Old Friends and New Friends.  We have met so many people on this trip so far that we will probably do a post dedicated just to them. But for now we will mention John and Mark, who were the cool guys on Bruce Gordon's we met north of Skagway (Editor: see later post). 
They both live at Juneau, a place that Sarah had expressed an interest in visiting. The capital of Alaska with a population of over 30,000, there are no roads to it - you must fly or boat in. That is interesting in itself. So we used the marine ferry system to leave Haines (Boo-hoo) and stopped off at Juneau to take up John's offer of hospitality at his home with his wife, Steph.
The ferry is some 12 miles from Juneau. People had spoken of Juneau as an 'urban, concrete mess', but au contraire! (Editor: those people should visit Manchester. And you shouldn't use french phrases).

We quickly met Steph, and felt immediately at home.So when she said "Do you fancy a hike this morning?" we were lulled into saying yes. We even looked out of their window at Mt Juneau, our goal. Well, it is over 3500' from sea level to the top, mostly at a severe angle. Steph's native name would have been 'Burning Thigh'.

And just to prove that I am not merely Sarah's Tour Photograher....

On going down Sarah did scare us all with a short glissade atop a 50' slope down a sharp gulley, pulling up just short of the point of no return. My, how we all laughed - not. She is a one.
Before leaving Juneau we caught up with Mark and his boathouse - I could live in it.

 All too quickly we were saying our goodbyes to our new friends.

JULY Entries: Tea Pot of The Month.

We have had two entries thus far.
From the organic cafe at Rock Creek we have this gentle floral number.

This fetching matching pair was entered by the staff at Chute Lake Lodge. They added a  nice touch when extra hot water was brought out without being asked for. Obviously news of the competition and the grand prizes is spreading.

You can vote for either of the above entries by phoning our hotline on
0800 357 246  (1)  to vote for the Rock Creek entry,
0800 357 256  (2)  to vote for the Chute Lake entry.
(Calls cost $15 Canadian or the equivalent. Please ask the account holders permission. Calls made after midnight western seaboard time on 1st July 2012 will not be counted, but you may still be charged. This is a not-for-profit charitable organisation, apart from when the managers need to hold a strategic planning meeting in a strategically located Hawaiin beachside hotel in order to attract the right caliber of strategically minded CEO).

I love Haines, Alaska.

Let me nail my colours to the post; I love the small town of Haines. We passed through 7 years ago and a revisit was always part of our plan.
It did not disappoint.
Is is beautifully situated (Editor: its Alaska, what do you expect?), a great size of about 2000 persons, with a real community feel. Blah, blah.
We were there for our substitute Olympics,  the 4th Of July celebrations!
After the morning parade the town turned out en masse for the various events being held at the park and elsewhere.
These included the ever popular Mud Volleyball.

The Hammer Contest. 

Pictured is the defending champion, Josh, hammering in the 8" railway spike with a heavy hammer with a head not larger than the spike.

He won again with a time of 3.06 seconds, in three hits. Apparently the professionals are only allowed two strikes.

The Firemans Hose Contest.

Two teams face each other and attempt to knock the sliding bouy over to the opponents end.

is it me or are firemen getting younger (And shorter) these days?

There were also traditional events such as the sack race...

.....and the walking backwards on all fours race.

It was a simple delight to share the time with what seemed like a whole town out enjoying itself with simple pastimes and events, all entered upon with great gusto and no small amount of competitive spirit, from 5yrs upwards. The only thing missing (As in a Brit carnival) was a decent punch up.

The evening continued with 7 bands playing at a small outside venue.

Only in Alaska could you find the below mixture of footwear on the dance floor. A good time was had by all concerned. In fact, I intend to spend every July 4th in Haines (Apart from 2013 as we have different plans)

But there is more to Haines than athletic endeavour whilst celebrating kicking our butts out of the continent and live music.
Namely, The Bamboo Room.
(Editor: correctly speaking, the bar is the Pioneer Bar, the Bamboo Room is the connected breakfast room).

I did not imbibe there on previous visit. This time we did. I remember it for the enjoyable time I had sat next to three women (Plus my wife), who for reasons of National Security shall be referred to by their code names of X, Y, and Z. (Although their real names are Mary-Ellen, Brooke & Loretta). If I had not pulled myself away from Mary-Ellen I fear my view when waking would have been this of the bar....

We also met up with Haines friends Rod & Rhonda, who have a local business called Alaska Rod's, stocking Alaskan products and many they make themselves - pop in if you are there, they will both make you feel as welcome as a local.
And Rod has a superb bike, only matched by his beard, but it is rumoured one of them may go this coming year.......but which one?

We were both sad to leave, but are intent to return.

Lost dog.

Ian from Plymouth, England writes;
"Dave, have either of you seen Eric, our dog? We last had him at Polzeath last week. Here is a photograph of him".

Ian. that is a very good question.
Only yesterday I took this photo of a very contented, well-travelled little dog outside Grand Forks, British Columbia, Canada.
It might be me but there definitely seems to be a likeness there, don't you think?

 Good luck in finding Eric, although I am sure he is having a lovely time, wherever he is....

Dawson City to Skagway....

Dawson City to Skagway was a journey of mixed emotions. Five days of fairly constant and strong headwind did not bless me particularly, some very hot weather leading to 6.30am starts and non-existent services probably coloured my experience somewhat.
But there was much to enjoy as well -
Great wild camp spots, watching beavers at work whilst we had tea -

Sorry, I did not get a photo of them. The beaver lodge is there though.

Crossing mighty rivers over mighty bridges

Camping beside the Yukon River. This has to be the largest 'object' I have ever seen moving at such a pace. With others we calculated it was at least 15mph, but the scary part - and it was a little scary - was that it was completely silent, like a mythological beast. Every time you looked up it was there, ready to swallow up anything that came too close.
Still camped there though, I just put Sarah on that side of the tent.

Long empty roads, with good tarmac this time...

 And windows....
(Editor: windows?)

And just to prove that I am actually on this trip....

The final road to Skagway was a real surprise, a true beauty. Wild campimg at a disused native fish camp was interesting.
A cold wind and grey skies only added to the mysterious landscape; I felt it was the equal of anything we had biked through.

Skagway itself is a very small town, which receives three very large cruise liners which disgorge up to fifteen thousand of people onto its streets. Skagway businesses are lined up accordingly. This provokes mixed feelings amongst those who live there, but for some a jobs count - an easy perspective to understand.
We arrived in town just before all the ships left, and the following day there were none due at all due to a holiday.
This meant the towns workers came out to party. We were in a quiet bar one moment, the next there was a band playing (The excellent Nat King Kong, they were much better than their name) and we couldn't move, and Sarah was dancing and so it went on....
But the only photo you get is of an empty street. Rubbish, hey?

We did meet these two cool guys on Bruce Gordon's though....(Editor: Bruce Gordon is a custom US bike builder). More of them later.

June: Teapot of the Month

There were no entries for the month of June - we did not even see a teapot, let alone have tea served in one. Civilisation has still to reach many parts of the world.

But, that means July will be a ROLLOVER MONTH!

The prize has increased accordingly and is now a week long holiday for two on the island of Capri...!
*Note; this competition is not open to any family or friends of the organisers, namely Dave or Sarah.
All we need now is an entry....

Dawson City, civilisation.

Civilisation, but not as we know it.
After a long, often hot, surprisingly hilly ride across the Top of The World, we arrived via the free ferry at Dawson City, population 1800.
  

  
On the surface a tourist attraction - the city has deliberately retained its wooden board walks, dirt streets and original wooden buildings, and admittedly the quite short Front Street has its fair share of ice cream parlours and gift shops.
But go one block back and even on a short visit you can sense a real town which exists at the dead end of a strip of tarmac or at the end of a long dirt road.

It has charm. We liked it.

It was also the place we met another cyclist. He was riding a fat tyre bike and heading south. His name is Nick Carman - he has a far-reaching blog tiled
'WWW.Gypsybytrade@wordpress.com'   that is well worth the look.

I find myself calling him Nick 'PT' Carman. The PT is for perfect teeth. I have teeth envy. They are perfect in every way, from the dentine, the colour, the proportions, from every direction they are just so.
Nick doesn't know it but I slipped a 'tooth donor' card into his wallet. Should anything happen to him I get his teeth. I am pretty sure they wouldn't actually fit me, but at least I could have them mounted and displayed in some way, or even made into a piece of bike-bling......
Nick was good fun, and what happened one fateful evening involving some beers, his bike and the Yukon river will always make me smile. Or shake my head. Or something. So Nick, wherever you are, the below is for you.

See if you can guess what happened....