robert Service Campground, White horse 62 km It was mostly a tailwind today and around town the wind swirled around us, we were in town early enough to stop at the bike shop to pick up some derailleur cable. I popped into walmart, a haven’t seen one in years and that was in China, picked up a few things and set up camp at the Robert Service campground.  It has wireless but our computer is getting old, our wireless is acting up, we get bumped off all the time, Canada is not the place to fix this so we will limp our way down to the lower 48 where things cost less.

July 22 - 24 White horse. I had plans to do some work with the book, online stuff and marketing letter.  Not my favorite thing to do but books don’t sell by themselves. We spent a lot of time in the White Horse Library, and a good thing too because it rained on and off.  Summer does not appear to be coming anytime soon.

While in Whitehorse I started getting back pain that moved from my spine around to my front.  I thought I was just sleeping wrong or not use to sleeping on the ground. I also felt run down but that is a bit normal when getting in shape again. So I thought

July 25 Whitehorse to Wolf Creek Campground 17 km. Being fully loaded slowed us down and we got out of town late.  Again the weather didn’t help much, it was raining again so when we saw Wolf Creek we stayed the night and once again pitched the tent in the rain and made dinner in the cook shelter.  Really nice place.  I collected wood from a number of places and must have gotten a spider bite on my back because I had a few bumps on the lower left side of my back.

July 26 Wolf Creek Campground to Squanga Lake Campground 94 km.  We stopped near swan lake to have lunch and when Tim stepped around a tree to go to the bathroom I went back to my bike to put some food away.  When I did I about came face to face with a large black bear, he was so close that I could see the whites of his eyes. I yelled to Tim, so much for being calm, Tim Tim a bear. Calm cool collected Tim, immediately said to me, everything will be all right calm down.  By this time the bear was off in another direction.  I try to stay alert for bears but they seem to take me by surprise every time.

Boy did I feel tired at the end of the day.

July 27 Squanga Lake Campground to Teslin Lake Campground 59 km. Augghh!  the head winds were tough and the rain showers were relentless, we had to choice but to push on.  Luckily we made it to Teslin Lake Campground and made a fire in the cook shelter.  I was so worn out I took a nap.  I am beginning to think that something is wrong with me. I had Tim take a photo of my back and show me. When I saw it I realized that I did not have spider bits but something else.  Then I remembered my little sister Darlene telling me that she had shingles.

We rode on into Teslin.

July 28 Teslin Lake Campground to Teslin 17 km. We arrived in Teslin and went to the restaurant and used their free wifi to look up shingles, I saw the photos and knew that is what I had.  Luckily Teslin had a medic center and I went there before they closed.  I had to pay for treatment up front first, to see the doctor I had to pay $450 CN, yikes, I am back in North America, it is much more reasonable in Australia and New Zealand. whow.  But there are some things that are worth money and that is my health.  The doctor confirmed that I had shingles and prescribed an anti viral  and hydrocortisone cream.

We met Stu and Kathy and their granddaughter at the campground, when they found out that we were going the same way they offered us a ride. Wow, I never thought about getting a ride, I tossed and turned about whether or not to take the ride and then I realized that we do not have any reason not to. We knew it would save us three days of head winds and we could stretch our food longer.

July 29 Teslin to Junction 37 turnoff - 240 km.  We were not a pedalin today.  Kathy and Stu loaded us up quite easily and we were down the road in style.  It was certainly a different perspective of the road, enjoyable to.  We were dropped off at Junction 37 and stayed at the campground.  Tim fell asleep in the front seat as the wipers cleared the rain from the windshield

British Colombia, Canada

July 30 Junction 37 to Beaver Dam Rest Area 78 km.  We woke to a sunny day and took our time packing, I could not resist the nice weather and decided to ride rather than rest another day. The day turned into a challenge with headwinds and rain storms.  But hey I did get to ride.  I was nervous for a while, I know that shingles can be really serious and painful.

July 31 Beaver Dam Rest Area to Simmons Lake 61 km. Ok, riding was hard today, climbing is harder and slower than usual.  For me it was the worst day on the bike.  The thing that kept me going was the scenery.  We stopped at Jade City free coffee and continued on to Simmons lake.

Aug. 1 Simmons Lake to Rapid Grizzly Rest Area. 75 km. Bears don’t shit in the woods they shit in the road.  We saw a huge pile of fresh bear dung on the road into our camp site. Yikes, it sent chills down my spine.  Not a kilometer away we smelt an awful dead animal smell and later learned that a semi carrying fish went off the road there. Great a bear magnet right next to our camp site.

Note from Tim:  Cindie has been too sick to write her journal because her shingles has progressed to a painful state.  She plans to continue writing in the future when she feels better.

Camping at 24 mile rest area on Alaska 2, oh yeah it is raining. A fox we saw on the side of the road.