We held off leaving Valdez until 10 in the hopes that the bulk of the rain would be ahead of us. 274 miles in the rain could not be avoided and had to be endured. Not fog, not mist, not drizzle! RAIN!!! Yuck!
Here are pictures outside our motel
Joe lost a bolt from the left side brace on his rear fender and Steve had to get a bolt out of his hardware stash so Joe could fix it. Yesterday, he had to put a bolt in the bottom of the tool box. These roads are shaking things loose.
We rode down to the port and parked in front of the visitors center before we left town. We had walked around going to dinner the evening before.
I knew that I wanted to get pictures just out of Valdez of the waterfalls in Keystone Canyon and of the glaciers at Thurmond Pass, so I just stuck my leather gloves on to make it easier to get on and off for pictures. Big mistake! My hands got so wet and cold that I couldn't get my waterproof gloves on to save myself. First 166 miles in wet leather gloves at 46 degrees. Lesson learned from my stupidity! After we stopped for coffee, hot chocolate and lunch, my hands dried and warmed enough that I got my waterproof gloves on. YES! Dry, if not completely warm for the rest of the ride back into Tok today.
Here's Horsetail Falls in Keystone Canyon
Bridal Veil Falls
Then we saw the glaciers. They were amazingly beautiful.
When we stopped in GlennAllen for a warm up at the Caribou Cafe, the Germans spied our bikes as they were riding by and turned around to join us. They wanted to see how our Prudhoe Trip went since we hadn't seen them since Coldfoot. Of course, another group picture was in order.
Onward to Tok! I got rooms while Steve went to the market for cup of soup and tea bags. Dinner for icicles tonight to thaw. Our room looked liked a disaster zone with our wet gear everywhere. With the heat and a fan, everything was dry by morning.
Hopefully the rain will blow through. Bikes are high and dry.
One last gully washer.
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