OFFICIAL WORLD WANDERER STATIONERY

July 11, 1966

Vancouver, British Columbia Canada to Whitehorse, Yukon Canada

Hello World Wanderer followers.

They know I'm here, they're buzzing all around the tent waiting for that fateful moment when I open the screen and step out. Hundreds of blood thirsty mosquitoes. Actually, they are not as bad here as a couple places I've been. A 'two' on the scale of one to ten here. I've found that in the areas with no breeze where they really congregate that burning a mosquito coil really helps alleviate the problem. These coils put off a smoke that the mosquitoes don't like. The smell of the coils reminds me of India. They were in common use there, every motel had them in the rooms for the customer's convenience. Then in Nepal, Thailand and Malaysia too.

Since the last newsletter in Vancouver, British Columbia I have ferried to Vancouver Island, rode up to Port Hardy at the islands northern tip; ferried to Prince Rupert then to Juneau; caught an Alaska Air Jet to Anchorage; stayed with Cynthia Olnes, the wife of half of the Alaska couple who have now finished their world tour (Her husband, John, is still in the lower 48 visiting brother, sisters, etc.); got a ride to Homer on the Kenic Peninsula; rode to Sewart; back to Anchorage then up to Denali National Park where on the approach got some excellent distant views of Mt. McKinley; continued on to Fairbanks then south to Delta Junction (beginning of the Alaska Highway); cycled down to Haines Junction, then to Whitehorse. Im working my way toward Dawson Creek (mile zero of the Alaska Highway), then planned to ride to Prince George over to Jasper and down to Banff.

Flying to Anchorage then riding the Kenic Peninsula then to Denali and up to Fairbanks was not my original plan. Turns out that's what Michelle wanted to do, and since I had someone to do it with I thought might as well since I'm here. Michelle had asked if I would like to ride together with her the day before we left Bill's apartment in Vancouver. Thought, well that might be nice, and we are kinda going the same direction. I said I'd be willing if she doesn' mind waiting for me. I know that since she had been riding with Jody and together they rode for a month or so with Ric and Spy back in Turkey that she was a much faster rider than I. She'd been banished from our group for that reason back on the ferry to Holland plus she seemed irritated when people wanted to stop and look at things along the way. She has been a bike racer and still carries some of those go, go, go traits. Jody says she's mellowed out and grown up a lot since the start of the trip. . . so I decided it would be worth a try.

I was encouraged that Michelle wanted to do these extra destinations that I'd already given up on.

Jody had taken the train to Seattle to get the cheap $100.00 flight from Seattle to Anchorage. She met her friend Bob in Anchorage, stayed at Cynthia Olnes' one night then headed out. She was there a week or so before Michelle and I arrived. We'd spent over $400 each on three ferry rides and a short airplane ride. We heard from some cyclists who had come down from Dawson city on the "top of the world highway" that Jody and Bob were seen going up towards Dawson.

A day or two before we flew into Anchorage Cynthia got a phone message from Helen saying she was staying at the Hostel in Anchorage, but was planning to move to a campground. Cynthia called all the campgrounds but couldn't locate her.

Don't know where Charles and Lisa are, haven't run into any cyclists who have seen them. I expected them to be ahead somewhere. Ole and Regena are probably in the North somewhere now. Last heard, Ole planned to ride all the way to San Diego but wasn't committing to getting there by October 1st anymore. Liz should have arrived in Anchorage by now. She was going to be a couple of weeks late leaving Australia, then spend a week in Hawaii. Have totally lost track of any others.

In Vancouver I'd put two coats of waterproofing on my tent fly and floor after soaking in the bath tub in a light bleach solution to kill the mold then scrubbing all the to be waterproofed surfaces with a green scrubby and an ammonia solution, followed by a good rinse job. The water proofing I'd

put on back in Charlotte, North Carolina was all pealing off cause I hadn't got it cleaned properly before applying. The effort of recoating made a

world of improvement. Had several nights (and days) of rain in Vancouver Island. I stayed dry as a bone!

Leaving Vancouver Michelle and I traded off getting flat tires. First her, then me. Nothing like being in a big city to bring on a round or two of flats. All the broken glass and debris on the road is what I figure is the cause.

First long Ferry ride to Prince Rupert was good weather. Michelle spent the day light hours looking for whales with a couple sightings far away. I settled into a book and rested from the fast and furious pace we'd set getting to Port Hardy. She's a strong rider and she travels light. My knees were sore from pushing too hard and trying to keep a faster pace than normal. I lightened up by not carrying so much food (don't need three days worth here) but my bike is still remarkably heavier than hers, but a percentage of body weight I'd guess they're about the same. The new shoes I'd gotten in Vancouver were giving me trouble too. Takes awhile to break in a pair of shoes for bicycling. The soles haven't squashed down yet so the toes are really tight in the toe clips. They'll be fine in a month or so.

Not in the tropics anymore. It's cool out. Have to wear a jacket to stay warm and drinking noticeably less water, so I started carrying less, less weight you know. Well, I ran out going up a long unexpected hill. Flagged a car down to ask how far to the next town, my map showed about 10 miles and it looked all uphill. The guy just happened to be out on his little vending machine re-stock trip. He gave me two sodas which I downed before getting to the top of the hill three miles later.

On Vancouver island we'd seen some wonderful views of inlets of the inland passage. Snow capped mountains back on the mainland, and trees. Lots and lots of trees. . . And where there are trees there is logging.

Saw huge clouds of dust following oversized logging trucks on private dirt roads up in the hills and paralleling the main North-South highway. "MacMillan-Bloedel Company" the signs said that lead to the "industrial" dirt roads. The log trucks looked about 10 or 12 feet wide, not legal on highways. Apparently the company found it was cheaper to build their own roads to operate their oversized trucks than to use legal size trucks and use public roads.

We're getting into bear country now. Trying to get in the habit of not cooking near the tent and not leaving any food in the tent overnight. Storing the food up in a tree far from the campsite. Saw a black bear checking out a bear proof garbage can at a roadside turn out. He ducked into the brush as soon as he saw us. Locals say the black bears are scared of people and won't really come after you.

The second long ferry ride, Prince Rupert to Juneau, was foggy, rainy and cold. We'd met a brilliant red haired girl in camp in Prince Rupert. She was from Portland, Maine. Had a few weeks to cycle around Alaska. I liked talking with her. She was calm and content. A nurse who was also a ski instructor. Her father, the president of the National Ski Instructors Association. We cooked dinner together. She told of a story of a ski cabin she had rented a room in that had burned down. Made it hard for her to be around fires for awhile. Lit a fire in a BBQ in the picnic shelter to escape the cold of the damp rain. The way she spread the sticks I thought it'll never catch. Was I surprised when she had a little fire going five minutes later. Karin was her name, a delight to be around.

I stayed inside on this second ferry ride. Read, rested and occasionally wandered the ship. Every once in awhile catching a glimpse of what I thought might be an extraordinary view if it were clear out. A group of Native Americans were on their way to a Pow wow. A competition where they sing and dance against other natives. The ferry donates the passage for them. The Pow wows are a way to help them bring back their natural heritage. They did a practice performance in the TV lounge deck where I was busily sewing on some patches to the tent where a raccoon had gotten in on my '93 cross country ride. The stick on patches Id put on at the time were starting to peel away so out with the needle and thread. Without costume their performance seemed quite amateur, hard to compete with Hollywood. The faces and the attitudes were those of satisfaction, fun and joy when completed. With a little imagination I could picture myself beating on a moosehide drum and chanting in front of a fire while others pranced and sang.

Arrived in Juneau around midnight. The ferry had been 5 hours late, made up two hours on the trip to Juneau. Was the ship's first voyage since it's total refit. New paint, repairs. A sprinkler fire system installed and new life boats. One of the crew said they got the wrong ones but had to make them fit by welding mounts to original fittings. The ship had been late cause it was going through Coast Guard approvals, took longer than expected.

Stayed at the Juneau ferry terminal till 2:00 a.m., it was raining out, then got kicked out. Stopped raining but picked up again on the ride to the Juneau Airport where we had a 6 a.m. flight to Anchorage booked. By 2:30 a.m. it was light enough to see very well. Michelle got another flat which she repaired under the awning of a fish and game building. A guy came by and told us to get out of there as soon as we were done. "This is Government

property, and the police will be by" he said. One more flight. One more packing the bike in it's blue poly tarp bag. Didn't think the bag would last this long. All the way from Katmandu. Starting to get pretty worn and holey, probably its last flight.

Cynthia picked us up at the Anchorage airport with her grand daughter Claire. Loaded the bikes into the Ford Pickup complete with a camper shell over the back rear window of the shell totally missing. Cynthia said it was broken by vandals and they have found it's a lot more convenient that way so never fixed it. Got to visit and shop in Anchorage, but not much rest. Go, go, go. Michelle put her tent through the wash then put two layers of waterproofing on it. She must have been impressed with my bragging of how dry my tent was.

At REI [Recreation Equipment Incorporated] saw a bike parked out front with a one wheel B.O.B. trailer, a mountain bike. The front panniers patched all around all the lower edges. A two burner Coleman stove sticking out from under the cover of the trailer. This bike has been around, I thought! I'd like to meet the owner but nobody around and we've got things to do, so off we go.

Michelle fell totally in love with Fred Meyer [a discount store]. She couldn't get herself out of the store. Just wandered the isles endlessly.

Did a bit of bike maintenance. She put on new chain, chain rings, and cassette. I regreased the pivots for my cantilever brakes and re-adjusted the pads. Figure I'll do the new chain and cassette in Banff. My chain rings look pretty good still the two smaller ones are stainless steel instead of aluminum. the aluminum ones, although lighter, do wear lots quicker.

On our way again. We're planning to hitch a ride to Homer but Cynthia has a sister who has some property down there. They'll be going down for the weekend so Cynthia offered us a ride in the Ford pickup. Yea! No problem. Was sunny and clear the day we drove down but started raining during the night. The cabin on the property, a tiny shack affectionately called the Pallet Palace cause it was built from scrapes of this, and that, and pallets. Had a good wood stove which we eagerly lit to shake the cold. A creek ran through the property. A wooden hot tub built around a tree with a wood fire heater was down the creek. The out house was simply a chair in the bushes with a toilet seat instead of a normal seat. Just getting around to working on the outhouse this weekend, I hear. First have to wait for the ground to thaw so can dig a hole. In the cabin, drawn on a long piece of picture frame matting was a pencil sketch of the master water plan. Showed the grade of the property the creek. A holding tank uphill tilled by the creek and plumbing to the hot tub, and the cabin. On the back side, the master plan sketched for the cabin. That plan had been complete . . . we were in it. Cynthia's sister's husband works on the oil pipe line. I was quite impressed with the drawings and the imagination it took to go from that simple sketch to the building I was in.

With three in the cabin it was crowded so Michelle and I figured we ought to get going before the family and kids show up. Set out down the gravel road that lead to the main highway with our rain clothes sheltering us from the wet elements.

I've heard the Kenia Peninsula is beautiful country, didn't really get to see much though as we cycled through low clouds and occasional rain. Both Homer and Sewart are real tourist towns. Not much of interest to this cyclist. Did treat myself to a fish and chips dinner in Sewart, and a hot shower at the Harbor Master building. Michelle had wanted to go out to eat, wanted fresh fish then complained in the whole town there was nothing low fat at any of the restaurants. She wanted fish but every place fried it. I just went ahead and enjoyed the greasy but tasty fish and chips while she ordered a baked potato. We were told that anyplace there's a cannery you will find a little tent city. Sure enough in Sewart several tents were going up next to the cannery. People set them up on pallets with cardboard for a floor. The pallets keep the tents out of the re-appearing puddles which come every time it rains, which is often. Poly tarps over the backpacker style tents keep the Nylon material from giving out too quickly from the sun's UV rays, and adds to the waterproofness. When it's all set up. It's an adequate shelter for the summer, but gives the look of a shanty town.

Headwinds riding back into Anchorage along a long long inlet I think called turn again sound. My front tire went soft. Michelle was ahead and didn't notice I stopped. The front tires cords were breaking at the tread. Was afraid this tire wouldn't last when I put it on. Was one of my good Avocett cross 26 x 1.95 tires but had a manufacturing defect. Cords showing in the bottom of the tread moldings. Well lasted 4000 miles, longer than my tires I got in Greece. The back one is still going strong no sign of any approaching failure yet. Ole got 10,000 miles on his rear Avocett cross 26 x 1.95 Kevilar tire. This one isn't Kevilar, wonder how long it will last. Put my continental top tour spare on. I rode it through Europe. It's got 4300 miles on it but since it was a front tire, there's plenty of tread. Michelle had stopped ahead and waited a long long time. I didn't show and didn't show. She said I'm usually a minute behind for every mile we ride. She turned around to see what happened to me. With the tail wind she covered 5 miles before she knew it. Still no John. She was beginning to think she missed me when I finally appeared. We took off again and she again disappeared into the horizon. When I caught up she'd been talking for 10 or 15 minutes to another cyclist named Peter. Tall blonde guy my age maybe a little younger. He'd done a few bike trips before: Mexico, Panama, Peru.

Really friendly and nice, Michelle was in awe of his travels saying she'd like to go to those places. He rode a brand new trek 520 touring bike. "Sold the house and the business," Just starting a five year tour. Says he's got $30,000 to do it with. On his last trip his stock investment split three times came home with money to spare. He's headed to Valdez then up to Tok then down the Alaska Highway to do the Jasper and Banff parks as we are. Then wants to head to the east coast, as does Michelle, she's from Connecticut. From there fly to Spain. He's got a computer with him and gets on the internet as Bykyboy@ix..netcom.com. Michelle suggested maybe we'll meet up along the way somewhere, he seemed in favor, and they agreed to leave a note in Tok, Alaska as to what time they passed through.

Back in Anchorage got a new spare tire at REI an Avocett 26 x 1.5 Kevilar, it's what they had. Shopped at Fred Meyer again and spent one more night in Anchorage, quests of Cynthia Olnes.

Next morning did a few more errands then rode out of town. Didn't get too far before I felt the bike getting sluggish. Found a brass screw in the front tire. Patched it and on my way again. Passed a checkpoint for the Ididirod [sp?] dog sled races. A sign explains the route starts from the open water, non-freezing part of Sewart goes all the way to Nome. "Millions of dollars worth of gold traveled back to Sewart on this route."

Cycled up the Glenn Highway where it intersects with the Parks Highway and leads to Denali National Park with no turns to make Michelle would simply cycle to a prearranged number of miles and start looking for a place to camp. Traveling with her I was eating better (more variety), being cleaner (bathing more frequently), but spending more money. She was trying to be nice about waiting for me but it was beginning to bug her, and I noticed her starting to get cranky when I was around. Made for a bit of tension between us. The more cranky she got the slower I got. The more things I wanted to stop and look at on the way.

Five days ride from Anchorage to Denali Park. We'd passed hills, valleys, permafrost sections of roads. Portions heaved up or down. a sign usually warned vehicular traffic "BUMP", trucks and RV's bounced to the limits of their suspension going by them. At bicycling speeds hardly noticed them. Expansion cracks in the pavement made my hands numb. Constant jarring, passing rivers that look like flowing mud. Got excellent views of Mt. McKinley. Was much dryer and clearer since we left Anchorage and the immediate oceanic effects. On one open pass stood a gas station store and a hotel shaped like a giant igloo. Asked for water at the gas station. A semi-truck trailer out back housed the diesel power generators that provided electricity to the place. The fellow explained he wasn't supposed to give out water. Doesn't pass the water inspectors rules. His gas tanks are too close to the well, but there's no leaks and the water is perfectly good. Next summer he's going to have new fuel tanks put in. Dig out the old ones, then the inspectors will let him open the hotel. The giant igloo looked like it had been there for at least 10 or 15 years. A lot of money invested I thought to be just sitting idle. He gave us water anyway and we were on our way.

We got to Denali just ahead of the summer rush. The park was heavily staffed, and all the rules in place for handling the hoards soon to arrive. I think the system they have worked out is a pretty good one, but it takes a little planning to make good use of your time. Cars are only allowed the first 15 miles into the park although there is a campground for RV's about 24 miles in. Those campers get a special permit good one day for going in, one day for going out. All transportation on the 96 mile road is by park bus. Two categories, tourist busses, and camper busses. The camper busses have a few seats left out to pile backpacks and camping gear into. The tourist busses are for day trips in and out. A day trip to Wonder Lake at mile 90 takes six hours in and six hours out. Makes for a long day. One advantage of the busses is that there are lots of eyes to spot wildlife. We decided we'd stay at the walk in camp one night. All other campgrounds full. Reserved a spot at igloo campground for two nights. Could ride the bikes in the 34 miles to igloo campground. Bought a camper bus ticket so the next day we could ride the bus to the Ellson Visitor Center then on to Wonder Lake. Look around a bit then ride the bus back to the campground. Ride out the next day.

Our bus ride day there were distant clouds that kept Mt. McKinley hidden but we were able to see the tops of the hills of the valley we drove through. Each time anybody saw any sort of wildlife, the bus would stop, and everybody would peer out the windows. Finally we stopped stopping for "micro dot" appearances. Animals that were so far away you could barely see them with binoculars, and with the naked eye (which is the tool I had to use) you couldn't even tell what they were. We saw Dall sheep, moose, caribou, an arctic fox, Ptarmigan, grizzlys and cubs, even saw a couple of wolves moving swiftly over the terrain. Since most of area is covered with tundra, a thick spongy vegetation, the rangers ask that you not make paths by following others as you hike. They encourage you to spread out to lessen the effect of foot steps. They don't want a bunch of paths leading hither and yawn. That's a hard one to swallow after being trained to stay on the trail. But after a little walking around sure enough you find there are not trails.

On the bus a nice German lady let me borrow her binoculars. She spoke no English, just offered them to me. Made the animal sightings much more memorable. To see the animals move, their muscles twitching under their fur, beautiful graceful movements. Watched Grizzly cubs play on a hillside bumping, climbing, and rolling over each other. What a magic time in their lives. Occasionally stopping to sniff at something. Playful and inquisitive.

Met another guy on the bus who I thought was from New York from the way he looked and acted. He seemed a bit hyper. He was actually from California. He and his buddy were on a car trip. They had met Peter, the cyclist, and went on and on about what a good guy he was. He'd hitch hiked with them to some fishing spot. "Two things I learned from Peter", the guy said, "1) Every person you meet treat them as if they were your best friend. 2) People don't make mistakes, they simply make the best choice they know how to make at the time with the information they have." How profound, I thought, this Peter is a modern thinker.

At Wonder Lake people walked around like Zombies with mosquito nets over their heads. Thought maybe the bus had stopped at mars and all the Martians had been programmed to be expressionless identities to roam the campground paths. Lush green trees and vegetation, taiga and tundra. Taiga, a Russian word meaning stick forest. That's all the trees were at this elevation and latitude. Sticks. A big glacial carved lake and I'm sure glorious views of the surrounding mountains if only there were a few less clouds. Had planned to stay for a couple of hours. But when a bus was ready to leave after 45 minutes both Michelle and I were on it. The mosquitoes were the worst I've seen. From here on out any mosquito situation will be compared to Wonder Lake, that was a '10' on a scale of 10.

Michelle had met a couple in New Zealand from Fairbanks and they invited her to stay at their cabin, but warned they just got electricity last year and they have no running water. A sixty six mile day followed by a fifty three mile day and we were at Scot and Ami's cabin in Fairbanks. Scot, a chemical engineer works for the water company. Ami, the daughter of a U.S. Foreign Diplomat, grew up in Europe, but went to college in Hawaii and is doing graduate work at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks. She manages the student staff that work at the University of Alaska Museum. She gave us free tickets to get in there. She found out in New Zealand she is pregnant. She and Scot plan to buy a house in town now and rent out the cabin. They've lived here for four years. And for six months before that in a visqueen tent while they built the cabin. They've already added on a room and the loft they used to sleep in is now all storage. A single counter separates the kitchen area under the loft from the living area. One entire wall of the living area is floor to ceiling books. A particularly warn book is titled, "Build your own house." Another was, "Carpentry ABC's." Ami's traveled on every continent and has the lonely planet books and artifacts to prove it. A number of different dance masks from different cultures hang around the room. Scot has taught himself to play guitar but I see a broken string and quite a bit of dust on the instrument now. An interesting couple, and interesting that they should choose to live in this life style. Outside is an open air outhouse, three sides and a roof. Light a mosquito coil five minutes before if you don't want biting guests.

Next door a 1/4 mile away the neighbor has about a dozen or so sled dogs. Occasionally heard them barking and howling in turn. Generally each sled dog has its own little house, all the houses are generally lined up in a row and each dog is chained to his house such that he can't reach the dog on either side of him. Seems confining, maybe inhuman but that's the way they all are. Scot has been out fishing the day before we arrived and caught some King Salmon. We had BBQ Salmon, potato salad, green salad and two kinds of ice cream for dessert.

The heater for the little cabin sat quietly idle against a wall. A "monitor" made in Japan designed to burn kerosene from a one liter removable tank modified for use in Alaska to burn fuel oil from a six hundred gallon tank outside. The small heater keeps the place toasty warm even when it's 40 degrees F out. "Even shuts off occasionally", Ami reported. It's so efficient, has a simple flexible vinyl exhaust hose that exits out the side of the house. Seems like an incredible little unit to me. The six inch stove pipe from the wood stove it replaced is plugged filling space in the ceiling. They've got a brand new Pentium computer, the are still figuring out all you can do with it. It's identical to the one Scot has at work and he can get on the internet and search the web with that one. With CD ROM they can play all kinds of fun games. Ami is using it for her Thesis. I imagine in the winter when there's only four hours of sunlight and it's -40 degrees F out the computer and the phone get a lot of use.

Pretty good museum. In addition to all the displays for a little extra money saw a native Olympics demonstration in a tent outside. One young girl dressed in a traditional bird costume with a big beak that practically covers the face spoke in a high squeaky voice and imitated a birds jutting moves and ruffled feathers as she moved. She was the host and explained the activities in a humorous entertaining manner. Demonstrations of the athletes

competition showed strength, flexibility, and balance to be key for success. All events required very little space except a running race in show shoes. Some of the events were based on being able to endure pain, like the earpull where two women faced each other with a loop of string behind each ones ear. They'd pull till one gave in. Various high kick competitions where the object was to kick a ball suspended from the ceiling. Pretty good to be able to kick a ball 2 feet above standing height when essentially standing next to it.

Next saw a lecture and demonstration by a very educated and presumably wise person explain about the Northern Lights, the Aurora Borealis. Did some demonstrations with a light box and some monochromatic gas tubes to demonstrate some things we know about it. A lot of talk about particles jumping states outside the earth's atmosphere when they collide with the earth's magnetic field giving off each particle elements characteristic light. After a very careful explanation of what we do know, then introduced what we don't know some of the colors of light in the actual Aurora shouldn't be there because that particular particle shouldn't be there. And thus the scientific mystery continues. Obviously need to do more research, was the conclusion. Stopped in North Pole Alaska out of Fairbanks, took a bunch of pictures of signs Michelle thought would be good to make Christmas Cards with.

Next destination is Whitehorse on the Alaska Highway. I'd designated it to be a mail drop. Only saw Michelle in camp these days. We'd agree on a place to meet before dipping into the woods to camp. My being slow continues to bother her, though she tries to say it doesn't matter. I continually feel she's being cranky and sometimes rude because of her irritation. When I ask her about a situation later after she's cooled off, she says she tries not to be like that but sometimes she just can't help it. We started putting in 60 to 70 mile days. I got more and more tired. Started feeling a bit cranky myself.

Interesting to talk to other travelers. At a gas station a motor cyclist asked how the road was in my direction. Nothing really to complain about I'd say, maybe a patch or two on the ground, but good surface over all. They described where they had been as horrid. Muddy and washboard. One motorcycle sunk clear to the axle in mud. The RV drivers thought the road was even worse. "Just awful" one man said, "you're in for a bumpy ride" said another. I pass it all off as these guys are used to super smooth paved highways. A little bit of unpaved and they are completely off their rocker. Reports are, there is between 160 to 200 miles of unpaved sections. The road down from Dawson City is reported to be especially bad. Lots of muddy RV's coming from that destination.

After a few days of riding south a pattern started to develop. When it's sunny and clear we get headwinds. When we get tailwinds it's cold and wet. Storms typically catch us from the north moving south. Looked like it was going to be another clear day when decided meet at Dot [sp?] lake 60 miles down the road. Being concerned I told Michelle if there's a strong wind all day, I may not make it. But I'll be in Tok the next day for sure. She said she'd wait till 6:00 then look for a place to camp. The strong winds didn't materialize. I rode hard and got to Dot Lake at 4:10. She'd got there at two o'clock wanted an hour then told the lady at the restaurant to tell me she was going on to Tok. Another forty miles. I got some dinner food, did another ten miles then found a place to camp. Surprised me she decided to go on. Felt good to relax in camp. She got me reading books started with Boys Life by Robert McCammon she'd read it and wanted me to read it so she could talk to me about it. I enjoyed it, but we didn't discuss the book much. Then read a Tom Clancy book, "OP Center, Games of State". Bill had given it to me in Vancouver. Said it was really good. Followed that book by a Stephen Counts book. I'd found this one next to a trash bin, someone just couldn't throw it out. Got to be I wanted to camp so I could read, escape the bugs in the safety of my tent and read till late by natural light. When I arrived in Tok it was raining. Michelle had prepared a Dear John letter to give me at the post office but she bumped into me. She said she'd been ready to leave me but now that I was here guess she was content to stay. She'd Xeroxed the mile post maps we were using and gave me a copy being careful to remove the letter she'd written. Rode another twenty miles that day then camped.

Next day ran into Peter. He'd seen the note Michelle left for him at the grocery store bulletin board yesterday just hours after we left town. Got up early and put some miles on so he'd be ahead of us and could wait for us to catch up. He asked people in cars if they had seen any cyclists. Pretty soon he knew exactly where we were and just waited for us to come to him. Michelle was glad to see him, he spoke of having done 70 to 80 mile days. "Kicking it up to a hundred now and then." Michelle glowed. I tried to keep up with the two of them but often fell behind even thought they were trying to go slow for me. At 6:00 I asked when they wanted to camp. Peter said he usually rides until later, Michelle said she didn't care, but was getting hungry. I said I'd like to stop sometime soon. Michelle picked out a good low profile. Peter went ahead to a road side turn out with a view. We begged some water from a couple RV's. Then discussed where to camp. I lost, we camped at the turn out. Peter said he's a "show and glow" type of guy. I took that to mean he likes having lots of cars and people and RV's around. Listened to cars pull in and out during the night and woke to the sound of generators droning. Decided if I stayed with these two there would be a lot more nights like this which I didn't care for. Michelle really wants to have Peter around so it's a good opportunity for me to go back to solo riding and moving at my own pace. In the morning I announced I wanted to go back to solo riding and I think it would be great if you two want to ride together. Peter wanted to know how Michelle felt about that. She said "Okay". Michelle asked Peter how he felt. "Well I only joined you yesterday but you're a strong rider. I'm game." Michelle and I were pretty even on buying dinner groceries so the only thing we had to even up on was the mosquito coils I was carrying. I gave half to Michelle. Peter remarked, "Wow! you guys really kept things separate didn't you." I took my time packing and they were off a half hour before me. Peter carefully picked up twenty pieces of litter before he left. "Just think if everybody did this," he said, "there would be no garbage laying around."

I reached the Tetlin National Wildlife Reserve Visitor Information building just before a torrential down pour. I visited of course. Waited an hour and a half for patches of sunshine. I'm doing this backwards I thought. The Visitor Centers are set up for people coming up from the south. That makes sense since that's where the population centers are. But coming from the north as I visit these information places I get to find out all about the places I've just been.

The next few days only did 30 or 40 miles per day. I was really tired both physically and mentally. Went through some pretty good rain storms one hail storm and was staying up too late reading Steven Counts book, The Minotaur [sp?], a late 80's espionage book. Was able to dry out pretty good after each rain storm, but after the hail storm found a half inch of water in the plastic bag I keep my camera in. The camera was soaked. On no. All my wildlife pictures in Denali, my North Pole pictures ruined! The camera had gotten wet before in Australia, when dried out worked just fine so wasn't too worried about it. Kept the camera bungied on top for a day to dry it out. That evening used my black rain pants as a dark room to remove the film. The camera wouldn't work at all. Wouldn't even rewind when I hit the emergency rewind button. So with the film removed manually and rolled back into its canister . . . ooh, 28 pictures lost, that hurts. Brought the camera out in the light. There were drops of brown water inside the film compartment. Must be brown from the chemicals on the film, I thought. This is really wet. Needed tiny Phillips screw driver to take the back cover off. Closest thing I had was the tiny flat blade eye glasses screwdriver Regena had entrusted to me early on in the trip when the screws on my glasses kept loosening. (Is this starting to sound Nerdy?) By scraping the edges of the eyeglass screwdriver against a rock I rounded off the corners so it fit the Phillips screws of my camera. Carefully removed 5 screws and pried the back off. Ooh....wet in here too. Yuck. Laid it open in the tent over night to dry. Next morning was still just as dead as ever. Decided to pop the inners out of the front cover. Boy, this camera is amazing I thought as I pried away. Look at all those ASIC's (Application Specific Integrated Circuits) mounted right on to these flexible circuit boards. Poured a lot of development money into this. And see how all the circuitry and optics fits perfectly into this plastic case which fits perfectly in your hand. The mechanical, optical, and electronic engineers had to cooperate and really understand each others problems to make this all fit into this tiny case. Why am I taking this apart I thought. Well got nothing to loose. Camera isn't working and it's so wet would take weeks to dry out. Heading through some beautiful country and the earliest I'd be able to get a new camera would probably be Whitehorse. Pop, the body slid out of the front cover. More water dripped out. Set everything on a towel as I set about having breakfast. The little moisture droplets on the flexible circuit boards evaporated by the time I finished breakfast and read a couple of chapters in my book. Picked up the pieces of the body. Pressed buttons - nothing. Found the switch that tells the IC's the back film door just opened. Pushed the switch. Then it started humming. Sounded like an electric shaver. It was trying to rewind a non-existent roll of film. Ah, something works. then everything started working. The telephoto lens moved in and out as the lens door opened and closed. Ah, it's working again! Putting it back together I noticed I'd pulled a wire from a solder joint on one of the flexible circuit boards. Ah bummer! I'll still have to find a TV repair shop with a soldering iron or maybe a hobby amateur guy. First chance would still be Whitehorse.

Decided to sacrifice the thumbnail file of my little pocket Swiss army knife. Heated it on the stove till the chrome plating turned blue. Touched the hot blade to the loose wire and the solder pad I thought it broke loose from. The solder instantly flowed and when cooled made a perfect connection. Reassembled the entire works checking that the mechanisms worked as I reasoned they should. When it was all assembled and checked put in a new roll of film. Took lots of pictures that day. Camera seemed to operate as normal. Grieved a little over the 28 pictures I lost. But bathed in the triumph that the camera was working again. Now I know to move the camera to a safer spot when it's raining! It's current spot is handy for quick access and security. Wonder if security is an issue anymore, this camera is getting so beat up and ugly wonder if anybody would want to steal it.

Over the next few days took pictures of the Taiga forest, lakes, the highway, the road construction, and the giant earth movers. I went camera happy. Got a picture of a giant lawn mower mounted on the end of a long mechanical arm. The arm mounted to a vehicle on caterpillar trucks. This thing eats 10" diameter trees for lunch and spits out mulch. They are using it to clear edges of the highway. I presume they will be widening the lanes and adding shoulders. Rode through one section where I was told to stay directly behind the pilot car. First thing I did was take off at 15 mph then cause I was almost keeping up speed up to speed up to twenty mph. Well, ya lost me. Wanted to stop and take a picture of the road work going on there. Men running drilling machines, long rods cutting through solid rock so they could put a little powder in and blast away the rock. Take some hills and sharp curves out of the road. Drilling machines were fascinating. A contraption on caterpillar trucks one completely adjustable arm holds the drill. A hydraulic motor spins the auger. Another arm with a control panel reaches out to the operator. A few hoses go back from the main contraption on trucks to a power plant on wheels. A diesel engine driving a big hydraulic pump. The drill can climb any terrain with its caterpillar trucks only limited by the length of its hoses back to the power plant. Very clever I thought.

Went crazy food shopping in Haines Junction, the first real store since Fairbanks. Got three days worth of food cost $40.00. Took only 2 1/2 days to get to Whitehorse, the really big town. Got another three days worth of food but only cost $20.00 here. Better prices and more shrewd shopping. Could see big snow capped mountains on my right on the way into Haines Junction. The map tells me it's the St. Elias Mountain Range. Fliers I've picked up tell me it's the largest coastal mountain range in the world holding the largest ice fields. Glaciers travel clear down to the ocean to Glacier Bay where you can see calfing icebergs. Only way to get there though is by boat or plane.

In Whitehorse checked at the post office and hey, I got mail! I'd designated to Dad that Whitehorse would be my next drop. Amongst other good news was that he'd developed the roll of film that was in the camera when it got wet in the hail storm in Australia, the pictures came out. I'd have to unload the camera manually there too. I'll send him the most recent wet roll of twenty eight shots and hope for the best.

Second day out of Whitehorse found a nice little stream to camp near as a water source. I have plenty of food with me so I just stayed put for two days. Got water from the stream with the two gallon bucket everybody kids me about carrying. Washed myself Asian style using the top of the soap dish as a ladle to dip water out of the bucket and pour on me. A few more buckets full and I had all my riding clothes washed. My sweatshirt, pile jacket, and sleepsheet too. Feels great to have some time off the bike and just piddle around doing simple chores.

Totaled up mileage left on the trip and figure some possible arrival dates.

Whitehorse to:

Jasper 1359 miles at 40 miles per day, 34 days, August 14

at 45 miles per day, 30 days, August 8

at 50 miles per day, 26 days, August 6

Tigard, OR 2395 miles at 40 miles per day, 60 days, September 9

at 45 miles per day, 53 days, September 2

at 50 miles per day, 48 days, August 28

San Diego, CA 3733 miles at 40 miles per day, 93 days, October 12

at 45 miles per day, 83 days, October 2

at 50 miles per day, 75 days, September 24

Miles to date: 16, 769

plus 3, 733

Total miles 20, 502 Anticipated

So depending on the terrain, the weather, and how I feel these are likely estimates of when I'll get where.

That's it for now. Hope you enjoy hearing about my experiences on this trip.

John Purdy

OH....Forgot to mention. Had a little grizzly wander through my camp a few nights ago. Looked up and saw it as I was stirring my dinner pot. I stood up and stepped back. It kept looking at the ground foraging. Me and my pot were down wind. I spoke out softly "Hey bear" trying not to frighten it. It looked up saw me and bolted into the bushes. Well, now what, I thought. I sang out loud for a while... then ate dinner. Cleaned up, went to bed and hoped for the best.