Even though we had such a great place to sleep last night, I hardly got any sleep at all. I was so excited about the cruise that I just couldn't sleep. It was almost like it was Christmas; we went to bed and then woke up and our ship was there waiting for us! Although we weren't in too big of a hurry since we couldn't board until around noon, we were really excited to see the boat. As we were leaving the Kayak Center, we headed towards the boat. We could see just the top of it at first- which made it look huge as it towered over the buildings around it. When we got closer to the boat, a lady driving a mini-van slowed down next to us and told us about a place we could go to use the internet and eat some homemade cookies. So, since we had a couple of hours to kill, we headed there. It was known as the "Seaman's Mission" church and was located in the main building in Whittier (the one that 2/3 of the people live in along with the town offices, etc). When we got into the building we had a little trouble finding the room at first, but once we did we found a room packed full of people on lap-tops. Turns out that the majority of the people in there were crew members of our boat! So, for the next hour and a half or so, we just relaxed and ate some super tasty chocolate chip cookies. There were also a few passengers from the ship that had found the little place there too. One couple, Ron and Betty, from Sydney, Aus. sat next to us and we ended up talking with them for quite a while. Soon enough, the time came to get on the boat! We had to burn up the last little bit of fuel in our stove before we could bring it aboard, so we did that real quick. I had a chance to make a couple phone calls while we had reception while I waited. This morning, I talked to Grammy for the first time in a couple days since she was having trouble with her cell phone. She said was on her way to Wal-Mart to get a new battery for her phone to try to fix that and then wished us a good time on the cruise. As excited as we were, we were still a bit nervous about the boarding and how that would go with our bikes. Our first stop ended up being the check baggage place, where we took off almost all of our big bags and checked them. From there, we headed into the building to go through security. We were surprised to find that the staff was very accommodating for us. Luckily we beat the big rush from the arrival of the buses, but we still got special treatment when it came to getting through what line there already was. The called us over to go through the crew line and because of that we had hardly any waiting to do at all. After going through security it was smooth sailing right onto the boat. We were able to go through the handicapped gangway so it was nice and easy to push our bikes onto the boat. They took our photo right away after scanning our cruise card so that when we got on/off the boat they would be able to identify us after scanning our card. From there we had the traditional "getting onboard" photo and then headed right towards the elevator. It was amazing how many crew members were there to greet us and point us in the right direction. When we got in the elevator, the girl operating it asked where we wanted to go. We just figured the best place to start would be our stateroom, L249 (Lido deck). I knew that L stood for Lido, but I didn't realize that it was the top deck! When the elevator opened and we went through the double doors, we were outside overlooking the pool! It was just so beautiful. I was so happy that I started crying happy tears. It was so exciting to find out that we were on the top floor-right by the pool, grill, pizza and ice cream! Our room was awesome; it was bigger than we had originally thought and we had plenty of room in the open closet space to put our bikes!! We were definitely in heaven and knew that it was going to be such a wonderful week. We unpacked the little bit of things that we had since our bags hadn't arrived yet. About 15 minutes after we got to our room, the phone rang and it was the front desk (which of course we had no idea where that was). They said that there was an envelope there waiting for us to pick up, We assumed it was just a standard procedure for everyone since we had only been in our room for a few minutes. Joey had some clothes with him so he took a shower and was able to change. I had to wait a little to do so since all of my clothes were in the bags we checked. We were so excited too get to explore the boat. At first, we definitely felt lost, but somehow, we were eventually able to find the main desk. When we explained that we received a phone call telling us to pick up an envelope, the girl looked at us funny for a second before realizing what we were asking. Instantly I got really confused because attached to the envelope was an imitation stargazer Lily flower! There are only a couple people that would know that is my favorite flower, so I knew something had to be going on because there is no way that would have made it through the mail with the flower attached. Just as we were about to open it, a passenger started talking to us and showing us a picture of a piece of artwork on his phone. I didn't want to be rude, but it was just killing me wanting to know what was inside the envelope, and he kept talking away about the artwork. Finally when we got a chance to open the envelope, we found a fun size bag of skittles and an index card with cutout letters from magazine that said "Gottcha! B 242." We knew that meant that Grammy was on board somewhere! So we started right out to find where her room was. On the way out of the Atrium (the main area in the middle of the ship where the main desk was) I heard Joey yell "Wait, I see her!" She was hiding behind one of the pillars up on the next level from where we were- a place she could overlook the desk and see our whole reaction. I couldn't believe it was really Grammy, in Alaska!!! We both ran over and I got the first hug from Grammy in 6 months! As if we weren't already ridiculously excited about the cruise already, that was the icing on the cake. Neither of us could believe that she was there-- and had taken the cruise up too. No wonder I had such a hard time getting a hold of her this past week! It all made sense then! Although- the cruise boat is probably the funniest looking Wal-Mart I've ever seen, but we had no reason to think she would be there- so I guess the Wal-Mart story worked! Since we had absolutely no clue where anything was on the boat, it worked out really well because we had our own personal tour guide who knew the boat pretty well. We spent the next hour or so walking around the boat and finding our way around. Since we hadn't eaten anything yet, we grabbed a quick snack at the pizza station. It was amazing we could just walk around and whatever we felt like eating we could eat. Right on the same floor as our stateroom was also the soft serve ice cream station! Life is good on a cruise! The boat is just so incredible- each area has its own look and it is all just so pretty. By the time we got back to our room, our bags were there waiting for us. I took a shower and was excited to get into my new clothes and sparkly flats. The three of us went to one of the sit down restaurants for dinner and the service was phenomenal! We didn't have to do a thing- they even put our napkins in our laps for us. And the food- holy cow was it good! All 3 of us had prime rib amongst a few other appetizers and dessert. For the rest of the night we went to a bunch of the activities on board and just had a blast. The cruise was definitely the best choice for us as the way out of AK before the really cold weather hit; what a huge lifestyle change from touring! The rest of this week is going to be so much fun-too much fun to waste time typing a journal every day. After riding around Whittier this morning, we rode 3.42 miles.
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We really took our time this morning getting ready because we have even less miles to do to get to Whittier than we had yesterday. After our usual oatmeal, we packed up and headed to the library in Girdwood for a little bit. I was hoping to get the new pictures we have uploaded before going on the boat, but the library computers didn't have flash player, so it would only upload 5 at a time, so we were a little disappointed we didn't get that done, but there will be another time at some point to get that done. We stopped at the little gas station on the corner of the road to Girdwood and the Seward Highway to fill up on water. By that time it was already close to noon and we were getting hungry again, so we decided to go to the bakery in that complex to get a cinnamon roll and split a hot chocolate! So glad that we did that because that tided us over for the majority of the day. We had a little headwind again today, but that wasn't a big deal because we had all day to get where we are going. The ride was still a little bitter sweet today because it was the last time we were going to see Turnagain Arm, and it is just so pretty. When we made the tun to go to Whittier, we were both so excited. Neither of us could believe that we were on our way to Whittier right now! The 60 or so mile ride from Anchorage to Whittier was the one section we knew that we would ride since before we left, it is almost surreal that we are already in that moment. As we rode down Portage Glacier Road, there were so many glaciers to look at. For a little bit, we rode on the "Trail of Blue Ice" trail that ended right at the Chugach National Forest Visitor Center. The neatest thing was that in Portage Lake (which was right next to (and under) the visitor center) there were a ton of little ice burgs! I was so excited about that!! Joe had gotten inside the visitor center first, and by the time that I came in, there was a little group of people around Joey listening to his story (they must have seen his bike and started asking him questions). It was really neat-almost like we were celebrities! They were so interested in our adventure! At the visitor center was an exhibit-The Chugach National Forest Experience. It kind of reminded me of the Mississippi River museum because of all of the interactive stations. We found out that it was $5/person and when we were deciding if we wanted to go through, the lady at the counter said that our adventure was awesome and let us go through for free! We couldn't believe it! The exhibit had a few different sections: Portage Valley, Portage Pass & Glacier, Prince William Sound, and Alaskan's and their story. We also got to watch the 20 minute video on the Chugach National Forest and the Glaciers. From the visitor center, we had one short tunnel to ride through before getting to the big 3 mile tunnel that goes through a mountain. We knew before we left on our tour that we wouldn't be allowed to ride through and that we would have to flag a truck down. The booth workers said that they would do the asking and that we would just have to wait by the bathrooms. We waited over there for about 20 minutes, but we were close enough to notice that they weren't asking. So, eventually, Joe just stuck his thumb out when the next truck went by and they were nice enough to pull over and give us a lift. The guy who stopped said that he often gives cyclists a ride through the tunnel since he goes through quite often. He his son were on their way with their boat to go out on the Sound for what might be the last trip this summer. This was also the last weekend for shrimping, too, so there was a lot of boat traffic today. We were lucky to get through the tunnel on the first round. The ride through the tunnel was pretty amazing. I have never seen a 1 way tunnel that also serves the train. When we came out the end of the tunnel, we were in Whittier! The town was kind of strange because aside from the buildings, it seemed like just a huge parking lot. There was a huge space right next to the water for cars/trucks/trailers, and the harbor was full of boats. We learned from the guy that took us through the tunnel that Whittier was originally a military base and that most of the buildings used to be military buildings. The other strange thing about Whittier is that 2/3 of the people that live there live in one condo building (that used to be a military housing building- and also now serves as the home of most of the town offices) and the other 1/3 live in a different condo. There aren't any houses, maybe a few cabins in the woods, but no real houses. The guy who gave us a ride also said that it is almost never sunny and usually raining in Whittier- or as he says "It's always s*!$#er in Whittier." We rode around for a little bit to explore and then found a picnic table by the water to make some mac and cheese for dinner. Later on, it started to get really cold, so we hunted down a place we could go inside and get warm for a little bit before having to set up our tent. We found a laundry mat that was open 24/7, and it was nice and warm in there. While we were there, we met Victor, the son of the couple that owns the laundry mat/hotel/restaurant. He talked with us for quite a while and we learned he is very into bikes- and even builds them. He even let us ride he really neat bike that he had built. Victor told us about how life was in Whittier and how they get a lot of snow in the winter- and last year they had something like 45 FEET! For work, Victor worked with Kayak tours and set us up to stay inside at the Kayak Center! When we got there, Perry, the manager, said we could either set up our tent inside or sleep in one of the big tents on the mattresses that were already set up! It was so nice to be inside because it was just so cold outside. Before bed we even got to enjoy a nice cup of hot cocoa and hot cider! This was the perfect way to spend our last night in Alaska. We were so lucky to get to be inside! Tomorrow is the big day! We are just so excited!!!!!! Our miles totaled 30.77.
We woke up feeling refreshed and ready to start the ride we have been waiting for since before the trip...the ride to Whittier to get on the cruise! There were a few clouds in the sky but it was looking optimistic for some sunshine. Dave and Lise made some really awesome french toast (even better than last time!) out of the same yummy bread we had with dinner last night. We had sausage and OJ to go with it too. I am going to miss the little routine that has been established of waking up, coming downstairs, being greeted by the puppies and then enjoying a super yummy breakfast. It has been just like a home away from home. Joey was a little stressed this morning thinking about boarding the boat and how they will handle our bikes. It might be a little bit of a pain initially, but once we get through that we will be in paradise I'm sure. I think a combination of that stress and the excitement of the upcoming cruise just made him want to get going as fast as he could this morning. I on the other hand had a couple things I needed to do. Joey got a little mad at me, but that's part of the game; everything can't always be hunky dory. But, in the end it didn't matter if we got on the road a little later because we only had about 30 miles to do and we already knew where we would be camping since this would be our 3rd trip through Girdwood. Last night we got all of our clothes put together for the cruise. Lise is not only an amazing glass carver, but also a really great seamstress. She was so kind to look through her button box and find a button that would work for my coat, and even took one of my dresses in a little because it was just a tad big. She did such a wonderful job, I couldn't even tell where she made the alteration on the dress and now it fits like a glove. Thanks Lise!! Surprisingly we were able to get everything on our bikes all packed and ready to go, including all of our clothes, shoes and coats for the cruise. It works out good that we didn't have too much of a problem getting the extra clothes packed away, now we don't have to worry too much about how we would carry them from Vancouver back to the US (we will send them home in the US vs. Canada to avoid the possibility of having to pay tax on them). That extra waterproof bag that we got from REI really helped do the trick. At one point this morning, Lise asked if I had any nice jewelry to wear with my dresses, which of course I didn't. She took me to her jewelry box and gave me two beautiful necklaces to go with my dresses! They are just so pretty- I can't wait to wear them and be a girly girl for a week! When the time came to get on the road, I was a little sad to have to leave. We had such a great time in Anchorage, and all of Alaska really. The ride down the hill was a breeze compared to the incredible struggle on the way up. As we rode out the Old Seward Highway, to the new Seward Highway, past Beluga Point and eventually back onto the awesome bike path, I couldn't help but think about how much I was going to miss this place. We have spent so much time in this area and this would be the 3rd time riding on this stretch of road- we have really grown to know it pretty well. For most of our ride today the sun was shining. I was hoping to see some Beluga's out in Turnagain Arm, but we didn't have any luck. It was kind of a weird feeling today as we rode because we are about to start on a big transition period in our trip, going from the first half to the second, from riding up in the wilderness to riding down the super-populated west coast, and the biggest of all- going from touring mode to living the life of luxury on a cruise ship! We have been waiting since before we left on this trip for this and now it's already here. As we rode along the bike path, we stopped at quite a lot of the little bench areas and just took it in. We were in no rush since we had so much time to do our 30 miles today (even though Joey wanted to get going early this morning). When we got to "Bird Point" again, we stopped there for a while and had a couple Oreo's for a snack. I'm surprised our Oreo's lasted this long- we got them in Anchorage just before we left to ride to Homer. From there we didn't have too long to get to our camp spot. I was actually excited to camp at the little pavilion at the top of the hill at mile 92.1 on the bike path. That will be the first place we have camped at more than one day (not consecutive days, but a few days apart). About 5 minutes after we got to our pavilion (which was around 4), it started to rain. We could see the storm coming across the water, so it wasn't a surprise, but boy did it get cold! We made some mac and cheese for dinner while we watched the water. It was amazing to watch because with the storm in one area and sunshine a ways down further, it was always changing. The tide was also starting to go out, so there were patches of the bottom that began to show, and they just kept getting bigger and bigger. After dinner, Joey played cards (500 rummy) with me to make up for getting mad at me this morning. We had such a blast. Joey was funny because he got in his silly mood and just made me laugh thoughout the whole time. I don't remember a time when the game was tied at 500, but that's what happened; it was a pretty "intense" round. When the rain stopped and the sun came back out, a magical thing happened. A bald eagle flew across the water and landed in a tree right near us. We couldn't actually see him in the tree, but when he took off again we could. He flew around the area for a little while and at one point flew right over the pavilion really close to us. It was so neat! By the time we were done playing cards, we were so cold we were almost shivering. We got the tent all set up and I went in and just got in my sleeping bag so I could be nice and warm. Joey decided to go on a run for about an hour. I worked on my journal and when he got back I found out he had ran for about 5 miles. We were both ready for bed by then and it actually was kind of nice to be back in our little tent. I still can't believe that we are so close to the cruise! We rode 31.58 miles today.
The wind seemed to last all night. Poor Dave had to go out in that scary weather to pick up his daughter at the airport, but we found out later that her plane got rerouted to Fairbanks because of the storm, making it so Dave didn't get home until 2:30 in the morning! Despite the wind, we both slept pretty good. Its so nice to be back at Dave and Lise's because its almost feels like home since it's a familiar place. We get to play with Jack and Dafney and just relax. We have been so lucky to have a few places here in Alaska where we just feel so comfortable and at home. It's going to be hard to leave Alaska, but at the same time we will have so many fond memories from here. Joey and I had some more of our cereal for breakfast this morning. Since Dave had a meeting in town today, we were able to tag along and go to a few places in the city. As we were driving around, we saw so many downed trees and the amount of leaves that had been blown off was incredible. Some spots around the city lost power last night and it was still out. There were quite a few traffic lights out too, where the police were working hard trying to direct traffic. It definitely was a big storm. The kids in the Anchorage school district lucked out too, because they closed school today because of all the down traffic signals. It's amazing how much power influences our lives. Dave dropped us off at the Ulu factory where we could walk around for a while and explore a little of downtown afterwards, while he went to his meeting. It was a lot of fun. I am so glad we didn't try to go there yesterday with our bikes; we definitely would have gotten trapped in that storm really far from the house and it would have been a disaster. We stopped by the REI store to see if we could get another little waterproof sac for the rest of our cruise clothes that didn't fit inside the ones we already have, and it was closed because of the power outage. So we killed some time and then went to airport to pick up Dave's daughter since her flight would be getting in that afternoon. The Anchorage airport is probably the neatest airport I've ever seen because it is full of small planes and there is a lake in the middle with hundreds of float planes! Dave took us on a little tour so we could see all of the planes. I had fun while we waited for his daughter because I got to wrap some presents. We drove over to Dave's daughter's apartment to drop her off and then stopped back at REI again to see if they happened to be open yet, and to our surprise, they were! The power was back on. On the way back to the house, we stopped at the post office to mail a few things, including a few more AK license plates (I got a few more of those than I plan to get in any other state-AK was our "special" state, so we had to pick up the extras that we found, you never know when a nifty craft idea will pop up!). It had started to pour rain again just before we got to the post office and continued for most of the evening. As we drove up the hill back to the house, all I could think about was the ride up yesterday. It made me really appreciate the ride. I can't imagine having to drive up and down the hill in the winter, that would probably be pretty scary. We just relaxed for the rest of the day when we got home. Dave took a little nap since he hadn't gotten much sleep last night and then he joined Joey to watch some football. I simply worked on blogs, played some games on the tablet, and played a whole bunch with Jack. This afternoon we heard on the news that some of the small planes were ruined and one float plane was upside down in the middle of the lake from last nights storm. They said that thousands were still without power and many of the traffic lights weren't back on yet. Guess it was some storm. Lise made a really nice dinner of turkey and gravey, mashed potatoes, fresh peas, and bread for dinner. Joey had a beer and I enjoyed some white wine. Through this trip I have learned to really enjoy a good glass of wine; before, I didn't really drink it at all. Before bed, Dave and Lise were nice enough to let us use their printer and we got our bording passes and baggage tags all printed out so they were all ready for the cruise. We're a bit nervous about the 'baggage' part since we have our bikes and panniers vs. a regular suitcase, but I'm sure everything will work out fine in the end. We got pretty much everything all packed and ready for take-off tomorrow to head towards Whittier. For some reason, I was super tired by the time we went to bed, maybe I didn't sleep as good as I thought I did with the storm last night. Either way, I would definitely sleep good tonight.
We woke up and were happy to see only cloudy skies and NO rain! We enjoyed a couple bowls of cereal and got all ready to go. It's nice that Steve doesn't have to leave for work until 9 and that he gets to take Bella with him too! Once we were all packed, we said our goodbyes and headed down the hill to do our errands in the city. It was just so neat that we got to see Steve again and especially that we got to spend a whole afternoon/evening with him, it was so much fun. It's amazing how small the world is. Our first stop was to get Joey's hair cut since it is getting so long that it was starting to hide his ears. The place we went was nice because they had coffee/tea/hot cocoa available for the people waiting, so I definitely enjoyed a nice cup of cocoa! Next we went to McDonald's for a little bit to kill some time on the internet while we waited for the bike shops to open. The first bike shop didn't have the exact derailer that we needed, it was one that "might" work. So, we tried the bike shop across the street (yes a bit crazy that they were right across the street from each other!). It took a while to get new derailer. They had a 10 speed derailer, even though mine is a 9 speed, but that is what we ended up going with because they called the other bike shops to see what they had, and they didn't have anything that could help us. On the way between bike shops, we saw Dave and Lise! We stopped and talked with them for a minute or two before going to our next destination. We rode to Value Village where we got the majority of our clothes for the cruise since we decided we might need some kind of sweater or jacket since it was starting to get pretty chilly up hear in AK and we knew it would be colder out on the water. We really lucked out and got 2 jackets for a really great price. I can't wait to wear my jacket- and the best part is that it was missing a button, so they gave me 20% off the original price, which was only $15 to start with, because it was missing a button (which was too big of a deal because the buckle went over that spot anyways). While we were packing our bags, we saw the two people that pulled over and gave us some trail mix a few days ago (the day we left Homer and were riding with Stefan and Ines). How neat, we got to see them again too! Our original plan was to go to the Ulu factory next, which was still really far away since it was all the way downtown. But, we decided to head back because Dave warned us about the storm that was coming later this afternoon. It ended up being a great idea that we decided to head towards their house because the wind had already picked up quite a bit and we had to ride into it to get there. It was a little slow going, but we eventually got to the hard part, the climbing. It probably took us about an hour and a half, if not longer, from the time we started climbing to get to their house. It sure was a tough climb, probably the hardest we have had thus far on the trip (the wind added to that quite a bit too!). I will never forget that really hard ride against wind and up the huge 1500 ft climb to their house. It was so steep that I had to walk some places. There were also sections that had much less of a grade that I should have easily been able to ride, but the wind was so strong, it made it impossible for me. Somehow, Joey was able to ride up the entire way, even up Rosemont Dr., which was so incredibly steep. For that road (the way up the hill to their house was like a spider web of a ton of little roads), Joey told me right away that I would probably have to walk that one because it was so steep. And sure enough I did, the only bad part is that it was still so incredibly hard to push my bike up that section. The wind would come in gusts and try to push me over, while the high grade of the road pulled my bike backwards so easily. Joey was nice enough to park his bike at the top of that road, walk down, and ride my bike the rest of the way up. He is such a muscle machine. As we got higher and higher on the hill, the wind of course got worse. About half way up the hill to their house, it started to pour-sideways. There were so many times I yelled out in frustration when I couldn't keep my bike up to ride, either because of the wind or because of the grade. All I wanted to do was to ride the whole way to the top, but the wind made that vertually impossible for me. It was like riding out in SD where it took us 4 hours to do 16 miles, but this time we were climbing a super steep 1500 ft. hill. I had just so much frustration from not being able to ride the whole thing, but was just so happy when we got to their house out of the rain and that scary wind. The first thing I did was go straight to take a hot shower to warm up. By the time I got out, Dave and Lise got home. We spent the rest of the night relaxing. Lise and I played a great game of 500 rummy and snacking on potato chips. Its so funny because both of us love playing cards and we are both married to someone who don't like cards as much as us. Lise made a fantastic dinner yet again. Homemade pulled pork sandwiches, tasty salad, macaroni and cheese, and potato and pasta salads. We have just been fed so great here, I never want to leave! The wind and rain continued from the time we were climbing to the house right into the night. The news was calling for 60 mph winds with 75-100 mph gusts on the hillside (where we were!). It was so windy that you could see the windows bowing. It was pretty scary; no wonder we had such a hard time riding with that wind. When we went to bed, it sounded like a jet plane upstairs. The hurricane like winds just wouldn't stop. We rode 20.10 miles today (and I'm so glad that we didn't ride more because we would have had to ride even longer in that wind and rain).
It rained for a while last night and was still sprinkling this morning. For some reason I had a hard time falling asleep last night even though I was exhausted. Maybe because I was so spoiled to have so many great places to sleep inside the last couple nights. As we were sitting in our tent trying to get motivation to get going, we heard a "ping" that sounded like it came from my bike. Joey got out and looked around, but we couldn't figure out what it was. It was still drizzly when we finally got out of our tent, but by the time we made some oatmeal and got packed up, it cleared up a little. As we began to ride, I noticed that my front gears were making the crunching sound that it makes if the chain isn't fully in a gear. I pulled on my leaver trying to fine tune the chain location, but all of a sudden, the chain jumped to the highest gear and got stuck. The shifter leaver no longer had any tension and there was nothing I could do to change gears at that point. We rode for a little bit to find one of the many little pull off on the trail so we could take a look. After a little investigation, Joey figured out that the spring in my front derailer had broken. Luckily, Joey knew how to adjust the derailer using the screws and how to "lock out" the gears so it would stay in the middle gear. As bad as it was that it broke, I was SO unbelievably lucky that it broke today, on a day where the majority of the ride was flat and we had a nice tailwind, and NOT yesterday when we had a ton of climbing to do. It would have been a pretty big problem if it had happened yesterday. There were a few light sprinkles, but the rain had done a pretty good job of holding off for us. The miles went by really quickly today, especially while we were on the bike path. It was nice that the ride home from Homer we primarily had a tail wind; it's always nice to get the tough part over first. As we got closer to Anchorage, we passed one of the parking lot for a hiking trail. There was a man and his yellow lab standing by his car, and for some reason, he looked a little familiar, but I didn't think much of it and kept riding. A few miles later, we found a white SUV waiting for us in one of the pull offs, sure enough it was the same guy and his dog. Joe got their first and had a little time to talk to him, and when I got there Joey asked if I remembered who it was. It was one of those times when you know a face, but you can't think where you know them from. Once they told me, it all came back and I was so surprised that I didn't remember. It was Steve, one of the guys that we met at Byers Lake Campground outside of Denali (where we were invited over for chicken wings and got to chat by the fire), and his dog Bella. I was so surprised that we got to see him again! Steve said that he had seen us pass and knew it had to be us. He asked if we had a place to stay tonight and invited us over. Even though we have Dave and Lise's house to stay at, our original plan was to not go their until tomorrow night since we had some errands to run around Anchorage. We figured we would just find a church or somewhere to camp, but getting to spend more time with Steve and sleep indoors (since it looked like rain again) sounded like a way more fun idea. We found out that he lived up on the hillside, like Dave and Lise, which was a bit of a problem for us since my front derailer was broken and I wouldn't be able to ride up the hill. But, Steve was nice enough to come down in his pickup truck and give me a lift to the top. Poor Joey had to ride up, but you know him, he probably enjoyed the extra challenge. We each got to enjoy a shower (well I took a bath for the first time in a really long time since he had a cool shower/bathtub- and it was so great!) and relaxed for a little bit. Steve had plans to go visit some friends this evening who were having little get togethers for Labor Day. He had called and found out we were welcome to join him too! The funniest part is that the first set of friends we visited ended up being Dave and Lise's neighbor, which is pretty amazing since there are only about 5 houses on their street way up on the hill. All 3 of us thought that it was such a funny coincidence! Joe enjoyed a beer while we chit chatted for a few minutes before we were off down the hill again. The next place we went was fun too because Steve's friend is a Vet, so she has a bunch of puppy dogs. We snacked on some appetizers, I got to enjoy a little margarita and Joe another beer, and we had probably the best stuffed mushrooms I've ever had. The rain did a pretty good job of holding off all day until we got to our next stop, then it started to pour! For dinner we went to another of Steve's friends houses for what he raved would be an incredible dinner- and that it was! We had an awesome soup for an appetizer, bbq ribs, a super amazing salad with shrimp, seasoned potatoes, asparagus and even ice cream with strawberries for dessert! SO good! We had such a fun time talking with Steve, his friends and their high school aged daughter- and of course playing with their super fluffy big kitty, Jasper! On the way home, Steve was nice enough to stop at the grocery store so we could get a little milk to go with the cereal we have left over from Homer for breakfast tomorrow. It's so nice that we get to sleep in a bed again tonight! Another terrific end to a great day, we are so glad the rain held off for us today! We only rode 25.47 miles today, but we made it back to Anchorage!
The clouds lingered, but we were so happy to wake up to find that it wasn't raining at the moment-hope for the day! The guys had all left for the day to go fishing (at 6:15 am!), so we didn't get to see any of them again. Arden made us a really tasty breakfast of eggs, sunny side up, sausage, pineapple and nice warm biscuits with jelly. She even made us each a cup of really yummy hot cocoa, which was a great treat to start the day! By the time we got on the road, it was around 10:30-11, the what has become normal time to get riding. We bid our fair wells, with a couple contacts down the road for places we might be able to stay and a bag full of homemade cookies! For the dry part of the morning, we prayed the rain would hold off. The section of construction ended up not being too bad because the traffic wasn't yet too heavy. When we got to the junction of the Seward Highway, we had a nice wide shoulder again, along with rain not too far after. Every once in a while, a cyclist would pass us going in the other direction. It looked like they were in some kind of a race, but the riders were really spread out and usually by themselves; it was nice to see others on the road too. The one thing about Alaska is that there are very few roads to choose from to have a race. In NY, this type of road would have never been chosen because of the amount of traffic. The rain continued and it seemed to get colder out too. We stopped to fill up on water at the little restaurant/hotel near Summit Lake. The racers continued to go by for the next 15 miles or so. Evenutally we found ourselves at the bike path again and were happy to get away from the mist from the cars. We had a little snack of the cookies that Arden had given us, to keep us going for a while longer. From there we had a pretty big hill to climb and eventually we got to the top of Turnagain Pass again, only this side of the pass was much more gradual than the other side, or so it seemed (maybe we were just in better shape?). I planned to suit up at the rest area where we had lunch on the way to Homer, since I knew the descent would be really cold. As we were getting close to the rest area, we saw a sign that said "free coffee." To our surprise there was an RV with an overhang set up for some kind of organization to raise awareness about it, and they had free coffee, hot chocolate, tea, and hot cider! What a great thing to have a hot cup of cocoa and a spot to get out of the rain for a few minutes before a chilly descent! It was perfect. With my extra jacket on, we continued on bracing for the chilly ride. It sure was cold and wet, that's for sure. When we got to the bottom, I was so cold I was shivering. My toes were going numb, my face felt like an ice cube, and between the wind and being wet, there was no getting warm. It was the kind of cold that your hands get to the point where they just hurt because they are so cold. That feeling reminded me of what it was like descending down Berthoud Pass in CO when it was snowing. Since we hadn't really had any lunch and it was already after 4, I was starting to get that funny feeling that I get when I haven't eaten where I get dizzy and my arms start to tingle. Luckily from the bottom of the hill, we only had about 5 miles to get to the visitor center that had a little porch where we could take a break out of the rain. The wind hounded us for those 5 miles, making it seem like we would never get there. Eventually though, we did get there and we snacked on a couple more cookies and even some more hot chocolate that they had at the visitor center! That hot cocoa really did the trick and I was finally starting to feel a little warm again. Girdwood was only about 10 miles away, so that was our goal for dinner. In contrast to that 5 miles to the visitor center, these miles flew. That headwind had turned into a tailwind and pushed us right along. Our original plan was to get some milk and have some of our big bag of cereal for breakfast, but it was still too cold, so I talked joey into getting a pizza at the pizza shop. I couldn't have been happier that we got pizza. My hands and wrists were cold and hurt and I just didn't feel like dealing with cooking or washing dishes. I was in a pretty bad mood from being so cold and that turned everything right around. After enjoying our pizza, we continued down the bike path to the little pavillion next to the bathrooms up on the hill that we saw on the way through the first time. I was actually excited to camp their because it was such an ideal place where we could be out of the rain and no one would bother us because it was on a bike path with no car access. We were both pretty tired by the end of the day and so we went to bed by about 8:30. Just like last time we rode through this section our miles totaled 66.00 miles.
The rain continued to pour down this morning as we looked out the window in disappointment. Mary and Brad came over to her Mom and Dad's house, where we stayed, for breakfast. It is so nice they have such a close family, where everyone lives nearby; and that they can share so many meals and so much time together. The best thing is that the food is always wonderful. For breakfast today, they made homemade waffles topped with strawberries and whipped cream, bacon and scrambled eggs! It can't get much better than that! After a fantastic breakfast, we relaxed for a little bit in hopes that the rain would dissipate, which we knew was very unlikely. Neither of us were looking forward to going out in the rain for a third day in a row, but even more-so, I was dreading that really narrow section of the Sterling highway between the town of Sterling and Cooper Landing that we would be going through today. It was so scary to ride through on the trip down to Homer and I have been dreading it ever since. But, all we can do is be alert and hope for the best. Luckily we have ridden on very few roads that were that narrow and had that much traffic. When the time came to get riding, we got everything all packed up and said our goodbyes. Somehow, the rain had turned into a little bit lighter rain for the first few mile of the day. We enjoyed the nice wide shoulder and bike path through Sterling while we had it because we knew we would be missing it once that narrow section of road came along. The terrain was one of the flattest sections of our ride to Homer and back. With the wind at our back (that has helped quite a bit in getting through the rain in the last few days), we were both moving down the road pretty good. With it being flat, I was able to keep up to Joey and we could move more like a single unit going down the road. It About 15 miles into the ride,I got a flat tire. All of a sudden I heard "thump, thump, thump," which was a lot different that other flats I had gotten. The air went out really fast and it almost sounded like my rim had a dent or something in it. Turns out that I had somehow managed to hit a nail, a nail that went through my tire, both layers of the tube, right into the rim of the wheel! At first we were really worried that it had ruined my wheel. But, luckily there was so much black electrical tape around the rim from our NY-FL trip (when I had ten flats in 4 days and that was the only solution we could find) that there ended up just being a hole in the tape and not in the actual rim. So, Joey put a little more tape around thee indside to cover the new hole and that seemed to do the trick. Even though we were right on the side of the road when we were fixing the flat, we were lucky that it had almost stopped raining. Once we got out of the one section of road that was about 10 miles of straight, flat road, we were back in between the mountains and it began to pour. Forced to ride in the lane because there was no shoulder at all, we werre trying to ride as quickly as possible. We were, however, really happy to see that the majority of the traffic was going in the opposite direction (the same traffic we had last Saturday that made that section even scarier than it was today). There were a couple descents as we crossed over into the hills that made us really cold, but from there, it went back to being pretty much flat. As hungry as we were by the time it got to be early afternoon, we didn't want to stop and try to cook in the rain, especially since there were no buildings or overhangs to get out of the rain. We just kept riding until we got to the grocery store in Cooper Landing. Inside, we found some fresh made cinnamon rolls, which of course sounded delicious on a wet, cold day like today. We also got a little milk so we could have some of the cereal we had left over from Homer. They had a nice front porch with chairs where we could enjoy our late lunch, but by the time I was done with my cinnamon roll, I was too cold to even think about having any cereal and milk. Joey of course, still had his few bowls of cereal and was happy. I gave Arden, the lady who we met on the hillside where we camped in Cooper Landing on the way down, a call since she told us to call her on the way back through. She owns and operates a retreat here in Cooper Landing and invited us to come over, have a shower and a nice hot meal. Both of those sounded so wonderful since I was just so cold. While I was waiting for Joey to finish his cereal I went and stood in the store in hopes that I would warm up a little. From there we only had about 5 miles until we found our destination, a small part of which was due to going left instead of right at one of the turns. We had a nice spot under the porch to put our bikes and got to take our showers right away to get warmed up. There was a big group of guys, most of which were from Kentucky, staying at the retreat while they were on their fishing trip. The neat thing was that the guy who organized the trip was Denny Crum, a hall of fame coach that lead the University of Louisville basketball team to win the NCAA championship twice! Unfortunately he was feeling under the weather, so we didn't really get a chance to talk to him much, but we did get to meet him, so that was cool. While we were waiting for dinner, we had a great time talking to the guys and snacking on some really great appetizers, including homemade coconut shrimp! Dinner was unbelievable, which makes sense since Arden is such a great chef. There were two main courses: prime rib and halibut, wild rice, snow peas w/ cherry tomatoes and homemade rye bread (and some really yummy white wine and beer for Joey). And for dessert, coconut or banana cream pie! By the time we were done with dinner we were so stuffed, especially after being so hungry this afternoon. We relaxed on the comfy couches for a little bit, and had fun playing with Arden's dog Jack, before retiring for the night in the cute little cabin in the back yard that Arden calls home for the summer. We have been so blessed on this little side trip to Homer and back to have had the opportunity to stay with so many great people along the way and to have enjoyed some really great meals! It has been like a little vacation inside our vacation in that sense. We rode 46.92 miles today.
Another great nights sleep. The rain was still pouring down this morning and it looked like it had rained all night. We got to make some yummy eggs this morning and enjoy some homemade bread with honey. It took us a while to get moving this morning because we weren't looking forward to getting soaked again, but we knew that eventually we would have to get riding. It was already around 11 by the time we got on the road. Luckily, all of our clothes, except for our shoes were nice and dry to start the ride. It poured for a good portion of the day and is was a little on the chilly side. We rode for about 25 miles before stopping at the little gas station with the funny bathroom that we stopped at on the way to Homer. We snacked on the granola bars that Elise had given us before we left for lunch since we didn't want to try to cook in the rain. From there we only had about 15 miles left to get to Soldotna. To our surprise, by the time we got to Soldotna, the rain had stopped for a while! Of course we still had the spray from the cars to deal with since the roads were still wet, but it was a very welcome change! It was about 2:30 when we got into town. We stopped at McDonalds to use the internetand get a little snack. Joey had a chocolate milkshake and I had a chocolate dipped ice cream cone off the dollar menu and a few fries. We were so hungry by the time we got to town, that it was the perfect treat. Brad and Mary, who we stayed with on the way to Homer, said we were welcome to stay on the return trip too. So, we headed over to the store that Brad worked at in hopes that he would be working, and he was. Unfortunately, he still had to work until 7, but it wouldn't be long until Mary would be home. Joey and I went to the library for a little bit while we waited. After a while, we headed back to the shop and Mary stopped by not too long after we got there. We headed out to ride the 6 miles to their cabin and stopped at the Harley Store that was along the way just to take a look to see if we could find a shirt that Mom would like. While there, we talked with the people working there for quite a while. When we got to Mary and Brad's cabin, we found a note that said Mary was across the street at her parents house, and dinner was too!! Dinner was SO good. They had made some battered halibut, homemade chicken pot pie, mixed vegetables, and homemade corn bread! Since we didn't eat a real lunch, we were starving and luckily there was plenty of food because we ended up having 2 plates full. Later, we found out that we would be staying in the guest room at Mary's parents house, instead of on the futon in their cabin. Although we wouldn't have "roommates" this time, we did get to enjoy a super comfy bed! After having a nice hot shower, we went outside and played with the Aerobie (ring like frisbee) with Brad and Mary's Cousin. Somehow, whenever we are playing something we always end up coming up with a new way to play or something to add to the game- like catching and throwing the Aerobie with a stick. These crazy little idea always lead to just a lot of laughter and not much in the way of actually "creating" a new way to play. Either way, we had a lot of fun. At one point while we were playing, Brad got a phone call from his neighbors Brandon and Jessica- so we went over there to play some games. Joey and I ended up teaching everyone the partner-4 of a kind card game we call Cans. It's been such a long time since we have gotten to play, so it was just so much fun. We also enjoyed some of those addicting freezie pops that we all ate as kids. Since we were having so much fun, we ended up going to bed pretty late, but that's ok, because we should get a great nights sleep since there is a bed to sleep in. Another great day. Again, we were just so happy to be indoors where we didn't have to worry about that persistent rain. Our miles totaled 42.45 today.
The clouds were rolling in this morning as we were waking up. The rain was coming. Luckily we had fantastic weather yesterday so we could really enjoy Homer! I was so sad to be leaving the cute little cabin by the beach. We had our cereal for breakfast and I was able to get the last of our pictures uploaded while we got everything packed up. As we were riding away, all I could think about was how that place was just another memory now. Time just goes way too fast. It won't be long until we are riding down the west coast and Alaska will be just another memory. It makes me a bit sad because it took us so long to get here. Before leaving town, we headed over to the Islands and Oceans visitor center. Our main goal was to find the carved glass art that Lise had created. The whole center was really neat. There were a ton of interactive exhibits and a short film. It kind of reminded us of the Mississippi River museum, just on a smaller scale and without an admission fee! We made it to the top of the bluff outside of town before it really started to rain. Luckily there was a sidewalk almost the whole way up, so we didn't have to climb that big hill with all of the traffic. The forcast doesn't look too good; it will probably rain every day all the way back to anchorage. About 5 miles into our ride, we saw a couple of touring cyclists taking a break off to the side of the road. They started in Los Angeles rode up the coast, took the ferry to Haines, AK and then road the same route we did all the way to Anchorage. They took a bus to Homer because they didn't want to ride the same road twice. Stefan was from Switzerland and Ines is from Germany. It was petty neat how they met because Stefan had been riding since South America and was looking for someone to ride with from LA to AK, so he put an ad on the cyclists website in Switzerland. I thought it was pretty neat how they didn't know each other before the trip. They were heading the same way we were, so we all decided to ride together. The first 15 miles of today went really fast because we had a nice tail wind. When we made it into Anchor Point, Joey stopped at the pawn shop to sell the lures we found on the side of the road a couple of days ago. He got ten bucks for them, and now they are back in circulation instead of sitting on the side of the road. We thought that was a pretty good deal. The rain continued all day and got heavier in the afternoon. We came across a little restaurant/cafe, so we all stopped to get out of the rain for a little bit. Stefan and Ines decided to order some lunch, so we decided to get some hot chocolate and a cinnamon roll with the ten dollars we got from the lures. It was so great!! None of us wanted to go back outside because we had finally just gotten warm. Eventually though, we had too go back out in the cold, rain. We only had about 12 miles left to get to Ninilchik. On the way, a couple from Washington pulled over and gave us some trail mix. It was nice of them to get out and stand in the rain to talk to us. It's always so fun when people stop to talk to us. A little while later, a red truck pulled over to see if we had a place to stay for the night. Joey and I already did since we were on our way back to Elise and Jeff's house, but Stefan and Ines didn't yet. The man, who lived only about a mile away, offered for them to camp in his huge garage where they could get all of their stuff dry and not have to camp in the rain. Stefan and Ines decided not to take the offer since they were on their way to an RV park. If we didn't already have a place to stay, we would have gladly taken their offer. We were surprised that they didn't take him up on the offer, but I guess they just really wanted to go to the RV park. If that is in their budget, all the more power to them! As we were riding through town looking for the RV park they planned to go to, a guy told us about a $35 a night plus $5 every extra person hotel that was nearby. We bid our farewells, knowing there was a possibility to see them again on the road either tomorrow or in the next couple days. I think Stefan and Ines went to check out the hotel, but I don't know what they found out, or if they just ended up going to the RV park. When Joey and I got back to Elise and Jeff's house, it was almost like "getting home" because it was a familiar place. This is the first time that we will have stayed with the same Warm Shower's host twice! It was so nice to get to see them again. A nice hot shower after being in the rain was perfect, in fact I was looking forward to it all day. We had moose burgers from a moose that Jeff had caught, on homemade rolls that Elise made, along with a great salad for dinner. I felt so fortunate that we had a nice place to get out of the rain!! We rode 42.95 miles today. So glad we get to sleep in a bed again!!!
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