Did I see Santa’s reindeer?

Sunshine!

I took my time getting ready in the morning because, though cold and windy, the sun was shining and I didn’t have far to go today, about 180 miles.  And, did I mention the sun was shining?!  I had an extra cup of coffee and slowly packed up Kymani.  Today I was headed to North Pole, Alaska.

The ride up the Richardson Highway was supposed to be beautiful and I was pretty excited to see it.  It’s a lot easier to be excited about something when rain isn’t dumping on your head!  I did wear an extra layer today because it was pretty cold.  The wind was blowing and I rode leaning far to one side to keep going straight.

The scenery did not disappoint though!  Wow is all I can say.  Alaska might be wet and cold a lot of the time, but when the clouds part and you can see stuff, it is stunning!  The ride on the Richardson Highway was probably my most scenic so far.

   

Some of the scenery along the Richardson Highway.  You can see there was some sun!

   

I mean, it was so amazing!

There were rivers, mountains, glaciers, and wildlife.  If you ever get to Alaska, I HIGHLY recommend this route.  I even got a shot of the famous pipeline.

     

Mountains, the pipeline and a glacier!

   

So, so freaking pretty!

Hungry Kymani

Of course, because I was enjoying the sun and views so much, the Richardson Highway ended all too soon at Delta Junction.  I had originally thought to stay here, but I’d not yet ridden 100 miles.  I did however, gratefully stop for gas.  I didn’t think the gas would be a problem on this stretch, but I’d ridden about 160 miles since my last fill up and Kymani was hungry!  Given that the sun was still shining, I was in a terrific mood and happily hit the road again.

Holy smokes!

I followed the Tanana River, enjoying the backdrop of this ride.  I had gone a fair way and wasn’t too terribly far from North Pole when out in front of me jumped a moose.  I’m a biologist and I was a stupid kid that tried to pet one in Yellowstone once upon a time, so I KNOW how big they are.  This lady completely put things into perspective.  She was almost twice as big as Kymani!  If I hit her, not only would this trip be over, but probably all my trips would be over.  She was a magnificent specimen though and was so striking, it looked like she’d just been to the moose groomer and gotten all beautified.  I hit the brakes so fast and got over as fast as I could.  I did manage to miss her, but the adrenaline almost made me throw up in my helmet.

Though I hadn’t been speeding (shocking, I know), I slowed way down.  To about 10 mph under the speed limit.  If you know me, please don’t drop your phone or fall out of your chair.  Near death will do that to a girl.

What?!

Soon after the moose, I saw an interesting thing.  A car had rolled into the highway median and was left there, with a bunch of police tape around it.  The tape wasn’t in great shape, so it had clearly been there a while.  How weird.  They just left the car in the middle of the highway median on its roof.

The rest of the ride was uneventful and we made it to our campground safely.  There was road construction (would you expect anything any different?) on the way into the campground, so I decided to test out the standing up while riding in the gravel theory.  I’ve read that you should stand when you are riding offroad because it’s easier to control the bike.  While the road wasn’t so bad that I felt I needed to stand, that was the reason I felt safe enough to try it.  I definitely noticed a difference by standing up!  Now I’ll have to work on feeling comfortable standing while riding.

I got to the campground, picked out my site and got set up.  Since I was ahead of schedule because I didn’t go to Kennecott Mine, I decided I’d spend a couple of nights here and do some sightseeing from the campground.  The first thing I needed to get done was to get my phone working!  I realized on this trip just how dependent I am on technology.  I’m probably not alone in that, but man, without being able to look stuff up, I was stressed out all the time!  I also needed to get a Ursack bear bag, as I was going to be picking up some food in Fairbanks in a couple of days and I wouldn’t have room for all my smellies in my bear can.

   

My campsite at the North Pole, Chena Lake State Recreation Area

Now to relax and enjoy myself!