The Mobius Trip

[DR. Rock]

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[SlowRide13]

Ouch.... The DRZ miles! Keep 'em coming Doc.

[DR. Rock]

We awoke to a wet world. LDF cracked me up when she told me she couldn't remember which side of her GPS got inserted up...



it hadn't been all that long since M-5 ... I try to make these things easy on her.



We unpacked and re-packed all our gear... quickly falling back into the groove of what belongs where. I sent out the morning Spot OK message:



And we took the time after getting our riding gear on to introduce our corporate sponsor for Mobius-6:



jiffy pop!

[DockingPilot]

I'm buckled in and ready to go again Doc !

[DR. Rock]

got our asses in gear... and rolled onto the cold, wet, and foggy Denali highway.



We were so excited to be riding off-pavement, that we just dealt with the weather like no-big-deal. I think that ended up setting the tone for our weather-dealing-with attitude for the whole rest of the trip.

We stopped for a break next to the Nenana river,



near this sign,



completed the life-cycle of our morning coffee, and put on our rain pants. While we were doing so, we nearly got run over by a mini-tanker truck that was just screaming down the road.

We made a mental note to make sure to pull way over on the side of the road whenever we stopped for breaks.



We were riding towards the sunlight,

[DR. Rock]

at the tundra... the low clouds and morning angle of the sun...





we're riding out of the worst of it,



and towards some patches of blue sky for once.

[DR. Rock]

slippery wooden bridge, upstream:



downstream,



and go!



Clearing skies up ahead?

[DR. Rock]

looking back at the bridge,



happy to keep moving away from the rain, towards this:



I gotta say, I was really glad we'd changed to some real knobbies once we were on roads like this -- you could tell it was slick by looking at it, but the bikes felt planted as could be.



"rhymes with debonair" I crack myself up sometimes. Totally didn't remember saying that.

[DR. Rock]

just a little riding sample and some idle chatter...





another break... remember to hydrate.



and a view of a distant glacier across the tundra:

[DR. Rock]

gaining some altitude:



anticipating some nice views at the top, it certainly was impressive along the way,





where ARE we? it's otherworldly.





I felt about the size of an ant.

[DR. Rock]

still look plenty threatening,



but it's stopped raining, and the road is actually drying out.

more life on the Denali highway:



(this is the kind of parking lot I was referring to)

[DR. Rock]

and then too soon, we were back on pavement.

[DR. Rock]

at Paxson, we were on the Richardson highway, heading north,



following the Delta river valley downstream, which eventually meets up with the Yukon river further north.



The long stretches of pavement allowed for higher speeds (translation: wind + wet = cold) But also, we could observe the scenery without worrying so much about the road surface.



as we progressed to lower elevations,



the skies really started to clear, and the temps started to rise.

[DR. Rock]

was carrying a load of glacial silt, and the water level must have been low, 'cause the wind was really kicking up a dust storm. It reminded me of the dry alkaline lake beds in Nevada.



"makin' s'miles "

[DR. Rock]

again, we felt like we'd stepped into another world. The variation of micro-climates is jarring.



we stopped for gas, and snacks before turning right to head towards Tok and the Taylor highway beyond.



Gearing up, LDF was swarmed by killer bees, which we noticed enjoyed feasting on their accumulated dead brethren on the front facing surfaces of our bikes any time we stopped.

To escape, she burned a donut in the gas station parking lot, popped a wheelie, and roosted gravel about a quarter mile 'till she got to the road.

Where she sat, waiting for me... "Are you coming? Hurry up, already... oh, by the way, my back wheel feels funny."



Ahem. something is wrong in this picture.