On the bus – writings on the wall from Ken Roberts on Vimeo.
The Midway Service bus. Popular, Ken discovers, with passing long-haul cyclists..
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On the bus – writings on the wall
September 26th, 2011On the bus – introducing Mike
September 26th, 2011
On the bus – introducing Mike from Ken Roberts on Vimeo.
Introducing fellow cyclist Mike. Bit foggy – no special effects, but heating comes courtesy of Calor Gas, one of the burn products being water vapour.. Just in case you were wondering..
On the bus – Part One
September 26th, 2011On the bus – Part One from Ken Roberts on Vimeo.
Ken teams up with fellow cyclist Mike to spend the night on an old bus in eastern Alaska. Just like the one in the film "Into the Wild". Except no one dies. Best you track down a copy of this Sean Penn directed movie. In the meantime, admire the most expensive feature the bus has – a bear-proof door…
Meeting Mike
September 26th, 2011"It’s a bus. Bound to be room for more than one" I’d said. Explaining I’d arranged to spend the night inside, in the yard of Midway Service, close on thirty miles further along the Tok Cut-Off. It was almost half six in the evening. Daylight would likely to be failing as we approached, but the highway was good and the traffic light.
I’d stopped at Posty’s, a small shop and cafe in Chistochina, feeling suddenly tired. Weariness in part brought on contemplating the miles yet to be covered. Been there a little while when I noticed a fellow touring cyclist pull up. He’d seen my bike. Wandered in. His name was Mike. Destined for Minnesota, having set out from Anchorage some days earlier.
We chatted for a while. Both enjoying a break from our respective saddles. He’d planned to wild camp a little further along the highway. But, like me, he was intrigued by the idea of sleeping in an old bus. Of the sort that’d featured in the film "Into the Wild". Not exactly a Box Office hit in the UK, but one I’d seen. Well told tale of a young man’s break from society, and his eventual sad demise in the relative wilds of Alaska. Suggested Mike might want to join me. He nodded enthusiastically.
Sweet Caroline
September 26th, 2011Caroline and Eric were Dutch long-haul cyclists. A chance encounter on the Tok Cut-off, the road less travelled that runs east from the Glenn Highway to the small town of Tok and onwards to the Canadian border. They were two and I was one, so I’d pulled over to their side of the road. But a couple, or father and daughter, I wasn’t sure.
They would soon be heading north to Sourdough to camp that night. I explained I’d come from the south, so had little to offer about the road ahead. Other than there was a couple of dusty, coarse gravel sections ahead. And a small shop where the Cut-off met the highway.
They said I’d have to take a ride in a pilot car in a short while, not permitted to pedal through road works. I grimaced. Explaining that any break from the saddle was usually more than offset by the plain hassle of taking everything off the bike, only to refit it all a little while later.
Copper River
September 26th, 2011Copper River from Ken Roberts on Vimeo.
The Copper River in eastern Alaska. Once scene of a gold rush. Bit like the dotcom bubble, but more real.
South eastern Alaska
September 26th, 2011
Conscious that not everyone’s as familiar with the geography of south eastern Alaska as yours truly – nor should you be – a brief resume of the route so far, and the road ahead.
From the town of Palmer, a little north of Anchorage, I’ve been following the Glenn Highway eastwards towards Glennallen. The Alaska Range to the north, the Chugach Mountains to the south. Former best known for Mount McKinley, at over twenty thousand feet, the loftiest peak in North America.
Steep sided, wooded valleys have quickly given way to more open ground, tundra. Bleak. Further east, beyond the small town of Glennallen, lies the Wrangell-St Elias National Park. Mount Drum providing a fine backdrop at over twelve thousand snow capped feet.
From Glennallen, the Tok Cut-Off runs north east towards the equally small town of Tok – pronounced Toke – meeting up with the Alaska-Canada Highway – the Alcan. Then south east to the Canadian Border at Beaver Creek in the Yukon Province. About 600 miles all told.
Pulled over
September 26th, 2011"Was everything ok" he asked? I’d not seen him pull up behind me on the shoulder. Despite his flashing lights. "Yes" I replied, slightly startled, curious as to why he’d stopped. He asked if I could move off the highway. "Of course Officer" I said, moving the bike further over. He returned to his patrol car and drove off, returning my wave as he went. He did the same when I saw him a little time later.
I’d stopped to chat with Rocky, a new found friend from Palmer, Alaska. He was heading north towards Delta Junction to help his brother with some construction work. He’d spotted me on the road and pulled over. The highway was fairly quiet, and wide, but, explained Rocky, a few cyclists had been killed by protruding mirrors on passing vehicles. The State Trooper was just being helpful.
Book at bedtime
September 25th, 2011Took about an hour or so to read The Constitution of the United States. The small pocket edition Chris had given me the previous day also included The Declaration of Independence. A tirade of abuses purportedly inflicted by the King of England on the Peoples of the New World. Some very emotive language. Waging war, plundering the seas, ravaging the coasts, burning towns, imposing taxes, obstructing the Administration of Justice, dissolving legislative bodies. You sensed the Founding Fathers were a bit disillusioned with Blighty.
But much more interesting, revealing, than the Constitution itself, or the apocalyptical Declaration of Independence, are the various Amendments. Some familiar ones. The Second. The "right of the people to keep and bear Arms". Doesn’t specifically mention suppressed fire grenade launchers, assault rifles and the like, but there again it is a pretty broad brush document. The Fifth. "nor shall.. (any person).. be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself". The right to silence.
Less well known ones. The Eighteenth. Ratified 1919. Later repealed in 1933 by the Twenty-First. Prohibition. Thirteenth. Abolition of slavery. 1865.
Toilet fumus
September 25th, 2011Toilet fumus from Ken Roberts on Vimeo.
Yep. An electric toilet. Intrigued? I was… Couldn’t resist giving it a go.
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