July 11, 2010

Woke up this morning sore all over my entire body from my mishap on my bike. My right foot is especially sore but got up at 4am and went fishing anyway. Caught one salmon and had a couple of others on for awhile. Made all the aches go away. Works better than ibuprofen. Got in alot of reading and writing this afternoon, even got a nap in. Very few fish in the river. I am praying that a big run of fish come in tomorrow. I have never figured out if it is ok to pray for fish, but I will keep doing it until I now for sure it isn't. Had no trouble waking up this morning. The guy who I am staying with has this mongrel black lab dog and he came and licked me in the face. Woke me up with quite a start. I thought it was Patty kissing me.

July 10, 2010

Rode from Fairbanks to Soldotna today. 572 miles. Most I have ridden in one day. Don't want to do that too many times. Rained most of the way and was 50 degrees with the wind blowing hard. I was frozen through and through. I would stop at pull outs and put my hands near the engine to warm them up. A couple of times I got too close. I have the blisters to prove it. I had a minor wreck today. One of the pull outs was gravel and I didn't realize it until my front tire hit it. I was going about 20 and before I knew what was happening the bike was on it's side like a baseball player sliding into second base. Sprained my right wrist, sprained my right ankle and bruised my right buttock. I think I can fix it all with a couple of heavy doses of ibuprofen. Bent a bunch of stuff on my bike and took me awhile to get it straightened out. I will have to finish that project when I get home with some tools. I had a tough time after I left Shelly's. I got super emotional and I couldn't make it go away. I must be getting old. I am staying with a friend named Chick who has a nice cabin. He had the fire rip roaring hot when I got in tonight and I am writing this sitting a few inches from the stove. I stopped and bought my fishing license when I got into town so I am ready to go fishing after a good night's sleep.

July 9, 2010

Had a very nice leisurely day with my daughter Shelly and grandkids Alexa and Wyatt. Glen took off this morning on his own. He was going to go on a ride at Denali Park Camp around Anchorage and get started fishing a day ahead of me. I was going to stay at a friends place in Anchorage but he is gone so I am going to drive straight through to Soldotna. That will be about 550 miles. That will be the most that I have ridden in one day. I have lots of daylight so I can take my time. 9 days down and 13 more to go. Seems longer. I am looking forward to catching a bunch of salmon. I hope they are in. Talk to you tomorrow.

July 8, 2010

Made it to Fairbanks today at noon. Been hugging and playing with Alexa and Wyatt my two grandchildren all day. My daughter Shelly too. Having a very nice time. Weather is about 80 degrees and super nice. On the ride here this morning we stopped and took pictures of Mt McKinley or Denali and the mountains all around it. All snow covered and beautiful. We could see them very well which I guess is rare. Talked to a biker who hit a moose and he had broken his leg bad and could hardly walk anymore so we watch very carefully for moose on the road. Had one run across the road right in front of us this morning. They are huge. I wouldn't want to hit one. Shelly fixed sockeye salmon, broccoli, and potatoes for dinner. Way better than freeze dried dinners we have been eating. She even washed our dirty clothes. I didn't have much because I have been wearing the same clothes the last 8 days. They smelled fine to me, but I noticed that the cars that got up behind me would drop way back or pass me and give me a dirty look. I am going to hang out here all day tomorrow and let Shelly spoil me and take off on Saturday morning for the Kenai River.

July 7

Evening of July 7th. Had a great ride today. Covered 411 miles. Incredible scenery again with lots of snow covered mountains, rivers, and lakes. Saw a big ole grizzly bear next to the road eating berries. We stopped and he just kept right on eating. I turned my bike off so as not to scare him and started taking pictures. He looked up at me and started walking towards me. I think he was thinking, "I wonder if that thing tastes better than these berries." I started thinking options. If he starts running to me, do I throw the camera at him, drop the bike, and run over behind Glen or try and get my bike started and into gear and buzz off before he reaches me. About then he started eating berries again so I decided I had enough pictures. He was really close! Also saw some moose and another black bear.
My squeak turned out to be my rear brake. I had new brake pads put on the back before I left and they were a little close. I used my rear brake a bunch today and no more squeak. We went through a long section of road today that was built on permafrost and the road has lots of places where it has heaved. Makes either a speed bump or a big ditch in the road. It was hard to tell how much to slow down so I followed Glen back a ways and when I saw him airborne I slowed way down. Worked good.
Bunch of construction as well. I hate going through construction on a motorcycle. All that loose gravel and mud. I slipped and slided around a lot. I kept crying out, "help me Jesus" and managed not to fall.
We are in Tok, Alaska tonight. The campground had some nice little cabins that were $5 more than a tent sight so we are in one of those. I should stay warm tonight. That will be nice. We will be in Fairbanks tomorrow so I will get to see my grand kids and daughter Shelly. Philip her husband is gone on a river float trip.

July 7, 2010

Very cold last night. The only way I can stay warm while I sleep is to wear all my clothes along with my motorcycle coat. Slept very sound though. Headed for Tok, Alaska today. We will be going through customs at the border. Hoping to see a bunch more wildlife today. The roads have been in good shape with occasional stops for construction. Traffic is not an issue. We ride along at 55 to 60 most of the time and most of the RVs do about the same. I rarely see any rigs in front of me or behind me. At road construction stops where we will wait for 10 minutes only half a dozen rigs will back up. Very overcast this morning but the lady who checked us in said the forecast for today was no rain. Hallelujah!

July 6, 2010

Today is July 6, Tuesday evening. We are camped at Whitehorse in Yukon. We rode 400 today. It was windy and cold but no rain, Praise the Lord. We saw a big grizzly bear rooting around about 10 ft off the road. We stopped to take some pictures of him. Left the bikes running in neutral in case he decided we looked better to eat than the bugs he was chasing. Another car came up behind us and pulled up right between us and the bear. The lady on the passenger side rolled down her window and said they were shielding us from the bear. We thanked her for her thoughtfulness and assured her we were fine but we really would like to take some pictures. I think they will be great pictures. We were very close. Saw several other black bears and lots of buffalo. We saw a big bull buffalo dead beside the road. I assume someone hit him. I bet that wasn't a pleasant experience. Again the mountains and the lakes and scenery were amazing. I have developed a squeak in my back wheel. I am not sure if it is a wheel bearing going out or my brakes. I hope it goes away or at least holds together until we get home. Getting in lots of reading and writing.
Several have asked me the difference between going on a trip by myself as I did last year when I went to all lower 48 states on my bike, and riding with someone else like I am this year. The benefits are the safety issue of having someone to help and be able to go and get help in case of an emergency breakdown especially on this trip where garages are so far apart and email is so rare. Also the friendship issue. It is nice to travel with someone and be able to visit at the camp, especially if like Glen, we have lots in common being close the the same age and both being pastors. Glen is about as deaf as I am so our conversations are loud. The negative side is the convenience thing. I can't just do what I want. I need to check and see what Glen would like and then we need to hash it over.
I also need to consider his opinion of me as a real biker dude, so some inconveniences result.
Mosquitoes like to bite my bald spot. Must look like a good target. While I am riding the top of my head will start itching like crazy. If I were by myself I would just pull over, take off my helmet and have a good scratch. But with Glen I have to shake my head back and forth as fast as I can so my helmet scoots around and scratches my head, a poor substitute for a real scratch. I couldn't stop. Glen would ask my why I had stopped and I would say because I need a scratch. He would know I wasn't a real biker dude right there.