Happy 4th of July!!! We rolled into Haines, Alaska late pm 7/3 after a 95 mile day of the most awsome country so far!!!! It’s hard to believe we haven’t updated since Tok – so – here it is: We did a lay-around-and-eat day in Tok (emphasis on “eat”), then headed on down the Alaska Hwy toward the Canadian border, stopping at roadside pullouts to read the signs about the crazy mining days, the local vegetation/animals (a moose can lose up to a pint of blood/day to mosquitoes – I think I’m close today – biting mosquitoes are all females – we now call them “bitches”), and other interesting stuff. The St. Elias range started appearing in the distance and we soon were riding in a broad valley beside them – absolutely georeous country now.
We saw our first Black Bear eating garbage along the road! He was more interested in that than us. We didn’t have any pudgy tourists to hide behind, so we did not stop to take photos. The scenery keeps getting prettier and prettier and the mountains higher and higher, but the road is still easy biking. Some friendly folks stopped us on the road and gave us candy bars, ( where’s the shots of tequila?)
We spend a day biking along Kluane Lake, a huge lake, absolutely beautiful! Then on toward Haines Junction. At Haines Junction we had a celebration for our first 1000 miles (5% of the trip) with some great organic wine, cheese and crackers. The next day was Canada Day, so we got to eat alot at a free BBQ!! We met a Swiss couple on a tandem bike. They are also planning on biking to the tip of South America! We also met some motorcyclists from Washington and had a long talk about our trip. One of them asked me how many calories I burn in a day. I said I don’t know, but maybe somebody can figure this out for us. This is what I ate today:
4 cream cheese danishes, a double hamburger with 2 cups potato salad, salmon fillet, half red pepper, 3 egg salad sandwiches with 10 cold cuts, slice of carrot cake with thick cream cheese frosting, slice of strawberry cream cheese cake, date bar, monster peanut butter cookie, 3 glasses orange juice, 2 cups coffeee with cream and sugar, 2 and a half pork chops with cranberry sauce, 2 cups mashed potatoes, large dinnner salad with olive oil, large snickers bar- and I’m still kinda hungry- damn that 85lb bike!!! (Note: this is Ralph’s diet, not Pat’s!)
Biked from Haines Junction to Haines thru the most incredible country so far. Met Doug and Evelyn at a campground and they invited us into their camper for fresh caramel rolls and we talked for hours.
After and early start to our biking day of 4:30 PM, we finally saw our first Grizzly!! He was huge, he was off in the distance, we didn’t stop!
Spent the 4th in Haines!! 2 BBQ’s and fireworks!! Ran into our motorcycle friends and also Doug and Evelyn and had a great time!
Catching up on stuff today – maybe head to Skagway tomorrow on the ferry!
Bike on with a bang!!! Ralph and Pat
Ralph & Pat's Epic Ride 