Paul took Emilio to work so we could use his truck. Paul and I went looking for a sporting goods store where we could get his bike fixed but none were open yet, so we went to Safeway and bought breakfast food. I cooked hash browns, sausage, and eggs. We ate breakfast and then went to Beaver Sports where Paul purchased a replacement wheel for $120. Paul also bought a waterproof compression sack for his sleeping bag. With Paul’s bike fixed, we packed up and prepared to leave Fairbanks. We cleaned Emilio’s kitchen, filled his gas tank, and drove to his smoke shop to say goodbye.
With fresh legs and new chain lubrication we set out again. We left Fairbanks at 2pm but we made good time. One of Paul’s water bottles was dragged agains the road and a hole was burned into it. I asked a guy on the sidewalk if there were any sporting goods stores nearby and luckily there was one about 3 blocks away. We went there and while Paul bought 2 new Nalgene bottles, I talked to a cyclist from California. He was interested in our trip and he said that people will be nice to us because they wish they were doing what we were doing. I could tell he wished that he was doing what we were doing.
Paul and I leapfrogged each other on the road. I passed him while he was washing his feet in a river and then I stopped at a gas station to fill my water bottles and he passed me. I tried to catch him but he rode by without seeing me. He thought that I was in front of him so he was riding fast to catch me and I couldn’t catch him. I rode for 10 miles and I asked some ladies at another gas station if they had seen Paul. They had seen him up the road and they offered to drive back and tell him that I was behind him. That favor from the ladies saved the day.
We camped at Birch Lake. With darkness and rain clouds looming, we noticed a house on a dirt road with a suitable camping spot in the driveway. I went to the house and knocked on the door and no one was home. We stealth camped in the driveway and made use of an old pickup truck’s tailgate as our kitchen. We parked our bikes under a truck camper so they were out of the rain.
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| Riding from Fairbanks. |
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| North side of the Alaska Range. |
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| Snow covered mountains. |
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| Birch Lake. |
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| Camping in a driveway. |
