To the Top of Alaska, Day 11

June 14th, 2014 – Tok, AK to Anchorage, AK ~320 miles

…and the story continues on the next morning. Bui met a guy from Tennessee named Mike who had previously ridden up to this area before (I think multiple times), but never gone all the way to the top. Bui convinced him to join us so he could finally get to the top, cause he seemed like a very cool guy and there’s always safety in numbers. We split up here with the plan to meet back up at University of Alaska, Fairbanks.

It is at this point in the story that I need to profusely apologize to Mike, because I ended up screwing him over later on in the trip…but that story comes later.

I don’t look very happy this morning. This wasn’t a particularly fun day – we spent all day in the rain trying to get to Anchorage to make sure that Vy would have an easy trip to the airport the next morning. The ferry cancellation from a couple of days prior made it so that we had to cover a lot more miles per day to make up for the lost one.

The essence of Thompson’s Eagle Claw, in one piece of paper. I cannot recommend Vanessa and her campsite enough.

Grabbed breakfast at Fast Eddy’s in Tok. The food was fine, but I took a photo of this t-shirt arrangement because it reminded me of a VW Golf Harlequin. WARNING: Do not Google Image Search “Harlequin Ichthyosis”, which isn’t really related but came up when I was trying to find you an image of the Harlequin Golf. And now that I’ve said it, you’re going to feel like you have to. I apologize in advance.

Harlequin Golf (image from TTAC)

Because it was raining so much, I didn’t take very many photos when we were on the road. I was disappointed to realize that I was taking the beautiful scenery for granted. Vy was apparently enjoying the scenery much more, as she was somehow able to spot this moose in the woods while we were doing at least 50.

I wasn’t kidding when I said I didn’t take many photos on the road. We got to Anchorage and relaxed. As it was her last night on the trip, Vy took me out for a drink at Bear Tooth Theatre Pub to enjoy a couple of beers.

On the way back to the hotel, we saw the MotoQuest office. Jethro sits in the parking lot, and apparently that truck gets around. Just a few months prior, I had done a MotoQuest ride in Death Valley, and Jethro was the support truck. Apparently it’s following me wherever I go – turns out we’d see the truck later on, up on the Haul Road. But before that happened, we’d have to drop off Vy at the airport the next morning, so we went back to get some sleep.