Today was the worst. Colder than buggery again. I woke up to the soft pitter patter of snow falling on my tent and looked out on a world of white. As I was starting to cook my breakfast out in the snow, a very cute German girl invited me to share the tour group’s shelter that they’d set up beside their van. So I had breakfast and coffee with twelve Germans who could barely speak a word of English but were wonderful to offer me all sorts of food.
It snowed quite heavily all morning and when it finally eased up I was left with gusty headwinds for the rest of the day. I had too much time to think today and I spent the time deciding I would give up riding and start hitchhiking south if I had to ride through more than three inches of snow. In the middle of the day, a car pulled up in front of me and a husband and wife got out to greet me. They were from Ontario and said they’d seen me a few days ago. They took a photo of me all rugged up in my rain gear and three pairs of gloves and then offered me all sorts of food, chocolate, apples and even beer. They offered to send an email message to my folks, so I asked them to tell them I was doing fine. “Don’t tell them I’m suffering”.
My only consolation today was that it was only 78 miles to Haines Junction, a relatively short riding day considering I’ve done just over 500 miles in the past five days. It was a long downhill into town, stinging cold, but I camped at a lovely friendly RV park overlooking some magnificent mountains. I headed to the tourist bureau to ask if there were any bike shops in town. There wasn’t, only a guy that fixed bikes in his spare time and he was out somewhere watching a big hockey game that was on. Just as I was walking out, in walked John and Anita , a couple that I’d met at a rest stop on my first day riding out of Fairbanks. They were impressed at the distance I’d covered, as they were expecting to pass me again sometime on the road tomorrow as they headed back north. They told me there was another cyclist about sixty miles ahead of me and then insisted I take any of the food they had in their car. They seemed a little disappointed that they couldn’t do anything more for me.
For the last two nights I have woken up with a numb right hand. I’ve decided I will give up riding and start hitchhiking south if I start crying uncontrollably.
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