Day 47
   
   6/13/01
   Mile 4370
   Tetlin Junction, Alaska
   
   This morning I peered out the window of the hostel at 6:30am to check
   the weather.
   
   Wet.
   
   But not a problem just yet; maybe it will clear up in a bit (ha!) and
   at any rate I can have a nice breakfast downstairs. I went through the
   buffet line, dumping a pile of scrambled eggs the size of Mount
   Vesuvius onto my plate. Sitting by a window, I looked out into the haze,
   trying not to think about it.
   
   I did some email for a while, which always takes much longer than
   expected, and looked outside again to find no change.
   
   I'm not getting any closer by sitting here, I thought. It took a lot
   of willpower to pack up and head out into rain.
   
   I soon came to the U.S. border, and was across almost instantly. In
   stark contrast to my entry into Canada, which took nearly an hour, I
   was asked only a few simple questions: where was I from, how long was I in
   Canada, was I carrying firearms or more than $10,000. They never even
   asked to see an ID, and after all of 15 seconds, the border guard
   said, "Ok, you're outta here."
   
   Also crossing the border with me was a very odd vehicle called a
   Unimog. This German creation had the appearance of an armored truck.
   Apparently the people driving it were using it as a motor home - and
   it looked like it would stand up to polar bear attacks as well as small arms
   fire.
   
   So I was back in the land of miles, feet, and pounds - much to my
   chagrin. I always viewed it as a national embarrassment that the U.S.
   is somehow still not on the metric system.
   
   After crossing the border, I stopped at the first roadhouse I saw.
   Same inflated prices; ten bucks for a cheap burger and fries, only now it
   was American dollars. There was a bunch of hunters sitting around a
   table, all discussing bear stories, telling about the huge one they
   shot, or making comments like, "Ya those 2-year-old bears are the worst,
   before they've ever smelled a human and they don't know what it is." I
   had seen a grizzly today, but it wasn't much of a problem. The bear was
   about 200 feet away, and I eased the bike to a stop. He merely looked
   around a bit, sniffed at the air, and ambled off into the woods. It
   was only the second bear I'd seen the entire trip - when I mention that to the
   other tourists, I invariably get a response like, "Man, we saw 6 just
   today" or something like that. I believe the reason is that I
   periodically emit a whistle (I whistle at an ear-splitting level that
   can be heard for a half mile) to let the bears know I'm around, since the worst
   thing you can do is sneak up on a bear.
   
   The effect of not taking any days off has been an interesting one;
   since there have been no weekends to break up the week, it feels like
   I have only been on the road for a week. I look at the title of this
   email and think, "Day 47? How could I possibly have been gone that long?"
   
   Several times when I have stopped at gas stations the locals have
   remarked about how wet it's been this season. Now, everyone pretty
   much assumes before they even ask me that I'm headed for Fairbanks or
   Anchorage; so there are no raised eyebrows when I say Denali. That comes when
   they ask where I started at.
   
   There's a lot of uphill sections to get to Tok, but after crossing the
   border the roads slowly get better. And so am I. I feel better today
   than I have in the past several days, and can attack those hills with
   aplomb.
   
   Oxbow lakes abound here. In the late evening, with the sun low on the
   horizon, the Wrangell-St. Elias Mountains are bathed in an unearthly
   orange glow. Wildflowers again line the highway, and the Rainbow Road
   that I had when I started in Texas has returned, at the other side of the
   continent - adding a nice symmetry to the trip.
   
   There was a pulloff area with a few RV's parked, and being paved it
   would have fewer mosquitoes, so I stopped for the night at about 11pm.
   It felt good to get another century ride in, so many days out from when I
   started.

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