With Fairbanks being the last real city till Whitehorse, we spent the day running errands after again waking up to a cold, rainy morning. After taking care of phone calls and internet stuff, the group split up with half heading to the North Pole while the rest of us went to KFC, Walmart, sports authority, and the post office. For us, we didn't leave Fairbanks til nearly 8 pm. An attempt to cut through a military base turned complicated as the exit gate closed 30 minutes before we got there.
After some back tracking we finally ended up getting out of the base with probably an hour delay from the whole ordeal. After an 11:30 pm dinner of pb and j and strawberries at the Safeway in the north pole, we finally met up with the rest of the group at their campsite around 1 am. A fairly exhausting "rest day" with 32 miles ridden.
8/10
Things are starting to get redundant as we woke up to yet another rainy morning. After Arne casted a few times into the lake our campsite was bordering, we got started riding around noon. The ride was nice as the rain stopped and the sun creeped out at times.
John had been complaining a little about his knees bothering him, and after a thorough examination we determined his bike may be a little too small.
Towards about 8 pm with 15 miles remaining the rain again started and we arrived at our site in Delta Junction cold and wet around 9:30 pm after riding for 78 miles. As we got closer to town we saw two moose, one of which crossed the road about 50 yards in front of us, though unfortunately none of us were quick enough with the cameras to snap a pic.
8/11
Woke up to another rainy morning and after some coffee, oatmeal, and a stop at the grocery store we were on our way. We made a stop at a meat and sausage store 10 miles outside of Delta jnct and bought some reindeer, elk, and beef/pork sausages which were quite delicious.
The ride was flat as we turned off of the Richardson highway and started on the Al-Can. The day turned out to be nice as the sun came out and the temp climbed into the low 60s.
Halfway through the day with no towns close Coralie's rear derailed snapped. We were lucky enough to somehow have a spare one coming from an old set of panniers. The boys did a great job, and in less than 30 min, the bike was repaired and we were ready to roll again!
The ride highlighted how vast Alaska is, with few cars passing and views spanning huge expanses with nothing but trees and mountains.
We actually arrived and set up camp at Dot Lake (pop 35) around 7:30 and had some time to enjoy the evening and light a fire.
Overall an easy day on flat terrain with good weather, 62 miles ridden. About 15 minutes after we climbed into our tents the rain started again, great timing.
8/12
Today we woke up at our agreed wakeup time of 8:10am to early bird Jameson singing "Oh Canada". However, he only knows the first two words... It's now our favorite song! We headed out of our pond-side camp around 10:30am to our next destination, Tok Junction, 50 miles away. Today was our most scenic/enjoyable ride of the trip with sunny skies, warm temperatures, and snow capped peaks in the distance.
For lunch we stopped at a tranquil lake, but since Pauline and Coralie were MIA and thought to have passed our planned lunch spot we attempted to eat our turkey sandwiches without bread.
So after we finished dipping our portions of meat into the hummus they show up with the bread! Perfect timing! They were chatting over coffee with Sarah Palin's former cook at a bed and breakfast. Go figure!
After lunch Ken, Katherine, Coralie, and Pauline relaxed by the lake, Jameson and Julia headed off to Tok Junction and Arne and John headed to a lake down the road to fish for Northern Pike. After an hour and a half Arne caught a large Pike and the day was officially a good day!
Arriving in Tok we set up camp in an RV camp for $4 a person which includes a cold shower for every other person. For dinner we engorged ourselves at Fast Eddies and then ended the day with beers at the Husky Lodge. Leaving the lodge a little after midnight we had a flat tire, after changing the tire and riding a couple miles we arrived back at the campground around 1. Tomorrow we head out on a 63 mile ride toward the Canadian border which is now 90 miles away! "Oh Canada"!
-JS
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Location:Tok, AK
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