DIAMONDS & STONES

John Denver sang a song with the hook line; Some days are diamonds, some days are stones. Thursday was kind of a stony day. Spent a good part of the day slow rolling or stopped in a long line on dusty, dirty, windy gravel road. Had to stop; wait for dust to clear or maybe miss a turn: rotten day to be on motor cycle. 

I’m starting to feel the Summer Solstice coming on: Land Of The Midnight Sun. The sun is going down in the NNW at about 11:00 p.m. and back up in the NNE before 5:00 a.m. In two weeks, and just a little more north, you only get a couple of hours of dark-lite. In Seward, Alaska on the 4th of July they leave the bars open all night on the 3rd. The only time on the 4th dark enough for a fireworks show is 1:00 a.m. Everybody comes down to the beach at midnight; build fires in the fire pits and wait for the show to start, out over the fjord. Sometimes one of the big cruise boats is coming into port and they get a free-bee: they can see it from 15 miles out in Resurrection Bay. By 2:00 they all go back in the bars. It’s the only night of the year they get to “Howl” all night. At 5:00 a.m. the roll ‘em home and begin hosing down the street for the big parade/fest and the race.

People come from all over the world to race up Marathon Mt. Starts on Main St. and turns immediately up about a mile of 45 degree trail that climbs the mountain; and then back down. On the lower part there are rocky chutes with scrub and it’s more of a scramble than a foot race. Three divisions; under 18, men’s open and women’s open. The winning times will be under an hour. And, wouldn’t you know it; coming down is the dangerous, hard part. 

I made it to Haines Junction., Yukon Territory. Haines, Alaska is accessible by road, but only from the Yukon, The junction is where you make the decision: split off and go to Haines or keep going north, up and around, around and down to Anchorage. I take the around-down and around route; have a good chance to make Anchorage on Saturday. Everybody wants to check out my little tear drop camper. I show it off two or three times a day: they all love the little kitchen.

Gasoline is $6.40 a gallon and eggs are $4 apiece. Toast is $1 a slice but jelly is free. I’ll be back in USA soon and will miss the subtle, little, short A’s and long O’s that make everything sound so Canadian.