The Long Way North

 Day 20

We rolled out of Fairbanks about 9AM this morning. It was great of Jean and Wayde to take us in for one more night. Jean was probably ready to get rid of us! Going to miss them.

We pulled off at Nenana and walked into this awesome gourmet hot chocolate company. It’s called AK Rustic Company. Jane immediately took to us with undivided attention. We had her whip up what she felt we should have. Man, she hit the nail on the head. One of her coworkers came out and she was working the store area. She said she has never had one of the Hot Chocolates. Well hell I am not going to allow that. So, I had Jane make her one as well. Jane did not want me to pay for it. I said, “I said Hey girl you do not make a living giving your product and paid her for it.” She loved it.

We had an awesome visit with the three girls. They wanted to follow us on the blog, so I hooked them up. Whenever you are in Old Town Nenana it’s a must that you drop in.

 

This old town has some great railroad history in Alaska.

 

We are rolling down to Denali National Park. Boyd is at the helm, and I am at the aft. All of he sudden he yells in the com’s “MOOSE!”

I drop from 6^th gear to 3^rd then to 1^st and stopped on a dime. Boyd flipped a U-turn and rolled up. We started to take pictures and enjoy the Mommy and baby swimming and laying in this pond.

Before we know it cars, motorhomes, tour vans you name were all over it. We jumped on our bikes, pegged up and rolled away from them. They were like a bad pack of mosquitos.

We pulled up to Denali and rode in the 14 miles that they allow you to. Any further and you must go in on a paid bus. Well, a forest has blown up somewhere and you will not be able to see the mountain, so we passed on it.

We hit the visitors center and met Leonardo and Matilda Williams from Dallas, Texas.

We had a fantastic visit with them and shared a lot of laughs. Fantastic people. They asked to follow our blog, so I hooked them up.

 

 We rolled out and head to the junction of the Denali Highway. We are taking it West to East. It will be about 140 miles of dirt and gravel.

It is just absolutely a beautiful ride. Smoke from the fires is affecting the views but it is still stunning.

We are pulling up to another bridge and a bunch of bikers are coming our way. It is one lane, so I pull over and wait.

Lead rider pulls up to me and introduces him self to me. He is Arial from Argentina. He runs a bike tour company and hast 11 riders with him up from Argentina. We had a great visit with them. Thank goodness my Spanish kicked in. By the time we parted ways even Boyd was talking some Spanish I was teaching him.

We rolled across the river and it was awesome.

We continued and about ay about 100 miles into this road we stumbled onto this little gem literally in the middle of nowhere.

We had to pull in and check it out. Well heck for the cheap price we got our own cabin for the night and one hell of a great dinner. It’s called Maclaren River Lodge on the Maclaren River.

What a sweet find. We thought we would be tenting it tonight but how could we pass this up.

Here is some footage from the GoPro. Pretty cool.

How can  you not love this.

Let's see what tomorrow brings.