Friday, July 29
Another beautiful day. Hobbs went out early to get his coffee and brought me back a paper. That was nice since he'd cancelled the paper while I was on vacation. I love my morning coffee and newspaper.
This morning it was back to the oatmeal and exercise bike. Felt good to have both as I've been way too bad about eating oatmeal and exercising while on vacation.

I was going to get out and ride early. That did not happen. I putzed around the house, unpacking, opening boxes and so on. We got ready then to go to the weekly biker lunches. Some of us have been getting together for probably five years now. Always good, and never know exactly which of us will show up. Today it was four.

After lunch I decided to take a ride, and ended up in Seward. I figured ice cream would be a good thing, but before that I wanted to look around a bit. Rode down to the water and looked out over Resurrection Bay which is always beautiful. Then the ice cream was calling and that's all I could think about.

Resurrection Bay, a beautiful area.

This dog was in the water and thoroughly enjoying himself.

Stopped to take a photo of Mount Marathon, all 3022 feet of it. It's the number that is on the back fender of Dennis's bike, and that's the significance. He's run the marathon before. Now I understand what the number was that I'd seen on his bike. I've only been up it once. My mom wouldn't let me go up when I was a kid, but a number of years ago Barb from Alaska Leather, another guy whose name I can't remember, and I climbed it. Four plus hours up, a little more than an hour or so down.

Mount Marathon, the stuff of dreams ... climbing, descending, breaking the race ribbon, winning the race on the Fourth of Jul, creating a memory that will last forever. 

Then I rode up past where my old house was. I lived in this house in the 60s and it's where I was when the 1964 Good Friday earthquake hit. It was also a house where my dad made home brew and I remember he stored some of it in the basement. It hadn't properly aged, so those bottles kept exploding periodically. You never knew when one would pop. The house seemed so large back then, but now seems small and in a state of bad disrepair.

There were a couple of guys standing outside so I asked if they owned the place and I could take a photo of it. Not them but the guy was probably inside and I could ask. Figured that would be the ethical thing to do. Walked toward the house and a German shepherd came out to meet me, barking and growling. I stood still and left my hands to my side so he could smell me. I don't like shepherds as I was bitten by them twice when I was a kid. I didn't go up to the door, but called out. No answer. I decided I didn't need permission and took my photo and left quickly.

My parents kept the house up so much better when we lived there, even if my dad did make home brew.

Gassed up and headed out of town. The day continued to be a gorgeous one and I was still wearing a sweatshirt and vest. No jacket today, and it felt nice. Funny, but the temperature was 66 when I left Anchorage, 40 degrees plus colder than when I was in the Lower 48 and some states, yet I'm still wearing a T-shirt and not dressed in electric gear and my jacket as I usually am. Was a very nice ride.


There wasn't much traffic going north as mostly folks were going south. That was great. Saw a cop with a client part way back to town, and all of a sudden he took off. There were no cars so it wasn't a speeder. Figured there was an accident somewhere, but never came upon it ... until ... nearly Girdwood. Traffic was backed up and there was a bad accident where you turn off the Seward Highway to go into Girdwood. Looked like a T-boning, but hard to say. Both vehicles were badly wrecked, but no people around so they must have gotten them out. The traffic was backed up 4-1/2 miles on the north side of the turn off. I was glad I didn't have to wait too long.

Traffic was backed up 4-1/2 miles coming from Anchorage toward Girdwood.  What a mess.

As I was heading back, I figured to pass a slow car or two. Then there was another cop with a client. Who would have figured since there were at least two, maybe three, at the site of the accident. But with this one busy, it was clear sailing. No way there'd be another one. Wrong!!! Less than a mile down the road there was another one with a client. Glad I wasn't really speeding, too much.

Tonight I'm picking up Dennis's sister from the airport and taking her to his house. That should be sometime around 1 a.m. Then sleep because another big day tomorrow ... riding and a barbecue for a friend's 60th birthday. Busy, busy. How did I find time to work???