Summary of Trip

It's hard to summarize a trip like this.  It was 15 years of wanting to ride up the 'Haul Road' and go to Alaska.  It's surreal that I actually took the trip and completed it.

0 bike drops.  :) The bike was NEVER horizontal.  Not even a 0 MPH drop.  There were times in the mud on the Dalton I thought it would happen but it just didn't.

Alaska is too big and beautiful to do in the time I was there for. However I was there to ride the roads, and that's what I did.  I saw some beautiful sites, met some interesting people and took alot of pictures. I also pushed myself further then I ever had being sick and being on the Dalton. 

I've been asked multiple times if I would go back. Hell Yes!!  In a Van Camper next time though.  At themoment I have no interest in doing any long distance trips on a bike again, after time I'm sure I'll forget the pain and romanticise the good stuff again.

This bike has taken a beaten with the trans lab trip and now this trip.  I'd give it 2 thumbs up.  I can't say enough about it's reliability. If only it was a shaft drive bike it would be hands down the perfect bike.

Day 18: Ypsilanti MI to North Grafton Ma

710 miles (google again)

Woke up and was on the road beefore 9 am. 8:45 is still before 9 am. Crossed the border into Canada by following the signs too "bridge to us" which isn't really the way I wanted to go. I did stop at duty free for gas. Canadian Border guard had a slew of questions. I admitted to her I had bear spray. She asked if it said Bear spray on it and I said yes, and has the proper EPA number also. She gave a look like she had no idea what I was talking about and said ok, have a nice day.

The drive across southern Ontario is pretty boring, Not much to see, not much to do other then just drive. I love the signs that tell you how much the speeding fine is. I was in the 95-180 dollar range the whole time.

Stopped along the way at a gas station/convenience store and got some coffee. They also had the cleanest public bathroom that I had seen the whole trip. Little things matter. At this point I was in alot of pain, EVERYTHING hurt. I just kept pushing along. Eventually I stopped for gas and lunch, had to talk to the credit card people to let them know yes, that was me every 2 hours putting gas in my bike.

I headed for the border and snapped this picture of the falls from the bridge.



I then pulled up the the US border. He started to ask the regular questions then started to ask about my crossings. He questioned AlCan? I said, the Alaska Canada highway, then told him everywhere else I crossed. He looked at me funny and asked where I was going to stay tonight. I told him I was going home. He smiled and said have a nice day.

Whew, 2 crossings no hold ups, that's what I needed. I hit Rt 90 and just did 75 with traffic the entire way. Stopped for gas in Ma at the Lee service center. This meant I had not much m ore then an hour to get home. My legs were swollen, my butt hurt, my wrist hurt you name it, it hurt.

9:15 p.m. I rolled into the garage, grabbed my toiletries and jumped into a hot shower.

Day 17: Bloomington MN to Ypsilanti MI

663 miles according to Google.

being I was up late the night before because of all the fiasco's I didn't get up that early.  I  headed out in what looked to be rain but it turned out to be pretty warm.  Leaving Bloomington some really fat guy in a tricked out Avalanche tried to hit me with his truck.  It was on purpose, he was waving his finger at me as to say "don't change lanes in front of me".  Well it was time to show this Minnesota drivers how we do it in Boston.  :)  He backed off...

Next up was the ride through wonderful Chicago.  It's funny they just can't seem to finish a road there. Reminds me of 95 through CT in the 80's.  I followed Mark M's advice to drop down to rt 80 and go across to 94.  This was ok, I guess. I hit traffic around Joliet.It was hot and I was dehydrating quickly.  Evenutally I made it through all the traffic and entered Michigan. I stopped and got some gatorade. 

I love the Michigan State Trooper cars. That large red light on the roof is straight out of an old movie.

Eventually I made it to Katherine and Michael's house.  The garage was open and I dismounted.  We chatted then ordered some pizza.  After eating I headed out to find out what the noise I was hearing was.  Katherine pointed out it was most likely the chain and we looked closer at it. It had a few kinks in it and was pretty much done.  We cleaned it, lubed it and hoped for the best.

Off to sleep I went, hell bent on being home on Saturday.  No pictures were taken today. There was nothing of interest to see other then slogging it on the highway.

Day 16: Regina SK to Bloomington MN

@750 miles

The day started early but somehow I didn't get out early. For some reason on the bike in the morning and the early afternoon I have to fight for every mile. I get groggy, I get lots of pain. Then sometime around 4 p.m. I get my wind and start cranking miles. I can't quite figure it out.

As I was headed towards the border I was running on the outskirts of a nasty looking cell. It sprinkled a bit but I could see the rain in there. Luckily I stayed on the outskirts of it.

<insert picture> they won't upload right now for some reason.


From there I headed to the border. I got asked all the usual questions and had all the usual answers. Other then the dude in the box seemed crabby it was going just like every other border crossing. He asked me to pull the bike over to the inspection area. Really?

He has me open all my bags, he looks in, touches some stuff and hands me my passport. He then says, your all set after you head to the garage. Really? So I head into the garage where 3 CBP's were standing by their mobile x-ray machine. I get asked the same questions and if I can pull all the stuff off the bike. I tell them the hard bags do come off but are a royal pain in the ass. They have me pull everything else. Xray them, then open them to look. I was upset they didn't open the plastic bag that has my dirty underwear.

Quote of the day:

CBP in the garage "Where are you headed today"
Me "I was hoping for Minneapolis but now I'm having all my stuff searched so who knows how far I willl go"

From there it was the rolling prairie of North Dakota, but it got real HOT. My feet were on fire so I switched from my Sidi boots to the hiking boots I have with me, took off my fleece and then kept riding. The scenary is much different but the speed limits are 110 kmph

<insert prairie pic>



Passed through Fargo then called ahead to get a room in Minneapolis. I was making pretty good time until the bumper to bumper traffic outside of MN/SP. I then go to check in. I ask if they have a luggage cart and am told they didn't know where they were.

5 minutes later a women with 5 kids comes walking out with one to load her luggage. I asked where she got it and she told me the people inside got it for her. Hmm.

My key wasn't working in my room, but I got it to open once. Put half my stuff in and never got back in again. Thelock was screwed. They had to use a gizmo to open the door for me to get my stuff. I got moved rooms. Then realized I could not find my key. I searched and searched. still no key.

Went to dinner came back showered, then check my helmet sure enough in the ear pocket is the key to the bike. I have 2 spare sets but still.

Tomorrow I'm going to hope to make it through chicago then head for the Northern (throughOntario) route.

In Michigan.. Will report tomorrow

Not much to say other then sitting in Friday night Chicago rush hour traffic in the heat really sucks.

Got I to ypsilant Mi (Ann arbor) at 10:15.

Chain is kinked but it should make it home. Hopefully. Going to try and be in the road before 9 tomorrow. Got 700+ miles to go. Heading through southern Ontario.

Not sure if I Took any pictures today..

Anyone want to rub my butt? Its pretty sore. I may throw on the sheepskin seat cover tomorrow.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Day 15: Edmonton AB to Regina SK

485 miles (google again)

Woke up not early and by the time I headed downstairs the coffee was gone. For some reason I have an aversion to the coffee maker in the room.  I packed up and hit the road.  I just wasn't feeling it from the beginning and was sleepy from the get go.  Of course this was the morning that a guy in a white pick up truck merged onto the highway and decided he liked my yellow bike so much he wanted the paint on his pick up truck. Luckily I saw what he was going to do and hit my horn which did nothing.  I hit the brakes, gave him the lane.  He looked back and waved like everything was peachy.

After that, I pulled into a Tim Hortons and got a coffee and bagel.  Back on the road and I pulled into the "border town" LloydMinster AB/SK.

I grabbed a shot of the signs which was basically me stopping in the middle of an intersection.






When pulling away I heard a noise coming from the bike when starting.  I pulled over to check it out and coulldn't find anything.  I then stopped at the info center took off the helmet to listen.  It sounded like it was coming from the chain.

I unpacked the bike, put it on the center stand and looked at it. Nothing looked wrong, maybe it had picked up a bunch of dirt along the way.  did a full chain clean/lube and the noise I was hearing went away.

The views have definately changed along the way.







So I then took off. What I neglected to do was get gas in Lloyd Minster.  With the highway speeds my gas mileage was lower and yep, I ran out of gas 8 km before the Battlefords.  So there I was on the side of the road out of gas, so I opened up my Primus bottles and put in 2 liters of fuel.



Got to north Battleford gassed up and hit the road again.  Droned on into Regina and wound up downtown.  Started to head out of town then found the Comfort Inn on the way out.  The sky was looking like I was running into the storms so I just stopped. I'm going to bed early and hopefully gettig up early. :)

Tomorrow I'm going to try for Minneapolis. Who knows if I'll make it or not.  Weather says, rain in the morning.

Day 14: Ft Nelson to Edmonton

648 miles according to Google.

I need to stop trying too remember things when I'm exhausted I forget some funny tidbits.

For instance: while eating lunch in Tok there was an elderly couple and their middle aged son eating lunch. It was father's day so this was their big meal. They were serious Holy Rollers. Which is fine, but the son was talking all sorts of propoganda and craziness. He kept references the "newsletters" he go from all over the place. At one point they were talking about divorce and how everyone was going to hell and how the kids would need to be raised by the village. i.e. It takes a village. The mother without missing a beat responded with the quote of that day. "If the villiage raises the children they could turn out to be Atheists"

I just noted it as the quote of the day.

Anyway, I woke up this morning not wanting to look out the window because it was supposed to rain. I finally looked out and it hadn't rained yet, so I packed the bike up real quick and went for my continental breakfast. I did my morning check to see what is hanging off the bike and then headed for gas. My motivation was pretty low.

I got to the end of the Alaska Highway and of course had to take some pictures.




As I started driving I didn't realize I wasgoing to lose an hour on another time change. This meant I had a really late start. After a while it started to rain and I could see some thunderstorms ahead. I was wearing leather gloves so I pulled over to put my covers on. Sure enough as soon aas I did it stopped raining. Stopped for lunch in Grand Prairie. I had no idea it was that big of a town.





As I approached ValleyView I saw some real NASTY clouds, a rain bow, some lightning and could see the rain ahead. Luckily that is where the road heads south. Which is good because there was some severe storms out there today. For once I wasn't in them.

I didn't take that many pictures but I made it to edmonton. I learned my lesson and called ahead for a room. It was mine and I was good for a late check in. Went to Denny's for dinner and got chicken fingers. Dennys had BEER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I didn't realize it until halfway through. Good think I like Canadian.... eh!

Not sure where I'm heading to tomorrow. It's going to be an audible because of the weather. I have to make a decision in Saskatoon whether to head towards the Manitoba line or head south to cross the border into North Dakota maybe to Minot if the day is going well. If the weather is bad and I run into storms I'll just pull up then.


Quote of tonight over heard at Dennys. Two guys, lets say not the coolest guys in the world were talking. They were obvious friends from back in Vancouver that were both in edmonton now. One was bilking the Canadian govt to pay for his school and getting H Money (not sure what that is). The other guy was in town because of work. He was doing something selling to the oil workers. Mr. Sponge off the govt said that oil would be done in 10-20 years so he should keep that in mind. His friend threw out this zinger. "It may be done for cars, but we will have more space ships then" Ohhh he was serious. His friend took a second and told him they use other gases for that not gasoline.

btw, It gets dark here. Ohhhh how nice it is to see night.

Day 13: Teslin YT to Ft. Nelson BC

@490 miles

I "woke up" well, I never really fell asleep.   I gassed up, had some coffee then went about seeing what I could do about a bolt that had disappeared.



Didn't find what I needed but put a smaller bolt there to help hold things.  I then proceeded to Watson lake.  I found the M8 bolt I needed then got lunch.  I'm basically asleep  at this point.  After Lunch I then went for gas. I ran into Brian who I talked to in Dawson City so we decide to head towards Muncho lake or ft. Nelson together.  I take the lead then have to pull over because I'm nodding off.

Brian takes the lead and that works for a while. I was fine.  Eventually he pulls over to stretch and says he's going to be a 1/2 hour or so, so I said goodbye and headed to Muncho lake.  Now the Alcan has been beautiful and I actually saw 2 bears on the side of the road.  Along with a Buffalo heard.



Got to Muncho lake and let me tell you it is gorgeous. I almost stayed at the Lodge. It had great views, but I decided to move on.




I eventually made it to Ft Nelson and went to the Super 8. Well this place wasn't cheap.  Boston Pizza was in the parking lot, so again I went there .  Kind of a shame but they have Canadian on tap.

I'm nodding off while typing it, so its time to sleep like a dead person.

Tomorrow I'm hoping to make it to Edmonton

Day 12: Fairbanks to Teslin YT

@700 miles

I awoke to rain.  Ohh boy!  I got a late start but headed out in it hoping I would ride out of the rain.  by the time I got to Tok it had stopped.  I wasn't taking as many pictures as I was just riding.

Before arrivingin Tok, I nearly crashed getting on the breaks so hard. I had finally found where the Creepy Old Boat Goat came from. (for those that know what I'm talking about).  For years we thought it was the Planet Mukluk, but it turns out he's really from Mukluk Land.  Of course it was closed.



I arrived in Tok and got lunch at the Grizzly cafe.  Afterwards it was time to get get and I ran into this couple from Germany 2 -up on an old BMW.




After Tok I headed for the border.



Also got a picture of how big the Mosquito's are here.



From there the Canandian side of the Alcan is gorgeous. One of the prettiest places I've seen on thewhole trip.








From there I was pushing into Whitehorse. I could not find a room anywhere. Eventually I decided to try my luck out in Teslin. In my haste I did not gas up there.  By the time I got to Teslin, EVERYTHING waas closed.  I was out of gas (not really but 75 milesoff aux fuel wasn't going to fix my problem).  I wound up back at the Yukon campground which is right next to a Rest area.  I set up my tent and tried to go to sleep. It didn't work.

I was upset as I was going to keep on going at this point I was going to make it to Watson Lake.

Day 11: Fairbanks to No where

I didnt sleep as late as I wanted so I got up, put the laundry in the washer and set about putting the pictures together for posting.  I did that, then headed out for lunch and then a movie.

Saw the A-team, got some good BBQ at Tubbies and that was pretty much it.  Looked for a verizon store but one does not exist in Fairbanks.

Tomorrow I head south east.  I'm stopping in North Pole to take some pictures so you all better be nice or I'll tell Santa.  I'd love to get to Whitehorse which is 720 miles away but I doubt I will.

I have a change in plans. I'm nixing the across Canada return and I'm going to head through glacier Nation park then highway it home.

Felt weird not to be on a bike today.

Day 10: Wiseman to Fairbanks

So, not all that much to say. I went to sleep at the Boreal Lodge and woke up. I packed the bike fully intending to get breakfast and coffee.



As I came to the intersecction of Wiseman road and the Dalton.  Sure enough there was the pilot car. What luck I thought.  I follow the truck through the construction and so far so good. This was miserable the day beforre so I'm all smiles. Then we get to a section with fresh mud.  The pilot truck almost gets stuck. This stuff has 10-12 inch ruts.  I started to go and I saw the Pilot car drivers face saying uh oh.  I jostled, slide bucked, slid paddles and somehow made it through.

However when I got there I got annoyed by a guy from texas in a camper
that just would not leave the gas pump.  So I got gas and just left.  I
figured I'd eat lunch at the Hotspot again.

After Cold foot I just kept driving the Dalton and then saw the "oversize" truck at Beaver Slide. I pulled into the pull off for this one. This truck was heavy and wide and working it's way down the hill.







Then I headed by the Arctic Circle.  I figured I'd take pictures of the signs leading to it. :)





After that I was just keeping a lookout for the Aerostich tour guys. I figured with 18 of them they were going to have an interesting time.  I stopped for lunch at the Hotspot again and heard from a trucker that they were all at thte Yukon River Crossing.  I stopped in for gaas after my meal and had missed most of the guys I had talked to. The people there had said they took off already. All of them were interested in the condition of the road, considering my bike was chock full of mud and theirs were still clean.  The weather was great and the road was in great shape. They had it easy that day.  I also told the people that were still there to take their time. They had all day to get to Coldfoot and there was nothing to do in Coldfoot ayway.

I said goodbye and headed over the bridge to the end of the Dalton.



So there is the end of the dirt.  I got back to the sign and had to pay homage to Mr. Dalton. The road itself wasn't the toughest I've been on, but with everything it throws at you its really no joke.



Then I had to show how happy I really was to be off the road.



From there the ride down he Eliot and Steese Highways to Fairbanks was uneventful.  I pulled into the hospital to get my eye checked out. I really didn't want to get caught in Canada needing medical attention.  I got a prescription for eye drops and Nasonex.  Turns out my insurance didn't want to pay for the Nasonex.

I then headed over to Adventure Cycleworks to get my tires done.  Dan and Shawn are great guys and we decided I'd be better off with more street tires then the K60's.  So I'm now runnying Heidenau K76's for the slog home.  I'm good with that as the vibrations will be less.  we changed my oil and check my bearings and deglazed the brake pads.



I had noticed my bags were a bit tweaked but I didn't see why.  While it was up on the lift Shawn saw the mounting on the racks had busted.  right at the weld.



Well F*&% what do I do now.  Turns out Dan is a welder and was able to weld it back up for me.



From there it was past 11 so I hit the 24 hour Mcdonalds drive through and got some good to go. I needed a shower bad so I was heading for the room.  I started to nod off immediately and went to bed.

Day 9: Wiseman to Deadhorse to Wiseman

Mileage= @500 miles felt like 2000.

I woke up in June's bunkhouse having slept for 9+ hours. I'm normally good to go on 6 hours so I must have been knocked out.  I ate a powerbar and then made myself some coffee.  I then packed the bike and headed out towards Deadhorse.  I still don't feel anybetter, but for once in my life I can't be a big baby and just go to bed.






When I get out to the bike I realize my GPS is jacked up.  The top screen layer has bubbled and it was making it go into fits.  i've been slowing peeling it off and it seems to actually work now.




Wiseman is a beautiful surreal place. I didn't take as many pictures as I wanted, I knew I had a long day ahead of me and time was of the essence. I did stop while pulling out of town to get a shot of the river.  This is mining country so everywhere has basically been dredged.



So I headed up the road.  Luckily i only had to wait 5 minutes for a Pilot car to come through. Wiseman is smack dab in the middle of a 22 mile construction zone.  Depending on the time of day depends on if it can be passable or fine.  Luckily this morning most of it is packed down and the mud is down to a minimum.  I head north on the Dalton and get used to the vibrations of the road again. I happen upon a bicyclist on the road and slow down to see if he was alright. Now these guys are nuts. He waved that he was fine but I noticed a clanking coming from my bike.  I slowed down and noticed my light bar was smacking off my fairing.  Really, this thing didn't even make it half way up he Dalton.  Mental note to contact Twisted Throttle to see if they will replace it.

So I took out the good old zip ties and zip tied it to the fairing.  And headed out.






onward I started heading towards the Brooks range. If people get turned around it's usually here because of the weather going up into the mountain.  This range is more beautiful then you could imagine.




As you continue to drive into the Brooks range it is time for the Forest to End



and the Tundra to begin



The weather was iffy at the moment but not that much rain.  Some sections of the road were slick but for the most part once entering into the Brooks range there was more gravel mixed in.  As I keep heading north it was time to get to the dreaded Atigun Pass. (just watch ice road truckers for the full hype).  It's a big mountain pass with some guardrails. The inclines/declines are pretty big so I can see where a truck would have issue with it.





After Atigun pass you find yourself in the valley of the Brooks Range. It's beautiful, but of course there had to be construction. This stuff was pure mud.  The bike was all over the place and I was just waiting for the front to go on me and I would go boom.  Somehow, I was able to stay on the wheels and kept going.  Not far out of the  construction I stopped and took these pictures.





As you go further away from the Brooks range you go out into the full blown tundra. It's weird. It's all green but you know it's surface plants and they are on top of permafrost.



It was around here that someone thought a good road surface would be baseball sized rocks. 



Unfortunately the old saying go faster it will smooth out only went so far on this section.  However, it was better then mud so I  wasn't complaining.  Eventually the road turned to gravel with HUGE troughs and gravel peaks between them.  A few times my front caught the peaks and the bike went into fits. Then came the Caribou.  Now, these have to be some of the dumbest animals I have ever seen. I was careful with them, but man, some would hear me coming get scared, run 3 steps away from the road, turn around and run across the road and keep running.  Speaking of animals the arctic squirrels are hilarious. They love to dart out on you.  However it became a game. They make this squaking noise sometimes, if it made the noise as it was running for it's life that was a +1.  If it didn't then it was a -1.  I actually lost count when I hit some bad road.



So I kept heading north. About 50 miles south of Deadhorse there was this cloud looming. It looked nasty.  I was tired, not feeling well and to be honest if I had the gas to turn around I would have. However, I had no choice. I would never make it back to Coldfoot even with the extra gas I was carrying. I knew there was a turn around point and I was well past it. 

The temperature plummeted into the 30's and then the wind picked up. I'd say it was blowing about 20 mph.  As I approached Deadhorse they started with the road again. The graders were out and the trucks were dumping tons and tons of gravel/dirt onto the road.  Damn you Mr. Dalton you are testing me at this point.  Again the bike goes into fits in this deep loose stuff but I somehow make it through it.  I pull into town and look for the one gas pump that is open to the public. Now when I say town that is a big over statement. This is the most industrial place I have ever seen. Everything is metal and square and it's only purpose in life is to get the oil out of the ground and into the pipeline.

I find the gas, then hide out in the pay area of the pump.  I'm a bit concerned as they took a $400 hold on the credit card when getting gas, and as of writing this the hold is still there.  From there I headed to the NAPA/General store. 





So basically think of being sick and going outside on a winter day when the wind is blowing. This is how my day is going so far. It's in the 30's in Deadhorse windy and I'm miserable.  But, I made it :)  I tried to find out if I could trade my bike for a truck, find a trucker that would haul me back to Fairbanks. I could find no takers.  Most of the people up there were in awe of seeing a bike make that trip. 

Funny anecdote:  The lady working the store asked me what bike I rode in on. I told her a Suzuki Vstrom.  Her response was, "Seems like only the Suzuki's actually make it here"  hehehehe

So I leave the store and head to the Arctic Caribou Inn where my tour will be leaving in a few hours. I wanted to sit down, get warm, get something to eat and make some phone calls.  I arrived at the luxurious ACI.  Actually it wasn't that bad.



I went inside and bought a PB&J, a pepsi and a cookie.  Even the chocolate chip cookie wasn't making me feel any better.  I talked to my sister and contemplated not doing the tour and seeing if I could stay there that night. They are super expensive and I'd still have to pay for the room I had in Wiseman. That would turn into a 300 night for lodging.  My sister kind of talked me into bucking up and taking the tour. Thankfully she did, as miserable as I felt she was right. I would have been pissed at myself if I had given up.

So off on the tour. Of course it starts late  because some people on the tour got a flat outside of Deadhorse.

Here are the pictures from the tour.









Then we headed for East Dock and the Ocean.  Well, it's Prudhoe Bay which is part of Barrows somethin which is part of something else which is the Arctic Ocean.  I wish someone told me that before I came all this way. I could have say Goose Bay was the Arctic Ocean.

I got out of the tour bus for a whole 3 minutes.  I took the pictures and then went back tot he bus. the wind was blowing and there was nothing to do. I originally was going to jump in, but no way I was doing that now. 







On the way back to the Inn, the driver  and all the other tour people got very excited about this duck.  It's some special duck that normally flies away.  I figured why the hell not take a picture. The Pretty one is the male.



So I'm now back at the ACI and it's time to head south It's 8 p.m. and I'm starting out for a 5-6 hour drive an hour late.  I forgot to mention my eye. While in Deadhorse I noticed my right eye had swollen up something fierce.  I sure as hell wasn't staying in Deadhorse.  So I packed up and hit the road.



Of course the road still as horrible leaving Deadhorse the wind was still blowing and I just wanted out of town. I was hoping the weather got better more inland and I would eventually get to the line of the cloud and it would be nice again.

For some reason when a truck was coming I went too far into the shoulder.  This was the worst fit the bike had been in on the trip.  It was wallowing and every time the rear would kick out I was whackin the trottle trying to bring it under control and get it back on some harder stuff.  At one point I tucked my knees and my elbows in accepting the fact I was was about to crash.  I decided to not give up, and kept working at it.  I got it back and now the adrenaline rush had me wide awake and not thinking about my eye, my nose or my new cough.

I ran out of the miserableness and started into the tundra and backt o the Brooks Range. The construction was no longer going on, but the road was still very soft and muddy.  As I got into the brooks range I stopped to chill for a minute and took these (which I think are some of the best so far) pictures.







Mind you these were taken @midnight.

From there I headed up Atigun pass which at this point was muck because it had rained there. As I slid sideways down the back side of the pass at one point I just said outloud. "Ok, Mr. Dalton, I have a black eye, feel like sh*t and you threw everything at me. I admit it, you win, you kicked my ass."

Amazingly, the clouds went away and the rest of the trip to Wiseman was uneventful.  Except for missing what could have been the best picture to date.  I round a turn and come to list little lake with a mountain in the background.  Standing in front of the lake is this Cow Moose with the mountain and sky reflecting off the water.  I was going too turn around but it was past 1 a.m. I had been on the road since 7:30 and I needed to crash.

Pulled into the Boreal Lodge and hit the hay.