June 20, 2014 - Dust 2 Dawson, the Event (Not a Rally)

This is where we stayed for two days, the Triple J Hotel.  We had a cabin in the back which was awesome because it faced all the events and rider games.

Here is the view from our porch.

Front view.

We had a nice sleep in this morning but still was up and about around 8 am.  We walked around town looking for a brekkie place and finally landed at the El Dorado hotel and had a lovely meal which we shared.  Just right!  We then went back to our room to finish uploading pictures and stuff.  We decided to forego the Dust 2 Dawson poker run in favor of being tourists in Dawson City since this was our first visit.  So, we collected our cameras and headed out on foot.  Our first stop was the Robert Service cabin.  If you’re not familiar with Robert Service, do a quick google and read some of his poetry.  I adore him and have since I was a little girl and my mother would read his poetry to us.  She always had the perfect cadence and the poems came alive.  I was tickled to go to his cabin and look around.

Our next stop was Jack London’s cabin.  Again, if you’re not familiar do a google search.  Jack London is pretty much required reading as a young person.  The Call of the Wild and other books just simply take you away into the Yukon.  Excellent!!

We then went to the Dawson City Museum.  Wow!! It is so well done.  I was so absorbed with reading and looking at the exhibits that I neglected to take many photos.  I did take this one of a Flying Merkel, (sans engine), which made me think of Doug Grosjean.  We spent quite a bit of time at the Museum and totally enjoyed it.  

From there, we just walked up and down the various blocks of the city.  It isn’t very big and is very easy to walk everywhere.  We found a grocer and stocked up on a few supplies and located the liquor store J   We shared a great sandwich from Cheechako’s Bake Shop and then we spent some time at the river and read about the tragic loss of the SS Sophia. (Google is your friend).  Here are various pictures we took around town.

After our walk-a-bout we headed back to the hotel because events were about to commence.  Our cabin overlooked the main parking area which made a great place to view what was going on.  But…first it was time for cocktails and dinner.  We made our way to the Hockey Arena where dinner was served.  The Volunteer Fire Department were the cooks for the event.  And what great cooks they were!  

We had STEAK and baked potatoes with all the trimmings, green salad, ceasar salad, potato salad, rolls and butter, pasta salad, fresh fruit and a veggie salad!!!  It was a feast.  I so wasn’t prepared for such a spread.  I expected weak bbq with one salad choice.  Nope, this was incredible.  The steaks were huge and delicious.  It was all delicious.  It was a great meal :-)

I heard there were about 235 people there for the event and we filled up the arena.  We had a great place to sit and view everything and bonus, our table was the first to get in line for dinner!

After dinner was the raffle drawings  For each dinner ticket, you got a raffle ticket.  They had tons of swag to give away.  We waited and waited and waited.  Finally, one of the folks at our table, Bill (more about Bill later) won a prize and then Eric won a prize and then I won a prize!!!  It was tons and tons of fun.  We got a portable axle jack and a couple of very nice coated cables with locks.  Yippee!!!!  It was way better than a T-Shirt or a certificate for powder coating at an Anchorage dealer.  Yup, we scored.  Yup, it was tons of fun.  But, the fun didn’t stop there.

Following dinner we all went back to the hotel parking lot for bike games!!!  Hahahahaha.  We were spectators but if we go again, I’ll definitely participate.  The organizers laid out four or five lanes for the slow races.  It was so fun to watch the riders as they either touched a foot or went out of lane and disqualified.  There were some pretty skilled riders and it showed at the final heat.

Next was the slalom race where riders swerved between cones.  Each heat the cones got closer and closer together.  It was a hoot to watch the riders and cheer them on or give a big awwwww darn when they failed.

Next was blind riding.  What?  Blind riding?  WTF is that?  Well, the riders had a hood placed over their head and they needed to ride to a marker.  Before the hood was put on them, they could see where the marker was – straight line.  So, on with the hood and the crowd would cheer and say right, left, stop!!!  Hopefully the rider had a good cheering crowd because some of the crowd would try to fool the rider into stopping too early, too late or turning left or right,  Dang, it was so flippin funny.  Blind riding…..gack!

The group of guys here in front were the hooligans that were taunting the game participants.  They would yell right or left or stop to the blind riders causing all kinds of silliness  They also threw beers at the slow and slalom riders, again creating havoc.  It was all in good fun.

Ball Drop was the next event where riders had to ride a straight line, hold five balls somewhere on themselves or the bike and drop a ball (tennis ball) into a container.  The first container was large and they got progressively smaller until the last container was a small red solo cup.  I laughed until I hurt.  Some of the riders were very inventive as to how they stored those 5 or 6 tennis balls and then had to reach for one, drop it in the container, swerve, grab another ball and drop it until the end.  Good silly fun.

The next two events were couples or rider and pillion.  First was bite the weenie.  Hahahahah.  They put a hotdog (slathered in ketchup) on a line on a fishing pole which was attached to a ladder.  As they rode by, the pillion had to stand up on the pegs or whatever and try to bite the weenie.  My gosh, more good laughter.  More than one gal had ketchup all over her face J

The final game was a balloon toss where the pillion had to toss 2 balloons over a pole and catch them on the other side.  More than a few riders got wet as balloons broke.  Everyone had a lot of fun.  Some hooligans across from us were throwing beer cans at some of the friends who were competing and made all of us laugh.  It was just a good, silly time.

A highlight for me was the opportunity to Kiss the Dick.  Dick is the cornerstone organizer of the Dust 2 Dawson not a rally event.  This was the 22^nd D2D event.  Reading about it, I found out that to be really cool, one had to Kiss the Dick!  Well, I got my chance and took advantage.  Dick is a marvelous guy and goes to a lot of work, time and effort to put this event together.  We had a great visit with him and understand why he is so popular.  By the way, not only did I Kiss the Dick, but the Dick got to kiss the Queen as well J

By now it was past mid-night and it was still light outside!  Wow!  At midnight, we all gathered in the center of the parking lot for a group photo and to collect our one of a kind Dust 2 Dawson stickers.  Then, off to bed for us.  It was past 1 am before we got ourselves tucked in.  But, darn, what a great day it was.  So much fun, first exploring Dawson City and learning of its history and then our D2D dinner, fun and games.  So much excitement.

This is a guy we met, Dan, who rode over Top of the World Hiway on a Ninja 1000 with Conti Trail Attack tires.  Wow, what a DUDE!!!  The day he (and others) rode the ToW Hiway was a snotty, messy, nasty ride and he made it without issue!  Hooray for Dan!  He was the only Ninja rider there.  The BMW Adventure riders wouldn't let poor Dan park in front of their bikes (boo!) so we invited him to park at our cabin and get front row seats for the games!

During our walkabout town earlier in the day, we placed two stickers in obscure but fun to find places.  One in memory of our dear buddy, Ken Morton a/k/a Dread Pirate Kermit.

And another sticker for the Big Tex Rally Master, Wayne Boyter!

Also during our walkabout Eric spied another Super Tenere in a motel parking lot and left a message on the windshield for the owner to look us up at the Triple J.  Well, he did and his name is Bill Woodall and he is a great guy.  He met up with us and we sat together for dinner.  He was the first at our table to get a raffle prize and then he hung out with us while the games were going on and we arranged to ride the ToW Hiway together the next day pending weather conditions.

We also sat with another fellow that we first met in Smithers B.C. earlier in our journey.

Here are just random pictures for you to enjoy.

Outside our cabin, we got to park right in front.  Lots of folks came by to examine our LD fitted bikes.

Well, I expect it will be even more exciting tomorrow when we take the ferry across the Yukon River and head out on the Top of the World Highway.

Cheers till then,

Cletha reporting from Dawson City, Yukon