7th June

Up at 7 and sat at a table in the woods with a cup of tea listening to the birds singing. Went to the viewpoint with the bear spray, ever hopeful, but still no bears. Woke M with a brew and he ate his breakfast while I chatted to a guy on a mountain bike from Fairbanks called John.

Drove the last 24 miles to the Talkeetna turning where I sorted out all the stuff in the car to make room for M and the bike. When he gets here he will have ridden 759 miles since his start point just south of Deadhorse (according to the milometer in the car).

Murray arrived after 2 hours on the road, did a quick change, loaded the bike and we drove in to Talkeetna, passing Larry & Jane on the way. Met them and bought them a lunch to say thanks, in the West Rib. Apparently, the local school burned to the ground 2 days ago! Said goodbye to Larry & Jane and drove to Wasilla, past an unpleasant looking road accident and arrived at Coleen’s where we emptied the car, did our stinky laundry and reorganised our luggage.

Colleen arrived home from work and we took her, and Dale & Linda (who’d lent us the car Murray had when I first arrived) out for a nice Italian meal (hello, I’m Lisa, I’ll be your waitress this evening) and came back. Said goodnight and goodbye to Colleen, who was getting up at 5am, polished off the last of the rough whisky and went to bed.

Morning view

Sleeping arrangements

Back to square one.