7/9/22

I left the Lodge the next morning to head to Tok, Alaska to meet Guy and Andrea. Guy is a cousin of a high school friend and Andres is his girlfriend. They live in greater Vancouver and are both riders. Guy is on a BMW 1200GSA and Andrea is on a Suzuki V-Strom 650. My friend put us in touch on Facebook since they were going to be riding in Alaska too. So over the past couple months, I've been messaging Guy online and he's been giving all sort of great info about the trip.

While I was making my way up to Fairbanks and Prudhoe Bay, Guy and Andrea were already riding their way up to Prudhoe Bay. But that wasn't enough. They then came back down to the Yukon and then rode up the Dempster to Tuk. To tackle the Dalton and the Dempster in one trip is truly an epic adventure. While Guy is an experienced rider and an instructor back home, Andrea has only been riding for three years and to have Prudhoe Bay and Tuk on her belt in just three years is truly an accomplishment. So at this point, there were just cruising around Alaska for fun until they go home.

After circling each other in Alaska for the past week, Guy messaged me that they were going to be in Tok and should meet them if I can make it there. Turns out that I can easily meet them in Tok from the Lodge and I would have to go to Tok on my way to cross the border back into the Yukon anyways.

So I booked a private room at a hostel in Tok. When I arrived at the hostel, I saw a lone 1200GS parked in the lot.

I entered the hostel but didn't see anyone inside. One room had a door shut so I presumed that was the owner of said GS was resting inside. I run a couple errands around the very small town and then meet up with Guy and Andrea at a restaurant just a few minutes away from the hostel (again, Tok is very small).

It's strange to finally meet someone that you've been messaging with for weeks and seeing their online photos. You know what they look like but you imagine their voice, how they speak and everything else. So when you finally meet them in person, you don't quite know what to expect. When I walked into the door of the restaurant they were waiting for a table so I introduced myself and they were warm, welcoming, and gracious. After we sat down, we talked about our trip, my highs school friend - Guy's cousin, our riding history, our impression of Alaska, the Dalton, Prudhoe Bay and their impromptu trek up the Dempster to Tuk. Turns out that Guy attempted to go up to Tuk a few years ago with a few other friends but they were confronted with constant rain so they tried to wait out in the onoy motel in Eagle Plains. But after two days of rain, they decided to turn back. So Tuk was his white whale and he got it this summer, along with Andrea.

After dinner, I said goodbye to Guy and Andrea and they invited me to visit them in Vancouver on my way down. I just might do that.

I got back to the hostel and the GS was still parked outside. I went inside and still saw no one. I decided to take out my laptop and do some writing and then the front door opens. A middle aged bearded man walks in. I asked, "Is that your GS outside?"

He replied, "Yes, is that your GS outside?"

I laughed and said yes. This man is Leo from Calgary by way of Romania. He is, of course, making his way up the Dalton to Prudhoe Bay. I said I just came back down and he asks me all sorts of questions about the Dalton. I was happy to tell him as much as I know. It's weird that I was a Dalton novice just a few days ago but now I'm doling out advice and knowledge. Very weird. But that's the way it works, everyone is gleaming information from the ones that have just recently successful conquered the Dalton. It feels very much like the old west days when you're asking the people that just came into town about the news of the outside world.

But Leo has his own fascinating story. He saw a TV show about the Dalton Highway and Prudhoe Bay when he was a teenager and then decided that he would go up there one day. And he decided that going up on a motorcycle would be the best way. That idea stuck with him all these years until now, the summer of July 2022. He left Calgary and made his way up here where he is now sitting with me at an empty hostel in Tok, Alaska exchanging information about the Dalton. This entire period of being up here in the Yukon and Alaska is surreal. Meeting all these people from around the world, all gathering up to capture this particular white whale - like moths drawn to a fire.

I told Leo all that I knew about the Dalton and he studiously wrote it all down. We chatted for a while longer until it was time to rest. The next morning we packed up, exchanged contact info, chatted a little bit more over coffee and then he went up and I went down.

Leo is also riding for a charity organization for youth homelessness and mental health. He's very close to raising his goal of $2,000.

Go donate a few bucks if you can: https://www.canadahelps.org/en/pages/a-solo-trip/