FLASK August 5-11
Aug 5:
Granola, french toast, eggs, bacon, & coffee for breakfast. The float plane out was not as scenic as it was coming over - the Cirque & Bricknell has spoiled me. We flatted on the gravel road & after some frustration with unfamiliar tools we put on the inadequate spare & had to drive much slower. We got the flat fixed within 30 minutes of arriving in Watson Lake & then went to the library for internet & the bank so everyone could hand me cash for the backcountry permits I'd fronted. They dropped me at the Downtown RV park & left, seeming a little worn by my laconic company while in the Cirque. I walked to get my bike after setting up the tent, then went to get beer, stretched, & chatted with Abe & Helen while finishing a sandwich & soup pilfered from Inconnu Lodge. Former truckers, they were returning slowly to Manitoba from their 1st trip to Alaska. Talked awhile with Hogan, sympathetic as always to the plight of former studs fading in strength & willpower. Then Rae called back & all was finally getting right with the world. I miss & love her so much it hurts to be gone. Adventure ... Rae. I pick Rae but she insisted again I finish what I started & do the Denali/Whittier Bay bonus round. She's beyond wonderful.
Aug 6:
63 km (39 miles) to Big Creek CG. 1030-600. Mediocre breakfast at Kathy's Kitchen. Grocery shopping. Brief chat with Rae. Called REI - they will warranty & free ship new pad. Yea! Pack up camp. Ride into a cold, steady (better than gusting, IMO) headwind. Right wrist extremely painful. Tired but not depleted so I ride slow, with no intentions or destination. Mediocre lunch of hot ham & cheese sandwich & fries at Junction 37 Cafe. Came across Bjorn from the UK astride his GS650 on the shoulder with a flat, so I helped him get the wheel off. 2 other motorbikers (Jeff & his 70-year-old dad were riding Atlanta to Anchorage & back!) stopped & all the needed tools were pieced together. They worked well together & it was ridable in 30 minutes. Another Jeff, this one a touron who left Anchorage 3 weeks ago & is heading to Patagonia, pulled over with his puppy in a trailer & we had a nice chat. Just 2 km more after the long stop to the CG. Walt, anothe 70-year-old motorbiking from Washington to Fairbanks with a buddy, came over to chat, mostly about being old & active. Nice. Stretch. Dinner of ravioli & pepper (I need to get salt), the rest of the beers I got in Watson Lake, & PBJ on cinnamon-raisin bread. Wrist very sore but otherwise feel fine, if a little listless. Missing Rae acutely.
Aug 7:
78 km (49 miles) to Continental Divide CG/Lodge. 1030-530. Slept in. Sunshine. 9-grain hot cereal (yuck) & cocoa. Meditated. Uphill into a cold headwind. With no ambition or schedule, I don't mind it at all - pedaling slowly, taking frequent breaks. Wrist trouble unchanged. PBJ on cinnamon-raisin bread (yum), soup & coffee late afternoon at Rancheria Lodge, saw a young bull moose dancing through a pond near the road, had a great, relaxing sit on the banks of the swift-moving Rancheria River, & a nice walk along a boardwalk through a boreal forest recovering from a fire 100 years ago to Rancheria Falls. Met Graham, who'd left Anchorage 2 weeks ago in will head south on Cassiair Hwy (37) to Victoria. Nice kid. Stopped for the day at Continental Divide CG ($15 for a nicely wooded site, shower, firewood, WiFi). Tent up. Stretch. Dinner of rice, peppers, garlic, & Tasty Bite. Bugs aren't horrible. Comfortable temps (no puffy jacket). Forecast looks great. Strength returning slowly, though listless & uninspired, despite wild, open, beautiful scenery. Untroubled by it - it's just different for me.
Aug 8:
95 km (59 mi). 1100-600. Rain pattered the tent during the night & into morning so I slept in before a mediocre breakfast at the lodge (the "1st day" gal didn't know how to make the menu's breakfast burrito so I said, "Make me whatever you want." Wala - omelette). The rain'd stopped but the clouds were low & grey &, for the 3rd day, a cold, steady headwind was blowing. Within minutes I spy a moose cow & calf at a pond's reedy shore. They gently, nimbly disappear after a bit. I didn't see the Continental Divide sign, though this ones goes to seas, not oceans: Bering & Beaufort. Wrist still loads of trouble. At lunch at a rest area, I talked for awhile with Richard - a semi-retired trucker from Ft. Lauderdale, FL - who was alone, having neither wife nor girlfriend & "ain't gay," because he cared not a wit to have someone wanting to know when he was gonna be home. Fun to talk to. Robby & Monica are some Swiss-Germans a few years into an around-the-world tour in their early 60s! Super nice, humble, funny. After a lay-by-the-bike snack I met Brian & Liz, touring from Fairbanks back home to Victoria. They'd started in Prudhoe Bay but had so much tire trouble that they van'd down to Fairbanks - & the van had 4 flats! Brian (a bery big dude - 280 lbs?) handed over a mango - yummy! Liz recommended the free camping at the Morley River Rec Area, "next to construction but nice." In improving spirits from the chats, with the terrain leveling a bit, & with the clouds breaking up, I easily pedal the 20 km to this lovely site - wooded, set well back from the road, tables & fire rings down near the beautiful, fast, shallow, tumbling Morley. Tent up. Stretch. Dinner of macaroni & cheese (to which I added a pilfered Cheez Whiz packet), pepper, garlic, & tuna - yum. I eat down by the river with trout leaping under a low, hanging sun peaking under grey clouds. Serene. Peaceful. Wild. The rain starts gently but, despite the fact that I'm sheltered by a tree, I get up to ensure all the camp stuff is stashed in the tent or panniers before it picks up - into the tent just in time. My head's not been good since LFT but while meditatively stretching I remember that I pick how I feel in each moment - including this one - so I feel better because I have to; especially given that I'm on my adventure, it's wild & beauitiful here in the Yukon, I adore my wife & she tolerates this BS, & I will soon see Denali. Life is very, very good & I'm glad I finally remembered that again. I grapple with desire in contemplative moments - trying to subordinate it to enjoying what's here with & in me. But ... if I could have 1 thing with me in this moment, it would Rae. 2? Her with a pint of Hagen Das Caramel Cone ice cream.
Aug 9:
114 km (71 mi). 800-600. Sun! Break camp. Meditate. Pedal, hopeful for breakfast within minutes but disappointed to see Morley River Lodge is closed. Breakfast can wait as it's nice out. Crisp weather. No wind. I eat an expensive, sparse, but good breakfast at Dawson Peak CG at 1000. I see Reginald & Inu coming my way. The adorable 63-year-old Dutch couple are pedaling from Prudhoe Bay to Miami! Limited camp beta - "Our one luxury: we motel when we can get it." Cute! Then Johann & Mary, a 20-something Swiss-French couple pedaling from Prudhoe Bay to Tierra del Fuego! Everyone's talking about a Russian ahead of me: 20 years of cycling, around the world many times, & nearing the end of a quest to circumnavigate each ridable continent! What?! I hope to meet him! Stopped in Teslin on beautiful Nusitlin Bay - picturesque - to mail postcards I've had since leaving Watson Lake. Rode comfortably on rolling hills next to the dark, scenic, 50 km long Teslin Lake. After brief climbing out of the valley I stop at Johnston Crossing for a cinnamon roll, coffee, WiFi, & a book suggestion from the proprieter. It's just 20 km to a Squanga Lake Public CG ($12), where I replace a broken spoke before going to say Hello to wheelchair-bound Ryan, my neighbor. He fell asleep drunk at the wheel & broke his lower back. He can walk with canes & is improving. Since it happened while he was working on an "out" road repair crew, he's on disability, using the money travelling whenever he can. He also plays a mean harmonica! I make & eat dinner at his camp so we can chat more, then go stretch before crawling in the tent. Feeling better still, though wrist is still painful. Whitehorse & a cell signal (?!) so I can chat with Rae tomorrow!
Aug 10:
114 km (71 mi) to Whitehorse, capital of the Yukon Territory. 830-430. Clear skies when I awoke early. Crappy 9-grain hot cereal & cocoa. Meditated. Crisp morning & pedaling felt sluggish until I realized I was climbing - haha! 2nd breakfast at Jake's Corner with great homemade bread for toast & the owner was a cute, flirty gal my age, to which I responded by stroking my scraggly-ass beard with my left hand & talking longingly about Rae - she cared not a whit! Haha! Skies darkened & a persistent cold headwind developed but I rode with some strength today past Marsh Lake. I stopped for a late PBJ on CB at the Yukon River, when Mike & Gabriel pulled up. Native T'linglit with huge toothless smiles, they responded to my, "What're you guys doing today?" with "Smoking pot. Want a hit?" Haha! Fun guys. 2 cool looking big dogs came out of nowhere to happily run alongside me for about 3 miles. Fun! I stopped for yummy homemade barley soup & coffee at Sourdough Country CG. Using their WiFi, I discovered that I waa selected for one of the PBS promotional spots. I'll get details in a call tomorrow morning. Crazy! All the way into Whitehorse (1st stoplights since Ft. Nelson, I think) then back 3 km to Roberts Service CG - now I'm a little disappointed. I'd rather either be in town so I could easily walk to a pub or be remote camping. Oh well. Great chat with Hogan, then stretched & managed to miss Rae returning my call. Eventually we connected - mmmm. Thank goodness. Man, I miss her. We got all caught up (packing up the house, dealing with IRS fines, getting a pool fence installed fir her Vs pedaling for me) then coo'ed at one another for awhile. I just adore that woman ... An Austrian touron was in the next campsite. Markus is heading from Fairbanks to Patagonia, though he says he tries not to think of a destination so far away in time & distance ... smart.
Aug 11:
Rest day. Rain all night, all day. Slept in. Meditated. Bus into town. Breakfast. Sports store to look at boots (too $$), thrift store for boots (no luck), travel agent to get Inner Passage schedule, coffee shop for WiFi where I met Maricon. She's doing addiction research in isolated Arctic communities through University of Alberta in Edmonton. Interesting, tough, independent gal. Fun to talk to & seems to have her head on straight about important stuff, like money, relationships, & community. Talked to Rob for 1st time in months - really missing that connection. We're both bummed about the prospect of not seeing each other for awhile ... Pub for the 1st decent beer in a month or more, & burger. Yum. Rain ... Nice long walk back to camp talking to Rae all the while. The rain is worrisome but I will definitely set out tomorrow AM.
