Made it to Fairbanks yesterday. Finally, I'm in Alaska. Weather has continued to be hot, in the 90's if not 100. The Squaw Magnet is still running well but there are concerns. The stiffer clutch spring I installed in Whitehorse has not kept the clutch from slipping and I'm quickly grinding my clutch pack to dust. I stopped at the Fairbanks Harley dealership yesterday but they don't have any parts for a Rivera Pro Clutch. Looks like I'll have to try and pick one up in Anchorage. Also, the front cylinder has started to leak oil from the head gasket. No air leaks, as yet, so hopefully, I'll be able to make it home before changing the head gasket. The throwout bearing continues to wail like a banshee but performance does not yet seem to be affected by all the noise it's making. The silicone seal I applied to the tranny housing in Daswon City appears to be keeping the tranny from leaking further. Otherwise, the bike's doing fine. Usually, by this point in a ride, at least half of the electrics have failed. So far, that hasn't happened.

The ride out of Dawson City was incredibly bad. I'd been told that tghe Top of the World Highway was seal coated gravel. Seal coat, my ass. It was more than 100 miles of loose gravel, deep ruts, washboards, and more dust than I've ever seen on a road. Even my Iron Butt was sore after it was done. If the wind was blowing a certain way, it didn't matter how far you were behind the car in front of you, you couldn't see a damn thing for the dust. The fire that had closed the road the day before, was still burning. The sky was dark from the smoke and the smell was strong. When I got to the checkpoint, they were no longer shuttling cars through with a pilot vehicle and I was allowed to proceed on my own. In places, the fire was burning as close as 10 feet from the road. Extremely eerie experience. The fire lasted for about 20 miles before tha air finally cleared. Some welcome to Alaska.

I plan on staying in the Fairbanks area until Saturday when I'll ride down to Denali for a couple of days. At least I'll finally be heading South. Sunset last night was 2AM and sunrise was 4AM. Makes sleeping in a tent tough. That's all for now. Talk to you later.