Chuck:
Today we continued preparation for the Prudhoe phase of our bike saga. From Fairbanks it is about 500 miles up the Haul Road (aka Dalton Highway) to Prudhoe Bay and what used to be the tiny community of Deadhorse. Now, of course, Prudhoe is the base of operations for oil companies in production, drilling & exploration. It is a semi-permanent, oil boomtown that has consumed Deadhorse. We expect the bike trip to take about 2 weeks. There are two refueling stations along the way, one at the crossing (where the Haul Road crosses the Yukon River) and another at Coldfoot. Both of these locations also have a grill, packaged snacks and limited motel-like rooms. We plan on using the facilities when available and will camp between them. Upon arrival in Prudhoe, we will refuel and drive back to Fairbanks.
All of us are now busy, planning for two weeks on this remote, gravel road. This afternoon, I located an extra spare tire on a rim for our CRV. From home, we brought tents, camp stove, sleeping bags and other camping gear just for this phase of the trip. The real challenge is selecting only what we need. As much as we try, we are finding it impossible to cram all that is in a roomy RV into our little Honda CRV. Betty will get the food and other consumables tomorrow. My plan is to leave the road bikes with the RV and take only a mountain bike and a hybrid (larger tire than a road bike, but not as “beefy” as the mountain bike). This will provide a back-up bike in the event something breaks that I cannot fix on the road. The folks at our current campground (River’s Edge) have a place we can park the RV with electric service for the two weeks we are away. This will work out well, the fridge/freezer will continue to operate, otherwise, Betty would empty both, tossing lots of good stuff.
After a busy day, we went to a sports bar, Brewsters, just outside the campground. In addition to dinner and a pitcher of beer, Bren got to see the U.S. crush Panama as the World Cup eliminations continue. Tomorrow will be final prep and Thursday, “On the Road Again”.