We left Fairbanks around 10:00 am heading for Tok (pronounced Toke I was told by the locals) which was only a 205 mile ride. We started in sunshine and we both were only wearing our jacket but not the heavy rain gear. I had checked the weather and Tok was forecasted to have rain showers and 54 degrees. Half way here the clouds started forming and the rain began. We stopped and put on the rain gear but did not use the Elect heated jacket and gloves. We were both sorry for this decision. It started getting colder as we started going up in altitude. The last 50 miles was pretty miserable. We got to Tok and to the hotel and the rain has stopped but it is still pretty cloudy outside with rain to continue.
We made this short ride so we were staged to make the border crossing early (93 miles away) and then hit some of the worse roads we expect to find on the Alcan. The web site for that stretch of road says lots of construction and delays. We have to go around 388 miles tomorrow which is a lot if the road is in bad shape. Places to stop for a hotel are limited and we could very well have to sleep on the floor somewhere if the hotels are full. We would make a reservation now but not sure how far we can go tomorrow with the roads. Good thing is lots of daylight. I guess that's why they call it and adventure.
As a side note: I was fueling the bike at Tok and another biker rode up obviously traveling with all the bags on back. I asked him did he just come up the Alcan and he said "yes". I asked how the roads were and he just said "bad". I asked what do you mean bad, rough, gravel, muddy? He just said "real bad". He looked beat so I didn't ask any more questions.
Hope we have wifi tomorrow so I can tell you what "real bad" means.
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