08/16 Last day traveling roads I’ve already been on. Actually since there was no smoke I did get to see a lot of things that I couldn’t last time. The picture with Roland and Belinda in it is the lake that I couldn’t even see 20 feet out onto last time. At the top of the hills I had a great view of the river and even got to see some wildlife.
Riding today was rough but I think I know what the problem was. All day I felt like I was riding in mud and it was wearing me out. Even getting up easy hills was a chore. Finally I stopped and did a little investigating. From the looks of it the chain had been rubbing up against the deraileur which may have been why I felt so much resistance. You’d think I would have heard this earlier but the Richardson Highway gets a fair amount of traffic and it was raining (lightly) so it was hard to hear much of anything. After making some adjustments it did seem much better. I was very pleased with myself for adjusting the derailluer and not making it worse which is usually what happens when I mess with it.
Had some dogs (3) come running toward me for the first time in a long while. Luckily they only ran a short distance because for some reason I grabbed for my bear spray instead of my dog Dazzer. That would have been bad for them if they were closer and I didn’t think they were just bluffing. Fortunately I realized what I did and put it back.
Saw one rider heading north to Fairbanks. It was hard to talk to him because his English wasn’t very strong and my Japanese is even worse. Some moron in an RV also came within inches of me while I was talking to him at the side of the road. There were no cars in the other lane so he was just being a jerk.
Roland and Belinda have been stalking me all day. 
I ran into them at the lake and then once more while they were having a snack. Then they passed me and that was it. Over at Rika’s Roadhouse we met again but they were finishing up lunch. The manger hooked me up with a free halibut sandwich which was great. Also had strawberry and rhubarb pie with ice cream. Yum.
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Good job reaching your most northern point. I’ll probably be enviously reading about your trip until three years from now when I can handle another one. Hit us up if you ride across Ohio, which you shouldn’t.
-Tandem John
Hey John. Some day down the road I’d like to ride around the northeast so I’ll keep you in mind.
Hopefully you get back out there sooner than in 3 years. That’s a long stretch.
Wow…i’m picturing a scene from “COPS” where a patrolman has someone at the side of the road, is leaning into the driver’s window with the paperwork, and a car drives by and breaks it’s mirror off on the officer’s back.
BTW…that bird is my favorite…the America Kestrel. I’ve banded them before with dad. Very cool.