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Valdez-Whitter-Anchorage
After a great conversation with Brian he suggested I head for Valdez as the weather forecast suggested good weather down there but you never really know. It finally sank in what I was told by someone who once lived in Alaska, long miles of short green trees! The ride down to Glenallen was a little like riding through Nebraska but with short green trees instead of corn.
After the cutoff for Valdez I got my first glimpse of the pipeline and the ride got more interesting. I forget the name of the pass but it is well known for having nasty weather and it didn't disapoint me! The mountains kinda remind me of Hawaii only with snow and ice! Same giant waterfalls and steep cliffs. I gotta to play in a cloud with about ten foot visibility but it was all in fun. Valdez was probably a pretty little town before the pipeline and the cruise ships arrived now it is just a big tourist trap. I did get to see quite a few eagles and met three other Canadian riders and hung out for a while. i had an early dinner with my new friends and we swapped stories for a while and I decided that I didn't want to stay the night in Valdez so I headed back over the pass which actually turned out to be better weather than coming over.
I got back to the cutoff about midnight and it was still light out so I thought I'd head for Whitter. It turned out to be a nice night so I just kept riding all night. I could get use to this 24 hours of light thing! Most of the road rides through a some mountains and canyons and I had it all to myself, almost.
I wanted to go to Whitter as I had heard of a 2.5 mile train tunnel that motor vehicals are allowed through and well you know you gotta try everything at least once! Nice riding to the tunnel entrance except for a little rain and waiting. Because traffic enters from both sides as well as the trains that run through it the tunnel has a very tight schedule. Bikes are put at the end of the line so if they fall they are not run over by bigger things. You have to ride between the tracks on steel plates and the "hole" is not much bigger than the size of a train car. It was quite exciting until I saw this very large light at the other end of the tunnel and I realized it was a train! Because they put bikes in last I was in the tunnel alone so I was hoping someone on the other side knew I was in there. Well obviously everything worked out and i can check off ride my motorcycle through a train tunnel! Whitter turned out to be a lot like like Valdez, basically a cruise ship stop for passengers to stretch their legs and by a few t-shirts. So I have some fish and chips and a few Alaskan ambers waiting for the return traffics turn to go back through the tunnel and got a hotel for the night in Anchorage.
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