Dwagenheim

This morning I was a little slow getting up. As I got my things ready to go, Don and Mike offered me breakfast so I stayed a bit longer and ate with them. Mike explained the road to Chicken was mostly paved but had some inclines. And there were more inclines after Chicken on worse road. So it looks like I'll be in for a tough day. I began riding and passed many RVs on the road. I counted 21 in a row! I guess I'm not the only one out here to enjoy this great state. I arrived in Chicken at about 2pm cruising in on a nice 2 mile downhill. There really isn't much to this small town. A post office, café, saloon, gift shop and RV park. I stopped at the post office to send off a letter to my brothers and then at the café for a hot meal and to catch up on my writing. I did what I thought was appropriate and ordered a grilled chicken sandwich. After some nice rest and relaxation and a little checking out Chicken, I got into some pleasant conversation about the ways of this small town of 20 residents with the co-owner of the café/bar/giftshop. After another 'isn't it a small world' conversation with the girl from Iowa working the summer job in the gift shop, I was about ready to head off onto a more unpaved lifestyle. But not before checking out what anyone knew about the music festival in Dawson City. Last night, Mike told me it could get sold out quickly. I was pointed in the right direction to the bartender, Amy. She said it WAS sold out, only 800 tickets, but they might still need volunteers. Volunteers do time at the even but the rewards are being there free, drinking, and maybe scoring some free grub. Worth checking out I say! Amy gave me the names of the people I might want to talk to so when I get there I can track them down. I hit the gravel/dirt road ahead starting with a long incline that had been staring me down since I'd rolled into Chicken. I felt pretty strong and slammed up the road waving my two-finger salute to the passing RVs on the way. They day was hot. The sun was in full effect for most of the time. I really enjoyed this part of the Taylor Highway, despite the road conditions. The road wound around large hills and mountains, and switchbacks made for more interesting views. And the views were beautiful, truly back country Alaska. You could sense the wildlife around you, big and small, plants as well. Rivers wound around in the valley below. After about 35 miles, I stopped at the Walked Fork (river) campground to cook some food. My appetite has noticeably increased just after the first day biking after a break. Maybe my body senses the work ahead. I talked to the campground host, who was from Florida. We shared our feelings for Don, a very great and generous guy (Just then, I remembered I was listening to his war stories this morning). She told me about her life on the road for 4 years. She was an older woman, 60's maybe. She informed me the road ahead was a gradual incline. She was right. And then after a while I got some straight inclines, little humps to get me higher. And then the long inclines on the sides of these rounded mountains. I'd wonder what that dark line across the top of that mountain was, get closer, Oh, it's the road! And some on soft larger type gravel that makes grip almost impossible. Finally, I made it do te Junction. Eagle - North, Dawson City – East. Oh, border crossing in 9 miles near Boundary. That will have to be tomorrow. A mile or so down, I pulled off and noticed some amazing lights in the sky as I was setting up my tent by the road. I took some photos of what looked like the Northern Lights, red streaks across the sky, opposite of where the sun was laying low in the night sky. As I fell asleep I could just hear big fat raindrops from above. (49 miles)

Peace

Dave

Dwagenheim

Pic: Scenery on the Taylor Highway

Dwagenheim

Pic: Beautiful Downtown Chicken, Alaska (Really, thats what they call it)

Dwagenheim

Pic: Taylor Highway scenery.

Dwagenheim

Pic: Taylor Highway scenery..

Dwagenheim

Pic: Taylor Highway scenery...

Dwagenheim

Pic: Taylor Highway scenery....

Dwagenheim

Pic: The Jack Wade River Dredge on the Taylor Highway

Dwagenheim

Pic: Rainbow shines in the evening

Dwagenheim

Pic: Sunset near the Alaska/Canada border on the Taylor Highway

Dwagenheim

Pic: Beautiful lights shine through the sky on the opposite end of the sunset