08/09 There’s not much more to add to my post from yesterday. The part for the hub is on order and Rick/Lisa were very gracious to let me stay with them until it arrives. For me to just hang out for that long with very little else to do would have driven me insane though. So I decided yesterday afternoon that my gimpy bike and I are going to ride up to the Arctic Circle after all. The smoke in Fairbanks is gone and there are no reports of any issues with forest fires on the highways so it was an easy decision.
The Dalton Highway is gravel but other than that final stretch of road (115 miles), the rest is paved. I figure it’ll take me about 4 days to get there and 4 to get back. Then I can get my bike fixed and keep heading south. I’m loaded up on food and water should be manageable but I’m going to play it safe and keep at least 2 days worth on me. I was kind of a dumbass for tearing out this section of the Milepost so I’m not entirely sure what services are going to be available. Not sure how Internet access is going to be or even when this post will get uploaded either. Hopefully my cell will work at some point and I’ll be able to post a quick status via Twitter.
The only thing I may have to deal with while riding the bike is the grinding/clicking noise it makes. It can be ridden and since the part is being replaced anyway I’m not causing any other problems by being on it.
Yesterday was largely spent in the bike shop. I got there at 10am and spend the next 5 hours trying to help pin down what the problem was. The bike shop also has an outdoor section so I finally found a replacement for my ever-leaking Big Agnes air mattress. I’m now the proud owner of a Therm-A-Rest Z-Lite. It’s much thinner than the Big Agnes (0.75″ vs. 2.5″) but there’s no risk of it puncturing since it’s a closed cell mattress. We’ll see how my old back does on it tonight. I bought a stuff sack for it so it’ll stay out of the sun/rain while strapped to the outside of my rear truck bag. Slept on carpeted floor with it last night and it wasn’t bad at all.
After getting the part ordered I rode over to the Museum of the North and checked that out. For $10 you get to walk around a very modern and well-stocked museum. It was well worth the trip. I rode around the downtown area after that and witnessed 2 guys getting into a fist fight (drunks), went the wrong way a couple times on one-way streets, saw many Thai restaurants and even more pizza places. I settled on an Italian place and had a great dinner with a couple glasses of wine and dessert. Next stop was an ice cream place for a cool snack and coffee (yes I’m a pig). Around 8pm I headed over to Rick/Lisa’s. Unbeknownst to me Rick and Lisa also make just about the best homemade pizza I’ve ever eaten so I had some of that too. 
It was soooo good. We hung out till 12am and then crashed.
Camped out at the side of the road tonight. Found a gravel road that leads down next to a stream and it’s almost perfect. It’s hidden from the road, the stream is clear and there are no bear footprints. Lots of deer poop though.
It was raining when I got up this morning but it cleared out by the time I was on the road. It’s pretty cool out, about 58 F but there was a wicked headwind all day that dropped the temperature even more. Lot’s of big hills too. I stopped after 30 miles just because of how difficult it was riding into the wind. At least it gave me a chance to wash some clothes and charge things back up using the solar panel.
Entries (RSS)
Many thanks to Rick and Lisa for helping out my nephew….kindness does exist