Two Wheels: August 1 – 8
Sunday, August 1. This particular Sunday was not to be a day of rest. Rather, it was up and over a seemingly endless series of unnecessary hills from Clam Gulch to Homer – famous for the Spit extending into Kachemak Bay. It’s five mile length makes it one of the longer spits in the world. Which, as I’m sure you all know, pales in comparison to the longest in the world – the 68 mile long Arabat Spit in the Sea of Azov.
Homer Spit was both spectacular…and disagreeable. The world famous Spit checked all the positive boxes…ocean, seals, sea otters and sea birds, beach walking with views of the bay and snow capped peaks beyond. Unfortunately it also checked all the boxes for being an over priced tourist trap. We chose to enjoy the former and ignore the latter. We did have one serendipitous moment. A young local (Hayley) saw our bikes and sought us out. She had toured extensively in Asia and offered some great insights and ideas for us to ponder.
Unique Homer housing 
1st night on the beach 
The last night…
Monday/Tuesday, August 2-3. The sign identifies Homer as “The End of the Road.” Turns out, Homer was in fact the end of the road for us. We spent time on the Spit pondering our options, our timelines, our desire for more adventure, as well as all the events beyond our control. We finally concluded that the time had come to end this chapter of our story. We spent much of our last daily Homer sitting on the beach reflecting on the past two months. We talked about the people we’ve met, and all that we’ve seen and done. As all the BLE folks in Flagstaff know, “Don’t be sad it’s over, be glad it happened!” We’ve decided we can be both…and we are.
Wednesday, August 4. Six days of hard biking were undone in less than six hours. Having experienced the route from Anchorage to Homer on two wheels, the same sights barely registered when simply viewed from a bus. With no effort on our part, we arrived back in the big city to a day filled with preparations to leave. Happily we also found time to have a wonderful evening with a former high school classmate and his lovely bride. Unbeknownst to me, Jeff and Debbie have made Anchorage their home for the past 26 years.
Thursday, August 5. One last bike around town and the bikes were once again relegated to the status of luggage.
The highlight of the day was meeting up with our Warmshower hosts from Palmer, Chelsea and Gerrit. Chelsea (certified badass biker) completed an epic bikepacking ride of her own while we were loafing around Valdez and Anchorage. It was fun comparing notes and meeting some of Gerrit’s friends. It was an evening filled with entertaining conversation, superb pizza and tasty beer. Thanks Chelsea, Gerrit – and Moose’s Tooth Pizza for a memorable send off!
Friday, August 6. Goodbye Alaska! It’s been fun getting to know you. Now that we know where you live, we’ll try not to be strangers.
And just like that…a few hours and several thousand miles later we find ourselves, of all places, in Durango. If you’ve been keeping track, you may recall that our truck and trailer are in Bellingham, Washington. We are not geographically challenged. We realize Durango is nowhere near Bellingham. However, a certain young lady will be celebrating her third birthday this week – an event not to be missed! And, since Canada insisted on making southbound travel difficult and uncertain, we thought, “Let’s celebrate a birthday AND then bike north to Bellingham!” Win-win!
Saturday/Sunday, August 7-8. When we arrived in Durango, Aaron, Vanessa, and the grandkids were away on a San Juan River trip. We used the time until their Sunday evening return doing laundry, shopping, bike maintenance, as well as some serious loafing!
When the magic moment finally arrived, the looks of surprise and excitement from Oliver and Kiri were priceless. We’re all looking forward to spending some quality time together. So far the week is looking good.
At some point this week we’ll have some hard decisions to make regarding route. But that’s for later. For now we’ll focus on enjoying family and acclimating to life outside of Alaska.
So nice to be able to keep up with you as you travel! Life is good!