Anchorage is Alaska’s largest city, and it is… well… a city. I suppose it’s OK, if you happen to like cities. I don’t care much for them, myself. I know, they have their purposes, and there actually are folks who do like them… I just ain’t one of those.
Due to the apparent dearth of motels, or at least my inability to spot any on the way in, I wound up in the heart of town at something less than a four-star motel… It was OK, I guess, and even though I did get online for a while, I lost my connection and was never able to regain it… bummer.
I was never able to get the TV to work at all, either… And, as if all that weren’t enough, the pizza I had delivered was barely mediocre, so I only ate half of it… Well, at least we didn’t have locust…
The bed was comfy, though, and I did sleep well… and the room was clean and neat. I loaded up early the next morning and rode a full mile at least before I found a place to get some coffee (early Sunday morning) … No in-room coffee at the motel (they did have a couple of tea bags and two ceramic cups, though, but no way to make the tea except hot water from the sink).
What's more, even though the desk person had put some coffee on in the lobby (it smelled fab, too, as it was brewing!), there were no cups available at the office… I passed on taking a handful or two or trekking back upstairs to the room for one of those cups…
Before I could manage to escape that urban locale, three different people had tried to bum a smoke or money from me… A word on that…This city is no different from most others I’ve visited. I truly don’t know what it is, but I usually manage to see a side of things that's less flattering like those mentioned above… Maybe it's just my expectations that cause me to look for it there...
I don’t want to say that never happens in small places too, but for whatever reason I don’t seem to find it nearly as much anywhere else like I do in those large, heavily populated areas… Perhaps it’s just me… I fret about the sad condition of the lives some people lead, and I wonder what might be done about that… or even if anything can be done.
Soon enough, I was temporarily adequately caffeinated and rolling along southwestward beside a large body of water… presumably Turn Again Arm off Cook Inlet. A shallow body of water (which played a role in its naming), and it appeared to be rather muddy.
The wind was brisk coming off the water, so the ‘feels like temp’ was much lower than the actual… and, naturally, I was underdressed for that… I toughed it out, though, so my stops were necessarily a wee bit more frequent than they otherwise might have been… That was OK, though, because I did also have a nagging coffee deficit to work off…
Some pictures of the ride…
I was on my way to near the fishing village of Homer to meet Rob (meathead) and his wife Brenda. They both grew up in that area, and they were back on vacation visiting family and friends… and doing some fishing, too. Because of 'the season’ being well underway and nearing its peak, motel rooms, if one could even be found, were at ‘market price’… meaning they were hefty! Rob did some checking around for me…
He came up with a ‘Yurt’ option available for an affordable price in the village of Anchor Point about 15-20 miles north of Homer… Being a veteran of ‘glamping’ now, thanks to Sweet Cheeks and crew, I jumped on this as likely the best alternative to be had. It wasn’t bad at all…
My home for the night…
Rob and Brenda came by and picked me up in the van they were using, and we proceeded to the Anchor River Inn for sustenance and libation… and a good time was had by all… It actually was a grand time getting acquainted and comparing notes on various topics with two very interesting, nice and fun people… They needed to leave to prepare for their return flight home the next day… so, it took my best effort to get them to stay a little longer, but I did and they did…
Friends finally meet
Rob and I had figured to hook-up when I rode through his current hometown a few months ago, Lake Havasu City, AZ, but we couldn’t make it happen then… The moral of this little vignette is that you can run, but you can’t hide, if the ol’ bug-slayer ever gets you in his sights!
There was Wi-Fi available at my then current home, but I’d have had to walk uphill about 75 yards carrying my gear, then up a flight of stairs to the guest lounge over the laundry and showers to use it… I didn’t need to get online bad enough to bother, so… I didn’t. I was able to check the weather forecast on my Iphone, however… and things did not look promising!
Rob had strongly recommended I ride on down to Homer the next day and look around… perhaps even visit the ‘Salty Dog’ lounge and restaurant… Before I booked the Yurt for another night, though, I checked the forecast mostly just to confirm it would be fine to do that very thing… only it wasn’t!!!
Nope, Monday would be OK, especially early on, but by night and the following two days… at least according to the forecast, and you know how that can be… my time could be more productively spent constructing an Ark and selecting two of each species… BTW, if I ever do find myself in that situation, unlike Noah, I ain’t gonna let two mosquitos on board!!!
I did not want to spend three more nights in that Yurt, if it meant doing so during foul weather… Nope, being that far from the bathhouse, having no internet for the most part, and located five miles or so from a restaurant... well, that just didn't work for me!
No sir, and besides, the sandy driveway in and out of the Yurt was tricky in the best of circumstances, so… I decided to pass on Homer after all, and head back towards Anchorage and look for a venue more suitable for hunkering down...
Anchorage held no appeal for this country-boy at heart, but whatcha gonna do? While riding northward, I recalled a place I’d stopped at on the way down, and it just might be perfect!
A small motel in a tiny hamlet with all downstairs, park at the door rooms, plus a café, lounge and general store on premises… what’s not to love about a place like that?
Well, no telling what that might cost, and being small the odds didn’t heavily favor it having any vacancies… I decided to stop by and see anyway… I did recall seeing a ‘Vacancy’ sign on when I’d passed through before… Sure enough, that sign was still on!
Sunrise Inn
DDT
