Meeting New Friends - The Adventures of Phillip & Chris

Saturday, June 13, 2009 – Last night we got our first substantial rail storm since leaving home. Just before the rain started we noticed two young men sitting outside at a picnic table in the cold. I went out and talked to them and asked if they would like to come inside where it was warm and have some hot chocolate. They eagerly accepted and a short time later they knocked on the door. Their names were Phillip and Chris and they are two young men from Germany. They both just graduated with engineering degrees and before they start their careers they decided to take an adventure. They saved their money and sold their cars and belongings then packed up their mountain bikes and flew to Anchorage, Alaska. They are going to bicycle 4,500 miles from Anchorage to Ontario, Canada. Along the way they are writing freelance articles for a website, a Bicycling Magazine and for a newspaper at home in Frankfurt, Germany. They are very interesting and have done a lot of traveling most of it with the Boy Scouts starting at the age of 11. It was interesting and fun talking to them and before they left we exchanged email addresses so that we can stay in touch as we travel our separate paths. Just as we were leaving this morning they stopped by to have a photograph taken to include in their article and website and to say goodbye.

We got on the road about 9:00 AM heading towards Fairbanks with several planned stops along the way. The first stop was at the Delta Meat and Sausage Company. We got a short informal tour of their butchering and packing operation and got a couple of packages of reindeer and yak sausage. The next stop was at Delta Junction at mile marker 1422 and the official end of the Alaska Highway. The site houses a very mediocre visitor center and a pathetic farmer’s market so after I took a couple of photographs of the “End of the Alaska Highway” marker and we were back on the road. The next stop was historic Rika’s Roadhouse. The roadhouses were stops for miners coming to Alaska and this one is well preserved with several restored buildings and a small collection of tools and implements. Their restaurant is billed as the “best food on the entire 1,422 miles of the Alaska Highway” but we decided the soup of the day and about half a dozen or so sandwich offerings wasn’t anything that appealing so we passed on the restaurant and made lunch on the road. Our next stop was just outside of Fairbanks at North Pole, Alaska. It is really just a large Christmas themed gift shop with Santa and reindeers which we never did see. Every year they receive thousands of Santa letters from children. Local school children answer the letters which are then postmarked North Pole and mailed back. After all our stops along the 200 miles drive between Tok and Fairbanks we finally arrived at the River’s Edge RV Park just after 5:00 PM. Shortly after we arrived we had a brief but impressive thunder storm with heavy rain that lasted for only about ten minutes. We had dinner at home and reviewed all of our literature and flyers to plan our activities for the next few days here in Fairbanks.