The Road to Chicken...Alaska, That Is

A hoity-toity BMW motorcycle and its matching hoity-toity "BMW" tent in Fairbanks

This is as close as I'll get to "midnight sun" this trip. Sun's not actually up this far south, but close enough. Taken at midnight on the dot.

Not many pictures today, and not a lot to say. I've done most of what I rode today on the way up, so I was just going to hammer it through to Tok, hit the Taylor/Top of the World Highway to Chicken and on to Dawson City, YT.

I did get a picture of the flowers I've been seeing along the side of the road from Fairbanks to Deadhorse.

I turn off for the Taylor Highway, and hmm? When does the dirt start? So far it's the Alaskan version of the Blue Ridge Parkway in NC and VA. Paved, with sweeping corners, and along the top of a ridge with great views.

The dirt starts right before Chicken, AK. 

I'll stop and get a picture, eat something, and move on to Dawson City 100 miles away. I get my pic, pick up some stickers for some kids of friends, get my food. As I walk back to the bike, I strike up a conversation with a guy sitting in front of the store who has a stringed instrument that looks a lot like a mandolin, but it's missing one set of double strings. I ask him what it is, he tells me, and I've now forgotten. It's used in Russian folk music. If you've watched the movie _Doctor Zhivago_, you've heard it, and if not I'll bet you'd still recognize the sound.

As we're talking music, the proprietor comes out for a sit. Chatting goes on, and the more I stand there and listen, the more I'm convinced I'm going to just stay here for the night. Tent camping is free, and I see a spot. But I also noticed signs for a cabin. What the hell, how much for the cabin? Well, they had a music thing going on this weekend, and it hasn't been cleaned yet. She's exhausted from the goings-on, and doesn't want to clean it. I don't care, I just don't want to set up the tent. All I need is a roof. It's normally $75. I tell her I'll meet her half way. She asks how $30 sounds? Sounds good. She says to look at it first before paying. There are no sheets on the bed, but I'll just put my sleeping bag down. I tell her it could use some sweeping, and there are no sheets, but it doesn't matter to me. Okay, how about $20, she says. Look, I'm not picky, She said $20, I said $30, how about you take the $28 I have in my wallet? Hell of a negotiator, I am.

So here I sit outside my $28 cabin, finishing my report. Now it's time for sleep in a cabin with no curtains where the sun doesn't completely go down.