Magic Ferry Land

The ferry ride is turning out to be a great thing. Ed described for me the ferry scene - like an airport waiting area but nicer. He's got a sleeping bag and can set up outside on a covered porch or inside on dining benches. When he's able, he'll send pictures.

For now, here are a few more pictures he sent me from Haines. I'll try to ration them out until he can send me more in Washington. And of course,

CLICK HERE FOR THE MAP LINK, YA BIG FREAKS



L'shana tovah to my Hebrew peeps, too!





The above would be the case FOR the Ferry!

Glennallen to Tok

Apparently, Ed met some other pilgrims on the road - going the opposite direction back to Anchorage, but still. Of course, being a boy, he did not ask them anything about where they came from, how long it took, or where they got their fabulous shoes. Honestly, don't boys talk about anything important?

We'd like to point out that Ed's not the only one who's ridden out of Alaska on a bike. A friend of ours rode TO Alaska from Michigan by herself and said it was the trip of a lifetime. She is a serious bad mamma-jamma, too - weighs about 90 pounds soaking wet and carrying something heavy. So anyone can do it.

Gotta cut this short - I'm the only wage-earner in the family and have to get crackin and get to work. Not all of us can just ride our bikes all dang day...

HERE'S THE MAP LINK YA BIG FREAKS

Peas out,

Where he's at...

Somewhere between Sutton and Glennallen, which in Alaska terms is not too far from home. He is on highway 1 (I think there are six highways all told). The way the land lies, he has to go North before he can go South, so don't worry about his sense of direction.

For those of you who have been calling and emailing that you can't find the links in the blogs

HERE IS THE LINK TO FIND OUT WHERE ED IS - CLICK HERE YA BIG FREAKS

What I like about the Google Map device he uses is that there are photos of the places he will be - they are not our photos and some of them are definitely from the Department of Tourism. They were probably taken while standing ON the city dump to avoid photographing the city dump.

Oh, I forgot to post Ed's last email before he left Anchorage:

"Anchorage Weather:Same as 97 of last 103 days, gloomy with promise of continued glomy.Various forcasts: Some Sun or more rain, or coninued gloom, or...Also various wind readings: South or East or West or North

Goal for Day: Possible will be short with late start. King Mountain past Sutton.~80 miles. Thank you again for being so supportive."

Yeah, like I'd crush his dream. Please.

A Little Bit about Ed

The Crazy Bike Guy believes in extremes - about two years ago, he decided to really be a bike guy. Sure, he has a day job, but that should never keep anyone from doing things they love.


It all got serious when he and our daughter decided to ride a 50-mile race on a tandem in the Fireweed Bike Race in Alaska. Now, Ed had done the Fireweed a few times before - first a 50, then 100 miles, then he did 200 miles alone. That last one nearly did me in - he underestimated his nutrition and electrolytes by about 50% and wound up finishing but nearly passing out at the finish line in Valdez.

Let me just say it's very hard to keep yourself together when the man you love arrives at the end of a long day looking jaundiced. You never want them to see the panic-stricken facial expressions, but it's important to get them Gatorade and bananas ASAP.

So I shuffled him back to the hotel, drew him a hot bath, gave him two foot-long subs and made him go to sleep. The next day, his color returned and he insisted on driving us back to Anchorage.

The following year, he did the full 400 miler with our friend, Glenn Cravez. Glenn is the manager of our synagogue's softball team, the 10 Plagues. The team members took on one of each of the plagues. Ed chose Darkness and Glenn chose Blood so their team name for this race was - you guessed it - Blood and Darkness. I drove the support car with another guy from Ed's office, Steven.

Now, Steven was a really nice guy and interesting conversationalist, but he kept sneaking into the Blood and Darkness food stash. I could only see the yellow-pallored Ed the year before whenever Steven would pull out the pack of Fig Newtons or the Fluffer Nutter meant for Ed or Glenn. I was not interested in picking up two jaundiced guys after 400 miles, so I may have come off a little terse.

However, I think he got the message the second time I flung the food back to the stash area in the hatch and reminded Steven that he had his own peanut butter crackers and bottled water to rely on.

The following year, it was time for our daughter to ride. Ed borrowed a tandem bike and bought our kid a hot pick riding kit. Since she was too short to reach the pedals, he got plastic electrical cases from Home Depot and attached them with hot pink duct tape.

They finished the race and her comments made it into the post-race video. Lucky for me, she doesn't want to ride from Alaska to Denver with him. Date of departure is about September 13-ish.
And yes, he's decided to go all the way to Denver. Next blog will be about his nutrition plan that lost him about 40 lbs and got him leaner and meaner for those tough climbs. Plus, we'll talk gear - yay!

Yes he is

My crazy husband is riding his bike from Anchorage, Alaska, to Seattle, Washington, AND maybe on to Denver.

Why is he doing this? Is his insurance up-to-date? Does his mother know?

Why - well because I told him if he could sell our house in Anchorage, he could do anything he wanted. We're relocating to Denver and all of our future financial stability depends on that house being sold.

Check it out: http://www.flexmls.com/cgi-bin/view.cgi?20080731203424321559000000

Yeah, it looks like Darth Vader on the outside, but it's very nice on the inside. Four bedrooms, office, huge yard, two full baths - you'll love it!

Now that there's a natural gas pipeline approved, all you engineering people and pipe suppliers better move to Alaska and buy our house. All your wildest dreams will come true.

Anyway - He can't blog on the road, so I'll keep everyone posted on his adventures, complete with photos, GPS settings and what not. His estimated time for departure is sometime in September.

Yes, his mother knows and yes he has insurance.