Today we finished the footings for the deck.  Twelve of them.  It rained all day so it was a mud day.  Footings are hard  work and again I am tired, sore and tired.  Today I do have some pictures.

This was Saturday.  The layout where the footings will be.

Jim Jr. and me working in the rain and mud.

Jim Jr. and me trying  to figure out how many inches in a foot.

Yesterday's post was a mess.  We bought a Camera Connection Kit to load pictures on to the iPad to see if we could post them on the blog from the iPad.  We bought two apps and joined YouTube and something else and you saw where it got us.  We are in a rethinking process. 

Today was a manual labor day.  I'm sore, I'm tired and I am going to bed.  Pictures tomorrow.

Rained all day today.  No work on the deck.  Went back to the Apple Store with my webmaster (Jim Jr.) and checked out the iPads again.  We still are not sure that the iPad will work to make entries on the blog.  We are going to start the blog on Destin's Mom's iPad and see if it will work.  We did buy a camera connedtion kit to see if we can transfer picture from my canera to the iPad and then to the blog.  We will just have to play around with it and see what happens.  Other than that I just hung around the house today with Elsie, checked my bike out and checked some of my gear.



 I took the picture of this moose today near the intersection on
 Rasberry and Minnesota in Anchorage (Yes, they have a road

 named "Minnesota")

View of Anchorage from the Coastal Trail

New moose count today.  Went on a long bike ride on the Costal Trail.  This trail goes from downtown Anchorage to Kincaid Park.  It is a good long ride.  I got a good picture of a moose which I posted and also a picture of downtown Anchorage from the Costal trail near the airport.  Today we got the cement and the sonit tubes for the footings for the deck.  The power company will be out tomorrow to locate the utilities.  We should start digging tomorrow.  The movies below are for the boys at the La Patisserie.

                                           This is a video of some scenery from my ride on
                                           the Coastal Trail today.

                                          I took the video of this moose off the side of the
                                          bike trail near Kincaid Park in Anchorage.

I had a phone message this morning from my coffee group that meets at the La Patisserie (on Randolph at Snelling in St. Paul).  They seemed to think that if I wanted to build a deck I could have stayed in Minnesota to do that.  What was I thinking.  They also said that they wanted more pictures.  These guys would rather see the movie than read the book.  Sorry guys, no pictures today.  The deck parts will be delievered on Friday.  In the mean time we will be putting the footings in.  Today I also got my "BOB" bag weight down to 40 lbs. and I think I will go with that.  Still thinking about the iPad.  Georgia said that it could be my birthday present.  Soon I will have to go to the Apple Store with my webmaster (Jim Jr.) and see if it will do what we want it to do.  The choices look like the iPad or nothing.  My small laptop is to big and to heavy.  I'll try for more pictures tomorrow. Got to keep the coffee group interested.

I tried yesterday to put a video in the blog but it would not go. I think I figured it out so today I will try again with video of a moose I saw in Jim Jr.'s back yard.

You can also now go to my previous posting to see the video I was trying to post yesterday (now that I have figured out how to do it).

I also have some "after" pictures of the empty space where Jim Jr.'s deck used to be. You can see the "before" pictures by scrolling down to my post from a few days ago. We got the whole deck out with only four trips to the dump.

No more deck, so no more work (for now)...

Good place for a jacuzzi.

Next is a picture of a drill bit from an oil rig. This goes on the end of the drill string that bores into the ground when drilling for oil. Oil is a big deal up here. I hear these can cost between $20,000 and $50,000 dollars. Some of them have diamonds on them to help cut through the rocks. This one is a small one but it still weighs 75 pounds! When they wear out the oil companies just throw them away. Jim Jr. got this one from a junk pile on a site inspection he was doing for work. It used to be sitting on his deck until we ripped the deck out. The drill bit now has the noble purpose of being a door stop.

This drill bit was probably 25,000 feet under the ground once.

 

Today was a deck destruction day.  Out with the old.  Four trips to the dump and it was gone.  We never did make it to the Saturday Market.  So Sunday we are going to try to make it to the Saturday Market.  What do you think about that.  Long hard day.  Early to bed tonight.

I'll put a couple pictures in today which will show our deck project.  Hopefully the old should be out tomorrow.  I'm still bike riding everyday.  Today I went out to Eagle River.  Saw another moose.

Great birthday party for Destin tonight.  We had Baskin Robbins ice cream cake. 

Tomorrow is Saturday Market.  Hope we can find time to ride bikes there with the deck project.

Well today I got a job.  Jim Jr. and I are going to replace his deck.  Over the winter they had record snowfall and it caved in thier deck.  Tomorrow and Saturday we will rip it out and next week Home Depot delivers the new deck materials.  I suppose I have to earn my keep.  The truth is, it sounds like fun.
 
I'm looking at getting rid of my computer on the trip.  To big and to heavy.  I was out looking at IPads today.  They are small, light, have GPS, WiFi, cell tower access and are expensive.  This will be the first Georgia has heard about this.  Another option is not to take any kind of internet access device.  I'm working on this issue.

It is Destin's birthday tomorrow.  Party tomorrow night.  Prime rib for dinner.  See how good they are to me.  Til tomorrow.

Today I feel like a crazy old man with a lot of people out there thinking "what the heck is he doing". Well, that is not going to stop me. Revised plan is a go. I have to stay with Jim and Destin for about another two and a half weeks. It does not bother me. I like it here. Jim and Destin are real nice to me. We'll see how things are after the two and a half weeks.

We had an earthquak this morning. At 7:03 this morning I was standing in the kitchen. I heard this rumbling. It felt like a wave going through the house. It shook the whole house. I was not going to fall down but I felt that I better hold on to the counter. It was a 4.8 and the center was about 8 miles outside of Anchorage. That was a first for me.

I'm now taking everything out of my "BOB" bag and reevaluating its need. One item at a time. This is how the "BOB" is going to get lighter. I figure half the items in the bag have to go.

I am going to keep posting during my layover and when I find interesting things to take pictures of I'll post them.

At Birch Lake on Sunday night Jim Jr. and I had a discussion about the whole trip. The “BOB” trailer was difficult to pull on the first day. The problem is its weight. The way we even got the “BOB” bag on the trailer was to remove the tent (big item) and fill the bag and then strap the tent to the top. So we did not eliminate anything. What we were trying to do was get rid of some of the larger, heavier items, but for a self supported trip like this we decided that all the items were needed. That night my legs cramped up on me and I didn't sleep well. On Monday morning I felt miserable.

Monday morning the discussion continued. We decided to drive to Tok, Alaska, together, which would shave just over 100 miles off my ride and lower my average miles per day necessary to get to  Haines, Alaska, where I was to catch my ferry. On our ride to Tok I came to the realization that going into the remote mountainous section of my trip outside of Tok alone and unsupported would be dangerous. I don't believe that I could pull that “BOB” trailer through those remote mountains with all the supplies in it necessary to support myself. A revised plan needed to be developed. The trip is not over so read on. 

We passed the “Silver Fox” Roadhouse on our drive to Tok, so I thought I ought to take a picture.

At Tok we decided to return to Anchorage and regroup. On Monday night we camped at Glennallen. There I decided on changing my ferry ticket to depart from Whittier, Alaska, instead of Haines. This eleminates the remote mountainous areas of eastern Alaska and the Yukon Territory from my ride.  On Tuesday (today) we got back to Anchorage where I made the changes.   I now depart on the ferry June 4 from Whittier and arrive in Bellingham, Washington on June 9. Whittier, a port town, is about 60 miles south of Anchorage. (See picture below)

I will ride my bike from Anchorage to Girdwood, Alaska, on June 3, which is about 40 miles (See picture below). Then I will ride from Girdwood to Whittier, which is about 20 more miles, to catch my ferry on June 4.  I will meet Jim Jr. at Whittier because he has to drive me, my bike, and the "BOB" through the "Whittier Tunnel."  There is no way to just ride your bike into Whittier.

My new arrival date in Bellingham is six days earlier than my original ferry date. This should be great for meeting Paddy and Amy (my daughters) in Colville, Washington. Also in the Lower 48 there are more services which means I can lighten my load by restocking more often, so pulling the “BOB” shouldn't be as much of a problem. My bike adventure will continue as planned from Washington to Minnesota.

I know this is a change from the original adventure but I'll keep posting if you want to keep following.

 

 

I would like to thank Jim Jr.'s wife, Destin, for letting him come with me on the first few days of my trip.  They have a newborn baby girl, Elsie Mae, at home.

I started my ride yesterday, May 13, 2012. My starting point was next to the Chena River downtown Fairbanks.  Our friend Terry from Fox, Alaska met us in Fairbanks and helped choose the launching spot. The night before Jim Jr. and I were up till 3 in the morning trying to figure out how to get the "BOB" bag closed.  We decided to take the tent out of the bag and strap it to the top of the bag.  Enough about that.

On my way out of Fairbanks I rode through the town of North Pole. This is where Santa lives.   I checked out his workshop and said "Hi" before continuing on. Had some construction on the road but it was Sunday and Mother's Day and not a lot of traffic.

For my ride on this first day I had a little head wind. I must also say, that "BOB" is heavy!  There is just nothing else I can figure out to unload though. The scenery was bueatiful and helped to keep my mind off the wieght of the "BOB."

I stopped at Birch Lake Campgrounds at about 6:30.  Pretty lake and a nice spot to camp. It was a long hard day though.  I must say again, the "BOB" is heavy and and I can feel it.

Yesterday  I was a very tired when I wrote my post.  That is why I sounded so grumpy.  Today has been a very good day.  First thing this morning I took the GPS watch back.  REI sure is good about that.  Jim Jr. and I packed the truck and we were on our way by noon and in Fairbanks by 6:30.  Saw six more moose on the ride up here.  I decided to bring everything with me.  The bag still won't close.  I'm going to work on that tonight.  We are at the Westmark Hotel in downtown Fairbanks.  This is where I will start from in the morning.  It will be after the complimentary continental breakfast.  More donuts.  Have the bike in the room so I can check it out before I leave.  Check the pictures out. 

I've had enough of this watch.  I'm still lost.  I'm going to return it tomorrow.  I think this is for a runner who wants to know speed and distance.  I'm not into speed and distance.  I wanted something that would give me GPS coordinates and this does not.  It's another packing day.  Look at the picture.  I can't even get it closed.  Something in there has to go.  Now I have to unpack it again and throw away half the junk I bought.  Somewhere down the road I will be glad I got rid of the junk.  Tomorrow is a travel day to Fairbanks.  That is about a six hour drive.  Fairbanks will be a motel.  That sounds like a good way to start the trip. 



Today I hooked up the “BOB” trailer to the bike and rode around the neighborhood . The “BOB” follows just great. Went shopping again today and I am getting to much stuff. I have to stop the shopping. Worked on my GPS watch today. Now I know what the time is and what day it is but I still don't know where I am. I'll work on it again tomorrow. Did a dry run putting up my tent today. It has been a while and I had to figure out the order it goes up in. The tent is a REI Half Dome 2. It is a two person tent so I can get my junk in it in bad weather. See the pictures. Did my day two of packing today. I still don't have it the way I think it should be. Maybe I'll have to leave something behind.

 

Started packing my "BOB" today.  I am the kind of person who packs and unpacks his bags about three times before leaving on a trip.  Today was the start of number one.  Three days before we leave for Fairbanks.  Today I did one of my favorite things in Anchorage.  Rode my bike downtown and had a Reindeer Hot Dog from the outdoor stand in front of the Federal Court House.  Then you sit on the steps of the Court House and eat it.  See the picture.  Forgot to put my odometer on my bike so I don't know how many miles I went.  I am going to take it easy on the miles from now till Saturday so I will feel fresh  when I start.  Mary, Jim Jr.'s next door neighbor, sent over a box of the best Brownies.  It is ten at night and there are only two left.  That's how good they are.  I keep forgetting the ten at night here is one in the morning in Minnesota.  About that watch I bought yesterday.  I am not sure today that it will ever tell me the time.  The time is supposed to be set by the GPS but I sure can't figure it out.  But like they say "Tomorrow is another day".  Moose count is 9.

Today was shopping day.  Went to REI for freeze dried meals.  I got 12 meal packs for my trip and two for our supper tonight.  My varieties are rice and chicken, beef stew, chili mac with beef, spaghetti with meat sauce, beef stroganoff with noodles and lasagan with meat sause.  We tested the chili mac with beef and beef stroganoff with noodles tonight.  Jim Jr. and me thought it was good.  Destin decided not to eat them and opted for left over pizza instead.  See the pictures.  Brand name is "Mountain House".  I also got a "Timex" Marathon GPS watch for $99.95.  It tells time and does a lot of other things that I will have to figure out.   My next item was a canister of bear spray.  It came with a water bottle type mountable holder with which I will replace one of the water bottles holders on my bike.  Price $49.99.  There is no sales tax in Alaska.   Went for a ten mile ride this afternoon.  Weather was great today.  Sunrise 5:28 a.m. and sunset at10:24 p.m.  Moose count is 8.

 

Georgia left for home this morning.   Flight time was 6:00 am.  Was up at 4:30 and Jim Jr. and me took her to the airport.  That was a sad time.  We won't see each other for two to three months but we will talk daily.  The picture is the bike and the "BOB" (trailer).  That is how I will look going down the highway.  Today I rode the Chester Creek, Coastal, and Ship Creek Trail.  Eleven miles total.  Temp. was 44 degrees.  Starting to get warmer.  Moose count is 7.   

Rode Campbell Creek and Far North Bicentennial Park trails this morning with Jim Jr.  (see picture).  It is cold in the morning.  Have to wear a hat under my helmet.  Did twelve miles.  Stopped at Golden Donuts and had coffee and of course donuts.  Saw three more moose.  My count is at 6 now.  Started putting the "BOB" (trailer) together.  It is not a big job but I'll finish it tomorrow.  On Saturday I leave with Jim Jr. for Fairbanks and start my adventure on Sunday. 

Update from yesterday.  My checked bag at the airport weighted 60 lb. and no extra charge. 

Today I went on a 27 mile ride.  Took the Chester Creek Trail to the Coastal Trail around the airport and back to Jim and Destin's house through the city streets.  Saw three moose.  Tried to get pictures but did not want to get too close.  When I rode past them I was about 20 feet away.  This picture is where the Chester Creek Trail meets the Coastal Trail.  Stopped at the "The Bike Shop" again and he adjusted the cables.  They are going to get tired of me soon.  The price of gas in Anchorage is $4.23.

Yesterday was a good day.  Had a great flight.  Met my new granddaughter for the first time.  Seven weeks today.  See the picture.  Rode my bike around Goose Lake this morning and the gears were slipping so badly that I had to walk it up a small hill. I took it back to "The Bike Shop" and learned that the rear sprocket was worn out.  It was replaced while I waited.  $35.00 for the sprocket.  I also asked about chain lubricant and I bought Dumonde TECH Bicycle Chain Lubrication.  The tech who did the repair thought it was the best on the market.  Real nice people at the "The Bicycle Shop" in Anchorage.  Rode the bike home and I thought I was on a new bike.  Tomorrow I'll put more miles on the bike and give it a test.

Today is travel day.  My check bag is way over weight.  I'll pay the $50 over wight fee.  I could leave stuff at home and replace it in Anchorage but that would cost more than the $50.  I'll have more tomorrow.

Today is packing day.  I leave for Anchorage tomorrow.  Jim Jr. took my bike in a box to "The Bike Shop" in Anchorage.  They unpacked it, put it back together and cleaned it up and tuned it up.  They put a new chain on, new brake pads, and cable housings.  The cables looked good.  I also got an extra master link for the chain and two extra sets of brake pads.  I don't know why the extra brake pads but it sounded like a good idea.  All for $170.00.  Saturday I get to ride it and see how they did.  Now I have to talk to someone about a chain lubricant.  I have been using "White Lighting" but I get a wax build on the chain and sprockets that doesn't look good to me.  So back to the bike shop.  Tomorrow is travel day.

Shipping my bike.  I checked everywhere I could think of for the best price.  The price range was from $670.00 to $150.00.  The $150.00 one was Alaska Airlines Cargo.  The problem was that there was $75.00 background check and a home visit by the TSA.  The best way to ship is to take it as baggage on your flight and pay the over weight and over size fees.  Georgia went to Anchorage on April 23 and took it with her.  Cost $50.00 for over weight.  I think I got a real good deal.

Boxing your bike.  I went to REI and they gave me a used bike box.  The box was big enough that I only had to remove the front wheel.  I could turn rotate the fork and handlebars to fit the bike into the box.  I removed the pedals and bike rack and attached them to the box. I also unbolted the rear derailleur and attached it to the frame.  Sounds simple but if it is your first time it will take time.  I put the bike in the box.  I cut four one and a half inch PVC pipe the width of the box.  About one foot long. I taped them the wiidth of the box on  the inside to prevent the box from collapsing on the bike.  Two lengths under the cross bar and one by the by the front fork and one by the rear wheel.  With holes punched in the box I tied straps through the box and PVC to hold everything in place.  Then I tapped it shut.  This took me about two days.  I'll try a couple pictures.  This is after it arrived it Anchorage.  Adventure Cycling Association has detail instructions on how to do this on their web site.