Friday, July 30, 2004
We got on the flight to Anchorage and right away Heather (the flight attendant) informed Steve that photographing people without their permission was illegal. It was still dusky when we arrived at the Anchorage airport. We assembled our bikes for maybe two hours. We borrowed a large rubber floor mat, and wrapped up our bike boxes and stashed them under a mobile trailer in the parking lot. We headed off and finally discovered a grocery store. Carr’s. We were kind of dazed and tired – so the whole grocery shopping experience was quite an adventure. It was starting to get light by the time we made it to the High school – where we spent our first night.  

Saturday, July 31, 2004 
Fortunately, Dennis and I had happened to put our tent behind a tree. Steve’s stinky tube got really hot in the direct sunlight. We slept as late as we could, and then dallied in the warmth – getting ready for our first day. We went to REI to get a thermarest for Steve. We also got some fuel, and a waterbottle for Steve. Finally, we hit the road – meeting Aimee (Miss Alaska Chicks Rule) who showed us the bike path. She had an MA in Creative writing from some Wisconsin school. Just out of town, we found a bike path that went to Eagle River. Just as we started, we met Sam. Sam had an unusual way of interacting with people. To me, he looked like a Walrus. When he asked my name and I told him, he said affirmatively, “Is that right?” Quite a character. Apparently he was walking. No particular destination. When the path ended, we found some side roads which led us to another cyclist named Barbara. She suggested that we take the highway in lieu of the side-roads (which we ended up taking). Eventually, the side roads ran out. We ended up at some Eskimo’s house with a huge turquoise boat parked in front. He assured us that the only way out was on the highway. We talked briefly to some tourists from Anchorage (with visiting friends) and looked at a Russian cemetery. We rode highway to Wasilla – my knee started to hurt and I thought that the trip was going to be over. We went to Walmart for some McDonalds. Then we got groceries (and a 6 pack) at Fred Meyers. We ended up camping on the porch of a Real Estate Agency on a lake. Dennis and Steve went to Fish Heads. They will have to tell you about that. 

Sunday, August 1, 2004 
We rode to Houston where we saw our first rain – more like a sprinkle. We saw a showgirls place – and at my suggestion, Steve decided to change the sign from “now hiring 18 and under” to “now hiring 18 and over.” So, after that, in an effort to hide from the rain, we went to a fireworks stall. We met Hanna and talked to her for a long time. Steve bought several fireworks. Apparently Hanna brings guns while she is snowboarding & fixes her bruised ribs with duct tape. That was interesting to us Californians. We use duct tape for a lot of things, but not rib repair. We stopped by Sheep creek for some River Camping. There was a grocery where we got fixings for burritos. We asked the guy for camping and beer information. “Well, here’s what you do, boys – you go to the bar just a quarter mile down the road… and git your beer. Then you go to the bridge – and there’s campin under there.” Sure enough, there was a bar where we were able to buy some beer – on the condition that we carry it out (and don't drink it on site). Before dinner, I called Janet and we talked for a while. At camp, Steve lit a fair number of fireworks. No bears for us! We swam in the icy river like salmon going upstream. 

Monday, August 2, 2004 
We rode a couple of miles – then at a gas station while buying ice cream, Steve found out that Talkeetna was “The place to go!” It was out of the way, so we decided to hitch a ride. We locked our bikes by the visitor center and the first people we asked – Zoey and Juan – said “ok, we can give you a ride.” They were reluctant at first – but after we spent some time in the car with them and drinking beers at West Rib brewery, they were ready to buy us a round! The town was stupid – but at least we went, right? Later, Steve decided to ask this weathered Santa Clause looking guy where he could get some weed - not that we wanted any (Steve just likes to mess with people). This turned into quite an adventure as he rampaged on how us “boys got a lot to learn.” And how we shouldn’t vote for Bush, and how we can shoot particles at the speed of light – and scientists didn’t know it… and blah blah blahed about some alternative reality physics. He even showed us a scrap of paper from his wallet that had some revelation in atomic theory scribbled down. Don’t vote for BUSH he shouted as we pedaled away on our bikes.. From there, we rode on to Lower troublesome creek where there had apparently been bears recently. This camp was infested with boy scouts and a gun toting waiting-to-be-a-hero Alaskan fellow. Fortunately no one got shot that night. Camped at MP 137.2 


Tuesday, August 3, 2004 
We expected food at MP 156.2. The place was closed – so we pushed on for a while. We eventually got some water from some Fairbanks folks (older people going to school). Sam’s club water – a total of 6 x 500ml bottles. Steve Showed up in a ranger truck – apparently he had lost track of us! From there, we rode on until we met 2 cyclists from New Zealand & Wisconsin. While talking to them, a truck pulls over and asks if we need help. We casually mention that we’re out of water, so the man with the beard bumbles down to the stream, fills up his water bottle, runs back up, takes a swig and says, “This water is good to drink!” It turns out that his name is Richard – but he goes by “10 bears.” The number of bears he has killed. Anyway, it comes out that we’re out of food – so he loads us up with food – from Mountain Home to Ham salad. We are very thankful and he gives us his address and says we should pay a visit. “You aren’t going to f***ing visit me!” We say, Ok… whatever. He says, “I’m NOT a f***ing Homo!” anyway, it’s a barrel of laughs with this guy, and he decided to go buy us some whiskey (50 miles away) and to then drive it back up for us. His parting words – “Don’t vote for Bush!” We spent the night at East Fork Camp (MP 185.7). It was nice – but we had to pay $10. Fortunately, 10 bears didn’t come with the booze. 

Wednesday, August 4, 2004 
We woke up without much food; ended up frying the Spam and riding with a tailwind into Cantwell. Here we stocked up on groceries – and then went to Lazy J’s for some burgers. Oddly, the tab added up to $25 for 3 $9 hamburgers. We didn’t complain. We carried on to Becky’s Mountain Morning Hostel. The place was pretty nice – but Becky was very businesslike. We ended up just drinking 3 pitchers of beer at the Panorama Pizza place (in the shadow of Panorama mountain). We had an Amber Ale, followed by an IPA… and then some type of lager beer (we were too drunk at this point to remember the name). We met Lindsay & we played Scabble. Later, we went to take showers at Becky’s place (probably a little after midnight). We camped up the road at Milepost 226. Steve lit off a few fireworks, and I buried our food under some big rocks to trick the bears. 


Thursday, August 5, 2004 
We had cookies and brownies for breakfast. We rode to Denali Cabins and I soaked in the hot tubs with a family from Boston while Steve called Mary and work. Dennis did something too. We got post-card stamps here & I mailed a post-card to work. We rode further and finally made it to the park. We decided to stock up at the ultra-expensive grocery store (another gas station). I called Janet, and we all had ice-cream type things. We ordered some subs at Bub’s subs. An hour later, Steve finally had his sandwich too. Steve and Dennis both got T-shirts. We stashed our bikes in the park (along the train tracks) and hiked down to Horseshoe lake for a momentary swim. Then Steve told us stories of Mike Meyers, high school losers, and youthful decadence. We got a campsite at Riley Creek campground. Apparently, the camp was full – some hikers came to our site and said we had the last one… but they found another! After dinner, we went over to the princess hotel and used their hot tubs. We found ourselves in a lengthy conversation about politics with a couple from Wasilla (fishheads!). We talked to the for an hour or so. These folks told us to Vote for Bush. Alaska is so political!?!?! 


Friday, August 6, 2004 
Took a shuttle inside the park for $22 each (plus a $10 entrance fee divided amongst us). Daniel greeted us at the official entrance to tell us that this was Denali park (in case we didn’t know) and to have a good time. I sat next to Ingrid – a lady from near Hamburg. Steve and Dennis sat next to some imbecile who didn’t understand how to operate windows. Perhaps he’s an engineer for BMW. There was also the guy with the plastic fish-net camo top… and our “guide” a loquacious erudite with a penchant for bombast. We ended up waiting at the Eilieson visitor center for 3 hours for Jessica Brillhart (Dennis’ old co-worker from Cedar Grove). She ended up driving right by us – so we arranged an elaborate scheme where we’d take the last bus to her camp, run to her house at a sub 5 minute pace, see her for 10 to 15 minutes, run back – doing another sub 5 minute mile, and then catch the sweep bus with a lady named Mona. Fortunately, the fast miles weren’t necessary… And Dennis got to see Jessica for more than 15 minutes. We caught the sweep bus, and thanks to Mona, we finally got to see Moose. In fact, we eventually saw one too close for comfort – in the street right in front of us! We hurried to pizza at Lynx pizza and had a BBQ chicken pizza which I didn’t end up tasting thanks to a paper coke cup of wine and a round of beer courtesy of Steve. Good music in this bar. Upon departure, we headed to the hot tubs – but they were closed. In our stupor, we met some kids who pointed out the Northern Lights were raining above us. Sure enough, it was the most amazing part of our Alaska vacation. Cool. Then we hopped into the recently chemically treated hot tubs and only got a mild itch. On the way back to camp (we paid this time $12), we picked up Ryan – who was hitch-hiking. We gave him a ride back to his campsite on the rack of my bike. Saturday, 


August 7, 2004 
We washed up at the mercantile, and took Steve to the train depot. We took off his crank because the pedal was too tight and bid him farewell. After trying to hitch hike for 1 minute and 30 seconds, Dennis and I decided to ride to Cantwell. This worked out well because we ended up seeing Molly on the road. We chatted with her for 10 minutes – but she was late for work. We went to Becky’s and found out that she had a migrane that first night we visited. Dennis and I went to Lazy J’s for our second round of burgers. They charged us $18 this time. We started down the Denali Highway in good spirits. On the side of the road, we met Lilian and Ellie. They were two Eskimos who told us which berries we could pick and eat. Cranberries, Blueberries, and Crowberries. Further down the road, we met Steppan. He was a cyclist from Germany who had a Canadian accent. Later, we tried to camp at a nice spot – but were scared away by an intensely rude couple. Farther on, we met Russ and Gail and their dogs Max and Ursula. They let Dennis shoot the M1A1 with tracer bullets. We ended up talking to them for a couple of hours and setting up camp in the shade of their camper. 


Sunday, August 8, 2004 
We rode all day and had a late lunch at the Gracious Inn. This is the eatery which is about 100 degrees inside. We met Jim and Nancy – another couple from Wasilla (Fishheads!) they have an incinerator business which seems to be failing. Jim had eyes that rolled around in his head and a strange sniff. Too much incinerator smoke perhaps. Nancy was very nice – and in fact, Dennis had a crush on her due to her loquaciousness. We camped alongside the dirt road and used up the rest of the little fireworks. 


Monday, August 9, 2004 
We just rode and met few people due to the isolation of the area. It was turning out to be a nice day; we made good mileage, the dirt road got a little easier, and we had a late afternoon swim in a lake. Suddenly POP! Both of my tires went flat at once with a total of six punctures (3 pinch flats at once!) Dennis was moving ahead and couldn’t hear me yell… so I broke out the last Roman Candle. Nearly 2 miles away, Dennis (barely) heard the firework popping. He was riding back up the hill anyway. Fortunately, Peter and Sue came by in a car and drove me 6 miles down to the paved road. It wasn’t fully necessary, but it really helped take the edge off my frustration. Dennis rode his bike by himself & actually got to the paved road before we did! We had burgers at the Tangle Lake Inn. It was starting to get darker by the time we left – and unfortunately, my tent poles fell off my bike somewhere. It was a couple mile ride back to where they were lying in the road – fortunately not run over by a car. My knee started to really hurt, and the desolate scenery was depressing. We finally found a moderately flat spot to camp in the middle of a 4 wheel drive track. It was good enough for us! Tuesday, 


August 10, 2004 
We woke to smoky skies. Apparently, the wind had turned (so it could still be a headwind now that we were changing directions). We rode to Paxon – a dirly little town with a mean old lady who wouldn’t even let us dispose of the wrappers from the $2.00 candy we had bought at her store! She said, “Uh, there is a dumpster out back for those!” We rode south all day to Glenallen – a long way. My knee hurt a lot. The highlight of the afternoon was probably burgers at the Myer’s lake inn. 16 miles before reaching town, my tire blew up – there had been a slit in the sidewall. We managed to cobble together some patches from Dennis’ kit. Things were getting a little depressing. When we finally made it to Glenallen, we got a little happier having lemonade at a store just outside of town. Dennis saw a moose and went to buy cookies (which made us happier... the cookies, not the moose). We camped at a church just beside some cabins (which we managed to get into – but decided not to sleep in). It’s better that we didn’t – because kids started arriving before we woke up. 


Wednesday, August 11, 2004 
We went to the best grocery store that we had seen in days (which isn’t saying much) and stocked up. We weren’t excited about the prospect of hitching to Valdez on this gloomy day – but we started chatting with Jenny and Peter outside of the grocery. We mentioned that we were behind schedule and headed towards Valdez. Next thing we knew, we had 6 new friends: Peter, Jenny, Cutter, Collin, McKenna, and Alex. They drove us to Valdez with many stops along the way (Wilmington Glacier, Salmon spawning point, Old Valdez). Jenny entertained Dennis with her stories. The kids kept me busy – especially McKenna. After our arrival in Valdez, we parted ways agreeing to meet on the ferry in the morning. Dennis and I ate pizza at Mike’s Pizza Palace and got to know our waitress who was obsessed with a town called Cordova, AK. She had actually never been there – but she knew she was going to love it (and move there in 3 weeks!) To avoid the drizzle, Dennis and I went to Bad Ass Coffee (that’s the real name) and Dennis checked internet and then we played scrabble. We spent the night at the dugout at the community college after bestowing gifts on the family who drove us (12pack coke and skittles (yes, tooth rot - we're so evil, but the kids love us)) 


Thursday, August 12, 2004 
We paid $81 each & $10 for each bike to ferry across the Prince William Sound. We went through a 1 way tunnel after the 6 hour passage (fortunately we were driven by our family friends again. They took us to Moose Pass so we could have a longer (but not TOO long ride back to Anchorage). We had lunch at Moose Pass of halibut quesadillas. The waitress from Texas was pierced up the ying yang and had very short hair. The riding north was good – but the shoulder and traffic wasn’t. We camped at a rest stop by a river. Probably our best spot yet! It was tranquil and we had water. Nice. 


Friday, August 13, 2004 
Another nice day. We rode over turn again pass – hard with the headwind. I mostly drafted off Dennis because my knee was hurting. We looped around turn again arm and had a tail wind for a few miles after Portage. Ironically, the wind turned around again and gave us a head wind for the rest of the day. We stocked up on food at Girdwood and relaxed for a couple of hours. I read the local paper and did a crossword puzzle. Dennis called 10 bears and got directions. We lubed the chains, and rode a bike path which will eventually go a full 17 miles out of Girdwood. We camped on a cliff near (but not in) a campground. I found my first geocache ever (without trying) and signed it! We had good camping! Saturday, 


August 14, 2004 
We headed to 10 bears’ house and found it pretty easily. We met his wife (Casandra) and one of his daughters (the mid-wife one) we both forgot her name somehow. She was nice. Apparently, she had done a semester at sea and traveled all over the world – so she shared some of these stories with us. Later, 10 bears and his wife drove us to Fred Meyer. We got some groceries and then headed back. We met their neighbor who was just as crazy (and funny) as 10 bears. As we rode away, 10 bears yelled, “DON’T VOTE FOR BUSH!” We made it to the airport on time, collected our boxes, didn’t pay the extra $50 to bring the bikes back, and landed late in Seattle. We ended up camping by some generator thing and didn't sleep because it was too noisy.