AlasKa 2 FLorida

San Diego & Las Vegas

2009-11-19T21:27:00.000-05:00

While staying with friends and family in San Diego, we spent most of our time by the pier at Pacific Beach. James and I took advantage of the 80+ degree days to catch up on some much needed sleep on the beach.

We left Las Vegas a few days ago after staying in the Stratosphere. I think Vegas is one of my favorite places in the world. I didn't gamble much, but I was able to win at the all day buffet in our hotel cafeteria. I think I have 10 extra pounds right now that I probably needed.

The temperature on the strip at night was down into the 30s, but we were able to get a little sun during the day when the temp rose to 65 degrees.

One of the best views in Vegas came from atop our hotel. We could see the whole strip and "Old Vegas" while standing on the balcony, which is 109 stories up.

Thanks,
Steve

California Feels Like Vacation

2009-11-04T19:39:00.002-05:00

After entering California, we found ourselves surrounded by the redwood forest. James and I road through these redwoods for 3 days without being able to see the sun. The roads through the redwoods are dark and eerie, but at the same time, I didn't want to leave. We saw a few trees that had to be cut, and counted over 400 rings on the stumps. Some of the trees are so big that you can drive a car through. Very Cool!

From highway 101 to route 1, we saw the craziest hills and turns. We were up switchbacks for 5 miles, then down for 5 miles...Then up for 5 miles, then down for 5 miles. I would love to go back with a fast rental car one day. (With the extra insurance) I think these 20+ miles were the most fun and the least of the entire trip so far. (huge uphills, fast downhills) I ended up breaking a spoke leaning around one of the turns I was pushing soooo many G's. Haha. This was the first time the entire trip automobile traffic had to move out of our way due to the speeds we were traveling down the hills.

Might as well jump...JUMP!

So while we were crossing the Golden Gate Bridge into San Francisco, we had to stop while the police talked someone out of jumping off the bridge. We got to the other side, and the person went back and jumped anyways. The police went back up the bridge and dropped a flare to point where that person went in, but there was no effort to chase. We later found out that this happens pretty regularly in SF. If you're going to do it, I guess the Golden Gate is the place.

Wake Up San Francisco

The streets of San Francisco are beautiful. Lining every rolling street, are these great Victorian homes, each home cooler than the next. We were never able to get to Oakland, but we did spend a few good days on the west side walking through Fisherman's Wharf and biking by Candlestick Park.

The Jellyfish at the Monterey Aquarium were one of the highlights of the month for me. James and I spent all day walking through the aquarium, seeing fish and other sea life I never imagined. Right now, there is a whole wing dedicated to all the types of sea horses.

We are now in San Diego. We haven't had any real trouble the past few weeks and the weather is great.. Our legs are very strong right now and we found a great routine with our meals and distances. James and I are taking a week off at the moment to let our bodies recover so we can start our push to the east coast. The west coast is absolutely amazing to me and I know it is going to be hard to leave.

Thanks,

Steve

Marshfield High School, Coos Bay & Pre's Grave

2009-10-26T15:13:00.001-04:00

Nike

2009-10-26T15:06:00.000-04:00

Pre's Rock, Hayward Field & Pre's Trail

2009-10-26T14:59:00.001-04:00

Am I Homeless?

2009-10-22T13:50:00.000-04:00

A few days ago I was standing outside of a Fred Meyer grocery store watching our bikes while James loaded up on produce. We take turns watching the bikes in some areas, because everything we live off of is on these bikes. It's all we have. Homeless? Hmm...nah. Ok, so I'm outside this store on this bench wearing clothes I've had on for 2 or 3 days. I haven't shaved or cut my hair in 6 or 7 weeks, and I've been tossing and turning in a tent most nights, so I'm not looking too healthy. Ten minutes go by and a lady in her 40s or 50s approaches me. There is no introduction. She is staring at me and looks very uncomfortable. I look back and say, "hi, what's up?"

Then it all pours out...
"My son, Simon, chooses to be homeless. He doesn't want to work, and does drugs. I hope he doesn't do the bad drugs, but I know he's doing them. I'm not mad at him, but I want him to know he can come back home. Have you seen him? I think he's under one of those bridges. Can you tell him that I'm not mad. Just tell him that he can come home."

I let her go on and on for around 10 minutes, the whole time thinking about how much pain this kid is putting on his mother and then about how bad I must look if she thinks I know where he is. I didn't even tell her the bike trip story, I just told her that I would keep my eyes open.

I didn't have more than 5 minutes to think about what had just happened when I was approached again. This time by a local guy who had been living out of his bike for 25 years. I think he had one good tooth, and that was about it, but he seemed to be the happiest guy in the world.

It's funny how we judge people by how they look. I think James said it best yesterday, "the more people we meet, the more we are all the same." I'm still not sure how to take all of this, but I figured I'd share.

Anyone have any thoughts or stories?

Thanks,
Steve

60 Miles to California

2009-10-18T14:59:00.000-04:00

James and I are getting some food in Port Orford, OR while I catch up on the Browns game. I was able to get some pictures up from the past month, but the upload time is very slow. I have some great pictures of Eugene and Coos Bay, but will have to get them up in the next few days. (We are about to hit the road again.)

The Oregon coast is beautiful. We have slept in 50 - 60 degree weather the past 4 nights, two of which were on the beach. The mornings and nights produce heavy fog and light rain, but the middle of the day is a slight overcast, but very humid.

We are finding that riding at night right now is not an option and the days are getting shorter and shorter. The first night we were on the coast from Eugene, we planned to ride about 5 miles into the night. The sun started going down and we could see fine. As soon as the sun was completly out of sight, and the fog came in, we were struggling to find the road. Two miles into the fog, I had a car crest a hill in front of me and I didn't know where I was. I tried to shield his headlights, but couldn't. I was not about to wonder left, so I tried to stay as far right as I could. I ended up dropping the front wheel off the burm and into 6 inches of sand. I was traveling at around 12mph when I dropped the wheel, and in 6 inches of sand, a wheel doesn't spin, it sticks. My back end came over the top of me as I flew over the handlebars. Being the athlete that I am, my instincts took me into a "tuck and roll" position. I rolled about 20 feet or so and jumped up to make sure I was out of the road. I ran to the bike, dusted it off, and then checked it and myself for scratches or worse. The bike had two small scratches, but it landed in a bed of sand. I then examined myself and couldn't find one scratch or bruise. Amazing! I think the next 3 miles to camp I bike around 6mph or slower. We are not biking in the dark again until we get off the coast.

We should make it to California later today. I hope to have more pictures and a few more stories soon.

Thanks,
Steve

Portland

2009-10-18T14:17:00.000-04:00

Washington

2009-10-18T13:49:00.000-04:00

Vancouver

2009-10-18T13:28:00.000-04:00

Ketchikan & Vancouver Island

2009-10-18T12:55:00.001-04:00

Eugene/Coos Bay

2009-10-16T01:01:00.002-04:00

Hola!

Just a quick update...

Having been in Eugene, we checked out Hayward Field, all the "Pre" stuff in town, various restaurants, campus, and roads around town. It was very cool, sort of nostalgic, and felt a presence that most people do who are Track afficondos probably feel when around Eugene. Pre.

We then made it from Eugene to Coos Bay. From Eugene, it was a very scenic route along Crow Rd, Wolf Creek Rd, and Lower Smith River Rd before it dumped us onto Highway 101. We found a campsite on some sand dunes in a town 30 miles north of Coos Bay (stomping grounds of Prefontaine.)

We got breakfast this morning at a small cafe on a boat at a marina and headed out. We made some decent time before Steve had run over a bit of glass on the shoulder. Within 20 minutes, a lady had offered to drive him to the nearest bike shop; another lucky day (and what nice people!)

Another 15 miles after that, and we were in Coos Bay. It was a bit too dark to do what we had intended (check out Marshfield HS, Pre's high school, as well as his memorial etc) so we are now camping at another sand dune park. Tomorrow we will check out all that "Pre" stuff, and head on down the 101.

Ciao!

PS Pictures from the last week or 2 to be up very soon!!

Seattle to Portland and Eugene

2009-10-13T15:28:00.003-04:00

Hey all peeps that follow this!

We arrived in Eugene. We also hadn't found a place to stay from Warmshowers.org so what better place to rest than Hayward Field!! We scouted out the place and figured the top row of bleachers under some skinny overhang/table structure would prove best; as to avoid anyone seeing us, kicking us out, you know...

Backtracking a bit...from Seattle, we headed south thru Olympia a couple days ago to arrive in Portland. Portland was a nice city, very progressive and the like. I would highly recommend eating at Hot Lips pizza as well as the Laughing Planet burrito place. We were able to secure a place at a house on the SE side of town. The people were very nice and had made us an equally nice breakfast in the morning. Such an amazing side of people you don't normally see (though cycling has a certain way of allowing you to be in the open, people talk to you etc versus the isolation of driving in a vehicle.)

On our way now to go for a jaunt on Pre's trail, check out Pre's rock, maybe hit up a Carl's Jr for some quality eats...

Seattle

2009-10-10T23:33:00.001-04:00

First I want to apologize to anyone who checks daily for the lack of posts. We have had some great weather the past week and have taken advantage of it by exploring Washington.

We started in Bellingham where we met a great girl who has posted on this blog twice now. Lara cycled from Boston to the west coast a few years ago. We were able to talk for a while and she could relate to our ups and downs of this trip. I believe she is planning another trip right now, and I hope she keeps us updated on her adventures.

From Bellingham we traveled 55 miles or so to Mt. Vernon. When we got there, we were planning on staying at an RV park, but when we got there, it was full. We had two options: We could find a hotel, or we could set up camp somewhere. This is pretty normal, but this was the first time we were near a major city with no farm land or countryside near by. After looking at an area behind a McDonalds and deciding against, we traveled another mile until we found the future site of a Harley Davidson dealer. We put our bikes in the high weeds and carried our tent about 100 feet off the 4 lane road into an area where they had hauled the trees cut and the dirt that was moved for the future building. Through these trees, we could see part of a Wal*Mart and to our right was a Jack in the Box. No bears or moose.

The next day we stayed on a sail boat in a Seattle marina. Seattle is a beautiful city. The city is very clean considering the weather they get. Every bus that travels through the city is electric like the majority of the busses in Vancouver. They look like the Delorean from Back to the Future with huge antennas that follow power lines above the street. We also went on a tour of Seattle that took us underground. When Seattle was first built, it had a lot of trouble with the rain, the tide, and then a huge fire that wiped out 33 square blocks. When they built the city back up, they built on top of the old city. They built it above the old city. It's very strange, but some of the old city is still under and the tour took us through that city. Another stop we made was to the pike's market where we saw a number of fish throwers. I don't know why they throw the fish, but everyone seemed to enjoy it. Our final stop before leaving was to REI. REI is an outdoor athletic store for those in Ohio. REI Seattle is huge. They have a 5 story rock climbing wall in the store amongst other great ways to demo their products. I would highly recomend stopping or calling an REI if you are ever planning a camping, sking, biking, or hiking trip. The workers are extremely helpful and all love what they are doing. Seattle was another city I will come back to at some point.

While we were on the tour of Seattle, one of the guides, Gail, asked if we needed a place to crash for the night. She rides a bike to work everyday, around 7 miles one way. Gail was great! She made us burritos and popcorn and was cracking us up all night. If you ever take a tour of underground Seattle, ask for Gail as your tour guide.

We are now on our way to Portland. I will update tomorrow more details.

Thanks,

Steve

Back in the States!

2009-10-07T14:53:00.003-04:00

Hey all followers!

We made it back into the USA with no problems. That, in and of itself, is miraculous (at least to me, since I have had troubles in the past. Maybe I "look" like I'm in the Taliban. Anyways...)

We picked up our bikes yesterday after they had fixed our racks. They ended up bolting the bottom portion of the bracket up a bit higher and secured it better than what it came stock. Hopefully it will hold for the next 4000 miles!

After getting everything back loaded yesterday, we got on the road towards Bellingham, Wa. I found a nice fruit/vegetable stand which had stuff for 30-60 cents a pound and got myself a nice bag of treats. I forgot a bit later that there could be problems with attempting to cross the border with certain fruits (stupid, really) so needless to say, my diet consisted of entirely fruits and vegetables for the first 30 miles. The immigration officer let us cross pretty easily, which I figured would happen after trying to wolf down all my food. If I hadn't, they would have confiscated it. That's how it works, right? :)

After crossing the border, we hopped onto I-5 South, which allows for cyclists until the Bellingham exit (another 22 miles down the highway.) We had a decent 90 minute push until we got to our place in Bellingham, which was at a girl Lara's, off of Warmshowers.org. She let us sleep in her garage, which was actually quite nice. She had toured across the US herself last year and was interested in our tour. At any rate, being back in the states, we are thinking we will be able to utilize Warmshowers.org a bit more, and camp a bit less. Except through rural Arizona/New Mexico I'm sure!

About to try to get to Everett, Wa today; it's 65 miles south and just 15-20 miles north of Seattle.

Peace!

Vancouver

2009-10-03T22:42:00.008-04:00

Well, we are into our first big city. We got in last night and with the help of warmshowers.com, we found a few places to stay this weekend. Currently we are in a coffee shop downtown taking it easy tonight. Here's a quick wrap up...

When we got off the ferry at Port Hardy at the norther tip of the Vancouver Island, it was around midnight. We knew there was only one ferry going out of that port the next day so there would be little traffic if any. We pitched the tent right outside the gate after biking less than a mile.

The next day we biked around 30 miles in the rain to Port McNeill. We found a little restaurant/bar/coffee shop and dried off for a few hours before finding a campsite. Once we found our camp, we looked for somewhere to stay dry. There was a huge fire pit under an overhang, so we unloaded all of our stuff around the fire and then went to the store and grilled out all night.

Our next stop was Sayward about 85 miles from Port McNeill and the route was all mountains and not one house. I think there was one gas station that whole trip, but we were able to get some hot water there to make some instant coffee. Oh yeah, it rained. Again.

From Sayward we biked 55 miles to Campbell River. This was actually an easy ride. The climbs weren't as high as we've had the past month and the rain was light. When we hit Campbell River, a sense of relief came over me. We could tell that from here on, we were out of the wilderness and into civilization. (At least for a while) We stayed at a local campground and woke up to a light rain. Things were looking good.

When leaving Campbell River, we stopped at a grocery store and loaded up. The next 10 miles were along the coast. Along the coast, we saw two sea otters, and three deer. The day quickly became our favorite ride to date. After the ride along the coast, the rain disappeared and we there was no wind. We were originally only going to ride 40 or 50 miles, but we decided to take advantage of the weather and bike into the night. Around 10pm, a downpour came from behind us and completely caught us off guard. We were soaked and everything we had was soaked. We finished the day 5 miles later making our total on the day 75 and putting us in Qualicum Beach. We pulled into a campsite that had hot showers and some shelter, but we would have to wait to dry out until the rain stopped the next morning.

After a miserable night at Qualicum Beach, the next morning was clear and sunny. James and I went to a local laundromat and washed everything we had. We even took apart the bikes and washed them. Four hours later, we started our bike to Nanaimo to catch a ferry to Vancouver. The trip was only 35 miles, but we turned it into a workout by averaging 18mph. We crossed over to Vancouver and we are currently in the city.

Now that we are in the city, my bike finally had some trouble. I broke a weld holding my rear rack, then a bungee broke holding my sleeping bag and tent. Five miles later, James broke a bolt on his front rack and stripped another. I felt like we were in Blues Brothers when they get to the bank and the car explodes, only we are not at our final destination. The funny part of this story is Kona, the brand of our bike, has their headquarters in Vancouver. They are going to take care of the bikes first thing tomorrow and hopefully we can pick up where we left off sometime tomorrow afternoon or first thing Tuesday.

Vancouver is a beautiful city and it looks like we will have a lot to do while the bikes are down. If anyone has ideas, we would love to hear some. That also goes for any stops going south.

Thank you,

Steve

Vancouver Island

2009-09-30T21:30:00.002-04:00

Well, we are getting closer to civilization. Currently we are in Campbell River right in the middle of the Vancouver Island. There is a McDonald's here. With the exception of Juneau, we haven't seen a McDonald's since Fairbanks. I finally feel like we are making progress and I think today was the last 60 mile day where we had to pack food for two days as a precaution. As much as we are eating right now, that extra food is very heavy. James made a list of what he ate yesterday. It's amazing at all the calories we go through. I think I am a bigger fan of Hershey's right now than my G'Pa.

We had around 5 hours of sun today. We have had nothing but rain for the past 2 weeks and I think that will continue until we leave Oregon. The sun gave us a great opportunity to dry out our stuff. Haha. That's how it is for us right now. We are learning a lot on how to stay dry. I will post some pics later today or tomorrow of our rain gear.

Thanks,
Steve

Ice Caves

2009-09-27T19:57:00.001-04:00

Mendenhall Glacier

2009-09-27T19:38:00.001-04:00

Hiking Through the Rainforest

2009-09-26T00:48:00.000-04:00

Juneau

2009-09-25T23:56:00.007-04:00

Juneau is awesome!

Downtown Juneau is a typical tourist stop. When we went downtown to check it out, there were 5 cruise ships docked, and people everywhere. We saw a lot of cheap t-shirt shops and a few signature bars. Downtown is ok. If you go about 10 miles north, you will find mountains to climb, rain forests to walk through, and glaciers to explore. James and I spent 9+ hours climbing and hiking a few days ago, and I could probably spend another 900 and still not be over how incredible Juneau is. This is one stop I will try to make again.

A few days ago, James and I were standing in an ice cave saying, "this is one of the coolest things we had ever seen." Words won't describe how amazing, so I'll post as many pics as I can.

We are currently in Ketchikan, and should be biking down the Vancouver Island in a few days. Our legs are sore again, but I think it's mostly the climbing this time, not the biking.

We also had our first fall of the trip. Neither one of us are hurt too bad. Well, I guess my belly hurts a little from laughing so hard, but other than that, I think it's just a few scratches. I'll have to let James tell the story.

Thanks,
Steve

Haines Junctions to Southeast Alaska

2009-09-22T12:50:00.005-04:00

We are in Juneau this morning, and it has been raining for the past 48 hours. Here is how we got here...

Saturday - Saturday was a rest day for us in Haines Junction. We were at the last RV stop until the border, so it was very busy. Busy is good for us. (They hadn't closed for the year like the last 5 or so we saw) This rest day gave us time to heal, shower, and get some laundry done.

The day was beautiful. By 3pm, it was 70degrees and sunny, but we could see snow falling in the mountains right behind us. When night came, there wasn't a cloud in the sky. This is great for seeing stars, but it also cooled the temperature down into the 20s by midnight. We had a huge fire going to stay warm, when a local couple from Whitehorse came over to share the fire. We talked for a while, and they told us they had two campers at the site we were at. One they were staying in and one they were selling. Luck was on our side. They asked if we wanted to plug it in, turn on the heat, and stay in their second RV. I think I was inside less than 5 min after they asked.

Sunday - Sunday morning was a great morning. James and I made breakfast over the campfire when Bob and Deb, the couple who let us stay in their camper the night before, offered to show us some sites around the Haines Junction area. After a few more cups of coffee, we were on our way.

We started out going to a small river village where the locals used the river to catch salmon. Every house had a bigger smoker next to it. It wasn't the kind of town I could see myself living in, but James would probably fit right in. haha

Our next stop was at the Million Dollar River. This was one of my favorite stops so far. The river and falls were awesome. It reminded me of Chagrin Falls, but there wasn't anyone else for miles.

After the falls, we stopped at a roadside fort. There are a few of these around the Yukon. The forts are used for anyone who is passing by and needs a place to stay for the night. There are blankets, supplies, and a wood burning stove inside. The rule is, if you use something, leave something behind. If anyone plans to bike through the Yukon or BC, try looking up the locations of these forts. I didn't know anything about them until Bob and Deb showed us. Luckily, we overplanned each night and didn't need to stop at any fort, but if we were broke or injured in the rain, it would be nice to know where the next for was.

The rest of the day we spent riding south to Haines. We rode the final 50 miles into a downpour. It was hard to be mad because we finally had a ride that wasn't into a headwind. We were riding pretty quick in the rain, around 17 - 18 mph until we were around 12 miles away. We hit a strong swirling wind when we got near the port, and that slowed us down to around 8mph average. We got into Haines around 7pm and decided to get a hotel room for the night. Everything we had was wet and the temp was dropping below 40degrees again. 15min after we were in the hotel, the room was trashed. We had fans going, blow dryers on and the heat cranked up to 90degrees. It was a good night sleep.

Monday - We woke up and went straight to do laundry again. We were completely dry again and ready to continue our trip. We drove around Haines for awhile, then went to the local port to get on a ferry. The ferry took us to Juneau which is where we are now.

More updates to come soon.

If you ever go to Alaska, I would highly recomend going to Haines. The town itself isn't that great, but we saw over 12 Bald Eagles pirched over the river and some were catching fish. It was unreal to me. I guess there is like one nest for every mile around Haines. Alaska has over 50% of the world's Bald Eagle population. I think most of them must live in Haines.

Steve

Best Pics of the Day

2009-09-18T23:51:00.000-04:00

Onwards to Haines Junction

2009-09-18T23:28:00.003-04:00

Hey fellow blog readers!

Yesterday was kind of a wash. It had taken us 2 hours to "bike" to Destruction Bay; only 12 miles down the road. Winds were at their worst. After a couple hour coffee stop, we departed towards Haines Junction...still 75 miles away. I had a bit of knee tendinitis pain along the inside of the patella that kept me from going full throttle. We found a campsite 12 miles past Destruction Bay and built a fire to cook some canned food and perhaps let my inflammation go down. 2 hours later and after some episodes of "Peep Show" (A British comedy) we headed out again around dusk. I could only muster 3 more miles before I had too much pain. We set up camp on a beach, which had nice driftwood for a fire --- but was also very windy!

We left today around 10am and cycled all day until 7pm. I had thoughts of flagging someone for a hitchhike because I had tendinitis pain all day, but didn't want to let the crowd (read: everyone reading and following us) down. The wind today was manageable and the scenery was at its best for the Yukon. We just grabbed some grub at the local diner called "Northern Lights." It was quite pricey, like most places up here. We will be paying Taco Bell a visit though, the next time we see one (last one was 350 miles ago!). Also there will be some nice pictures added shortly...

Time for a Bud Light...

Destruction Bay

2009-09-17T18:25:00.003-04:00

We are traveling at 5mph right now into another 40mph headwind. Haha, this is great! Well, we're hoping to get to Haines Junction by tomorrow. We just ate lunch at a lounge in Destruction Bay. Destruction Bay got it's name from the damage the wind caused when the military tried building forts 80 years ago. The forts kept blowing over and were destroyed. Destruction Bay! We were told that when we get another 30 miles, the wind will calm down.

Here are a few pics from the Yukon...

Tok to Burwash Landing

2009-09-16T01:19:00.002-04:00

We are at a lodge in Burwash landing now after 4+ days with no phone or internet. The trip from Tok started out ok, but we're battling the wind and now the road conditions.

Saturday - We had a good night sleep at the Mooseberry Inn on Friday night in Tok, and felt fresh for the weekend. We loaded up with groceries and started out towards the Yukon. A few miles into the trip, James blew out his front tire. Luckily, we were in front of a bar. We grabbed a few drinks, made the change, then started out again. The next 25 miles were the easiest we rode, but then the mountains came, and that quickly changed our pace. We climbed two or three hills which were tough on their own, but then the pavement changed as well. The easy ride into the Yukon was gone.

This week starts "winter prep" for the roads. Apparently before each winter season, when most of the RV stops close down, the roads are oiled and then "chips" are shoveled over top. If you have ever seen Cool Hand Luke, you will know what we are riding on. The "chips" are a mixture of light gravel and sand. These road conditions have moved our average speed down to 8-9mph and we're getting behind schedule.

We also are still fighting the wind. Everyday, around noon, we get a head wind of 30+mph. It was hard at first to hate it because it brought such nice weather from the south. I hate it now! My legs are trashed right now and we have only been able to ride 50-60 miles/day the past 4 days.

OK, back to the trip and enough complaining...

Sunday - When we woke up Sunday, we had around 30 miles to the border. All day long, rain was circling us, but we never got too wet. It seamed like we were following the eye of the storm, or maybe the eye was following us. Either way, we rode the whole day on wet sand, and saw our first gas station 1 mile from the border. It was the first stop we saw sinse Tok 80+ miles before. We got 4 cups of coffee and rode into Canada. The Canadian border patrol was 22miles into Canada. By the time we got there, it was 1AM and we had frost in our beards. We stayed the night at a campground in Beaver Creek.

Monday - We got up around 10AM Monday and got a warm breakfast. We then went in the campground facility to pay for the night and got some groceries. After looking around for less than a minute, I got just about all that was left on the shelves. The store was closing for the winter later in the week and hadn't restocked the shelves in over a month. I purchased 2 cans of chili, 1 can of apple juice, and a shower (you can buy showers at campgrounds for $3-$4) The price of the 4 items came to $18.98. After I heard the amount, I skipped out on the camping fee and took a 30 minute shower out of spite. We were refreshed and on our way. Then, the head wind again... Then, the chipped roads again... Then, the mountains again... and again, and again, and again. We must have stopped every 5 miles to eat. I don't know if it was that we needed the energy, or we were looking for a reason to stop peddling. Either way, we were taking our time. About 40 miles into the day, we met a couple at a Visitor Center. We hadn't seen anyone all day, so we were very happy to come across this place. The couple gave us some great pointers and told us of a camp site where were could put our tent up under an overhang and cook our food on a wood burning stove. We had warm chili for a change. Life is good.

Tuesday - I don't want to talk much about Tuesday. It was a very physically demanding one and I'm so glad it's over. Most of our ride was up hill (45miles or so) and the wind was as bad as ever. The only good thing to come out of Tuesday, was around 10AM on top of the tallest pine tree, I saw a bald eagle. I had never seen one before, so I was pretty excited. It flew away before I could get a picture, but it was awesome! Other than that, it's nice to have the day behind us.

Wednesday - We are currently at a lakeside lodge about 65 miles west of Haines JCT. There is a storm across the street in the mountains, but we are still dry. The wind is blowing the trees sideways right now, so we are going to wait a few hours to see what the weather is going to do. There is a good campground about halfway from here to Haines JCT. We may try to get there by the end of the day. I am looking at today as a rest day.

I'll update again soon. We should have interenet signals for a few days now.

Thanks for reading,

Steve

Leaving Tok

2009-09-12T13:03:00.003-04:00

We are about to leave Tok with one full day of Alaska ahead of us. We hope to cross the border into Canada tomorrow afternoon. The weather right now is overcast with temps in the mid 40s. We are expected to ride into a light headwind again today, but it shouldn't be as bad as we saw the past few days. Our next real stop is Beaver Creek which we should be at Sunday night.

If you are ever in Tok, we just stayed at the Mooseerry Inn and I would highly recomend it to anyone. We had a great breakfast and the rooms are incredible. They also allow you to have mail sent here, which I took full advantage of. (Thanks mom and dad for the care package!!!)

I hope to post later today if we get a signal, but if not, I should be able to Sunday night.

Favorite Pics from the Week

2009-09-11T20:24:00.006-04:00

Here is a reindeer eating by Trapper Creek. It was a pet. The only wildlife we have seen so far is a porcupine and a few squirls.

On our trip from Trapper Creek to Fairbanks, we saw beautiful mountains in the Denali National Park. These mountains in this picture are just northeast of Mt. McKinley.

What would a trip to Fairbanks be like if we didn't eat at the Northern most Denny's in the World?

This picture was our morning view at our campsite in Sulcha. We sa a lot of bear tracks, but not bears.

While biking into the wind on our way to Tok, views like this made the hard work worth while. As you can see, we are a week or so into the Fall season.

Mornings in Alaska are beautiful. Just about all the mornings so far have been between 35-45 degrees, but by 1pm, it's up to 70 degrees.

The North Pole (Sept. 7)

2009-09-11T19:56:00.002-04:00

If you are ever in Fairbanks, you must go 15 miles east to the North Pole. The whole town is decorated like it's Christmas and even though it is September, it felt like December.

James and I spent some time around town and even got to go into Santa's house. Santa was too busy for pictures, but he let us sit in his chair for some of our own. 15 minutes in Santa's house put us in the best mood. I think my G'Pa loaned Santa some of his Christmas records, which Santa played at full volume in his workshop. I loved every minute of it. James and I sang Bing Crosby Christmas songs for the next 50 miles. It was a real treat.

Delta Jct to Tok....long and windy ride

2009-09-11T19:55:00.001-04:00

Hey all! We ended up leaving Delta Jct around noon yesterday. I had swapped out my 6 gallon milk crate I so graciously received from Safeway and replaced it with a much lighter wire basket from IGA. It probably lightened my load by 3-4 pounds!

Upon leaving Delta Jct, we were immediately greeted with a 30mph headwind. The headwind was coming from the SouthEast; exactly the direction we were travelling (towards Tok--110 miles away.) For the next 8 hours, we battled through some of the harshest windiest conditions and it was hard to maintain a positive attitude at times. Around 7:30pm, we reached a town called Dot Lake, which I was looking forward to sitting down and getting a coffee and hot meal. A couple of houses and a miniature school later had us departing the entire "town." I was displeased but on a positive note, the wind started to die for the night. Onward we pressed until 11pm, with no more than 5-10 minutes resting at a time, hitting 100 miles for the day, just shy of Tok.

We slept decently last night at our campsite (Moon Lake) and woke up to the sound of a squirrel with a loaf of our bread in its mouth. Walking over to our bikes had me in for another little surprise, as it had eaten through one of my saddlebags--trying to get to my stash of almonds and oatmeal. Packing up our tent had us witness a nice battle between the squirrel and 3 birds--fighting over a couple pieces of bread, and it was nice amusement. Departing the campsite around 11am this morning had us pulling into Tok (90 miles from Canada) around 12:30. Personally, I was worthless for the 10-12 mile ride to get to our bed and breakfast (Steve's mom reserved us a night at a bed and breakfast in Tok--sorta an early birthday gift for Steve) had run out of water (I was holding 3 20+ oz bottles) and was tired and sore from our first "Century."

Time for a nap...

P.S. We welcome any and all people who follow us, even a little, to comment. We look forward to any and all!

From North Pole towards Delta Jct (Sept 8-9)

2009-09-11T19:37:00.001-04:00

North Pole, on St.Nicholas drive!!

So we made it to the North Pole! To continue where Steve left off, we ended up departing Fairbanks yesterday afternoon around 4pm. The day prior to that, we had "clocked in" at a Home Depot for a good 7 hours, constructing a more rigid support bracket for the front rack. A few metal support bars later, and a milk crate to sit on top of that --- put us in business! We wondered how we made it as far as we did with our prior setup WITHOUT the milk crate; but these bike look quite rugged now. (We also fined tuned our racks and I put on my spedometer, which took us until 4pm yesterday to leave.)

A little bit about our bikes...I had done a good 4-6 hours research concerning the touring bikes available to us in Fairbanks. We opted to buy something brand new; to give us some confidence in our equipment leading into the stretch of highway through Alaska, Yukon, and B.C. ---down the very scenic Cassiar highway. The best bang for our buck ended up being the "Kona Sutra." It is a 100% Steel bicycle that weighs 32 pounds (about 12 pounds heavier than our old road bikes) but comes equipped with front and rear racks, wider tires, and bombproof shifters *knocks on wood.* I ditched my large pillow for a smaller camping pillow (sorry mom,) bought Neoprene glacier gloves, Bear Mace, and 2 coolers that are essentially 2 smaller saddlebags. One learns very quickly what is needed and not needed. Organization is something I am starting to finally give in to as well!

Steve and I biked through Fort Wainright army base and into a town called North Pole. After spending 90 minutes waiting for a pizza and salad at Pizza Hut, we decided it was too late (by this point, 9:30pm) to start biking down the Richardson Highway (Route 2). We camped off a street called St. Nicholas drive, 50 feet into the woods.

Getting ready to head towards Delta Junction now!

P.S. I uploaded pictures onto photobucket.com which links pictures to ak2fl.com, for those interested!

Touring Bike vs Road Bike

2009-09-08T18:12:00.003-04:00

After a week of riding with a load on our road bikes and countless adjustments and breakdowns, we shipped the road bikes back home and upgraded to Kona Sutra touring bikes. The touring bikes weigh 31.5lbs compared to the 17lbs the road bikes weighed. They are steel framed and have larger wheels and tires. The wheels have 36 spokes where our road bikes have 23-26 depending on the day. haha. The Kona touring bike also has disc brakes which are better for stopping a heavy load that we are carrying. One other difference is the shifting. The touring bikes have bar end levers that click into each gear. It's old fashion, but stronger.

James and I picked up the bikes on Saturday and spent the past 2 days upgrading the Konas with some aluminum and steal brackets on the front fork. We then attached a milk crate above the front wheel to transfer some of the weight off the rear wheel. The bike rides like a tank. If anyone is thinking of going cross country on a bike, do not attempt to do so on a true road bike if you have a load over 25lbs plus your weight. We are around 50 - 70lbs and these touring bikes seem to be a great fit.

If you have any questions on the two, we will try to answer the best we are able.

Thanks,
Steve

Ready for the Road...Again.

2009-09-06T15:45:00.002-04:00

Well, after our first week of riding through Alaska, we learned more than we ever thought was possible. After our road bikes broke over and over last week, we are sending them home. We just picked up two touring bikes that will handle the load we are carrying. Our road bikes are build like race cars and just couldn't handle a load meant for an SUV. We now have the proper bikes and should be able to get back on schedule.

With all the break downs, (I had 4 flats in 30 miles of 45degrees and rain) I was very discouraged and thinking about throwing in the towel. James did a great job researching bikes and we got the best bikes we could for this trip. It's a very sick feeling to not have control a situation and with these new bikes, we shouldn't have the same problems we were having with our road bikes. I think we are both excited for the trip again.

We are leaving Fairbanks later today and really want to thank Blake and James for letting use their living room. Blake and James are members of CouchSurfing.com and WarmShowers.com which is a couch surfing website for cyclists traveling across the world. They took us in for a few days while we swapped bikes and were great hosts. Good luck in your studies!

Thanks,
Steve

A little lucky....A little UNlucky....

2009-09-04T18:17:00.003-04:00

Hey all! This is James here, my first blog post. It is Friday afternoon now; I will have to give a recap of the last 2 days of what happened.

Following Steve's last blog post, he ended up getting his spokes repaired by a guy named Terry, who was very gracious in helping. We were lucky, in that, he was the husband of a woman who was serving our food at the Trapper Creek RV lodge; it was coincidental and we got lucky once again...for a little while at least...

We headed out of Trapper Creek lodge (we had slept under a pavilion in a tent, which was nice in that it protected us from the rain) and got on the road around high noon. It was 48 degrees with a slight drizzle. Within 5k, Steve had gotten a flat on the rear wheel (where essentially all the weight is located.) After 30 minutes, we headed out again, only to be sidelined with a 2nd flat in the rear wheel another 10 miles up Rt 3 towards Denali. Another 10 miles went by before Steve got his 3rd flat on the rear wheel. He was drafting off me closely and a piece of triangular aluminum which I mistakened for one of those flexible road reflectors (as to why I didn't "call out" the debris as to avoid it) caught his rear tire and it went flat instantly. At this point, we were only 1/2 mile from a coffee shop at Mile 144. We got a free coffee from the guy working in there that was friends with Terry. I bought a nice 4" folding Frost knife for 3 bucks.

Upon leaving the coffee shop, we got on our bikes and Steve noticed a flat FRONT tire. We were amazed and shocked. I knew we weren't going to be making our goal of getting to Cantwell (95 miles north of Trapper Creek) but figured there was nothing we could do about it, so it wasn't worth getting frustrated over (though I'm sure Steve was -- from his troubles.) I joked to him and gave him a hard time since by this point my bike hadn't had any troubles, and my tires were found in a dumpster! :)

We hit the road after repairing Steve's front tire around 8pm. The next 20 miles were quite nice; we were cruising between 15-20mph and caught some nice pictures along the highway. It started to get dark around 10pm and I heard a pop come from under my rear wheel. Inevitably, a spoke of mine had broke. I decided to try to limp it best I could (Steve was able to limp his 100 miles with 2 broken spokes, so I figured "what the hey") as long as I could. Only 5 miles later, 2 more spokes broke and it rendered my bike useless. We walked our bikes a mile in the dark (around mile 167, which fell 43 miles short of our goal to Cantwell at mile 210) and found a decent place to camp. I kept my laptop playing my collection of music all night as a mechanism to create noise and keep any surprise wildlife (bears) at bay.

After a decent night of sleep, we attempted to fix my rear wheel with the 3 broken spokes. Only 1 was able to be fixed. We didn't have another wrench that we needed to take apart the cassette and gears to access the area necessary. At this point, we were a bit disappointed and knew we had quite a ways to the nearest "anything" unless we hitchhiked. Well in the midst of packing up, a guy who pulled off the highway for a quick potty break (and who was towing a trailer) offered to give us a ride. And guess what? He was heading through Fairbanks (still 200 miles north) to North Slope on a hunting trip, therefore having the ability to drop us off. Another lucky day (though equally unlucky in other ways.) We got some nice pictures of the mountains and Stampede Trail (where Chris McCandless tragically died in the movie Into the Wild.)

After getting dropped off at Fred Meyer's (similar to Wally World, and close to much activity) we landed ourselves a room in a hotel within eyeshot. We showered (for those in question) and headed out for a walk to the nearest bike shop. Beaver Sports is the towns' largest bike shop, and we found a nice selection of cyclocross bikes (basically a road bike that is beefier and better equipped for rough terrain) since we plan to ditch ours. We have learned a lot these last few days; about bikes and equipment that is essential for our needs of getting through Yukon and eventually...Florida.

We are at Alaska Coffee Roasters right now and need to go to Great Land Sports (look at their selection of bikes), Sport's Authority (to return my sleeping bag and gloves--I bought a 0F degree bag 300 miles ago and although the temperature rating is borderline okay for our needs, I am a bit too tall to fit---and the gloves are not worth the 50 I paid, I plan to get a fleece or polypropylene liners with a cordura shell, for half of what I paid), and then to UPS to pick up my new -25F extra large sleeping bag (okay, probably a bit of overkill.) :)

More later...

Chow!

Good Start

2009-09-01T14:32:00.005-04:00

We are on the road and have very little reception. Currently I am using wifi for internet access at a campground in Trapper Creek.

We got our bikes together Friday night after a long day at the UPS store and their hub. One of our packages wasn't delivered to the store, and the young lady working the UPS store offered her car to us so we could drive to the local hub to pick up the missing package. At the hub, we were told we would have to wait until Monday to get that missing package. James and I sat down and said, "Ok, we're waiting." We got the package in 5 minutes.

After we got the bikes together at 10PM, we started our ride in the pouring rain. We set up camp about 30 miles from our start at Eagle River. This was a very good test for us and we probably learned the most from it. When we got to Eagle River, I was in full rain gear, but James tested how he would do without. I was completely dry and James couldn't get warm all night. We learned that if we see any sign of rain, we are going to dress like we're in a thunderstorm. We also knew we were going to have to upgrade some supplies. I needed gloves, rope, propane, and socks. James needed a mummy sleeping bag, and some more rain gear. We would pick this up in the next few days.

Day two of the ride was very frustrating while we were in route, but when we finished, we were more than happy we traveled around 50 miles off route. We started at Eagle River and went north on route 1. There was a bike trail that followed route 1 until we got to Edmonds Lake Park. After riding on the freeway for a few miles in 2 inches of cinders and sand from previous winters, we knew we had to find some back roads. We got off at the next exit and took the Old Glenn Highway east until we got to Knik River Road. That was our best mistake of the trip. We went east on Knik River Road for 10 miles until we came to a dead end. Keep in mind, these roads don't see much traffic, but they are all 55mphs and look the same. We got the best pictures of the trip from this mistake but became very agitated. When we finally got back on track and reached Palmer, we were very hungry. We stopped at a Taco Bell at midnight and found a pavilion off the road about 500 feet and set up camp for the night. Total miles: 68.8

Day three on the road was only 20.8 miles, but we met a lot of great people and were able to stock up on supplies. James and I got our needed bags and gloves from the local shops and we stocked up on groceries as well. While getting groceries, James met Dr. Brian and Brenda who own their own veterinarian hospital in Wasilla. Brian and Brenda are very experienced cyclists and are "fitness buffs" to say the least. They run or bike to work every day and were very helpful with our biking setups. They also fed us twice and let us sleep in their home and use their showers. James and I were very inspired by their willingness to help us, complete strangers. I don't know if before that day, I would have done the same in my hometown. It's amazing how helpful some people are. James just said, "We wouldn't be able to do this trip without the people we have met who have helped us so far." We are very lucky and thankful for everyone's help so far.

Day four on the road started out to be a beautiful day for riding. We ate lunch at a local 3/8mile dirt track which felt like home to me. That lunch was just a small portion of what I ate today (Huge bowl of oatmeal, two apples, one banana, 3 slices of NY style pizza, one bacon burger with fries, a half gallon of V8, one brownie, one Hershey bar, and about 2 gallons of water.)

Trouble at mile mark 101.
We were just over 50miles into our ride for the day, when I broke a second spoke on my rear wheel. I limped the bike to Trapper Creek and we set up camp around 8PM. We traveled 70 miles for the day.

We are currently at Trapper Creek and we are waiting on some help from a local bike shop. We should be back on the road later today or first thing tomorrow. If I don't get a signal the next few days, I will give a wrap up when we get to Fairbanks.

Steve

Wrong Way

2009-08-30T19:46:00.000-04:00

We are in Palmer right now after riding 68 miles yesterday. Half the miles were in the wrong direction, but we were able to take some great pictures. (i'll post them soon) Besides going in the wrong direction, the only other problem I've had is losing a spoke on my rear wheel.

This post is updated with my phone, so it's a little short I know. We plan to reach Fairbanks by Thursday. I will give a good week summary when we get there.

I will still try to blog with my phone the best i'm able, but i'm not sure if I will have a good signal.

Steve

Anchorage, AK

2009-08-28T23:10:00.004-04:00

We have one full day completed in Anchorage. The weather isn't too bad. Rain comes and goes, but the temperature is between 55 - 65 degrees. Sun up is around 5:30AM and sunset is past 10PM right now. Anchorage reminds me of a mix between Buffalo and Denver, but does not feel run down. There is a lot of weather damage, but everything feels fresh. It's tough to explain, but it is refreshing to say the least.

James and I spent a lot of time meeting new people and hanging out at coffee shops and book stores while we waited for our bikes to arive. We found an REI up here and spent a lot of time gaining knowledge about the area and tips to stay safe until we reach the lower 48. We also want to say thanks to our new friends Kat Moore, Jake Wilson, and Betsy the Dog for allowing us to sleep on their couch (James on the floor) the first night. I am working on adding a section to this page for all the people we meet along the way. The few people we have met have been awesome! I hope to have this section up sometime tomorrow.

We Landed in Alaska

2009-08-27T06:52:00.003-04:00

It is 3AM here in Anchorage. The temperature is 51 degrees and it's raining for the next 10 days.

We had some minor trouble with the flights. Our first flight to Chicago was delayed which caused us to miss our connector. We spent a few hours at the airport before we were rescheduled to Seattle. From Seattle, we flew to Anchorage. Total air time was around 10 hours.

We should be able to pick up the bikes Friday morning. We plan to wait in the airport until the bikes arrive to stay out of the rain.

Flying to Alaska DAY 1

2009-08-26T12:11:00.003-04:00

I am all packed and an hour away from leaving for the airport. Our flight leaves at 3:44PM. We will be in Alaska at 12:30AM. (4 hours behind Eastern Standard)

We plan to pick up our bikes from the UPS store tomorrow or friday and will begin our trip at that time. The trip is expected to take 4 months and will travel over 8,500 miles.

Off topic, I played my best golf of the year yesterday, I hit the jackpot on my G-Pa's nickle slot machine, and won at poker. I hope my luck continues to this trip.

I will update when we land.

Steve

The Bike Trip from ALASKA to FLORIDA

2009-08-15T19:31:00.002-04:00

Bike trip starts Wednesday, Aug. 26