Thursday 28 June 2007

After a great rest and visit it at Donnie's and Fairbanks, it was time to turn the pedals again. We had been so comfortable and well looked after that had we stayed any longer we feared that we might not have got back on the road again.

Donnie took us out of town and away from the morning traffic in his truck, passing Santa's house in North Pole before eventually setting us off down the road under our own steam, but not before we had seen a moose and calf, and stopped at The Knotty Shop to inspect the interesting wood carvings, local wildlife taxidermy and of course to have our photo taken next to an average sized Alaskan Mozzie.

Back on the road after a good rest and the kilometres were going by faster than a hot knife through butter, we were on flat ground with a lighter load and fresh legs.

Our ride paralelled the Tanana River, it's light chocolate brown water flowing quite fast as it made it's way towards Fairbanks, logs and debris caught up in and riding the fast flowing water. A couple of hills to contend with and the Alaskan Range, a glaciated mountain range, off to the right of the road giving us a nice vista to look at beyond the river.

Lots of traffic passing us, the majority of which was RV motorhomes, many towing their cars, boats and four wheel ATV's, and thankfully, mostly all heading North.

After 50 kilometres we decided to investigte a parking area with a view of the Alaskan Range, and that became our campsite. We had pulled up and were having a coffee when this vehicle turned up and out jumped a couple by the names of Hermon and Marion. They are from Austria and have been travelling around the world, most recently here in Alaska. We had a chat about our respective trips and before we knew it they had offered us some smoked salmon which they had caught and had smoked. We thought we were going to share some with them but as it turned out we were given all of it, complete with bread, onions and salad. The salmon was mouth wateringly fabulous and a real delight to eat.

We spent the next couple of hours sitting and chatting about all sorts of things before they departed to continue their trip, leaving us to finish the day by completing our journals, setting up the tent and preparing for bed, all the while enjoying the view of the Tanana River and the backdrop of the sun highlighting the magnificent peaks of the Alaskan Range.

Today's Stats

From: Fairbanks

To: Tanana River

Ride Time:
3 hrs 54 mins

Distance:
51.20 km's

Av Speed:
13 km/h

Max Speed:
54 km/h

Max Altitude:
453 m

Av Climb: 2 %

Max Climb: 13 %

Weather: Sunny 31 Deg C.

Camp Location:

N: 64:17'25.2

W: 146:25'08.5

Friday 29 June 2007

Our Alaskan Range view campsite was pretty quiet throughout the night, a few vehicles came in for a look at the view but none of them bothered us. We awoke to a hazy morning courtesy of a fire we had spotted yesterday as we rode down the highway. The smoke had found a natural funnel down the river and was obscuring most of the mountains in the Alaskan Range, a few however managed to stick their majestic heads out the top, but the view was not going to be that great today.

Riding uphill to cross two small ranges and we were pretty much on the flat for the rest of the day, small rises here and there but generally following the river meant that it was easier riding, despite the fact that the river was going in the opposite direction to us.

Moose were the flavor of the day today, a mother with two calves just off the road as we were flying down one of only a couple of downhills, and more later on during the day. Moose cows doesn't sound real nice so we decided to call them moosettes instead. A little later on we spied another moosette eating quietly on the side of the road no more than 25 metres from us. With no calf in sight and very carefully, we stopped to enjoy a look at this animal. Non plussed, the moosette gave a snort like a horse does when its got a bug up its nose and kept on eating, totally ignoring us. Our next moose was in real bad shape, it had obviously been hit by a truck and apart from the bits left all over the road, was just off the side of the road. We kept riding past it because apart from the fact that it was a real mess, a carcass up here is a neon sign saying "Dinner is served" to any bear in the area, and we didn't want to fight one of those things.

Arriving in Little Delta we stopped in amongst a heap of very large and very luxurious motorhomes at a place called Rika's Historic Homestead. According to the information, Rika was an early female pioneer who along with her homestead helped open up this part of Alaska. The grounds have some historis buildings etc and of course the obligatory tourist fleece - the gift shop.

Leaving Rika's place we eventually rode into Delta Junction around 1pm. We rode around looking for somewhere to eat, eventually ending up at the Visitor Information Centre where we managed to refill our water bags, have a friendly visitor take our picture next to the End of the Alaskan Highway Marker and find out where to eat.

Delta Junction is not a very big place and a blink of the eyes could see you miss it, even on a bicycle (well, almost). The place is very spread out with really not that much to offer.

Photo and water stop over we rode back over to the Buffalo Diner where we tucked into a Buffalo Hamburger meal before heading out of town to continue the ride.

Dodging the rumble strips and the edge of the road we were riding a very straight and visually uninspiring road. Every now and then we would see the tops of some Alaskan Range mountains, but in general we were being entertained by the large numbers of very large motorhomes and 5th wheelers that were all heading North, loaded to the gunnels and usually towing another vehicle in which they had managed to load a 4 wheel ATV, boat or hovercraft - talk about take everything including the kitchen sink! With fuel around the $3.10 per gallon mark, we were glad we were not opening our wallet to fill up one of those gas guzzlers.

Campsites were just not around, the spruce trees and bush right up to the road and when there was somewhere to get off the road it was usually to someone's property with the usual sign of "Posted. No Tresspassing, No Hunting, No Trapping, No Camping" plastered across the trees next to the track. Another moose on the side of the road made four adults (including the carcass) and two babies for the day.

Having had enough for one day, we stopped at a place called Adams Ribs, a reference to the meals they provide, but with really bad campsites and no showers for $10, or a room (with no shower) for $85, we rode on.

Some 6 miles later we arrived at a petrol station smack bang in the middle of nowhere and decided to buy a cold drink, and then as a reasonable figure was mentioned, we took a cabin, complete with its own sauna, for the night. The view out the front providing us with snow capped mountains to enjoy. It had been quite an interesting day.

Today's Stats

From: Tanana River

To: Cabin 30km S Delta Junction

Ride Time:
6 hrs 22 mins

Distance:
82.94  km's

Av Speed:
13 km/h

Max Speed:
59.5 km/h

Max Altitude:
534  m

Av Climb: 3 %

Max Climb: 9 %

Weather: Sunny 32 Deg C.

Camp Location:

N: 63:54'05.7

W: 145:14'16.3

Saturday 30 June 2007

Yesterdays ride obviously took more out of us than we thought and after a nice shower, meal and journals time we hit the sack upstairs in our log cabin, too tired to even go for a beer with the German cyclists in the cabin next door.

On the road early after a reasonable sleep we were disappointed to find the smoke haze still obscuring the mountains. The road was being kind to us, it's smooth surface and minimal hills ensuring that we were making good progress right from the start, playing leap frog with the postman delivering mail to the homes along the road and wishing we could see the mountains.

We crossed the Gerstle River Bridge, one of four steel trussed bridges along the highway, this one dedicated to the memory of the black servicemen who worked on the Alaskan Highway. The bridge spanned a wide river, two thirds of which was fast flowing light chocolate coloured water and the other third sand bank covered with wood debris.

Stopping for a break we were joined by two cyclist, Dirk and Petra, he from Germany, she from Switzerland. Together they had been on the road for about 18 months and had ridden from Ushuaia at the bottom of South America, their goal being Prudhoe Bay. We stopped and chatted about each others trip, us being able to tell them about the the Dalton Highway, they telling us about the Top of the World Highway and Dawson City. Vist and break over we took photo's, exchanged details and rode off, they into a headwind, us with a tailwind.

The road was still being kind to us and we spent the rest of the day climbing small hills and enjoying pretty flat or slight 1 - 2 % grades. Cresting a hill we found two Canadian's from Quebec taking a break from their cycling and the headwind that they had been struggling against.

Heading towards Dot Lake we found ourselves watching the rain clouds building and then the sheets of rain coming intowards us, then, almost on cue, just as we arrived at the Dot Lake sign we spotted an old roadside shack which at one time would have been a roadside stall. The rain beginning to fall as we pulled up next to the shack, and with just enough time to quickly cover the panniers with their rain covers we dived into the dry of the shack as the rain storm hit.

Putting up the shutters on two sides to reduce the wind tunnel effect we began to make ourselves at home, lighting mozzie coils to drive the blood thirsty hoards out and tidying up the Mc Donalds wrappers, old beer cartons and other rubbish to allow us a clean area to sit in and to reduce the advertisment to bears in the area then wrestling the trikes through the doorway. Once inside we were able to keep our gear dry, have access to it all and keep the whole lot hidden from the road. With the rain continuing to fall we set up camp inside and hoped for a dry day in the morning.

Today's Stats

From: Cabin 30km S Delta Junction

To: Dot Lake

Ride Time:
4 hrs 52 mins

Distance:
69.12 km's

Av Speed:
14.10 km/h

Max Speed:
46 km/h

Max Altitude:
586 m

Av Climb: 2 %

Max Climb: 8 %

Weather: 19-32 Deg C.
Sunny then rain.

Camp Location:

N: 63:39'45.7

W: 144:04'16.9

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