The ExploreNorth Blog

The pain never really does go away, does it? I was just going through my photos looking for some commercial submissions and found a photo of Kodi, taken at the Pennington section house on Lake Bennett back in August 2003. He had, as he did so often, gone on an independent exploration of the property. I was on the ground and just happened to look up to a second-storey bedrooom window. We had such a good life together

I’ve been too stunned by Saturday night’s murder of 2 of the 3 police officers in Hoonah, Alaska, to even comment. There probably are no words to properly describe what I feel, being from a small town, being a former RCMP auxiliary member and being the father of a Mountie. My heart goes out to the families and friends of the fallen officers, and to the two communities most traumatized by this tragedy – the community of Hoonah and the community of peace officers. The Anchorage Daily News has the unfolding story here. The murderer is still barricaded in his home – I hope that he fires one more bullet

Some of my regular readers know or at least have met Dan Pakula, owner of the Stikine Riversong Lodge in Telegraph Creek, British Columbia. Dan died on Monday, July 26th – my understanding is that he was unloading a 45-gallon drum from his truck when it slipped and crushed him. This is a huge loss, not only to his friends and family, but to the entire region. Dan was a tireless promoter of the Stikine River, the river that brought him north 30+ years ago. I’ve talked with him many times, by email and in person over the past 20+ years, and to say that he was passionate about it is an understatement. There’s an email from him sitting in my Inbox that I hadn’t even had a chance to answer yet.

My sincere condolences go out to everyone affected.

Contemplative thought – What if there isn’t anymore?

I wonder if the cliche about men past “a certain age” buying a red convertible to regain their youth (and perhaps adding a young blonde in the right seat) was ever true? In my world in the past couple of decades at least, the red convertible has been replaced by a big cruiser motorcycle, preferably a Harley. I got mine yesterday

It’s a 2009 Yamaha V-Star Classic Silverado. It only has 15km on it so far, as the weather last night wasn’t conducive to any more than getting it home, into my garage (yeah, I know – “wimp” ).

Deciding to buy it and making it happen was a very quick process. It’s been clear for the past few weeks that some toy was going to arrive – first, the new Camaro turned my head, then it was the Century Flight 2010 fly-in. Both rather pricey toys. The third thing that’s always been on the “back-into-my-life” list was a bike, and I started shopping in the past few days, focussing on cheap bikes that I knew weren’t really what I want. When Cathy and I discussesd it in detail and when I did the research, the V-Star Classic very quickly rose to the top of the list. AutoTrader showed a few for sale down south and I went to Yukon Yamaha yesterday morning with that information. An hour later, we had made a deal. A trip to a couple of insurance agencies for quotes, to Motor Vehicles to get my Class 6 learner’s licence (I’ve had a few bikes, even a 1958 Harley, but never got around to getting a bike licence), back to Yukon Yamaha to sign the deal, back to the insurance agent to buy insurance, and finally to Motor Vehicles to get the registration and plate for the bike. In less than 4 hours from walking in the showroom door, it was done. A quick trip to Lister’s for an armoured jacket and gloves, and at 4:30 I picked it up! And I even put in a few hours at the cruise office!

The first job after getting it home was removing all the safety decals from it – from the windshield, the gas tank and the frame. I HATE those things, but they’re tough to remove. It wouldn’t be so bad if there was only 1 of each, but to have them in both Canadian and that other language is just adding insult to injury.

It’s mostly fingernail-scraping so you don’t scratch anything. Masking tape then gets rid of the remaining glue.

Less than an hour later, the bike looks like the designers thought it should, without any garbage glued to it. Much better!

Now I’m just waiting for the rain to stop. No problem, though – I actually do have a lot of work to do while I’m waiting

Mother Nature never did cooperate today so instead of being an “Explore Juneau” day (in my case Mt. Roberts hiking day) it was a ship day for a lot of people, including me. I was actually surprised at the number of people who did venture forth – pleased, but surprised as well.

The highlight of the day was to be a presentation by Libby Riddles, the first woman to win the Iditarod (in 1985). I got to the Universe Lounge half an hour early and picked a seat at the rear center of the main level, leaving the best seats for paying passengers.

I probably could have taken a much better seat, as the place was only 2/3 full when Libby came on stage. Her personal presentation was excellent, the video not so much but very interesting for folks Outside I’m sure.

I’d been wondering how much she gets paid to do these presentations for every Princess ship that docks, but once I saw her book sales, it’s a safe bet that she doesn’t get paid much, if anything. She’s an excellent addition to the program and it’s obviously working for her in any case.

As was the case on the last sailing, there was a meeting of folks from CruiseCritic scheduled for 4pm today. On the last sailing nobody showed up – today only 1 other person did. Too bad, the group had a lot of fun on our Infinity sailing.

This is the Explorers Lounge all kitted out for the 4:30 “Under $500 Art Auction”. There’s nothing that I’d hang in my house (just not my style), but I should go to one of those auctions to see what the action is like.

Boarding is simple – show your Cruise Card a couple of times …

… walk through a scanner and you’re home

Whenever I visit Juneau, I wonder how large a lottery win it would take to buy the “Discovery” – I love those classic cruisers!

This photo, shot as we sailed away at 4:00pm, is for my friend Marie in New Zealand – the ship on the left (the Ryndam) is the one that Susan and John are on right now, Marie

This old cannery wharf down Gastineau Channel was barely visible through the heavy rain.

My fingers are crossed that the weather forecast for Ketchikan tomorrow, which shows light rain, is either reasonably accurate or better yet pessimistic, as I have a Misty Fjords flight booked.

Today was a funny day, a sign of something no doubt, but I’m not going to try to figure out what, just in case the answer depresses me

At the edge of the Mary Lake subdivision where we live is an abandoned stock car track. A honest-to-gawd good-ole’-boy dirt-track just a half-mile from my house!! There are probably a lot of people in Whitehorse who have no idea that it exists, but we used to have a lot of fun out here. Today I headed for town to do some errands but got side-tracked and instead took a detour and took Subie for a run around the track.

Here’s what things looked like on that same curve in 1993!

The start/finish line on a particularly fine day in ’93 (the prints got wet in a rain many years ago).

The start/finish line today.

Okay, just one more lap and I’ll go….

Back in 1969 I bought a brand-new SS/rs Camaro – I spent a whole lot of money on it, had a whole lot of fun, and somehow survived despite myself. Not until last year did Chevy bring Camaro back to a design that I really want, but I’ve been good, staying away from Klondike Motors (where Lady Temptation lives). Until today. I was just driving by, minding my own business, when I caught a glimpse of it…

The ad below shows you what triggered the flashback that made Subie’s brakes come on and the steering wheel crank hard over so she was pointed back towards that Camaro. The 1969 Camaro Z11 Indy 500 Pace Car – 396 cubic inches of engine under the hood of “testosterone on wheels”.

Below is a photo of my ’69 after I’d made a fast car very fast (my best timing slip from Mission Raceway says 11.43 seconds in 1/4 mile – the 2010 pulls 13 flat). Maybe mine was too fast – the kid that bought it after I traded it in on a new Triumph Spitfire killed himself and crippled his girlfriend when he wrapped it around a pole. The print is quite faded and makes the car look almost white so I added an insert of the real colour of the car.

41 years has passed – it hardly seems possible, but there you have it. The 2010 Camaro is a very different car than the 1969 (better designed in every way from what I’ve seen), but the cost for a comparably outfitted car has risen from $4,100 to $45,000. I shouldn’t have sat in it – I knew that. I certainly shouldn’t have adjusted the seat and steering wheel to fit me perfectly! The practical side of this old guy now says “don’t be ridiculous!” – the other guy says “you could….”

The video below shows how I spent countless nights. Bandit drags – we’d cordon off industrial or rural streets, set up portable drag-race starting lights (known as a “Christmas tree”) and hundreds of people would show up! Occasionally the cops would show up, but I had a switch under the dash that killed all lights on the back of the car including brake lights, and the rear of the car was painted flat black – that combination helped saved me a few tickets (but I still got lots)! I do love cars – and adrenalin rushes like I get just from watching this video….

Further research last night brought out the fact that GM has a Camaro convertible in the works, as well as a Z-28 (high-performance) model – the convertible was supposed to be in production now but the manfacturer of the folding top went out of business and GM has’t found a replacement yet.