Passing the Matanuska Glacier I am once again in awe of the scale of things here. This glacier, situated about 100  miles form Anchorage, runs for about 50 miles from the peaks of the Chugach Mountains down into the valley below. Even though everything around it is green and melted, this frozen river survives and slowly moves forward, hiding who knows what secrets.
Last night I had dinner with my two new Swiss friends, Annie and Patrick. I met them the night before at Haines Junction over dinner and we have agreed to meet at Fast Eddy’s for diner in Tok. They are both bikers, but not here on their bikes. They are driving. Their personal situation is also confusing. I am not sure if they are an item or not. More about them in a later blog.
This morning I meet and have breakfast with the owner of the BMW F800GS, this is Bonnie’s smaller brother, which has been parked next door over night. It and he look like they have been through a mud battle ground. His name is Richard as well and he calls himself Rick. They have done the Dawson City – Klondike – Chicken Run. We discuss this and laugh when he tells me about a German he came across, who had been high sided off his bike. This is when you do a Neil Berry, and launch yourself into outer space over your handle bars. Apparently he did not have his helmet chin guard down and as a result he came down on the windshield and significantly altered his face. His riding partner had patched him up using duct tape and it did not look pretty. All this guy was able to do was cry about the fact that his bike had got so dirty. Forget his face and the damage to everything. It was the dirt and mud on his baby that was playing hell with him. So the two of us were hysterical over coffee.
Shortly after leaving Tok I see a huge and impressive snow clad mountain in front of me. Denali! Or so I assume. Then I look at my map. It is not possible as Denali is miles away. This is Mt. Sanford and behind it, equally impressive is Mt. Blackburn. Both about 16300 ft. Well short of Denali’s 20320 ft.

The ride does not look far on the map, however it is nearly 330 miles. Not a  nothing ride and will take about 7 hours. In fact it takes less. Mainly because I am overtaken by the Swiss in their car and they then give it real stick. I am able to tuck in behind them and enjoy about 150 miles of really high speed moving. However, the one driving is driving like a madman/woman and I decide to drop back. This is fortunate and more about it in a later blog, because they become a guest, for a short while, of the Alaska State Troopers.

My hotel in Anchorage, The Millenium is on the shores of Lake Hood. This is adjacent to the Ted Stevens Anchorage International Airport, which is no more than a mile away. Now Lake Hood is the largest operational float plane airport and base in the world. It forms and integral part of the main airport. So you can float plane in and get a bus to your flight to the rest of the world. There are over 300 float planes based here.

Every house has a plane docked in front of it. It is wall to wall float planes! I walk out of the front of the hotel onto the patio for a drink and am dumbfounded. In the morning I will take pictures.

Some interesting facts about Alaska.

• It is the largest state in the US
• Its land area at 586,412 square miles (1,518,800 km²) isover twice the size of Texas, the next largest state.
• Alaska is larger than all but 18 sovereign countries.
• Counting territorial waters, Alaska is larger than the combined area of the next three largest states: Texas, California, and Montana.
• It is also larger than the combined area of the 22 smallest U.S. states.
• Over 85 % of all the communities have no road serving them at all. The only access is by water, in summer and by air all year round.

Tomorrow I will go to the Alaska Aviation Museum which is a short walk away.

So in my next few days I am going to cover some really interesting and juicy stuff, including inter alia

• Flying Alaska style, this is tail dragger country
• My thoughts on whether I prefer flying to motorbiking or vice versa
• The state of the world economy, my views on it
• More levels of “Strike Outs”
• The second worst hamburger in North America, again in Canada.
• Dicing with Eskimo Bill between Destruction Bay and Burwash. He looses!
• Siegfried Neuendorff, another random character I meet, also in Burwash.
• The Swiss fall afoul of the cops. how they ever thought they could get the better of a Biker Pilot I do not know.
• I will start explaining to all the girls why they should have a Biker Pilot, something that my DD ( Darling Dearest) has known for years. But for all you girls married to, or involved with boring bankers, accountants, doctors etc, the secrets of true female happiness and bliss, will slowly be revealed.
• I decide to do the mud run over Taylor Highway to Dawson City on the way back to Michigan.

My room looks like an atom bomb has hit it. I have dumped everything I have had packed, the bags, panniers and dry bags on the floor and am slowly sorting through everything. I had also sent a bag of extra stuff to Anchorage to await my arrival. Why, I know not as I have too much as it is. My plan is to ship most of the surplus stuff back tomorrow or on Friday and travel much lighter for the balance of the trip.

I had hoped to star uploading some photos, but two hours later my Mac has run out of disk space and I am making a plan.

Good Night and Good Luck until the morning

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