Leg 11

6-7-14
Norm's Ride
Fairbanks, AK

We decided to stay an extra day in Fairbanks in order to rest before departing for points north.  The University offers free laundry services.  You only have to provide the soap and fabric softener.  Piece of cake. I brought both. It felt good to be clean again and I'm sure we smelled a lot better, too.

The guys decided that they wanted to ride to Chatanika, AK, 28 miles north Fairbanks for lunch.  There is supposed to be a Lodge there that has great food.  Justin, manager of The Outpost/Trails End BMW, recommended not only the food, but the beautiful ride to get there.  According to fairbanks-alaska.com, Chatanika was once a busy gold mining town and the center of one of the richest placer gold districts in Alaska.  Over 70 million dollars in gold was taken out between 1926 and 1957.  Today, it's a "gold camp resort" on the Steese Highway.

I wanted to go, but I didn't want to go. A day off the bike seemed good to me, so I didn't go.

Hours started passing.  Where are they?  Finally, I received a text from John.  Walmart.  Walmart?  Men in Walmart??  Didn't compute, but they'll be back soon.

As John and Mike were checking into the U of A to get a room, there were several other riders in the lobby that also were waiting to check-in.  They looked bad.  I mean really bad.  They looked like they had been dragged through a knot-hole.  Dirty, exhausted, beat-up. They explained that they had ridden all the way back to Fairbanks from Prudhoe Bay in one day (roughly 400 miles).  I plopped into a chair across from one of the riders that didn't have enough energy to move.  "What was the road like?"  "Horrible, road was just horrible."  My confidence was waning.  "Gravel, pot holes, frost heaves, road construction, deep, soft dirt, road graders coming at you leaving 12" berms that you have to cross, wet, slick-as-snot sections, deep ruts, crazy truckers that want to kill you...."  I quit listening.  I don't think I can do this.  I'm really scared.

Oh, by the way, the Chatanika Lodge was closed and had a "For Sale" sign up.