From Whitehorse, I was now getting off YT-1, the Alaska and turning north onto YT-2, the Klondike Highway, towards Dawson City for 330 miles.

https://goo.gl/maps/pQvjbKcoMVPobJot8

It's pretty surreal to me just now far north I physically am. Not just north in the US, not just north in Canada but north in the world. I am so far north that about 20 miles from Dawson City I saw a sign pointing to the Dempster Highway that takes you to the Arctic Ocean.

Absolutely unbelievable and I still had a lot of miles to go to reach Prudhoe Bay and the Arctic Ocean.

I had no idea what to expect from Dawson City and Ken's previous messages said he didn't want to ruin it for me by telling me too much. I rolled into Dawson City around 7pm. Dawson City used to be a gold rush town and it still looks like it. I noticed that the streets aren't paved. They're all dirt roads. There is dust everywhere like a volcano had just gone off. And the buildings all have that old west look.

I couldn't get over how this place looks and feels. I felt like I rode thru a time portal and now I'm back in the 1890s.

It was a bit of a ghost town. I hardly saw anyone walking around. I check into the Aurora Hotel and my single room was quite nice. I definitely recommend staying here if you're ever up in Dawson City. I showered and walked around town, taking dozens of photos. I try to find some dinner but most places were closing at 9. I chatted with another guest and he said that Covid restrictions over the last two summers had really slowed things down in Dawson. One of the most popular hotel has not re-opened in three summers now. A lot of the businesses and restaurants only have limited days and hours. Like Carcross, another small town trying to survive hit hard by restrictions that are questionable.

I found some outrageously expensive Chinese food ($44 CAD!) and take it back to my room. After wolfing it down, I go to a former brothel now bar for a beer and a whiskey after a long travel day. Everything in the Yukon and Dawson City is expensive but for some reason the whiskeys are cheap! I have a pour of Writers' Tears. After a beer and a pour, I walk back to my hotel room at almost midnight. Dawson City is known for its midnight sun. This is the view at 11:29pm. This place is absolutely nuts and I love it.

The next day, I go see the sights around town: the shops, the local historic museum, the Jack London Museum, and the reason why I can live here:

Even in the Yukon, I can still get myself a decent latte.

About 4pm, I get a text from Ken that he's in town accompanied by this photo:

That's the Yukon dusk. Apparently it was so dusty that he had a hard time seeing thru the visor so he rode most of the way with the visor up.

I made plans to meet up with him later for dinner. He tells me that on his way up the Dempster Highway to Tuk, he kept seeing two Americans on a 1200GS and the Harley Pan American. The two Americans are Steve and Curtiss, two retired California motorcycle cops:

They chatted and the pair invited Ken to ride up with them since he was alone and the Dempster has a nasty reputation. If you're not familiar with the Dempster, it's worth reading this:

https://www.webbikeworld.com/ride-to-tuktoyaktuk-canada-part-one/

The four of us met up for dinner and a few beers. Over dinner, they filled me in on the events of the past two days.The three of them rode up the Dempster and successfully made it to Tuk. However, Ken suffered an issue with tire beads being stuck in his rear tire valve and lost all the air in his tire and his wheel was also not holding air. Steve and Curtiss tried to help Ken with finding and bargaining with local mechanics to fix his wheel and tire. It's a long complicated story with drunken mechanics, carrying a wheel back and forth six times between shop, hitchhiking, sleeping on floors and a car with two local girls chugging vodka and flashing their boobs at 10am. I won't do the story any justice so you'll just have to hear it from Ken himself one day if you ever meet him. In total, they were stuck in Inuvik for two days before getting the tire and wheel fixed enough to get him back on the road to Dawson City.

We talked, drank, laughed and gave Ken a hard time for being Canadian and a Socialist. It was the best dinner company I've had on this trip yet. We then had to rush back to their hotel since we were scheduled to join the Sourtoe Club, which involve drinking a shot with a mummified human toe in your shot glass and the toe must touch your lips. Me, Steve and Curtiss were doing this and Ken has already joined the club when he was in Dawson before he went up the Dempster.

Shots and mummified toe. Just another night in Dawson City. After a few more beers and explaining what real American freedom is to Ken, we called it a night. Along with Kipling and meeting Lindsay, this was the most fun night I've had on this trip. Meeting new people on the road is one of the best treasures of traveling but meeting simpatico motorcycle friends on the road is a special experience - one that I am always in awe by. Is it the bond of riding or just a special breed of people? Curtiss and Steve treated me like an old friend they've known for years. I am always grateful to meet people like that.

The next morning, the four of us are meeting up to ride the Top of the World Highway from West Dawson City across the border into Alaska.