Day-44

Karen had Ice Cream for breakfast, we bought it last night but to full to eat it. I had the rest of Karen's sticky bun. Breakfast of champions!!!

We got started about 9:20 am. As our day goes we did hit rain in the first 15 mins of starting. We were cruising along and there was a huge, huge Black Bear near the side of the road. It was still raining so no pic. As far as the day goes for animals we saw more dead than alive. Three moose and a caribou. We did see a very large bull moose with a large rack.

Anyway, Hammer down and 300 miles later we are in Dawson Creek! Mile 0 of the Alaska Highway. We take a couple pics of mile 0 and the sign spinning around the round about. Then off to Rt 43 into Alberta to Rt 2 and then to Rt 40. We kept riding making up for yesterday. No stops other than for gas/pee stops. The terrain was flat and as we progressed to our destination we started to see valleys and snow capped mountains. We got hit here and there from some showers and very dark scary clouds were around, but as luck would have it the combination of horse power and road directions we were able to dodge most of the bad stuff.

We passed a coal fired power plant and it drizzled as we got closer. We pulled into Hinton, Alberta, around 9 pm. We lost an hour. We are now in mountain time, got gas, figured we 'd check on a Hotel, temps going down to 6 c tonight. We stopped at a Days Inn, they wanted $99, Karen asked if there we any discounts to lower it they said they could give us a room for $75, after some more negotiation, the price was $70. I don't know how it has been happening to us, but I am thankful and not complaining. She gives us our key and our room is not down the hall. It's in the front corner of the lobby. We open the door and there is a mini-suite. A bed with full cabinets sink stove top, microwave and oh ya... the TV is on the mantel over the fire place. The bathroom is about the size of the one home. We walk to dinner and back. The Sun was low in the sky. I just looked out the window and saw night time (darkness) for the first time in a month.

Starting Mileage:108,211

Ending Mileage:108,781

570 miles for the day

Location: Hinton, Alberta

*******TWO DAY POST******

The campsite last night was next to an active weight station for trucks. They come in all night long and I didn't hear one of them! Karen on the other hand heard every one. Remember, when I said we wanted to make tracks to Jasper? Ok, I'll come back to that. Oh last night I did get the blog typed out and one picture loaded and *poof* no connectivity on the Internet again. I tried for over an hour. (Up loading the pics takes the longest, well not to mention I have to sort through about 2,000 pictures and pick four to use.) Karen has taken 200 gigs worth of pictures so far. Karen made coffee and I ate the other half, Ok, just about the rest of the sticky bun. As we were breaking down camp it started to drizzle.

Off we go, tires are warming up, trailer is doing fine. 5 miles later, stop road construction. 4 mile later were back on the go following a pilot truck. Not the blazing start I was looking for. We went through the same old drill, it rained, it stopped, it rained, it stopped. (I hope the cheek pads don't get in the way of the gills that I'm sure I'll grow.) All kidding aside, I am grateful for the breaks in the rain and the pics we have been able to get.

We saw a lot of Bison up near the road, in the road. Mothers with calves. Males locking horns. We saw a lot of the bulls head to head, it's not spring. Karen got pics of course. A lot of mountain passes and those emerald green lakes. The camera just can't capture all of it. We stop for gas. CASH only, the phone lines have been down for three days from a storm. Not a lot of happy RV drivers. This is the only gas around for miles, I mean miles. I was down only 1/3rd of a tank ($16) can you imagine filling one of those RV tanks and have to come up with the cash.

We came upon Stone Mountain. Jim was right, I don't know what Paul is talking about. It is incredible, and Summit Lake (which is in Stone Mountain) with the green waters. There are two pics from there.

We hit a lot of rain after that. Then a 8 mile stretch of road construction, you know the drill. Slide on the mud with groves or the loose gravel the pick, is yours. We came into Fort Nelson with BLACK, Black Sky. Pulled in for gas and heard thunder. I spoke with a local filling up. The next stop/town that will have a room is 200 miles away. It's after 4pm. We passed the visitors center. The gas stations has rooms for $95 plus tax. We get a list and find a B&B $65. I called they have room we go and check it out.There are pick ups with slide outs on them with a Star of Life and say Paramedics on them. I'm thinking road crews are staying there. (You see these on road work sites.) Nope, that is their business, I'll get back to that. It's a house with 3 rooms downstairs with a common area, small kitchen and bathroom. No dinner because we are there last minute and late in the day. So we go the the store and get stuff to have a salad (Not as grand as a Joan in Homer's salad) and pasta with meat sauce. A box of pasta goes for six bucks!

Back to the Paramedic Pick ups. They have a company that contracts out to the gas fields. There is a lot of drilling around here. This place has the largest natural gas reserve in North America.

Starting Mileage: 107,881

Ending Mileage: 108,211

330 for the day

9,113 so far

Location: Fort Nelson, BC

I got up this morning and it was good. I took the netbook to have coffee and breakfast so I could get yesterday's blog out. The KLR boys were up, and we said our good byes. Todd's bike started so they were going to make the run to Dawson City. While I finished up the blog, Karen broke down camp. I grabbed a shower and we were off around 11am.

We stopped about and hour out Braerburn Cafe it's a small place with gas pumps and a small cafe. They are famous for there sticky buns. No exaggeration 8 inch round and 4-6 inches high. They're more filling than three pancakes from Hopedale. I managed to eat almost 1/2. we got gas and the horse started jumping around in the coral. The horse is ether very lonely, or very spoiled. Karen gave the horse a few pats, and were off and running again.

We heard Canada day is a 3 day week-end, and starting Thursday night July 1st. Forget about finding a campsite in Jasper, or Banff. So we followed Rt-2 (Canada) down to Whitehorse to pick up the Alcan Highway where we left off and followed it (RT-1) until we got to Watson Lake. We went into the sign forest, over 60,000 signs up on posts now. We quickly looked for Fast Edy's Motorcycle plate. The first pic @ the sign post forest is the original that started it all.

Starting Mileage: 107,501

Ending Mileage: 107,887

386 miles for the day

Location: Watson Lake "Gateway to the Yukon"

*****Goes back four days- go back to catch up** don't miss the pics and adventures******

*** Friday June 25*** Catching up****

Got up from our campsite and talked about roads and places with the other guys. Debated about going to see Dawson, staying at our campsite one more night, or trying to see what we want to see and get to Carmacks about 125 miles south. We broke camp.

We headed to Dome Road..it climbs the hill over looking Dawson City and the Yukon River. We went and parked the bike down at the visitors center. We met some guys and talked about bikes, turns out he is the Assistant Director for GWRRA for Alaska State. We did a walking tour, then went to the Fist Nation Indian Cultural Center, and the rest of the tourist stuff. All the streets are still dirt and a grader goes through the streets just as a snow plow would back home.

On our way out a FIRST HAPPENED!!!!!!!!! We rode with only a tee shirt under are riding suits for the first time in the whole trip! It was warm (70s) sunny, it was awesome! We rode to Dredge #4, and took the 3pm tour. It is /was the largest wooden dredge in North America. The tour was very good. We left later than I wanted. After 4pm, towards Carmacks, wasn't sure where we would end up. One of the guys told us there was a good campground in Carmacks " The Coal Mine Campground".

We started out mostly flatter terrain, about 100 miles out, it was hit and miss showers, but it got cloudier, and cloudier. We stopped for gas got our heated gear on and headed out on wet roads. We got to a bridge and waited 4 min for a wide load squeeze through. We hit construction about 5 miles of dirt, wet with loose gravel. Then rain. We got into Carmacks just after 8 pm and bagged the last tent spot. We rushed and got the tent up in light rain, and not more than 5 min later it stopped. They had a grill open. We ordered dinner, and sat in their enclosed area to catch up on the blog and eat. About 10 min into it three guys John, George, and Todd pulled in on KLRs. We told the owner of The Coal Mine Campground, we didn't mind sharing our campsite. Todd was having trouble with his battery. The owner had a charger, but the battery is hard to get to on the KLRs. We came up with a way to get it to work. We sat up talking with them until a little past midnight. Great guys. There from Santiago, CA. As Todd says, "the three guys on KLRs that we saved".

Starting Mileage: 107,019

Ending Mileage: 107,254

235 for the day

Location Carmacks, Yukon, Canada

2 1/2 half day post so look back. No internet Wednesday night and the Internet went down area wide last night We'll see if I have enough steam to get to tonight or a muli-post*Hopefully tomorrow*

Rich grab an extra cup of coffee

Thursday June 24, 2010

Lesson learned, if you want to make an additional 46 miles after 500 miles. Don't get gas at a place that has restaurant and rooms. We pulled in for gas and figured it was late - pushing 9pm - we would get something to eat and head out and set up camp. Well, you sit down and warn up, fill up your belly and then you start asking about those rooms.

We and took showers and then the power dimmed and then went out. Thank goodness we took our showers! This place is off the grid. They have two generators and they both were having problems.

We had breakfast in the dark, thank goodness the coffee was already brewed. Cooking was done by propane. Near the end of breakfast the lights were on. We spoke to a guy that was working in the area, about the 'Top Of The World Highway'. It's Tok, Ak to Chicken, Ak to Dawson City, Yukon, Canada. We were told by George that a friend, who was a 'good driver', had done it a few times and went up recently and crashed due to the conditions. Also, a guy on a motorcycle came through a few days earlier and said he would never do it again - 'he would rather take a pubic beating than ride it again'. And, yesterday a 40' RV and tractor trailer truck both went over the edge - the shoulders are very soft.

Okay, we'll go t0 the Tok Visitors' Center and see if we can get any info, but with the rain, it's looking like we'll be heading back down the Alcan back to Whitehorse that we already did. We get to the Visitors' Center and there was a couple that had just come over that road in a RV. They said it was the worst road they have ever been on. They also told us about the RV that went over the side and they would NOT do it again. Okay, the Visitors' Center called the local D.O.T. for us they said. There is Calcium Chloride on the dirt and it's very slippery, it's too wet to grade today and ONLY if it dries out enough they will start to grade tomorrow. They advised that NO motorcycles should be on it today and it should be safe in two days - IF there isn't ANY rain. Okay.
So, we go to lunch and start riding toward Chicken, it starts to rain we figure screw it, it can't get worse. Chicken is 67 miles away. It turns to dirt 2 miles before Chicken and continues for 45 miles to the border and 70 more miles of dirt on the Canadian side with about 5 miles paved.We meet a couple guys from Washington on KLRs, Adventure tourers, in Chicken, AK. They come out to see the two crazy people and the bike and trailer.

It's not to bad, a little wet and muddy here, a little lose gravel there, up the mountain, down the mountain, it's only for 115 miles. We make it to the ferry. It's a dirt ramp and the ferry doesn't tie up, they just keep the motor pushing against the dirt ramp. Over we go.

We get to the Dawson Visitors Center, we ask about camping. There full and they ask if we're here for the rally? Rally? What rally? The D2D rally. It stands for Dust to Dawson. It's put on by the Adventure Tourers. You go over the Top of the World Highway (Dust) to Dawson. We unwillingly participated in the rally not even knowing about it. The place is crawling with BMW GS, KLRs, KTMs, and us on our Goldwing pulling a trailer.

We try some of the campgrounds there full, we find one just one the out skirts of town and they say the tent area is full and give us an RV spot. We see all the Adventure tourers and they say there is room with them. We find a spot. There are four guys an KLRs asking us about the Top of The Word Highway, saying there nervous about it. They have heard bad things. We tell them if we can do it on our bike you should have no trouble.

Location: Dawson City, Yukon, Canada

Starting Mileage:107,018

Ending Mileage:107254

236 for the day 115 of dirt

Wednesday June 23, 2010

We woke up and Joan cooked a huge breakfast with all the fixings. We got the bikes ready. 8:30 am we were rolling out the door, with Hardin bringing up the rear. We make the 1 1/2 hour ride together. We stopped, went over roads and maps one final time, and said our good byes.

We hopped back on the bike and started motoring. We only stopped for gas and ate beef sticks and Mike & Ikes while we where ridding. What a meal.

We retraced our way back to Ankorage and stayed on Rt 1. We saw some glaciers, mountains, volcanoes, the ocean, and meadows. We passed a train along the waters edge. The views were just as breath taking the second time.

After we passed Anchorage we headed along the Tok Cutoff and the rain began falling. It came down pretty darn hard at times. We stopped at mile marker 78, Gakona, AK. The Mentasta Lodge. The burger was huge. It was now pushing 9pm and it had been a 500 mile day already. The campground in Tok was still over 40 miles away and it was threatening to rain again. So, we asked about rooms. Yes, there were a couple available - but - they had twin beds. The price was a bit more than we had hoped for - but - they were extremely clean and they were right there. So, we stayed. With no internet access.

Starting Mileage: 106519

Ending Mileage: 107019

Location: Gakona, AK

*****UP*DATED W/PICS*******



We got up to a new spectacular view. A fog bank came in and the snow capped mountains are peeking through it. I'm sitting here looking over the spit now and the mountains with the glaciers. In Homer is about the only place you can look at Glaciers (plural) and Volcano's (plural also). Both volcano's are in the Ring of Fire. Mt Iliamna is an active Volcano with a frequent stream, Mt Redoubt last eruption was Dec. 1989. Homer also has the second highest tide change. 2nd to the bay of Fundy.
Joan made a big Breakfast, Hardin and I had coffee, and then we sat down to eat. We had a great time talking and relaxing. Of course most of the talking was about Motorcycles. Hardin then took us down town and we went into a bunch of shops, after that we went down to the Spit. Saw some more sights and shops. We left the spit and went to one more place, as we were getting back into the car we spotted a 1983 Honda Silverwing Interstate go by (Hardin wants to get one for putting around town). So we chased the bike down. We caught up to him and the end of the Spit.

We came back and Hardin grilled up some Winter King Salmon, a 38 pounder that Hardin had caught. Joan made a wonderful salad, corn on the cobb, and scalped potatoes. Yum,Yum,Yum! We talked and hit the garage, greased the trailer,air presser and oil check. Tomorrow Hardin is going to ride out with us, about 1 1/2 hour out. to were we called from him yesterday.

We left Cooper Landing early it was a little on the chilly side. I'm glad we were not in a tent. We Rode for about an hour and stopped for breakfast @ McDonalds. We called Hardin to tell him we should be there in less than 1 1/2 hours. He told us he knew exactly where we were, and it is a pretty ride so take our time. He was absolutely right. The views were stunning. We stopped at one pull out and we were talking with some people and next thing I know Karen is on the roof of one of the Big RVs taking pictures. Holy cow what a view. We continued on and pulled over just before Homer and Karen took pictures of the mountains and whales. We came around the corner and down a hill into Homer.

We stopped and called Hardin and he met us we are at the edge of the spit. Like a natural peninsula. We started to his house we just did small switch backs up and up and ear pop and up. He is over 900 feet above the spit. What a view..did I say what a view! Your over looking the spit, harbor, fresh water landing strip for the boat planes, air port, the ocean, islands, snow capped mountains, and a couple of glaciers. All from the glass wall living room!! Holy crap what a view!!

Now remember this is the first time meeting Hardin in person, and we met his wife Joan. She is a sweetheart. She made us lunch, Halibut chowder, and a Halibut salad. Man was it good. Of course the Halibut was caught by Hardin himself. We talked motorcycles and then they took us down to the spit. Saw some shops, Salty Dog Saloon, watched them weight (54 lbs was the large one) and fillet some halibut that just came in. Saw the Time Bandit, shop. The Hillstrands own a lot of the spit. That is way in some of the Captains shows from the Deadliest Catch it is filmed in Homer.

We walk down to Hardin's boat. He had offered for us to sleep on his boat, Joan wants us to stay at the house. We don't want to be an imposition, but Joan is insistent. Hardin gets stuff out so Karen can clean the bike as Hardin and I talk. Hardin has rebuilt an 1800 Goldwing. He showed me pics of the test stand he built to fire the engine. He got a new frame and parts,and parts, and parts. Made a paint booth in his garage. What a beautiful job he has done. It's a Burnt Orange with ABS.

Joan called us in for dinner and we had another great meal with homemade salad dressing. What a great cook. We talked for a while. A Boad Eagle came by. Karen took some pics, I never tire from looking at our Nation's Bird. We moved onto looking over maps, Hardin is taking a ride to the Smokey's.

We came down to our room, what a view!! I look out the side window and see a small Black Bear. Its 11:30 and the sky and mountains are pink. What a View!!

Location: Homer, AK

Woke this morning to a cold rain. It has been raining all night. It took us a bit longer than we wanted to get packed and moving along. We just kept waiting for the rain to let up - but it didn't until we were all packed up and suited up.

We started heading South on Alaska Route 3 into the mountains and it started to rain again sometimes heavier than others. Maybe we got some views of Mt. McKinley hidden in the clouds again. Even if we didn't the views were spectacular. And, the rain finally let up.

We ran into about 10 miles of heavy construction.

At about 140 miles South of Denali's Main Gate we turned onto Talkeetna Road heading North for 14 miles on a pretty empty road. As we entered Talkeetna Center - Holy Crap - there are people EVERYWHERE!! There a bunches of gift shops and touristy stuff. There are cruise ship buses lining the streets and you cannot travel more than 10 feet without someone on foot crossing in front of you. We turned onto a muddy, pothole laden road and stopped at the Ranger Station and got our 6th Denali Park Passport Stamp! We quickly turned around, backtracked, and headed back South on Alaska Route 3.

We stopped in Wasilla - "Home of the Iditarod" - "Mile 46 - Iditarod Re-Start". The mountains in that area become more spectacular. Just when you think you have seen the best - there is another more beautiful around the next corner. We also say a pontoon plane landing on the Eagle River.

We went through downtown Anchorage and continued South on Alaska Route 1.

On Alaska Route 1 - aka the Sewart Highway - this section is designated as a National Scenic Byway which runs along the Turnagain Arm. There are 360 degree views of snow capped mountains, glaciers, waterfalls, meadow areas with grazing Moose, and the ocean. It is hard to believe that traveling all these miles that the best views so far are here. You just cannot help yourself in looking like a bobbleheaded doll.

We bunked down in Cooper Landing in a one room 'rustic-basic' cabin. With the Salmon in the river across the street and very large Grizzlies along the roadside - it just isn't safe to tent tonight.

Starting Mileage: 106022

Ending Mileage: 106393

Mileage Today: 371

Total Mileage 7,295

Location: Cooper Landing, AK

Warning....Warning....Two day Post...So go back one day then come back...OK!!!!!!!!

Woke early to get onto the 5:30 am bus into Denali National Park. You cannot drive past mile 15. You can ONLY take a bus or hike in.

Right off there was a good sized Bull Moose. Then a rare sight, a Wolf. He was wearing a tracking collar and came right down and trotted along with the bus for almost a tenth of a mile. We also saw a couple of Golden Eagles. Next, was a Momma Brown Bear (aka Grizzly) and her cub. They were both very light in color and stood out against the greenery.

Wow, only a few miles in and we have seen 3 of the 'big 5'. Then there were 2 more Bull Moose. They were probably only a year or so old. There were also some Dall Sheep up on the hills as well. Now we have seen 4 of the 'big 5'. The bus driver, Tim, said there are MANY days that there are very few aminals to see. Not too much farther down the road there are 2 yearly moose standing in a 'kettle pond' eating and then there is a wolf coming down the hill to get a drink. He keeps his distance. There are also Carabou farther up away from the road. All 5 of the big 5!!

We eat lunch at Wonder Lake. It is calm and it is reflecting EVERYTHING - except - Mt. McKinley!! It has hidden itself behind a vail of clouds!! It is only fully visable 20% of the time. We DID get to see bits of it along the way - so - that is much more than some ever see.

We got all of the National Parks Stamps that are available here. (5 of the 6) The 6th is available 140 miles or so South. We will try to get that one on our way to Homer tomorrow.

4 Miles today - in the park getting our N.P. Passports stamped.

Now for the rest of the story!!

We followed Joe to Max's Gold Mine. Now, most gold mining in Fairbanks is open pit, or dredge (panning on a larger scale). Max's mine is an open pit. It's like a sand and gravel operation with one additional step. Looks like our granite quarries.. Max is a great guy, he was in Alaska 1956-59 in the airforce. He knew he wanted to come back, it took him 10 years before he returned. He went to Georgia to find his wife and back to MA. Charlie was working for him at the time and convinced Charlie to move to Alaska with his wife, and like they say...the rest is history. In the photo you can see where Max was digging. They hit a old underground mine from the 1920s. You can see the cribbing made from timbers. Hard to imagine doing it all by hand. The soil goes on a conveyor that separates, the rock into different sizes (which is sold as in sand and gravel).

The finer stuff goes on a conveyor that has slattes and water. The lighter stuff washes away and you have the heavier gold on the bottom. We walked over to the sifter and picked up a small piece of gold and he told us to keep it. Max melts down the gold into gold bars. Which is how it is sold.

We took off from there to Denali. We rose and were looking down in the valley, it then went into mountain passes and flatted out. Hit road construction, had to wait 15 min or so for the pilot car. Then we went into more canyons and had a mama moose and her calf cross in front of us. We pulled into Denali and got our camp site, picked up our tickets for the bus ride in (5:30 am), had dinner, and went to bed.

Starting mileage 105,842
Ending mileage 106,018
176 for the day...........................6,920 so far....

Location Denali National Park

Warning two day post!!! Go back one day you don't want to miss the pics and post.......Then you can come back!!!!!!!

Today was a slow day we took off and went to the Harley/Polaris/Victory/BMW/Honda Dealership. I got an oil filter, and oil. Karen was dealing with Sprint, getting her phone activated and getting the other one shipped back (No easy task).

We went to breakfast and made our reservations at Denali. We will be camping there tomorrow night, taking the 5:30 am bus in for the 86 mile ride. It;s on a school bus and will make a stop it you get out and you have to wait for the next bus 1/2 hour to and hour, and can get on if there is room. Should be interesting. We then spend a second night and then off to Homer,AK.

We took off to the car museum. we made a quick stop at the bird observatory and saw some cranes in the field. We got to the antique car museum. It was a very nice. Most of the cars are ridden around at night to advertise as the museum is only a year old. The place is pretty full already.

We hit the Post Office and mailed a box back,we then stopped and I checked out a old 1975 Goldwing that was for sale. I know what you're thinking! Joe had mentioned it and took a quick look from the street and I just gave it a look over for him.

We got back and I changed the oil in the bike. What a lot of dried stucco mud crap on the under side from the construction zones. We then took a ride out to Fox with Joe (He has a Harley) for dinner. Nice to be back on two wheels again. We went to the farthest north Brew House in North America. Had a wonderful dinner.

Then we took a ride. It's great to go for a ride with someone who knows the area. We took off on some winding back roads into the woods. Joe then tells us he is going to take us by the shop. We pass an Jet plane in someones yard as you can see by the pic. We get to his shop, and right their is his friends own Alaska space needle. I guess this is the stuff you come up with over the long winter. His friend had an old crane(land based). So what does he do? He put it up and 80 feet high builds a three room with open deck building at the top that spins. the second crane lifts a bucket (elevator) to bring you up. Now they have a place to drink and unwined. The first pick is our Fairbanks base camp. It works out real good. It's after midnight and as bright as 5pm back home. You loose sense of time. It doesn't get dark.

Alright got to get up and go see Charlies' friend who owns and operates his gold mine.

Location still in Fairbanks Don't know if we'll have any Internet access for the next two days stay tuned.

Today (Ok yesterday I'm still one day behind)...

We got up and we had a four wheeler to ride in. A Mercedes ML 320. We go out for breakfast trying to make corners with out leaning and using the funny curved handle bars. Eat down the street, we came back and realized we didn't have the net book. Now was it in Tok? I know or think the picnic table was empty when we left. Where else would we pull it out ,we don't normally take it out of the bike. OOhh, Karen comes to a sudden realization that we....Ok ...I took it out at the North Pole visitors center. Alright do we have anything with there number on it. Yes, and Karen calls. The woman answers and then says Massachusetts? (She was originally from Vermont). Yup we have it. We zip back to the North Pole. Only 12 miles away thank goodness!! We came back and hit the Visitors center. It has a Museum in it and got or Parks Passport Stamped.We went and saw Jill (Charlies' wife) she had Karen's phone charged. Charlie stopped by, and took off.

We went to the Farmers Market. It was really fun lots of food and crafts. We had Elk hotdogs, kettle corn, and fudge. Karen found someone's (women's) wallet. We went around calling the name. That didn't work. So Karen found a receipt with a number. We called. She had left and didn't know it was missing, and was flying out in the morning.

We then took off and went to Fox,AK to see the Pipe line. It was cool. We then went to the Dredge #8, after that we went to the the large animal research center, and took a behind the scene tour. We learned about Musk Ax, which is really in the goat family.

We then went to the Alaska University Museum. It was a very good museum. They even have an outhouse the toilet museum would be proud of. Karen got a pic of me cumming out. You can see it in the pic, now it was dinner time. We then went back to Charlie land and talked and had a beer with Joe.