Sorry about no blog last night but things ran a little late and I decided I needed sleep more than you needed an update. So.............yesterday we left Edmonton in 42 deg. F (5.5 C) so it was rather cool and time for electric clothing and bundle up. Uneventtful ride to Dawson Creek where we did the usual tourist thing at the "Mile 0" post tostart the Alaska Highway (Alcan). We determined that our original plan to stop at Ft. St. John would be too early so pushed on to Buckinghorse Lodge. I've stayed there before and it's somewhat rustic (read little more than a dump) but has a restaurant and it is in the right location. Spent the evening servicing the bikes and fixed various minor ailments. Already fixed the broken bracket that holds the LED flashing tail lights.  How can a stainless steel bracket break under no load??
   When we got up this morning we discovered that the washing we'd left on the porch railing was now soaked. Oh....it's pouring rain and about 40 deg. F (damn cold in C). A quick check of the computer showed that things were'nt about to improve in the near future but that further to the north west the rain was shown to be only showers. Nothing for it but to go ahead. To add insult to injury it was also a head wind and 99 gets very pouty with a head wind and slows down dramatically. It would appear that Miss 99 has heard of the "B" word already. She got in a snit yesterday and promptly cut off my electrics. No heated clothing! Fortunately it happened after the sun had risen enough that I could get by without the heated clothing. Subsequent checks later in the day found nothing wrong and all of a sudden everything worked fine.
   The cold and rain took it's toll on Charles who had the misfortune to have water blow up the back of his fairing and soak his arms then run down and nicely fill his waterproof overgloves. We stopped in Muncho lake area and found a little restaurant and stopped to warm up. Turns out it makes everything from scratch and the lady (Lois) who owns it even bakes her own bread. She sized us up pretty quickly and brought out home made beef stew with a big blob of horsradish on top. (??) She said go ahead and mix it in and try it as it would warm us up. Sure did!!! That and a 2" thick slice of bread filled us up and also took away the shivers.

Bob, Lois, Charles.   Damn.....Charles get your finger out of her ear.  What do you mean she asked when you were coming through on the way back.  Sorry we're coming back via the Cassier, not the Alcan.
   Still cold but the rain gradually let up and finally the sun came out about an hour later. Ahhhh. What a difference warmth and sunshine makes toward brightening your attitude. However about that time 99 lost direction signals, break lights and some dash lights. Not serious except the break lights and tail lights. After finding a real nice family style lodge and RV camp for the night in Teslin we attacked the problem after dinner. Turns out two wires were being pressed against a metal plate under the seat behind the rear tail light and had shorted. Don't even bother asking how long it took to find this little tidbit of info and how many tinfoil fuses we made and blew during the process. However all's well now and 99 has a bright backside again and can wink when turning :)

It's now 11:20 our time (2:20am Eastern time) so I'm going up to the main building where there is a wireless internet service in the front porch and see if I can upload a photo or two and send this off. Lousy internet connection so no more photos for today - it's getting dark and it's now after 1:00 am and the mosquitoes are out.

Goodnight,

Bob