2014-6-27 Glenallen to Mile 70

Record day with new friends!


We woke up at 6am, nervous about being walked in on at the laundromat. While packing up the owner came upstairs and into the room from a locked door in back. He asked if we camped out and we sheepishly admitted "We may have fallen asleep in between laundry loads. He said it wasn't the first time... He didn't seem too upset, but it's hard to read the emotions of many Alaskans, especially him.

After stocking up on snacks we headed out. After an initial climb, we had 15 miles of more descending. I'm nervous about when our good luck of constant descending will run out.

We got more conflicting advice from Julia, the owner of a trailer restaurant. Her salmon salad sandwich was delicious, as was her potato salad. Her advice was to drink only bottled water, or boil any other water for 10 minutes because of the Giardia and arsenic. She also warned us to "Not do yourself any favors by camping out alongside the road. Camp in a campground." We will ignore both those pieces of advice. Campgrounds are probably less safe because people are lazy about their food and bears have learned that they can get food there.

A short while later we saw a man in a wheelchair. He was friendly and told about a bear who chased a motorcyclist, and continued chasing her even when she was a mile down the road. Then he asked if we had any money. The bear stories and advice are so wild and conflicting it's impossible to know who to believe.

I am becoming less and less trusting of everyone and everything around me.

Just kidding.

We met 2 delightful cyclists from Germany. Julia and Hannes are on their way to Brazil. They are taking a more meandering route than we, but we plan to meet up in Tok for a 1000km celebratory beer.

We compared gear and shared stories about our adventures. I also go to rant about the United States non-use of the metric system. After riding for 25 miles, we ate dinner and set up camp. Hannes and Julia biked farther to make tomorrow's ride shorter. I was gassed and couldn't go another mile.

Our campsite is a maintenance road. Snow covered peaks loom out in the distance. Will we have to climb tomorrow? Or will it be more downhill?


75 miles