July 16 Day 25 Alaska Trip

Leroy and I have been conducting an informal survey of what bikes we see up here in Alaska most often. Dualsport bikes win - hands down. About 80% of all bikes are dualsports with BMW 1200/650cc's seen most, followed by Vstroms and KLR's. Around 10% are Goldwings - still popular, especially 2 up and/or pulling small trailers and campers. The last 10% are all makes and models of cruisers - both HD's and Rice burners. Sportbikes are virtually non-existant, except an occasional BMW K1200 LT or Yamaha FJR. All of this research was very scientific of course, and in no way reflects any bias on our part! BTW, for all you "Fans of Leroy", he is doing one heckuva lot better! The Motrin and Arnica Cream kicked in and his neck and shoulders aren't hardly bothering him one bit, even after a couple of longish days in the saddle. He is back to his old wise-cracking self, and being waaay too sassy! It is good to see him on the mend - I know he is enjoying the trip much better now. We continued down the Cassiar with the Goal of reaching the southernmost town in Alaska - Hyder. It is famous for this, and also their tradition of being "Hyderized"... More on this later. We enjoyed the scenery very much on the Cassiar, but it was just a prelude to what filled our eyes once we turned on 37A to Hyder. Steep mountains on both sides with the road and river between, we saw gorgeous waterfalls that fell from almost straight from above into the river below. Several Glaciers carved the mountain valleys and there was a really huge one called Bear Glacier that could be seen from just across the river as it calved into the swift water below. What a sight that was, I took a snap of it I will try to include. Just the other side of the Canadian border is the town of Hyder, Alaska. Hyder; "...The Home of 100 Happy People" is an interesting town. I met an old sled dog there with most of his toes missing on both his front paws - lost in a steel trap. By Golly, he was even Happy living in Hyder! One reason we think all those people are Happy is what they call "getting Hyderized". Basically, you walk into the Glacier Inn/Restaurant/Bar and get served a concoction of Everclear and who knows what. The locals like to see if the tourists are crazy enough to drink it. Most are, but Leroy was here six years ago and said he didn't have to learn his lesson twice - The last time, he had to be helped upstairs to bed! The Glacier Inn Restaurant had no pie but did have fantastic carrot cake. There is another tradition in this place... You staple a bill (either US or Canadian) to the wall and sign it with your name. Every wall in the place is totally covered in money - about 80,000 dollars! Check out the picture of our dollar - "Rawhide and Leroy" in the upper left corner! We saddled up and rode back out the way we came, seeing a black bear munching grass just right there beside the shoulder of the road. Turning again southward on the Cassiar, we finally reached our destination of New Hazelton. Total miles today was 412.