We slept so well. I believe all 3 of us. As soon as our heads hit the pillows, and our body on the mattress and sleeping bags, we were out last night. Even Aurora went straight into the tent and passed out. It got down to the 30’s (which for awhile was the high temperatures during the day) and the air was so crisp to breathe in. Felt good. And now it was rise and shine for a new day! Another long day that was.
First things first. Breakfast. Fuel the body for the days adventure. Today it was oatmeal with some dried fruit on it. I love oatmeal! And for Aurora it was some kibble mixed with a little bit of yesterday’s dinner pasta. She gobbled it up, because she too was going to have a long day ahead.
We hit the road by 8am. Our bodies had taken a beating from yesterdays 98 miles, so we wanted to take it slow at first. For me it was my tush that was in the worst condition. I started to get used to the saddle after a few days on the Dalton Highway, but that 6 day stretch of no riding put me back at square one.
Our first stop was only about a mile down the road from where we camped. There was a gas station that allowed us to fill up our water bottles, and then there was the end of the Alaska Highway sign/location. The Alaska Highway was built during WWII as a military supply route for interior Alaska Military and Airfields in 1942, and we were about to ride on it! Awesome!
The road at first seemed to just be this agonizing long stretch of road where scenery didn’t change much and the road pretty much was flat with some rollers. My mind and body felt spent from the day before, so even though there wasn’t many hills, I was slow and beat. My saddle was hurting my rear, and the neck and shoulders just ached. Williams complaints were just of his saddle, and seemed to feel pretty good for riding so I let him lead. Drafting was the name of the game for me today.
And if my exhaustion and pain from yesterday wasn’t enough, along came the wind! A head wind of course. What the heck?! Ughhhhh. So today just became one of the days where breaks came in 5-10 miles increments, because my body kept needing some rest. All the rest we took were short and quick. Maybe 3-5 minutes then back on the road.
Our goal today was to reach the Delta Junctions (108 miles), but because my body was taking a huge hit from yesterday’s beatings, we agreed to stop at Dot Lake (60 miles) for the day. So my brain locked in the next 40 miles to Dot Lakes where we were told we’d also have internet service and said lets go!
The scenery started to change a bit and surprisingly so did our attitudes. Even though we were hurting we were pushing through it. Actually our speed which we were riding started to even get faster. The legs kicked into gear and just started to pound out miles. William would even give me the “20 more miles” or the “10 more miles” countdown just to keep me motivated!
Well we made it to Dot Lake. Yup we sure did. BUT we found NOTHING! The biggest thing was to find some internet connection so we could work on computer/social media and rest the bodies, but in this town we didn’t even see a store or gas station. Maybe it was there hidden away or mega small, but who knows! This was the biggest let down. I truly wanted to call it quits for the day! The pain was so real!
So we pulled over on the side of the road once we realized we left Dot Lakes. I got off my bike and just laid there thinking “What now?!” We had to weigh out our options. Option 1: Put up our tent right here and camp overnight. We won’t be able to get any work done, just rest, and possibly waste a beautiful day. Option 2: Keep peddling until another town called Tanacross (approx. 28 miles) and hope to get service and rest up. OR Option 3: Keep pushing to Tok (48 miles). My body was telling me the obvious answer…Post up NOW, but my mind was telling me to just get there and take the next full day to rest and work on computer work. William was hurting pretty bad at this point too, but our minds were on the same page and we said “Lets get this done!”
So onward we went! This came with a lot of “owwwws, ughs, crap, and ahhh’s.” Every little bump hurt our bodies. This was the time for “Mind Over Body” thoughts. Luckily though, there was something very special that took our minds off the pain quite easily. We were getting closer and closer to the snow capped mountains. These views were gorgeous. Hard to take your eye off them. The sun was shining, the snow was glistening, and the rivers were flowing. And to top that off we did eventually see a Reindeer crossing the road and a hefty Porkey Pines in the distant woods. That guy wasn’t going hungry!
The day was long, but nature was beautiful. Again the sun stayed up for us, and we were able to push through and make it to Tok, AK at 10:41pm. We were beat. Bodies were shot. All we wanted was a place to sleep. We were so lazy at this point we didn’t even want to set up the tent or cook food, so we found a place with an open motel room and called it a night! Getting into bed couldn’t come quick enough! Sleep tight world.