Day 50
   
   6/16/01
   Mile 4606
   Fairbanks, AK
   
   In my endless quest for calories, I've taken to mixing peanut butter
   in with my coffee.  Best when the coffee is brewed very strong, and with
   cream and sugar added. This nutritious, delicious beverage provides
   far more caffeine, fat, protein, and carbohydrates than most people would
   ever care for.  Bottoms up! You've heard of the "Eat all you want all
   still loose weight" diets? I'm on the "Eat more than you really want
   and still loose weight" diet.
   
   In the morning I passed Eielson Air Force Base, a northern defense
   post where a few military aircraft were landing.  A squadron of A-10
   Warthogs was parked out front, ready to...well, I'm not sure what
   exactly, but they were ready.
   
   Nearby, the city of North Pole has quite a few touristy-Christmas-ornamental 
   attractions, which, in today's blazing sun, were of absolutely no interest
   to me.  Looked pretty in my helmet's rear-view mirror.
   
   The road is really busy. This is the most traffic I've seen since
   Calgary.  Behind me is the slowly receding view of Denali.  It was in
   perfect climbing condition, and it just about killed me to be heading
   away from it...but that was only temporary.
   
   It's hot - one of those days that makes you want to go swimming.  When
   the sun is in the sky 20 hours a day, it pushes the temperature to
   near 90F.  With a cloudless day, eventually you get to the point where you
   feel like you've had enough sun and perhaps you'll just sit in some
   shade until it goes down - but here, that could be a mighty long time
   away.  If you're an outdoor workaholic, you're doomed.  Unless you follow
   your watch and adhere to it scrupulously when quitting time comes, you'll
   end up running yourself into the ground because, "it didn't look like
   it was time to stop".
   
   Some cities are visible from many miles away.  At Fairbanks, you can't
   really tell until practically the last mile.  I stopped another
   cyclist to ask where a bike shop was; he seemed to think my trip was fodder
   for the TV news, but I declined to go down that road.  I located the bike
   shop and had a number of things done.  The chain was stretched and
   past due for replacement, especially since it had been through so much
   rain, mud, and blowing dust.  The front wheel bearings had begun to pit the
   cones, so they had to be replaced.  Afterwards I headed for the west end
   of town and checked in at the Billie's Backpacker Hostel.  It was nice,
   a bit close-quartered to me since I'd gotten used to being out in the bush,
   but homey. I asked her what motivated people to start hostels - it seemed 
   to me a lot of work for little money.  She gave me an answer that made a 
   whole lotta sense.
   
   Previously she'd run a bed and breakfast in the same building.  Much
   more expensive per night, but the problem was this: people bitched
   about everything.  The room wasn't just so, the towels weren't fluffy
   enough; everything was something to complain about (Americans were the worst).
   Then her son came back from a tour in Europe where he stayed in
   hostels, and convinced her to convert a portion of the building to
   one. The personality was 180 degrees apart - these people were happy with
   everything, and a roof and a bed were heaven. If she did some simple
   thing like set out a loaf of bread, they were ecstatic.
   
   Hostel users, she said, were serious travelers. They weren't there to
   focus on creature comforts, they were there to experience the breadth
   of the locale.  The B&B users seemed to be there to be waited on hand
   and foot; hostel users were low-maintenance and took care of
   themselves like a good dog.
   
   Thus came the closure of one B&B and the expansion of one hostel in
   Fairbanks.  Profits increased, and her hassle factor decreased.

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