Southeast Alaska is AWESOME!

So I last wrote in the little town of Chistochina about roadside hospitality. Now as I sit at my new friend Justin's place in Juneau (how's that for alliteration?) I am reinspired. Cycling down from Tok had it's fun, hills and spills. It was absolutely beautiful, and I guarantee that the real Yukon is much more beautiful than the one you picture in your head. We saw a couple bears, a giant moose, some terrifying voles, and some very, very cute porcupines. As we came into Haines we even saw bald eagles. In fact, don't even get me started on eagles, we're eagled out.

At the top of the pass coming into the town of Haines, we slept in a mansion of a shack called the Nadahini shack. It was our first indoors sleeping experience in a little over a month, and it was well enjoyed. The shack had a shelf for our sleeping bag and a wood burning stove which pretty much cooked us all night. The next day we cycled downhill over 60 miles into the town of Haines. Haines is amazing - picture the rocky mountains with an ocean within walking distance. Oh, and all the people are really really nice and fun and smart. And you can watch a bear with three cubs and then watch a bald eagle fly overhead. Needless to say, we stayed in our seaside campground for a few nights.

Haines was great, but the road called to us. Not a real road, per se, for Alaska's definitions of many things are a little skewed, but actually a watery road. We would be boarding southeast Alaska's version of a bus - the ferry. Finally! Moving without pumping our legs! After a full day of ferry delays we finally were able to board the ship and, wow. Ferries are a blast! Stepping out onto the deck, the ship surrounded by tall mountains covered in trees enclosing the small strip of seawater that carried our vessel, watching for small islands sporting only a lone lighthouse, it was like a dream.

After being regaled by stories by the bartender of the boat about the scenery and wildlife encounters he had experienced while living in the Southeast passage, Rusti and I looked at each other and knew that we would return to this place to try our luck in the great Alaskan wilderness. There's no telling when, but we will most definitely make it back up to the great North both for the people and the scenery. We are having an awesome time!

Things I Would Like To Do, But Can't Seem to Find the Time

Hello Kids! I know it's been too long, welcome to cycling through the Yukon/"Northern" Alaska (really, it's barely 1/2 way to the northernmost part). In this part of the world, wi-fi shows up in the strangest places, but it is like a trickling stream when everybody needs big gulps of water. Bandwidth in the lower 48 is given out like candy, but up here it's guarded protectively. All of this is very frustrating in light of the fact that actually I have lots of ideas of where I would like this blog to go. It also doesn't help that all of our pictures are trapped on old fashioned film, far away from the interwebs, and that for some reason putting things onto blogs takes gobs of time. All of that time is time we're borrowing from businesses who would mostly rather us move on so that the next guy can saddle up to the stream. I guess all I can say is thank you for your patience, and give you a list of things that will hopefully be forthcoming at some point some time.

1) FAQ Page While sitting on the side of the old AlCan in our tent in a rainstorm, I wrote most of an FAQ page. Rusti still has to add the specs on his bike, though. Perhaps I will do a whole page just for gear reviews. Lord knows we're opinionated enough between the two of us.

2) Pictures. I know, you've all be waiting for them. I blame Rusti for leaving the camera charger at a campsite 4 days out from Anchorage. But that is neither here nor there. And truthfully we really haven't found a great place where we could upload them anyway. But we have been funsaving with our disposable funsavers and i'm sure there will be some mediocre pictures to post when we figure out a way to put them into digital format. Just as a warning they are mostly of mountains (95%) or signs that Rusti finds to be funny (Fuch lake). They will probably all look remarkably similar to one another. I guess you'll just have to take your own cycling trip through Alaska and the Yukon and see for yourself. I highly, highly recommend it.

3) Energy Balls. They're everywhere. Sometimes you feel them just flying back and forth between your ears at night. They become most apparent through acts of generosity from perfect strangers to travelers. We have already experienced many of these, from funsavers being donated to cash being given. These people deserve recognition although they are most certainly not seeking it. Energy balls bolster our morale and give us the impetus to continue our adventure. They're part of the reason we are on this adventure to begin with.

4) Donations. This refers back to energy balls, but gives people who are not in physical contact with us a chance to donate to our cause. $10 buys us a beer, $30 a meal, $50 buys us a whole day on the road! I would like to install a paypal button on our page that allows people to donate money to us if they would like to. If you would prefer your money not going toward food, drugs and rock and roll, we are very passionate about World Bicyle Relief as a means to give people in developing countries a sustainable way to improve their lives through bicycles. I would like to make it easy for people to link to our donations page through this blog. Also, I would like to be more proactive about furthering our commitment to this cause.

5) Mission statement. I know, it sounds pretty square, but every team needs some sort of stated goal about what they're working toward or else you're just thrashing about. And I dislike thrashing. It's very dangerous for someone as clumsy as me.

6) Miscellaneous Goodies. A map showing where we've been and where we are, a box showing our longest mileage day, a place where we tell people what books we are reading, and as mentioned above a gear review page. Also perhaps an ad or two would help to generate a small amount of moola for the cause.

So, hopefully, with time and perserverance, these tasks will get checked off one by one and our blog will evolve from a random collection of thoughts that pour from my scattered brain to a place with information and entertainment for others who are interested in our plight. Please comment with other suggestions for pages you would like.

A Little Note on Roadside Love

It takes a very long time to travel between places in Alaska. It used to take even longer, and so a multitude of roadhouses existed between the few and far between stopping points. These were places intended just for weary travelers, and the some of the ones that haven't burned down still are. They offer a hot beverage and a place to rest, some have a shower and a camping spot. They are perfect for cyclists. Spaced about 40 miles apart, it is the perfect end to a day to arrive at one of these stopping spots for some real, live Alaskan hospitality. When it's good, there's nothing like it. We stopped at a cafe in Sourdough for our first experience. After being kicked out of the cafe, we realized Sourdough may not be the best place to rest. We moved on, and quickly this one lukewarm experience was rectified by two over the top lovely experiences.

The first was the Gakona historic lodge, about 5 miles past the Gakona junction that starts the long road to Tok. The first thing to realize is that in this region of Alaska there are not towns, there are Census Designated Places. These CDPs have maybe 30-100 people living around them, and are supported by perhaps a gas station and if you're really lucky a bar/restaurant. The Gakona Lodge has just that, and the man who runs it, Greg, is one you would be lucky to meet. Upon seeing us he introduced himself and welcomed us to wait around until he got over to open the bar. We did just that, and after enjoying some delicious cheese sticks and a burger, Greg invited us to pop our tent, free of charge, next to the river. We followed him up on his offer and spent a very pleasant evening sipping from a 6-pack and listening to the Gakona river rush by.

The next day we hit the road after hearing that the next town about 30 miles down the road had a small grocery and a fun to say name - Chistochina (also a CDP). We were also flagged down by a man in a red pick-up who offered us camping at his lodge. When we arrived at the lodge to the delicious news of showers, laundry and a $5 breakfast, we were sold. We were invited to attend this nice man, Richard, to the grocery in his pickup after we set our bikes next to a table in the lawn. The grocery wasn't large, but it wasn't overpriced (everything is relative, remember) and it was clean and friendly. We returned to clean up and cook a large pasta dinner for ourselves. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmm...Red Eagle Lodge receives the current first prize for showers in Alaska. The bath house is unequaled in its size and beauty. We went to sleep clean and full, two things that can be rare to an adventure cyclist.

The next morning we tromped in for breakfast and ate, drank cup after cup of coffee, and stayed way past when we really should have left. If any of you have any desire to travel to Alaska, please consider staying in one of the completely reasonably priced cabins at Red Eagle Lodge, they are real cabins that have been redecorated in the most beautiful, cabiny way. Well, we have already stayed too long, so I must be off to search for more roadside love...