July 14, 2015. Fairbanks to Delta Junction, AK. 72 Miles.

This is the view from my hotel room this morning--not promising. It had been raining for hours by the time I took this photo.

We all met for breakfast at around 8 AM, and were told to be out by the van ready to go at 9:30. This is very late for starting a bike ride, but by then the rain had let up. Phil tried Jackie's thera-cane to release some of the knots in his shoulders.

We stopped at Beaver Sports, the local independent sporting goods store, where we all found something we needed to buy. We toured Fairbanks, then parked the van out of town near the Eielson Air Base. There were signs along the road warning NO STOPPING. NO PARKING. NO PHOTOGRAPHY. And Steve warned us not to take photos of the signs!

We unloaded the bikes and less than a mile from the start of the ride it started to rain again. I pulled off the road and put on my rain gear. We all rode the first 15 miles, pulling into the rest stop cold and dripping wet. There was a headwind the whole way, with the rain pelting us in the face.

Above you can see me and Jackie. After this photo was taken we got in the van to get warm. I was so cold I went back to the trailer and got yesterdays street clothes and changed into them. I was done for the day.

Shortly after I got back in the van, Dianne and Connie arrived. Clark was there by then, and those 3 riders also got in the van. The only one still riding was Phil.  We stopped for lunch and the 5 of us got back in the van after lunch too--it was still pouring rain. Frithjof loaded the bikes--he never gets cold! It must be his Norwegian blood!

The last rest stop was at Quartz Lake, where we picked up some quartz! Phil was still riding strong. The rain was tapering off and Dianne and Jackie got on their bikes to ride the last 12 miles to the motel.

We stayed at Motel 7, the only motel in Delta Junction. Blue sky and sunshine returned by about 7 PM.

Steve and Frithjof posed for us by the trailer before we went to dinner at a nearby restaurant (there are 2 in this town). We had ice cream after dinner and then went back to the motel where Dianne and I played a few games of Scrabble and tried drying our very wet clothes and shoes.

We had heard the rumor that there was a room with carpeting on the walls, and it was true! Jackie had that room. You really have to wonder why one would carpet the wall!