Day 14, July 7, 2008-205 miles. Today was an easy day. Got up, took it easy until late morning, and decided to go into town to exchange some convertible pants purchased at REI for this trip. The zipper had malfunctioned several days ago, and since they were new pants, I decided to get an exchange if possible.
Found it on the Internet and the GPS located it easily. Got inside the store (a big REI), and went to the customer service desk. The clerk helped me and I had no problem returning them. Went upstairs, found the pants, and went to a cashier to do the exchange. It worked! No hassle. No problem. Good service.
We (Gary, his wife, and I) then decided to ride south to the Kenai Penninsula and to the town of Hope. Rode south through Anchorage and onto Hwy 1 with the Turnagain Arm on the right and steep mountains on the left with the road cut from the base of the rocks. The tide was in, so the big body of water was full.
The day was dark and overcast, with some spitting rain coming down. It was also cool, around 50 degrees. With the wind coming off the water coupled with some speed on the bikes, it was quite cool. Not cold, but cool.
On south by Girdwood and onto Hope Cutoff Road and into Hope. It had been 4 years since I had been there, and my memory was a bit fuzzy, but we found the Seaside restaurant and bar where I had visited with my sister. We were cool and had lunch there. The Chili was great! The beer was great! The company was great!
After lunch, we walked to the water and met a man who told us that there was a Moose cow with two calves not far away. So, we walked where he said they were spotted, but we didn't see them. Not sure if they ever existed, had moved, or if we were in the wrong place. In any case, we saw no Moose.
The library was having a book sale, so we stopped in to buy some books for the ferry. I bought 1 and they bought 6. Should have enough reading material to suit me.
Got back on the bikes and headed back towards Anchorage. Along the way, Gary wanted to see the Chair 5 Restaurant in Girdwood, just to see what it looked like. It looked the same to me. We also went by Portage Glacier. We couldn't agree on which of the 3 glaciers we were seeing was Portage. Didn't matter to me; we got to see 3 glaciers and some icebergs.
Coming further north towards Anchorage, we stopped at the big snowblower locomotive at the north end of Turnagain Arm. It is an old locomotive fitted with a snowblower that is HUGE! Quite a display to gaze at.
Then a short ride back to Gary's cousin's home and another great meal. A good day.
Tomorrow-a train ride to Seward and a boat tour from there.
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