A Wet Ride to Skagway, Alaska
The cold, wet weather of Fall has arrived. As well as all the things that have to get done around the house to get ready for winter, things have gotten busy at the travel office as people start making plans to get warm for a week or two. All those things haven’t kept me from playing, though – I spend just enough time at Amazon and eBay to ensure that I “have to” go to Skagway quite regularly to pick stuff up. 🙂
Despite the forecast for light rain on Monday, there was a copy of the 1928 book “The Cruise of the Northern Light” waiting at the post office, so I geared up and headed down on the V-Star. I actually turned back after a few miles, came home and put another layer on – a full-body layer of fleece. Then the ride was comfortable.
The rain held off for longer than I had expected but through the White Pass it was ugly, and it took me a few minutes to figure out how to keep my modular helmet from fogging up. Traffic was very light.
The next stop after the post office was the Skagway Brewing Company to get my halibut-and-chips fix. It was excellent as always. As soon as I pulled up, a middle-aged woman came over and said that that’s the way she’d like to see this country, from her motorcycle. She was on the Radiance of the Seas with a couple of friends, and we spent quite a while chatting.
After lunch I went over to the helicopter base. They were quite busy, which surprised me.
I’d like to see a review from someone who took that very expensive excursion on a day like this. Is any day in a helicopter a good day? It could be – my day with Island Wings at Ketchikan certainly was, in similar weather.
It was great to see the Radiance in – I’ll be back on her for the 3rd time in a few weeks! Although we loved the Infinity, the Radiance may still be my favourite ship.
I was surprised to see major construction going on at the WP&YR yard – it appears to be a locomotive shed.
The ride home was much wetter than the ride south had been. But all in all I was pleased with the experience. I have the right gear to stay warm and dry, so the season will be longer than I was afraid it might be.
About The Author
