Man, I had a lot of crazy
dreams last night. There were 4 of them that I can remember. In one
of them I reached Prudhoe Bay and found myself in a castle. I was racing
up the stairs to get to the highest point. There was someone else with
me and the two of us ran up a spiral stairway made of stone. Weird stuff,
eh?!
We left the campground at 11:15am and stopped at Watson Lake Foods. I bought
some more powerbars and a 2lb loaf of Dresdener Landbrot Bread. It will probably be 4 days
before reaching Whitehorse and fat chance in finding a grocery store before then. These
little Podunk places usually have a café and no groceries, just Cokes and candy
bars.
- 1:15pm 16.35 miles, 11.5mph avg. Stopped at Jct. 37 services. I bought a Lipton
raspberry tea and a candy bar. The lady behind the counter said, "youre biking
in this heat?" Apparently, they dont get very many 80 degree days like today.
- 3:00pm 32.38 miles, 10.5mph avg. Patrick has been very upset with the RVs
that have come very close to hitting him. We stopped to take a break and decided to write
on the hillside with stones like the many we have passed. It seems like most of the
hillsides along the road have names and stuff written on them with stones. Patrick decided
that we should write, "RVs Suck" and I agree :-)
- 5:05pm Patrick was only about a half mile ahead of me when a female shouted to me
from a jeep, "Hey, you want a beer?" Without hesitation I said,
"Sure". The jeep pulled over and I met Angela, Slade, and a dog named Lady.
Angela handed me a bottle of cold Kokanee beer. When the cold liquid hit my mouth it was
very refreshing as I quickly downed it. The temperature is 81 degrees and VERY dry.
Im not even sweating because my sweat evaporates immediately in the dry air. The
cold beer tasted very good, and as thirsty as I was, I wanted another
but thought it
may not be wise with my limited water supply in this dry air. Angela and Slade were out
looking for places to go 4 wheeling in the jeep today when they encountered me. They told
me that the music festival will be at Dawson City on July 23rd, 24th,
and 25th. There will be somewhere around 30,000 people hangin out there
in a town with a population of 2,000. Angela encouraged me to hang out for it since it is
3 days of partying and fun, and the bands are supposed to be really good. The band
"Bare Naked Ladies" were there 2 years ago. It was a great break from riding and
meeting both of them. I rode away with a bit more motivation and a little buzz :-)
About 5 miles down the road I see a silhouette of Patrick standing in the road.
He was taking a break but unfortunately, had no one to offer him a cold beer. Unfortunate
for me is that I was getting more thirsty now and getting low on water. I really
didnt feel like making my way down to the river to filter some. So, I decided to
just keep pacing myself and ride very easy today. Patrick had said it was like being in a
desert with this dry air.
- 8:15pm We arrive at Rancheria, which consists of a motel, café, gas
station, and a campground with a greedy owner that Patrick strongly dislikes. When Patrick
paid the guy, he just pocketed the money and didnt give a receipt, Patrick
didnt like that. Then he charged $2.00 extra for a shower. When Patrick went to take
a shower it had only cold water. Boy, he was really mad now so he went back to the owner
to get his money back. We could have free-camped near the river and bathed in water the
same temperature.
Today - 78.48 miles
Total - 5402 miles |