Dalton Highway Day 1:
It takes time to pack for a journey like this. We realized that since James was going to be carrying a weapon, we needed a locked hard-shell case for it. Scrambling, we were able to purchase one at Walmart late that evening. I had spent the past six days on an Adventure Tour, whereas James spent the past two nights in Seward with the young adults backpacking.
Since we both just finished a long stretch of work, we ended up packing until about midnight the night before the flight.
Our son, happily drove us to the airlines. Alaska Airlines is amazing with luggage and allows our bikes as one of the free bags! When the clerk was going over the locked case, he showed us we needed two locks. The gun was totally accessible. However, for a mear $10, we purchased another lock, and we were good to go. Except...NO HELMETS. We quickly grabbed the phone to call Max, but he called us and told us he was returning to the airport with our helmets. Thankfully, we live 10 minutes from the airport.
Flight was good and full of many men going to work. We asked our fellow passenger who works in Prudhoe if he knows of the Deadhorse hotel. We showed him the photo. He laughed because it looks like all the other buildings up here. No wood structures, just con-ex type of buidings made out of metal on stilts.
However, the over the top amazing happened when we got off the plane. The people at Alaska Airlines made phone calls for us, gave us 8 liters of fresh bottled water, and was full of information for the journey. They recycled our big bike boxes. The state trooper Chris came by and asked about our journey, told us about the road that we were about to bike saying it was in good condition, and then warmed my heart by telling us he will be checking in on us if we have any issues. WOW!
After assembling our bikes and loading the bike bags, we proceeded to ride. The place everyone recommended was the hotel across the road.
So, funny, we stopped in 1 minute for lunch. The strangest thing is that we had to put on these booties. We looked a bit strange. But I guess it must be because of the mud. We were surprised at the cost because we expected it to be a lot more.
Then we road to the Deadhorse and picked up our fuel and bear spray ***Thank you Cliff*** You were right about the bugs!
We then enjoyed a fairly flat but smooth ride. There are no trees. So, we just need to squat near the tundra to use the potty. We saw a huge immature sandhill crane that was brown. But, to my sad eyes no Musk Ox or Caribou. Just a few birds entertained us.
We started noticing the bugs when we arrived at the first construction zone. The workers were fully clothed in bug netting. We quickly joined suit with our head nets. We were again showered with love. Gifts of water, food, and bug spray! We then got into the pilot car while our bikes road in the back over a section that our friends from Cruz construction are working on. The pilot car lady was SOOO NICE! She grew up in Nenana and then lived in Wasilla in 1992. We were again showered with goodies (gummy cinnamon bears, water, fresh fruit!!)
The next few miles to the camp where we were staying turned out to be the end of our honeymoon on the Dalton Highway. We encountered some payment by the pump station, but as we started the first real climb of the day our speed slowed way down and we were inundated with mosquitos. I am saying we were swarming with SSVD (Satanic Swarm of Vampire Demons).
They were driving me MAD! When we headed down the hills, the swarm would disappear. But, when we trucked up the hill, they found us instantly. We finally saw the little pull off and quickly set up our tent. We didn't know the outhouse would be the only one for 200 miles. We pulled our bikes under the covering of the outhouse and retreated into our tents. We both fell asleep before eating.
We woke up and went out away from our tent to make dinner. Just some hot water and freeze-dried food. Because we went on a hill, the breeze kept the bugs at bay. We saw a few strange items like a wooden spiderlike creature that was part of a weather station from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Also, we made some faces and kissed in front of the mounted video webcam. Who knows who saw that.
We went to bed tired to the sound of the high pitched whine of the mosquitos. I liked it to a torture chamber. The sign at the rest area explained why we hadn't seen any caribou. In July, the caribou flee to the ocean for relief from the MOSQUITOS! We were not as smart as the caribou :(
I told James that maybe this was not a good idea. Is there anyway out? He encouraged me that when we were biking they weren't bad for the majority of the day. I went asleep anyways dreaming of a rescue attempt.
Since we both just finished a long stretch of work, we ended up packing until about midnight the night before the flight.
Our son, happily drove us to the airlines. Alaska Airlines is amazing with luggage and allows our bikes as one of the free bags! When the clerk was going over the locked case, he showed us we needed two locks. The gun was totally accessible. However, for a mear $10, we purchased another lock, and we were good to go. Except...NO HELMETS. We quickly grabbed the phone to call Max, but he called us and told us he was returning to the airport with our helmets. Thankfully, we live 10 minutes from the airport.
Flight was good and full of many men going to work. We asked our fellow passenger who works in Prudhoe if he knows of the Deadhorse hotel. We showed him the photo. He laughed because it looks like all the other buildings up here. No wood structures, just con-ex type of buidings made out of metal on stilts.
However, the over the top amazing happened when we got off the plane. The people at Alaska Airlines made phone calls for us, gave us 8 liters of fresh bottled water, and was full of information for the journey. They recycled our big bike boxes. The state trooper Chris came by and asked about our journey, told us about the road that we were about to bike saying it was in good condition, and then warmed my heart by telling us he will be checking in on us if we have any issues. WOW!
 |
| the Lake at Prudhoe Bay |
After assembling our bikes and loading the bike bags, we proceeded to ride. The place everyone recommended was the hotel across the road.
So, funny, we stopped in 1 minute for lunch. The strangest thing is that we had to put on these booties. We looked a bit strange. But I guess it must be because of the mud. We were surprised at the cost because we expected it to be a lot more.
We started noticing the bugs when we arrived at the first construction zone. The workers were fully clothed in bug netting. We quickly joined suit with our head nets. We were again showered with love. Gifts of water, food, and bug spray! We then got into the pilot car while our bikes road in the back over a section that our friends from Cruz construction are working on. The pilot car lady was SOOO NICE! She grew up in Nenana and then lived in Wasilla in 1992. We were again showered with goodies (gummy cinnamon bears, water, fresh fruit!!)
The next few miles to the camp where we were staying turned out to be the end of our honeymoon on the Dalton Highway. We encountered some payment by the pump station, but as we started the first real climb of the day our speed slowed way down and we were inundated with mosquitos. I am saying we were swarming with SSVD (Satanic Swarm of Vampire Demons).
They were driving me MAD! When we headed down the hills, the swarm would disappear. But, when we trucked up the hill, they found us instantly. We finally saw the little pull off and quickly set up our tent. We didn't know the outhouse would be the only one for 200 miles. We pulled our bikes under the covering of the outhouse and retreated into our tents. We both fell asleep before eating.
We woke up and went out away from our tent to make dinner. Just some hot water and freeze-dried food. Because we went on a hill, the breeze kept the bugs at bay. We saw a few strange items like a wooden spiderlike creature that was part of a weather station from the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Also, we made some faces and kissed in front of the mounted video webcam. Who knows who saw that.
We went to bed tired to the sound of the high pitched whine of the mosquitos. I liked it to a torture chamber. The sign at the rest area explained why we hadn't seen any caribou. In July, the caribou flee to the ocean for relief from the MOSQUITOS! We were not as smart as the caribou :(
I told James that maybe this was not a good idea. Is there anyway out? He encouraged me that when we were biking they weren't bad for the majority of the day. I went asleep anyways dreaming of a rescue attempt.
Comments
Post a Comment