Day 9      281.9 miles
Total     4264.5  total miles
Day 10  incomplete, will be land and water miles

It turns out I will not make it to Fairbanks as the road has been taken out by mudslides and trees.  I spoke to a trucker, Dave, who said it was out and then everyone, everywhere has been talking about it. The roads that I have just traveled are washed out too and everyone is talking about those too - it has been the most rainfall ever on the books. Some told me that they had 11 feet of snow in November to kick off the season, and then about 20 feet after that. With the snow melt and rain, that's a lot of water looking for a place to go!

The roads shutting down have driven me into a corner and at Haines Junction, I had no choice but to head over the Rockies into Haines, AK. That's where I am now, in the public library, waiting for a ferry. I was going to take one to Skagway, but there is only one road out of there, one of the roads that I had been on earlier, that is now shut down. I believe it was at Teslin, or near Watson Lake - don't really remember. With Skagway out of the picture, my next choice was to take the ferry south, and that one, at 6:30 pm, will take me to Juneau.  Again, no way out of Juneau, so I need to lay over there and catch the 3:30 ferry to Prince Rupert.  The only problem with that is I could not get a reservation for my bike on it, so it is wait and see. The lady at the ferry terminal went out of her way to check all the highways and other possible ferry options. She is going to be checking all day and give me a call if a 10' space on the ferry can be confirmed.

With all the flooding, mudslides and washouts, it drove me over the Northern Rockies and into Haines. I cannot begin to describe what an awesome ride and unbelievable view that was. In the beginning, there was a giant moose trotting up the side of the rode. They have an ungainly gait, but cover a lot of ground very quickly. I'd have to say it looks very majestic, or regal, the way it moved.

There was also a bald eagle soaring around near the top of the mountain range. The road wound up the mountains for a long long time, until I was above the snow line, as well as the timber line, and it was COLD. The descent down was very quick and it was really cool to see how the environment changed so rapidly, as the altitude dropped.

I have to start thinking about getting the bike ready for the ferry, it should take about 4 or 5 hours to get to Juneau and it will be around 11 pm, or later when we start getting off.

Haines, AK  Little town similar to a New England town, nestled in the mountains

At the Summit. About 40 degrees on a beautiful day

Heading to, and over those moutains

I believe those are the Seven Sisters

Dave, a crazy northern roads trucker. If he says he can't get down that highway, I'm not even considering it

I think I could have thrown a rock in the air and hit the clouds, really. But I was so cold, my arm probably would have flown out of my sleeve and skipped over to the other side of the road.