Homer Bound: Day Two

The morning started early at 3 am with a car alarm going off.  Thankfully, it wasn't ours.  So, back to sleep.

The rain continued and pattered on the tent making it very difficult to even think about leaving the warmth of the sleeping bag. 

Thinking the rain aborted, I crawled out to begin the coffee ritual.  Everything was soaked outside.  It took some effort to light the fire.  We enjoyed a breakfast slowly.  I started getting sick.  The rain visited us again, so we had to pack up the wet tent and biking stuff.

I kept visiting the loo, but my nerves had taken over and I wasn't feeling it at all.  Today was the day I was dreading because of the Pass to climb (its a 7 mile climb up).  My stomach was saying, "NO WAY are we going today".

My dear friend Christina just asked me, "What is the worse that could happen?" I guess death (joking) but seriously, I could just call for help if we can't make the climb she reassured me.  James knew we could, but I needed extra coaching.

We began!  The rain continued but the wind was absent.  Then after the sign below, we went up the pass.

I really worked my self up.  Lesson learned to just take the road as it comes and no need to be anxious about anything! 

Lunch break at the top of the summit (bathrooms locked :)

The descent was fast and fun with this epic bike trail that took us to places we had just previously zoomed by in the past (on a car).  The rapids were intense and had great views of the canyon.  Hope junction came a bit fast because it was mostly downhill.  But, my spirits soared as we climbed our first big hill on the tandem fully packed.

At the Hope junction, we learned stuff.  Like "DO NOT OCCUPY" painted on the dumpster.  lol

We knew there was some climbing left, but we didn't realize that we actually have more climbing after Hope than the first pass we conquered.  The rain completely stopped and we did the final half of the day in a tank top!

We got to a pull-off and gave our feet some time to dry from the morning soak. 

We ended the day with a sharp descent at the Sterling highway turn off, watched a beaver swim, and grabbed a tasty meal in Cooper Landing.  Another guest just got back on a 3-week tour of France on a bike (Euro Velo).  We both are keen to do this again.  (thats a good sign)

We are finding out that communication is a bit tricky as the road noise trumps the words we say to each other.  One time he didn't see an Espresso stand, and I told him.  An hour later I asked why he didn't stop, he never heard me.  :(  

beaver sightings

The biggest blessing was the outdoor hot tub.  Wow, we both enjoyed that as he read to me.  Thank you Bray's for your amazing hospitality.