PowerCycle

08/02 Made it! My excitement level was pretty high when I got up this morning so I packed up, ate a quick breakfast and started riding. The border was about 20 miles away from Beaver Creek so I had some riding to do before I could finally complete my Florida to Alaska trip. Maybe complete isn’t the right word. It won’t be officially complete until I figure out how I’m going to get out of Alaska. My guess is that once I leave Denali National Park that will officially end this leg. Then it’s down to Argentina.

Not too far from the border on the Canadian side I saw a Bald Eagle sitting in a tree. It was pretty far away so the picture isn’t that great. It was cool seeing one though. There was still a fair amount of smoke from the fires in the air this morning but a lot of it cleared out later in the afternoon. At the top of many of the hills once I crossed into Alaska I would have have had some great shots of the forest below but you can see how thick it was at times. Hopefully things will be better for tomorrow.

Crossing the border was a breeze. I spent more time talking to the guy about my trip than I did when he was asking me the “official” questions. I read in a few places that the border guards at this station were jerks but that’s certainly not the impression I got. About 4 miles past the border was the Border City Motel where I had lunch and posted my Facebook update. The people working there were extremely friendly. They even give 10% off for members of the Armed Services (of which I’m not). Chocolate bars were also only $1. Sweet.

Ran into some interesting people today. At breakfast I met Astrid. She’s riding by herself for 2 years all over the world. So far she’s ridden from Britain to Japan where she hopped on a freighter and came over here. The picture of the bike below is hers. Her web site is www.cyclingfullcircle.com. I wish I could have stayed and talked to her longer but I really wanted to get on the road. Talk about an inspiration though. Also met a couple in their mid-60′s riding a massive loop around the Yukon/Alaska area. They were from Germany and I can’t remember their names. They had a heck of a time trying to say my name so we’re even.

The campground here was a pleasant surprise. It’s managed by the State and there’s no cost to camp here for up to 14 days. There are very clean bathrooms but no water. There’s a big lake which fills that gap. I had the place to myself up until a few minutes ago. The people are walking by now. I had lots of advance warning of this because they are wearing bear bells.

I might make it into Tok tomorrow but I’m not going to push it. My foot felt fine today but it’s very hilly around here and I don’t want to risk injuring it.

GPX Track