Monday June 28

It poured hard all night and into the morning. Haggard old lady at a gas stop said she was building an ark and asked if I wanted to join her. I guess it had been raining there for a while. Blue skies ahead said the buck at the visitors center. 190 miles to Fairbanks.

New fad...the Long Way Round style bikes like the one in the photo.....they are everywhere.

Arrived in Fairbanks around 4. Got talking to these two employees at Sportsman's Warehouse. Together we came up with a workable fishing game plan for the rest of the summer. In Alaska most of the bigger fish are migratory so you need to position yourself in the right place at the right time to succeed. Those two were interesting, Rob in particular told some great stories, and will most likely prove to be an invaluable source of info. For what it's worth, I plan to follow the plan they helped me formulate as close as I can.

(Aside.....as I'm typing this, it's 1:46am and it's still broad daylight. This guy just came past painting all the parking lot lines...he just circumnavigated my truck with the paint machine. Nutty.)

Every one's got a plug hanging out of the front grill of their car so that they can plug in and heat the block of their cars in winter. The outlets are everywhere. Every spot in the student parking lot at the local high school has one. One guy told me that when people go in stores for an hour or two they just leave their cars unlocked and running...and nobody swipes anything.

Cruised around Fairbanks for a while....pretty much a dump, but does have all the amenities. I happened upon the Monday night co-ed smoking and drinking league...oh and softball too. How can I say this tactfully.......well, it was a rough crowd. Cheesey tattoos were in abundance. At one particular moment every player on the batting team had beer cracked sitting in the dugout...women (and I use that term loosely) too. People hawkin' loogies and cursing up a storm. It quite reminded me of the lawless glory days down at the Leominster Dek-hockey rinks.

That's all for today!!! Glad I finally made it here.....nice to be able to chill a little and get out from behind the wheel.