Homeward Bound - July 9

I'm sitting at the visitor Center at Tok Alaska pondering whether to stop here for the night and catch up on my posts, pictures, and general motorcycle maintenance before re-entering the huge internet dead zone known as western Canada.

I left Anchorage on Tuesday night at around 8PM. It wasn't because I was particular fond of night travel, but because I was procrastinating in the comfort and ease of camping for free in the midst of big-city conveniences. If I didn't put about a tank's worth of miles behind me soon, I would have never left Anchorage (some of you would welcome that, Others might not).

I called it a night on Tuesday night on the Glenn Highway at around mile marker 120 at the Matanuska Glacier State Park campsite. It was just around midnight, and still light when I pitched camp for the night and whipped up a batch of yummy freeze dried garlic and herb mashed potatoes. My neighbors for the night were three motorcyclists of about my age group. Two were from LA and one from N Dakota. I didn't get names, and there wasn't too much small talk. Everyone was about as tired as was I. Next morning, I took a few shots of the glacier, although the smoke mixed with the morning haze and facing into the rising sun made not much of a picture. Off to Valdez.

One thing about touring Alaska is that the operative word is "backtracking". Every significant destination is at the end of a very long road with only one way out. Valdez is no exception, over 100 miles down to Valdez and the same distance back. I got some shots of the fishing boats in the village, did the usual tourist stuff, and headed back north. Scenic shots going down and back were still occluded by the smoke and haze that ruined the view all of this week so far. I tried anyway, and will take my chances with PhotoShop.

Travelling north from Valdez to Glenellen on rte 4 and on the Tok Cutoff toward Tok, I decided to call it a night at a place in Slana, AK called Midway Services. Tent camping is free there, and they have a grocery store, however, the store was closed for the night and I was chatting with two brothers Ryan and Alex from Boulder, CO who were bicycling from Anchorage to Panama. They were four days into the trip and were pretty tired, hoping to stay there for the night. While we were taking, the woman who owned the place and lived above the store came down and opened up for us. We were home. After setting up camp, two other bicyclists pulled in, Uli and Sabine, a couple from Austria (he) and Germany (she). They had already ridden 17000 miles across Europe through Asia and had flown from Thailand to Anchorage to continue around the world. Suddenly my little motorcycle trip didn't seem so big. I'll never be able to complain about riding in the rain or cold again! It was a great night of story telling. Alex was driving most of the conversation with his questions and funny wise-cracks, keeping us all engaged. It struck me that I wasn't talking to two young brothers from Colorado, and a couple from Gemany and Austria, but just five people sharing a common experience. I wondered out loud about what it was that drew us to such a grueling experience, and we all agreed that it wasn't about destinations or accomplishments, or even bragging rights. It was about the trip itself - the road and the people on that that attracted us. If more people would put down the TV remotes and get of their sofas and just travel, the world wouldn't be about Americans, Europeans, young, old, Christian, Muslim, liberal, or conservative. We would become just so many people enjoying the shared experience as people.

OK, off the soap box and back to the saddle. Time to figure out where to stay tonight. In any case, the reports over the next few days will be sparse. Once I leave Tok and head east into the dead zone, communication will be sparse. I'll do my best.