Alaska: Day 17 (21 June 09)

Summer Solstice, Father's Day, and my son's birthday, all rolled into one wet Sunday. Intended to call my son, but naturally I didn't have a cell phone signal. He originally wanted to come along to Alaska (riding my Dakar) and there were many times I thought it would have been really nice to have him along.

Enjoyed the Icefields Parkway between Jasper and Banff for the second time. At one point, we left the rain behind and the sun painted a lovely rainbow on a nearby peak. I only wish my photo had done a better job of capturing the vibrant colors. Could probably tweak it a bit in Photoshop, but I'm uploading all my photos here untouched.

Finally got a very bad photo of a mother black bear and her cubs. She had three cubs, even though you can only see two in my photo. Very poor photo again -- it was raining and she headed into the woods with her cubs just like every other other mother bear we've seen.

We stopped for the night at The Crossings, a really nice lodge located between Jasper and Banff. Rooms there are pretty expensive, but I bargained with the girl at the desk, pointing out to her that they weren't very busy. Better to rent me a room at a reduced rate and at least make some money. "Besides," I told her, "we're tired and you don't really want to make me ride all the way to Banff, do ya?" I think I was flirting with her a bit too much, though, because she got confused and accidentally charged like $350 to my credit card.

Danny's in a hurry to get home, so we've been talking about splitting off in a day or so. He'll be taking the interstate back once we hit the States tomorrow, and I don't really feel like trading the end of my trip for a couple boring days riding the slab. Before we part, though, I probably need to change my rear tire. The Tourance looks like it might actually get me home, but better safe than sorry.

A promise of no more rain...?

Mother and 2 of 3 cubs.