I woke up to it still raining, but luckily the pavilion kept me dry. I met up with Nathan and Errin to grab breakfast at the campground lodge. Their speciality was sourdough pancakes and reindeer sausage. Rudolph never tasted so good.
Errin and Nathan headed out for Anchorage but I decided to head north to Fairbanks. Unfortunately, most of my gear was still waterlogged. As they say, necessity is the mother of invention. I ended up wrapping my feet in plastic bags so they wouldn’t get wet in my waterlogged boots. I also decided to tie the ankle strap of my rain pants into my shoelaces so that they wouldn’t ride up on me and let water get into my boots.
My brother-in-law, Justice, had warned me that once I hit Alaska I’d pretty much be riding long straight highways surrounded by pine trees. He was right. The ride to Fairbanks was pretty boring, except for seeing the Alaskan Pipeline every so often and a moose crossing. To break up the ride I made a stop at the Delta Meat and Sausage Co for some tastings, such as Yak, and to grab some reindeer sticks. I wanted to know what Donner and Blitzen tasted like.
Once I got to Fairbanks I wasn’t really sure what to do. I had heard some people at the campground talk about Pioneer Park. Since it was free, I decided to take a look. It was exactly what you’d expect from a name like Pioneer Park. There was lots of old memorabilia from the mining days.
The main reason I heard you need to visit Pioneer Park is for their salmon bake. Like I said in an earlier post, I’m not a big seafood fan, but they also had crab and prime rib just in case I didn’t like it. I ended up loving the salmon and cod. I think they put maple syrup on the salmon because it tasted sweet.
I had decided to stay at an Airbnb because I had been miserable the day before. On the way, I stopped to get gas near a bar where they were having a motorcycle showcase. I met some guys who had been on the road for 86 days. These guys were hardcore. They were hitting 49 states and all four corners of the country. They were waiting in fairbanks for some new tires so they could make the haul up to Prudhoe Bay. I had wanted to at least make it to the Arctic Circle but I didn’t think my bike could hold up against 200 miles of gravel.
Since it never gets dark out and I had a boring day on the road I decided to end the night with a ride around the hills behind where I was staying. I made it up until I saw rain off in the distance. I decided to turn around and call it a day.
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