The outlook for the day was not great - it had been raining all night and continued into the morning. I woke up at 5am to the sound of rain outside, and after 30 minutes of lying in bed listening to it, I decided I wasn't going to get any more sleep and should just get out of bed. I puttered around for a few hours; loading up the bike, repositioning some of the luggage straps, and making sure I had on all my waterproof gear (including gaters) until finally it was time to head out.
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| The KLR all loaded up and ready to go in the rain in Fort St. John |
It's just under 400km's from Fort St. John to Fort Nelson, and I decided I didn't want to run the risk of running out of gas, so I decided to grab some gas at Wonowon (so named for being at Mile 101 of the Alaska
Highway). About 10km out of Wonowon I caught up with a transport truck, going well below the posted limit. I debated whether or not to pass it, having already passed a few other overly cautious drivers, but decided to stay behind it, with only a short time to Wonowon, I would pass it and then have it catch up to me when I slowed down to turn into the gas station.
The rider behind me made a slightly different calculation and passed us both. I saw him again a few minutes later in Wonowon.
The motorcycle brotherhood was well represented there. There was myself, another KLR rider (who had passed myself and the truck moments before), two Harley riders, and a man on the tail end of a ride from Brazil; all but myself were on their way to Alaska. We had all pulled in for some gas ("better to top up than to run out"), grabbed some stuff for lunch (wasabi cashews, a chocolate bar, and V8 - a combination I don't think I'll repeat), and dried out/off a bit, swapping some stories as we sat.
Getting back on the road, I didn't expect to see any of them again, as they had left before me (with the exception of the rider from Brazil), and generally rode faster than I tend to. However, heading down into Buckinghorse, I saw the Harley riders again. One of them had skidded out on the loose gravel after getting stuck behind a pickup with a trailer that was going 10-20km/h down the hill (one of those overly cautious drivers I had mentioned earlier). They said they were alright, but going to pull in to the cabins at the river to check on things.
A bit after Pink Mountain, the clouds started to show signs of thinning, with some blue sky being evident in the distance, and by Prophet River I actually got to ride in the sunshine, which was a nice change.
Probably about 60km from Fort Nelson, I saw signs of rain on the road again in front of me, with the road being dark and appearing shiny, while there was a mist on the side of the road. Reaching this spot, I could see
and feel huge drops of rain, slamming into me. within 20-30 metres, I was past this, and had probably only been hit by about 20-30 of these drops, which quickly dried.
The weather kept getting warmer until I was riding in sun and starting to feel a bit too warm. When traffic stopped for construction, I took advantage of it to start switching gloves, but I mis-judged the length of the stop and wound up riding into Fort Nelson, trying to find my friend Mo's place, sitting on my gloves.
It was like this that I pulled up to a stop sign looking to find her place, and promptly had my bike fall over, fully laden down. I strained with all of my might to right it, but eventually realised I would need to remove the luggage to be able to lift it.
It was at this point that Mo popped out, and a random man offered to help me get it upright again.
With the bike righted, I parked it at Mo's place, brought my overnight stuff in, and then we went for a wander around Fort Nelson. We ducked into the health food store, which is very bright and open inside and has a great selection, in addition to being a wood building that smelled fabulously in the rain.
It started raining just as we got in there and kept downpouring, so we delayed our trip to Patrick's place, instead finding more interesting products to peruse. Eventually, the rain let off and it was off to Patrick's, followed by a walk on the perimeter trail around town.
I really needed this walk, as I'd been far less physically active than normal and it was a nice way to get out and enjoy Fort Nelson (and only feed a handful of mosquitos) while chatting with Mo and Patrick.
After a nice veggie burger dinner (almost making up for lunch) we wrapped up the night at Mo's, all 3 of us talking late into the night (it actually got dark-ish around midnight!).
This is the text only version - photos will be added to these posts later (likely in a week or so, as I've got a LOT of photos to sort through).
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