Started the day off Friday morning collecting my End of the Alaskan Highway Picture, late... and backwards. I turned south for Anchorage coming up... and didn't go on up to Delta Junction... so I captured it on the circle when I hooked around through Talkeetna, Denali, Fairbanks... and then on down to Delta...
But it was Friday night that is what traveling, wandering, RVing, Motorcycle Touring and any other sort of yondering you can think of, are supposed to be all about. New places... and new faces... and just possibly... the best day/night of the trip...
... 'cause of the variety of folks that gathered together for an absolutely shining evening...
When I walked out of the Laundromat in Tok to reload my bike...another big storm was brewing behind me... So... I topped off my tank... grabbed my supper for the night... and breakfast for the next day... twisted the throttle and ran south east,down the Alaskan Highway, like a scared rabbit... trying to get far enough ahead of the storm to allow me to set up... before the rain started...
I pulled into Lake View Wildlife area, 50 miles or so east of Tok, to pitch my tent for the night... having successfully outrun the storm...
To my surprise, sittin' there is a fella I'd had a short conversation with back in Tok, at the laundromat... First words out of his mouth, in this musical Aussie accent, when I shut the bike down were; "Ready for a cup of coffee?"... well... I'm always ready for a cup O' Joe!
I sat for a goodly chunk of the afternoon sippin' coffee... sharing biscuits... and fine conversation with Ken and Sue, from Australia. Ya kind of figured that didn't you? Considering the Aussie Accent? :o) In short order they invited me to share supper with 'em... and beer too! :o)
While we talked, an Otter swam by on the lake... followed by a muskrat... and talk of just 'bout everything you might could imagine... even the coming storm... which Sue assured me (correctly) the weatherman said would stay to the north and miss us... which it did! :o)
Ken and Sue flew up from Melbourne Australia, to Vancouver, bought a small Class C rig, and are touring for five months or so... they'll sell the rig, before they return home... I'm tellin' you... there's a bunch of travellers, from other parts of this lil' blue marble that can sure give us some lessons on yondering! :o)
Well, after a bit, I had to take my leave for a short while, before supper, to get my camp set up... in my absence Belinda and Robert, from Maine pulled in and joined the camp... followed shortly after that by a couple of gals, Genine and Nicole, travelers from Switzerland! We had us quite a lil' gathering.
It was genuine, unadulterated Shining Times! One of the Swiss gals had ridden a motorcycle, with her boyfriend, from Switzerland... to ... CAPE TOWN! HooYa! Ken and Sue have travelled much of the world, Robert and Belinda had just made a deal for a small property near Wrangell...
Together, we shared a few hours of fine food, and sharing experiences. The only word I can find in my feeble vocabulary, that describes the evening is... Fellowship... It, was, in one other word... Freaking SUPERB! Oh dang... that's two ain't it? Whatever... it was a memorable evening.
I've been trying to work myself "Out of the Box" a bit on this circle... well... Sue even provide the Wine... in a box! :o) to help me along with that goal!
Now... can't you just see this... one Ol' puss gut, bald headed, broken down Colorado, cowboy biker... sittin' on the bank of a lake, in the Alaskan woods... sippin' red wine from one of those long stem crystal goblets?! with Australian Teachers, Swiss Gals, and Wandering Maine folks! with his big red motorcycle sittin' on the hillside behind him? :o)
I tell you... it was a wonderful, awesome night... the Aussie hospitality that triggered it all was amazing... and has left a mark I'll not ever forget...(those Aussie teachers sure taught this ol' buster a couple things!)
It was one more time that showed... when folks open their minds... their hearts follow...and good things happen.
I remember reading somewhere... that prejudice can't survive travel... or something to that affect... If the fellowship we all experienced last evening is any testimony... that's surely true.
When total strangers can spontaneously gather from Switzerland, Australia, Maine and Colorado... from widely different circumstances, beliefs and ambitions... and have such a shining, fulfilling, time together... it rekindles a lil' hope in this world... if we could just deal with "People"... and not continue being crippled by "Leadership"...
Ok... so I get up Saturday morning and put my Raider back in the wind, and a lil' bit of rain, nothing bad, mostly a beautiful day... still carrying a smile from last night... I get to my camp here in the Yukon, eventually... and get set up...in the sun!
I had a false stop or two... It don't take much of a warning... that the Bears are King in a place... to keep me hauling my lil' tent down the road to somewhere more hospitable! :o)
But get there I did... Just a mite east of Haines Jct. Cook supper and eat... clean up ever'thing for the morning... and...
Everything is A Oh K... right? Well, yeah... right up until I look for my bag of "electronic connectors"... so I can down load a few pictures from camera to laptop.
... GONE!... every gol darn wire an' charger... GONE! Oh Lordy my life is over! Yesterday was so fine... and now a one hundred eighty degree U turn and catastrophical CRASH! I can't charge my camera... my laptop... down load pics... NOTHING!
Shoot me in the head and call it an accident!
So... I call Heidi... whinin' and cryin'... she says; "well look around... you've looked for things before and missed 'em"
But I tell her... there's no where for it to be hiding... I've searched ever'thing twice!... WHa Wha Wha!...
So... I hang up and I'm thinkin' on it...
I go through my east saddlebag again... my west saddle bag...again... my warbag/drybag... my ruck... and everything, all over again...
Nothing... just panic... until... I finally dump out the entire ruck... everything this time... I'd reached down in until I'd felt a bag of clothing extras I'd packed in at home...
and THERE is the bag of wires... UNDER that bag that I've not taken out or moved... since I left Fort Collins... It CAN'T have gotten down under there... but... Down under there it was! you understand the magic in that... I'm listening! :o)
Some day... they'll come up with a cure for my psychotc episodes... till then... I'll just keep workin' on my ability to dive straight off the roof into an empty pool! :o)
So... with a fresh mystery unanswered... and the panic subsided I went to bed... to rest up for my continued journey southward...
Grab Your Handles and Ride!
Brian
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