The Good Samaritan and other surprises

In the vastness of this country, and the length of this endeavor time seems to now have lost all meaning. After the spectacular ride through the ice fields and glaciers of British Columbia, and not having had access to the internet for the last couple of days, it will be hard to recount the events. But here we go.

The ride out of Jasper seemed almost a let down after the spectacular glaciers I had seen before. The landscape was beautiful, but everything seemed just peaceful and nice. Still, I did travel with a sense of awe. It took me a bit to leave the town, since I decided to stop for breakfast, and then had to wait some more time for banks to open and exchange some dollars into loonies. I also took the opportunity to buy some glove liners since the hand warmers on my steering bar only takes care of my palms, but the back of my hands still get quite cold.

So off I was heading to Charlie Lake for the night. Between Jasper and my destination, actually 60 miles south of it, is Dawson Creek. While the name is of significance, to a certain extent, to my wife Sandra, and my daughter Adelina because of a TV series of the same name they used to watch, the real importance for this trip is that this is the beginning of the Alaska-Canada highway or the the Alkan. From there, it is 1,500 kilometers, or 1,000 miles, to Fairbanks, Alaska.

The Good Samaritan and other surprises

After stopping for the for the required photographic documentation, I proceeded North, towards Taylor, Fort St John, and hoping for, Charlie Lake. However, just 10 miles North of Dawson, I noticed this couple and their BMW on the side of the road. I slowed down and they signaled they were in trouble. I stopped to see how I could help, even though my mechanical skills are very limited. Chris and Amanda were looking at they bike, which was still running. It was leaking from under the engine. The oil seemed low, so we proceeded to turn it off. As it turned out, they have the same bike I do, and upon a lot of examination, Chris was able to diagnose that the problem stemmed from a leaking seal that was ‘repaired’ by a BMW dealer in Calgary. With no Beamer repair shops in the area, this is a big deal. Wanna make it a bigger deal? Chris and Amanda are traveling around the world, and having departed from England, crossing Canada was their first goal. So I lend them my phone so they could call road side assistance, but they had to spend over an hour with their insurance to finally figure out that shipping the bike to Calgary or Edmonton was not a real solution. But here is where the real Samaritan story starts.

I had been told that if you are in trouble on the Alkan you should put your helmet by the road side. This is THE signal for trouble. Over the next 20 minutes, at least a dozen bikers rode by and waved at us. So much for signals. I proceeded to take my bright yellow jacket and placed it on the helmet. This did generate some attention and a guy in a red pick-up truck pulled over. His name was Curtis, and within minutes he had called all BMW dealers in the area, and gotten a tow truck over. After arranging for the broken beamer to be towed to Fort Saint John, he proceeded to invite Curtis, Amanda, and me, over to his house for steak and beers, and offering me his back yard to camp in. Oh, yes; he had not checked with his wife either.

I followed Curtis to his house, where I met his daughters, and unloaded my stuff. We went to the grocery store, and he got steaks for everyone. From there we picked Chris and Amanda up, and we all headed to Curtis’ house. We spent a great evening in conversation, enjoying wonderful steaks cooked over the grill with BBQ sauce. Curtis’ wife and his children were as gracious as he is, and I ended up sleeping in his RV.

Yesterday morning, Curtis saw me off after preparing breakfast for me, as well as a good cup of coffee. I asked him over breakfast where he thought his wonderful generosity came from. He said that he is not a church going person, but that it is just in him to help people. What an awesome example to live by. Curtis, you will not be forgotten any time soon, and I truly hope you find yourself in Texas soon.

My ride yesterday was more or less much of the same, landscape wise, as the day before. Well that is, until I reached Muncho Lake. This lake seems like a gigantic gemstone, perfectly polished, and dropped by the side of the road. If I would have been riding on the opposite direction I would have been able to dip the tip of my right boot into it. I must say that all this beauty makes evokes for me the glory of the train of God’s robe, where mountains and trees are folds and green gemstones, with lakes and rivers being the encrusted jewels. This is all enhanced, curiously enough, by patches of pines infested by bark beetles, which create a patten of orange geometries.

Of notice along the way have been the numbers of bears, moose, and bison. However, of particular notice was the crow that tried to play chicken of the road with me, thinking that I would flinch as he decided to swoop down the middle of the road, to grab a tasty, rotten morsel. Sorry to say the crow lost.

I arrived in Liard’s Hot Springs regional park, where I met four other motorbikers who are also on the way to Alaska. They came from Arkansas, Atlanta, Virginia and Minnesota. We spent quite a few hours exchanging motorbikers stories by the fire and having great fellowship.

Yesterday was another beautiful day. The roads started improving quite a bit, with the exception of a few patch of gravel (several miles long) which were quite doable, but sealed my determination not to do the Dalton Highway to the Arctic Circle and head west instead to Anchor Point and Homer. Shortly after leaving Liard’s Hot Springs, I encountered a herd of bison just chillin’ on the side of the road. The main bull did keep a watchful eye on me while the rest seemed to be contempt with him doing the security detail. A bit further on I did catch another bison though that seemed to be sick or dead.

Late in the afternoon I arrived at the Karibou RV park, just South of Whitehorse, where I decided to spend the night. Next to me was a Canadian guy who was on his way back from the Dust to Dawson on a great looking Super Tenere.

We spent quite a few hours talking, covering family and family challenges, health care, and, most importantly learning about churches in the USA and in Canada. Most interesting to me was his statement that many black people attend white churches (they are integrated) but no white people generally attend black churches..

After 10 days on the road, I am stating to feel a bit fatigued, emotionally and physically. It feels like I need more rest every day. I look forward to arriving in Fairbanks, and resting there for a couple of days.