Day 12 - Shortcut to the North Pole
Distance: 45mi | Time: 3:58 | 1566 kcal | 454ftToday we had last night in our warm and dry motorhome. Caro’s bicycle was ready to ride again and everything else was also prepared to start. After getting a few things done in Fairbanks and a very last meal in a Subway Restaurant with the family, we started to ride through Downtown Fairbanks towards the Alaska Highway which is there still called the Richardson Highway. This is a very busy road but got less crowded after a few miles out of Fairbanks. And oh my god IT WAS A FLAT ROAD!!!! No hills at all! We almost forgot how this feels. After 10mi we reached the next town: North Pole, Alaska. Also Santa Clause lives in Lappland, Scandinavia here is also a house where he usually is present year round. Impressive is the large Santa Clause Statue next to the Highway which is supposed to be the biggest in the world. Next to his house we were invited for a really good Asian Dinner and afterwards we stopped at the Chena Lake Recreational Area to stay the night.
Day 13 - Flat Lands we have missed you!
Distance: 89mi | Time: 6:56 | 3102 kcal | 2241ft
It rained again during the night, but thank god it stopped and we could have a nice breakfast outside directly next to the lake we stayed the night. And we had coffee made with the water from that lake, of course purified with our water filter. Afterwards we headed south on the Richardson Highway towards Delta Junction. There was not much to see so we decided to do many miles, and we beat Caro’s personal record almost 89mi. That brought us all the way to the little town named Delta where the real Alaska Highway starts. The road stayed mainly flat with only little hills. Nothing compared to the Dalton Highway, where we would have done the 2241ft probably in the first 6mi. From the road we could see a huge forest fire burning just a few miles away from the road where 5000 acre are currently burning. We built up the tent directly next to the Tanana River. We still have a clear view to the sky so maybe we’re lucky and can see the Northern Lights today. They have been forecasted for our region.
Day 14 - Cooking in a church
Distance: 63mi | Time: 5:21 | 2096 kcal | 1048 vertical feet
It is Saturday night and we already sit in our tents. Outside is crazy weather, it started raining really bad. Already half way to our today’s campground it started to rain. We made it until the Dot Lake and built up our tents directly next to the water. Much is not here in the town Dot Lake only a few houses and a small chapel, in which we warmed up after this wet and cold day and could also prepare diner for today. The ride to this lake was impressive, impressive because we have never seen a road which goes really straight for the entire day. Without a speedometer you think you even don’t move. But don’t look too often on the speedometer, because the miles won’t increase fast enough. The vender of the liquor store yesterday asked us, how we can ride these roads without turning crazy. Here’s our solution: You just start singing “manamana badibidibi manamana badibidi” or “lollipop lollipop oh lolilolipop lollipop” during your ride and give your partner a melody he won’t forget for the next 20mi :-) Two moose, who tried to cross the road, were pretty much the most exciting on that day, but there were too fast for us and we couldn’t catch them on a photo.
Day 15 - Bicycle path to nowhere
Distance: 49mi | Time: 4:00 | 1429 kcal | 1079 vertical feet
Rain rain rain, our tent is maximum wet after this night. We had a really strong storm and were a little afraid, that the water level rises too far of the Dot Lake. At least our clothes, which were on the hanger in the chapel, were almost dry and we could drink a warm chocolate and a hot coffee made on our camping stove. After we filtered the water of this lake again, that we do not get stomach aches. In Alaska you have to filter all the water you take from rivers or lakes, since many animals bring bacteria into the water. The roads today brought us through areas, where a recent forest fire destroyed hundreds of acres of land and only black sticks are still pointing out of the ground. In these areas the air still smells like burned wood and it is spooky to ride through these forests. Less rain, but everything was wet and now the expected cold air of Alaska was finally here. Means we stayed wet for the entire day and therefore decided to ride until the little town Tok and get a fresh shower and a warm room to dry everything again. Yet in Tok we went to the Golden Bear Motel which provides WiFi, showers, a washing machine and a continental breakfast for $109 for two persons. We never had a “continental” breakfast and are curious what it is. A guy told us we should not expect anything fance, if we hear that, let’s see. On the list today is still the Fast Eddy’s burger restaurant, this should give us a break of our daily food spaghetti, rice and hot cereals.
Day 16 - Wilderness far as you can see!
Distance: 57,72mi | Time: 4:43 | 1939 kcal | 2422 vertical feet
The night in the motel was comfortable warm and dry. Our tents, sleeping bags and clothing dried up again. During the night we had strong rain one more time and we expected to start the ride in the rain tomorrow. But by the time we woke up, we saw the sun and blue sky, like it never rained before. We refilled our bear keg with more food and started the ride. The landscape hardly changed again this day, but today is was just an amazing view the entire time. The Alaskan Highway makes its way through small mountains (still stays mainly flat). On the right side you see high mountains, with snow on the peaks. The landscape is spotted with small creeks and endless lakes, which don’t even have names. Thanks to the tailwind we made a fast progress today and soon reached a campground directly next to a where camping was free. From Tok and until this point we have not seen a single town, only one gas station and on junction, that’s how remote we still are!
Day 17 - Alaska done, Canada here we come! 842 miles total!
Distance: 49,77mi | Time: 4:32 | 1777 kcal | 2202 vertical feet
Being this remote and far of civilization means, we have a hard time catching an internet connection which finally works for uploading images. It finally works here in Beaver Creek, right after the border of Canada. Today we saw some wildlife, about 10 swans were on the lakes nearby the Highway. After a few more hills we were at the Canadian border which is here 20mi after the US border. The mandatory image in front of the Yukon Sign was taken and we got another ride in a pilot car in Canada. The woman in the car told us there’s pretty much nothing between here and Whitehorse, which is another 300mi from here. She guaranteed us an even nicer landscape than we had in Alaska. Looking forward to this and also to take some nice pictures of it! We’re enjoying our evening spaghetti in the parking lot of the gas station of Beaver Creek currently. Our food varieties for the next 4 days are either rice with spaghetti sauce or spaghetti with spaghetti sauce, mmmmh :-)