[i:a3b94]Major apologies to readers waiting for so long with no posts.  I have seriously not had a moment to sit down at my computer and write - between seeing family &amp; friends, tearing apart motorcycles for some much needed maintenance and the associated occasionally futile and often aggravating search for parts, i haven't had a moment to breathe.  Things are calming down, now, and i'll have the rest of the trip up in the next few days.[/i:a3b94]

June 3rd, 2007
Pink Mountain, BC
GPS: coming soon!
Distance Traveled: coming soon!

AH.  So good to be home, and it's so hard to leave.  Today marks the first day of the trip we'll be actually moving away from home.  It's also the day after NobleFest, but I managed to avoid a hangover.  I was a bit worried about Justin, but he showed up on time!

We'd planned to get riding early in the morning, 6am was the plan to get on the road.  But what with Mom &amp; Tanya cooking us all a great breakfast, and everyone sleeping at different places, we didn't actually meet up until about 7:30 or so.  We'd all also kind of exploded our bags when we took the bikes to Turple Bros for some hasty servicing, and everyone had to repack.  It was nice to drop some weight – we'd all been carrying lots of stuff since Argentina, and we didn't need much of it anymore – like the water filters we'd never actually used (thank Bob for bottled water).  

Speaking of bottled water, it's nice to finally be able to brush my teeth over the sink and have running water to rinse &amp; clean my toothbrush.  Robbie didn't seem to have this problem, as he's been bragging about how seldom he's brushed his teeth this whole trip.  Yummy.

Our ride-alongs for the day showed up at 9am, but we were nowhere near getting ready, so they kind of hung out on the sidewalk waiting for us.  And waiting.  I was the first ready (of course) followed shortly by Sean &amp; Robbie.  Justin couldn't find his pants, so we all got to wait while he tore the house apart before locating them.  It was nice to finally share the experience of waiting for Justin with some other bikers.  Made it less frustrating, somehow.

A surprise biker stopped by, too, and made it a bit more of a NobleQuest.  My cousin, Todd, is apparently a biker (i didn't know this) and stopped by in the morning to ride up with us on his way back home to Jasper.  Yay for Nobles!

We were finally off shortly after 10am, following some tearful goodbyes (not me, though).  I haven't really paid much attention to the routes we've been taking – I just kind of ride behind somebody the whole time, and hope they know where we're going.  Thus, I was a bit surprised to find out we'd not be going through Edmonton, instead jogging west through Drayton Valley up to Grande Prairie.  I should have realized that we'd go through Grande Prairie – Dad grew up there, and takes every opportunity to stop by.  Of course, it's also faster that way.

We had planned to ride up to Grande Prairie with Amandha and Dave Richter, but they had to catch a plane back from Grande Prairie (they were taking motorcycles to Amandha's Uncle in Grande Prairie) and couldn't wait around for us.  Fortunately, they're pokey riders and we caught up with them in Valleyview.  Also, they waited for us.

On the way north, we finally were able to stop at our first RaceTrac gas – they'd sponsored us for some of our fuel, and it was nice to finally be able to stop and grab some pictures there.  The road into the station, though, wasn't paved – in fact, it was darn near a slough of mud and water, and I came very close to wiping out in front of everyone.  I must have picked up some super skillz on the trip, though, 'cause even though my bike went sideways, I straightened her out and was able to continue.  Everyone else went to the other entrance that I hadn't seen, which was nice and dry and didn't present any danger to bikes.

Our first set of riders peeled off to in Drayton Valley, and we rode alone until Valleyview, where we met up with the Richters and several other riders.  I wanted to grab some food at the A&amp;W, but Justin assured me that there was a BBQ waiting for us just over the BC border, so I sucked it up.  I took off to grab a picture of a sign pointing to the Alaska Highway, and nobody waited for me.

After we'd dropped off the Richters in Grande Prairie, we rode off – by ourselves for practically the first time since Shelby.  Was a bit weird to not have to worry about cutting off other riders if I forgot to maintain the formation.  Rob and Justin refuse to maintain the staggered riding formation if it's just the four of us, and I find that aggravating to no end – dodging from one side to the other as they weave back and forth up ahead of me.  Gosh!

We finally got to Justin's friend's place – name of Brett Peterson &amp; his awesome family.  On the way there, Justin had apparently been texting Brett while on the road to arrange for him to guide us into his place (they live just off the highway).  While he was texting, he'd take off his riding gloves and he managed to drop one on the road.  I pulled up beside him to let him know, and he waved me away.  Apparently the gloves had pretty much fallen apart along the way, and he didn't really want them anymore.

Dinner at the Peterson's was awesome.  They had a kick ass beef dip BBQ and burgers and salad and – well, it was fantastic.  We all gorged ourselves until we couldn't eat no more.  It was really great to kick up our feet for a few hours and regale our hosts with stories of the road.  I found out that the city they live just outside of is called Pooh's Coupe or Poo Scoopy or Pouce Coupe or something, which I find just a little bit funny.  In a stupendous act of generosity, they also presented my father with a cheque for the KCCFA to the amount of $500 from the Pouce Coupe firefighters.  Thanks, guys!

The mosquitos up here are insane.  I've killed more bugs since leaving Red Deer than I did the entire trip north from Argentina.  I was expecting to be just swarmed when we hit central america, but what with all the rain we hardly killed any.  At our gas stops, our visors and windshields are just coated with bugs, and Justin's taken to just squeegeeing his visor off without even removing his helmet.  Speaking of windshields – holy crap.  I've been riding for nineteen thousand kilometres without one, and it's like i'm on a different bike now that I was able to get mine back on.  I don't catch as much bugs, and it's so much quieter.  

We stayed too long at the Petersons, and had to get back on the road – hard, 'cause they were tempting us with a night of poker.  We all wanted to stay, but we have to be in Whitehorse tomorrow, and it's a long drive.

With regret, we said our goodbyes and got back on our motorcycles.  Rob, Justin and Sean have all come up with a great game.  They'll drink sodas or energy drinks or whatever on their bikes, and then pull in front of me.  Once in front, they'll loft their (empty) cans in the air, trying to hit me.  The first few times it happened, I 'bout drove my motorcycle off the road.  Justin caught a really lucky throw today, and came within a handsbreadth of clocking me on the helmet.

We stopped on our way through Dawson Creek and snapped some pictures of us with the World Famous Alaska Highway Sign.  Just outside Dawson Creek, Justin started a moose on the side of the road.  Fortunately, he stopped in time, and scared the moose with his horn.  The moose started crossing the highway, but changed his mind when Justin honked, and in his haste to turn around, slipped and crashed to the highway.  Skidding on the asphalt, the moose scrambled to the side and disappeared into the trees.  I guess there's a reason why i've never heard anyone described as 'graceful as a moose'.

About that time, it was getting dark and we were ready to stop.  Robbie pulled over next to a slough, and while we were busy fending off mosquitos the size of hummingbirds, explained that he'd like to camp here.  We called him an idiot, and drove on to the next town, which turned out to be called Pink Mountain.  It's not really a town, just a gas station and a crappy motel that charged WAY too much.

We stopped anyways, and made our beds in the funny-smelling rooms.  Water came out of the taps dark red with rust, so none of us showered.

Ryan Noble,
Pink Mountain, BC