Dwagenheim

I woke up pretty early on account of not picking the most comfortable spot to put my tent. I completed 100 miles just as I got to Nickay's Produce off the highway. I couldn't find a place to camp that wasn't near a No Trespassing sign so I picked an uneven spot on the side of a gravel road off the Richardson Highway. I went to Nickay's when I got up and bought a couple of tomatoes and a cucumber. I headed through Delta Junction and stopped to eat breakfast at the local grocery store. Just after the junction, I got on the Alaska Highway and headed towards Tok. I stopped at Delta Meat and Sausage and picked up some beef sticks for lunch. Most of the ride was pretty uneventful with a few ups and downs. Most of the big mountains were to the Southwest of the road, the Alaska Range, and thankfully, the road didn't go near them. After about 60 miles, I came up on Dot Lake. I stopped in to Dot Lake Lodge for a burger and noticed another cyclist there. Hanshenriks is from Denmark and is riding from Argentina to Prudhoe Bay. We ended up eating together and discussing out trips. He gave me some useful tips about my route, we traded emails, then got our stuff together to head off. I gave him my extra derailleur cable as his was busted and he was having problems shifting. It will be interesting to see what he thinks of the Dalton Highway.
So I continued towards Tok. It seemed to take forever. I was counting down the miles. My legs weren't in as good of shape as they were yesterday or this morning. Those 100 miles had taken a toll. As I got closer to Tok, I noticed a huge wall of rain off to the North. I was hoping to out run it but it didn't quite work out that way. All of the sudden I am in a full on downpour. I scrambled to at least get my rain jacket on and hope to finish the rest of my mileage quickly. The rain let up a little as I neared Tok. It was getting late and my plan was to look for the international hostel because I felt it was a little too late to barge in on the Servas host. As it turned out, I had to go to the home of the Servas host because I couldn't find the hostel. I was surprised to see people still awake since it was around midnight. It turned out Helga, the host, wasn't there, but she had 7 guests there doing a bible study. It was a little awkward at first trying to explain who I was and why I showed up, but eventually I got the help I needed. Heath, from Minnesota made some calls and we found out the international hostel had closed. Bummer. So I decided to pitch my tent on the yard and wait for Helga to show tomorrow. I took a shower and got out of my wet clothes and into my tent for bed. (111 miles)

Dwagenheim

Pic: The Alaska Mountain Range to the South.

Dwagenheim

Pic: I met shortly with another cyclist, Hans Henrik Samuelson in Dot Lake before he completed his journey from Tierra Del Fuego to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

Dwagenheim

Pic: Crossing the Robertson Bridge over the Tanana River