Day 22- 35: Fairbanks to Arctic ocean

I have been through 2 harsh weeks in Dalton HWY. But I am also surprised by all of the kind people I met on my way to Dearhorse. Some people stopped and asked if I need any help, water or food, even I didn’t ask for help. I was even treated a huge steak by some people when I had trouble finding water and a place to camp.

I started from Fairbanks with only 4 saddle bags and a camera, but came back with more bags and lots of food left because of people’s generosity there. If it was not for people’s generosity, I would have ran out of my food on my way to Deadhorse and gotten myself in troubles.

On my way back to Fairbanks the weather suddenly changed. It snowed like crazy , the fog was so heavy that I even could not see 10 yards away, and the wind was so strong that I even could not stand on the roadside to wait for a lift longer than 30 minutes. Then I realized human are so vulnerable in front of Mother Nature, especially in the harsh environment like Alaska. People have to learn how to help each other, otherwise would not be able to survive here. I guess this is the reason why people share their food and water for no reason. Just like Tibetans, they share their food even without asking your name or where are you from.

Yes. The beauties of nature and wild life in Dalton high way are awesome and magnificent, but the warm hearts moved me more than any other things.

A German called Nico. He shared his food to me after knowing I was running out of food.

mosquitoes always wait for a meal on you.

Reading with mosquitoes on my face.

Shit!! It's a human! Everybody run!!  

"You haven't had dinner? I'm going to treat you a steak."

"Can't bring enough water? I give you my water bag."

Arctic Ocean. Too foggy. Could not see any polar bear.

Arctic Ocean

After standing on the roadside for 4 hours with frozen fingers and toes, finally I got a ride.

Camp in Toolik lake. My tent had broken, so I built a makeshift  tent with my bike as frame for one night.

On my way back to Fairbanks, a truck driver saw me riding in the this kind of weather and felt "sorry for me". So he decided to give a lift back to Fairbanks.

Mileage today
Total mileage	1466km

Day 21: Fairbanks

        I felt a little bit uncomfortable on my way to hostel, but it did not get worse after I arrive. I think probably it is okay to go tomorrow if I pedal in a slow pace, perhaps under 60km per day.

As soon as I arrive the owner of the hostel told me that a French left yesterday, and his destination is Deadhorse. Immediately, I realized he is the French guy I met in Anchorage.

The environment of this Hostel, to be honest, is not good. I decide to stay here because it is cheap and convenient(FredMeyer and Walmart are 2 km away). I bought a lots of food, including 2 boxes of Japanese instant noodle (I found it is too time-consuming to cook spaghetti recently). But I don’t know whether these food is enough for me to survive for ten days.

Super cheap, super unhealthy.

        Latter, I met a few roommates (strictly speaking, we are not roommate because I camp in the yard) who speak a language I don’t understand. They are friendly, but I cannot understand their English because of their accent. It turns out that they are from Bulgaria. The owner also told me that usually there are many college students come here to work in summer, and that is why they are here now.

 

It's not cold outside now.

Mileage today 25km

Total mileage 621km

Day 19, 20: Fairbanks

I have been reading book in the room this two day. For so long that I even have finished a book. After finished a book, I went out of the room, and Duncan took me to have a look of University of Alaska, and then showed me lots of his toys, boat, scoter…etc. Weather here is getting warmer and warmer. We set a fire in the yard and celebrate his wife’s birthday outside.

Duncan's home likes a zoo. They even have ducks! 

I get tired of waiting for my ankle to recover. I am going to move to a hostel about 10 km east of Duncan’s home. If I don’t feel any uncomfortable, then I will head to the Arctic 2 days later; if I do feel uncomfortable, then I will head to the Arctic 3 days later; if I do feel extremely uncomfortable then I will have a big trouble.

Day 18: Fairbanks

People who are living in this cold land have to be tough physically and mentally. The coldest temperature I have ever experience before is -18℃. I though it is crazy enough to ride a bicycle in that weather. But Duncan told me that his daughter’s school let kids play outside when the temperature was -20, and kids still can have fun. Not to mention lots of crazy guys try to challenge their limitation.

Lots of thing we think that is crazy or is a dream are routines here. Duncan told me that his 10-year-old daughter can drive snow mobile; many people drive airplane, like lots of people drive cars elsewhere; Ralf、Jon and Duncan told in winter this year a guy rode a bike to Nome, Alaska( there is no road connecting to Nome, how to get there? Well river and lake are all frozen in winter). Every place has its own lifestyle; perhaps Alaskan will be surprised by the convenience of Taipei that you literally almost can buy everything you want in every block.

My leg is still a little bit uncomfortable, but I can walk without extreme pain. I walked around is there other thing that is new to me in Duncan’s huge garden. No longer than 10 minutes, Duncan came up to me and asked if I want to go to kid’s spring recital with them.

 

Duncan的女兒在左手邊

We stepped by a supermarket on the way back to Duncan’s home. I found that the cost of living is not as high as people told me. The prices either equal to or lower than the prices in Taiwan. Perhaps those people want to enjoy higher living standard, or costs in other thing are higher (electricity is expensive here according to Duncan).

Day 17: Fairbanks

       I stayed in my room all day long and rest my leg as long as possible. I found that a lot of things have been happening in Taiwan after reading Taiwanese news, which I haven’t read for a long time. I come here to see what is happening on this side of the world, and it is inevitable that I have to ignore what is happening on the other side of the world. I rethought the question of the limitation of life and unlimited information. It is futile to pursue unlimited information with limited life. The only thing I can do is believe what I am doing is meaningful.

Then I picked up Kindle again and read “The Art of Photography” written by Bruce Barnbaum. I gradually get confused as I read more. Perhaps the work of mater is too difficult for me to read now, or because my comprehension to English is not good enough to read a book like this yet. So I read another Chinese book written by a nominee of the Nobel Prize instead.

I did some chores as a return before Duncan and his family came back. As I was doing chores, Duncan came back from work and showed me his bike, and told me he is going to retire this year then start a bike journey from Seattle to Mexico.

My left leg have fully recovered 2 days ago, but my right leg now is even worse than my left leg a few days ago. Obviously, it is not worth doing what I have done. I estimate that I have to rest for another 4 days. Duncan said it is okay to stay longer than I have told him before, but I don’t think that it’s right to stay as long as I want just because the host doesn’t mind. So I decide to move to hostel in downtown for the last 1 or 2 day. It is also nice to change the way of traveling once a while.

Played with Duncan's dog for a while afernoon

two of Duncan's bikes. It seems like having 3 bikes is the baseline to be a bike lover here. 

Day 16: Fairbanks

Duncan told me that he was an Olympic cyclist when we had breakfast this morning (did not race for political reason). It is incredible that he can ride the mountain road from Menana to Fairbanks, which took me one day to finish, in less than 3 hours.

I found my Achilles tendon swells up and hurts while I am walking after I finished my breakfast. I guess I have an inflamed Achilles tendon according to the information on the internet. Perhaps I have not warmed up properly, or the height of the seat is not right, or just like I said yesterday I pushed my right leg too hard. Anyway, now I am sure that I have to rest for 3-5 days and see if it will recover after that. I don’t want to injury Achilles tendon like Kobe Bryant did  and have to rest for one year. That would be funny if that really happen.

In recent two week, the only thing I am not satisfied is that I haven’t had any time to read. I bought a kindle for this long journey, but after reading one fourth of a book while I was waiting for transferring and flying, I haven’t had time and energy to read. This is a good opportunity to fulfill my need of reading. I sat on the sofa and read while there was nobody at home this afternoon. But it seems that I was so tired that I slept on my kindle.

Day 15: Menana(?) to Fairbanks

Last night I had a good sleep. Probably the best one I have had in this week. But I find my right ankle dosen’t feel right. I have been intentionally using my right leg to peddle hard to prevent from using my uncomfortable left leg in resent two days. Now what I have been worried happened. Now still 40km from Fairbanks. It would not be a problem if I peddle slowly and easily.

 

Fairbanks is right over there！

I got to Duncan’s home at 3 pm. He had been waiting for me. This time is different from last two times. They are 5 people family with dog, cats, ducks…etc. This is new to me. Duncan is a pilot himself and has 3 excellent children (NASA scientist, Hokey player…).

I had a dinner with Duncan’s family. I tried to be polite so I did not have much (about 1.5 times more than others had though), and ended up getting hungry at 8 pm. I guess I should not try to be polite; otherwise I probably will get myself into malnutrition trouble again.

 

Duncan family's cat. Came to sleep with  me at night.

Mileage today 46km

Total mileage 596km

Day 14: Clear to Menana(?)

        Weather was good today. It was 140km away from Fairbanks, if everything went well, I could arrive in Fairbanks by 11 pm. So I decided to try.

It turned out that I overestimated my ability. I got to Menana, which is a small town in 80km south of Fairbanks. I called Duncan, the man who is going to host me for a few days, and told him I would be there this evening or tomorrow afternoon.

I did not know that there are still lots of uphill on the way to Fairbanks and regretted that I did not look for water before I left Menana. I felt my mouth was getting dry and bitter. I have had this feeling when I was on Mt. Aso in Japan. This was the feeling that I was going to have dehydration. I was so thirsty that I grabbed a few ice and put into my mouth. I stopped doing that because I have learnt that it’s not right from survival books, and started to melt ice with my camp stove. I fulfilled my physical need by doing this ultimately.

 

"cook" ice

Then it was time to worry about where I should camp tonight. Roadside was narrow. It was almost impossible to find a nice place for camping. I found an empty house, but the tireprint and the footprint was new, it definitely was not a good idea to camp there.

I found a camping sign on the roadside a few miles from the empty house, but could not find where the camping site was. It happened to have a bar near the sign, so I decided to ask whoever in the bar, even I could not get the answer I still could have water.

There was an old man who really biking. He was so excited when he knew I am having a cycling tour and tried to help me to convince the owner let me camp outside of the bar. And the owner agreed.

After all thing were done, I ordered a beer because I thought it is quite impolite to ask someone also running a hotel for somewhere to sleep for free. We had a nice conversation while having beer. 

 

Beer and all-you-can-eat popcorn

The old man is called Williams and the owner is called Brook. I shared some stories I experienced in Japan and China, and what kind of life I have had in this week. When the owner heard that I exclusively eat hotdog, rice and spaghetti, he said: “rice and hotdog? That is a bad combination.” then made me a hamburger. When he heard that I haven’t had a shower for a week, he told me it is ok to use warm water in the bar.

 

He also insisted on buying me all I had drank and eaten, and prepared a private room instead of letting me camp outside to thank me sharing him all the stories I shared to him! It seems that it is a custom in Alaska to offer a private rood to someone who asks for somewhere to lie down.

Mileage today 95km

Total mileage 550km

Day 13: Cantwell to Clear

I felt the wind was getting stronger while I was sleeping in the tent. So strong that it was almost blowed away. But I kept sleeping as long as I could. I found there was water frozen on my mattress and it was snowing outside. It took me a while to clean up the mess.

mattress is frozen...

My black bike almost became a write bike

I was beaten by the northern wind finally. I don’t know why it’s so cool now. I could not feel my hands. I could not help myself from shaking and even lost the control of my fingers. I found a pile and hid in the back of it to escape from the cold wind, and made myself a warm cocoa. A female cyclist came up to me and asked where I am heading to. I tried to answer, but I found that I could not pronounce well and think. Later an old man had a short conversation with me, told me there was a coffee shop and restaurant not far away for here. I didn’t have a mirror, but from their reaction I knew I must look terrible.

I am a “tough man” in Taiwan. While everybody is wearing 3 or 4 cloths, a T-shirt and a jacket will be enough for me. I knew the life in Alaska is tough and Alaskan is tough enough to live here before. Today I experienced the fact in person. Or perhaps I didn’t wear enough cloths.

Mileage today 76km

Total today 455km

Day 12: Denali National Park to Cantwell

Unchanging view, uphill and headwind, plus malnutrition makes me unable to peddle and get off the bike constantly. I was unable to think. Sometimes I dragged my bike with heavy feet, and sometimes used the rest of my energy to peddle.

A red car passed by me and U-turned suddenly. A young man opened the window and asked me whether I need water. I answered: ”Yes, thank you.” He headed me a bottle of water and asked me whether I need another one. I thought a bottle of water is enough for me to survive today, so I reclined his kind offer. Thanks for This bottle of water that I could enjoy a warm lunch.

I bought some food in the grocery store in Cantwell. It was expensive, but I had to buy anyway because I didn’t have much food left.Few hours after I purchased food, I found a not-so-good campsite in 20km north of Cantwell. I thought I probably get hit by cars if I camp here tonight. I asked a man who had been there before I arrived if there is any campsite in the north. He told me this is the only place I could camp. So I had no choice but camp here. But this man is kind enough to let me pitch up my tent in front of his car, so even someone does not see us at night, he is the first one to be hit instead of me.

Mileage today 77km

Total today 379km

Day 11: Denali national park

It’s easy to describe what happened today: headwind, uphill and no water.

Unchanging view, uphill and headwind are usual in cycling tour, so I do not have to complain too much about all of those. But no water again?! That surprised me.

Exhausted

I thought it is easy to find water somewhere, so I used a lot of water made myself a cup of cocoa. But I found that there is almost nobody lives in the national park, and the water in river and creek is still dirty. I still could not find any drinkable water by 6 pm, and started to think that probably have to use stove to melt ice or the battle with a filter to produce some water.

I saw a truck turned into a place where looks like a construction site. I followed the truck and found a middle-age man unloading some food and water. I asked him to share some water. He told me water here is precise, and he only brought 3 gallon water for himself. I asked him where I can get clean water. He told me the nearest place is Cantwell, which is too far for a bike to get to today.

Perhaps found that I am in trouble, he said: ”Get whatever you want, I’ll try to find water myself.” Off course I cannot really get whatever I want, I took 0.5 gallon of water and said thanks. 

Mileage today 60km

Total today 302km