Dan's Travel Adventures

As we pull out of Whitehorse, the street tires are remarkably smooth, after many miles on the blocky dirt tires. We head back to a breakfast joint we found the first time through, and are treated to a sassy waitress and good omelets. This morning, like every morning is a combination of places we’ve never been before and will never be again, and activities we will repeat over and over. Arrive, unload, unpack, shower, eat, sleep, pack, load, depart. We have a shorthand for this now; “unpack, pack, one-down, five-up”…the last piece being the shift pattern for motorcycle gears. A series of monotonous tasks buried amongst doing something different every day.

We find our way to the Cassiar Highway, and turn south, ultimately to run the full north-south length of British Columbia. Highways in this part of the world are really just back roads that run a long way. Cassiar winds back and forth, and is a wonderful, spirited ride. In the distance, we see what looks like a volcano eruption aftermath, but is actually a forest fire on the far side of a peak. We can smell it and are inching ever closer, but thankfully, we only get close enough for the ash to land on our bikes while we sleep that night, in Jade City.

Jade City appears to be a gradually built accumulation of various businesses – each to answer a specific demand or exploit a local resource. There is a jade mine nearby, so there is an operation cutting, shaping and polishing various jade pieces, 90% of which are shipped off to China. It is so bountiful here that the large boulders separating the parking lot from the buildings are jade. In its raw form, it barely hints at the inner beauty, mostly looking like vaguely green granite. Another business offers free overnight space to RV’s, perhaps in the hope they will buy jade or wifi access. We each take one of 4 rooms they have built from an old construction trailer. The room is clean and tidy, but the door just clears the bed, and the bed just clears the interior walls. There isn’t room for the one chair to remain inside, if we are to put our luggage in the room. Our morning workout is done individually, in the one area of each room that isn’t taken up by the bed. Still, I am happy for the peace of alone time when I close the door at night, after having a stogie while ash falls from the sky. Trippy.

We continue down the Cassiar and it continues to entertain us. In one stretch, as we are looking for a small area to pull off and do what is easier for boys to do roadside, we happen on a trail. Tony and I head down the trail on our bikes, while Mitch stays roadside. Down and down we go, hoping there’s something at the bottom to justify our excursion. We eventually come upon a very remote camping area on a beautiful lake, and about 4 groups there, camping. They are all friendly and the lake is like glass in the morning sun. As we ascend back up to the road, I am grateful we are on adventure bikes. You just never know what the adventure might be.

Elsewhere along Cassiar, tiny little buildouts dot the road, where you can find gas or a sandwich, until we come to an area that services land-based excursions for one of the cruise lines. It’s basically a grocery store with a gift shop and fuel, but it feels like high society, after the last day. Still we push on, as our destination promises even more civilization.

Stewart, BC is a short detour off the main road, and so worth it. On the way in, along a winding road we spot Bear Glacier, and stop for pics. Stunningly beautiful, we begin to search our 9th grade earth science memories to place its age and rate of deterioration. We have to make up most of the facts, as there is no cell coverage to use the internet. Just as well, we’re probably wrong about most of it.

In Stewart we find a quirky little hotel, and because we are tired and a bit road-worn, we have a small dust up and our kindness toward each other takes a momentary back seat to hurt feelings and miscommunications. Luckily, it is quickly resolved and after dinner, you can’t tell there was ever a problem, as the snoring all sounds the same. It’s not easy being this enmeshed every day, so we must continue to be kind and diligent in our thoughts and words.