Police update

While being treated to a warm up in the Silver Bow Cafe in Juneau by our gracious host Dennis I managed to find out why the police carted the Bobs off. Here is the link to the Juneau Police Department statement.

http://www.juneau.org/police/PSA/20100116054352.pdf

This posted from Petersburg with two bars of reception ~ midnight.

By admin on January 19, 2010 | Posted in On the Road | Tagged | 1 Comment

Police, Deafness, ready?

Yesterday as we got off the ferry, one of our fellow passengers who we had spoken to idly at sea was escorted off the boat in hand cuffs by the police. His friend carried his luggage and followed behind. Why he was carted off is a mystery, and since we have several times engaged in speculation as to what he might have done. Perhaps his shiny loafers might have tipped us off that this now dodgy seeming fellow was more Sopranos than saint. His hair now seems more greasy and dark the eyes less open in memory. I did say our second night as we crossed the gulf that the less than half empty boat plodding into the darkness beyond sight of land seemed worryingly like some Agatha Christie story.

After arriving at our home in Juneau and dropping our bags off we decided the snow free Juneau roads would allow us to lighten our loads and switch from our studded Alaska tyres to our touring tyres. A quick change over in the hall outside our hosts house was in order.

My change went by uneventfully. Shortly we found out that one of Erika’s valve stems had been ripped out. Thankfully there was adequate pressure for basic riding though probably not loaded touring. No immediate tube change needed. Oscar had no spare and Erika only one. Oscars checked the tyre he was pumping and decided to add some more. BANG! Amid a ringing hiss a room full of schock and a low dull staticy sound coming through our ears as if through a pile of cotton balls it becomes laughingly clear that Oscar has blown out a tube in a very confined space. Maybe that’s what it feels like to be in a snare drum when a firecrackers bursts within it.

Well atleast we had that spare of Erika’s. They went to get it, and came back tube in hand. Shit, the spare it turned out was a Schrader stem, our wheels are drilled to accept Presta stems which are smaller. No fit. My wheels take 700c tyres and their are 26″ tyres so the 4 spare tubes I carried are too big in diameter to fit. We contemplated the eventuality of me ferrying Oscars gear to the ferry with Erika and returning with her under inflated rear wheel to Oscar so he can ride back to the ferry on Monday. No bike shops were expected to be open in Juneau on the long holiday weekend.

A quick iPhone search and call revealed one open briefly on Monday. I shall have to bike out to them and stock up on tubes before our next ferry voyage.

We were not fully prepared it seems. While I’m glad we found out early on I’m not glad it happened at all. Before bed last night as a group we eliminated some dead weight some over lap and found some things we need to get taken care of. I wish this had been done in Anchorage where we would have no shipping and the cost would be less. 

Oh well. At least shipping things back and redistributing some communal weight should eliminate my overloaded wobble.

By admin on January 17, 2010 | Posted in On the Road | Tagged , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Gulf of Alaska

Ferry trip one, aboard M/V Tustumena, Whittier to Juneau went well. Unusually good weather for a winter crossing. Seas swells 2-3 feet across the gulf. I bumped in to Sharon Cissna, my elected representative, on her way to the legislature for the coming session. We watched “Julie and Julia” in the theater the first night, I caught most of “The Soloist” the second night, mostly we just wandered about the boat between meals and scurried over our cluttered corner of the boat aquatinting ourselves with our bike bags. The crew was friendly, at every corner. Twenty passengers, 36 crew. Room for 64 in the roll-able orange self contained life boats. As the Chief Purser pointed out, not much room for shuffle board or badminton. The boats were not needed thankfully. I found it almost disappointing that the seas only grew to 8-10 feet as we approached Cape Spencer, I said almost but I slept through the roughest part of the seas we had so maybe more wasn’t really wanted. In fact if it had been more rough I would likely not have gotten too pilot the boat, as I did during our tour.

The Chief Engineer, Dohn, hooked us up with some tasty Alkali water after guiding us through the engine compartments, and later up to the bridge. In the noisy confines below decks with our ear plugs in we resorted to a sort of charades and lip reading that some how managed to convey that we were looking at the air in take, oil filter, generator, salt water pump and so forth. Pumping an open hand several inches over a steaming hot object as we walked passed warned those behind not to touch. None did. Interestingly in the propeller shaft room aside from the sand blaster welding gear and lathes a white washer and dryer were tucked into the hull. Im not sure why the crew would find it convenient to drag their clothes through the hot and noisy engine room clean though it was for laundry, but there they were. Stranger perhaps was the placement of an old Nordic Track machine in the steering room below the car deck in the very back. The rudders moved very little while we were there.

Night number two aboard the Tustumena I went to the top deck to use the public shower. Just as the sea started to swell some more I got to take my shower. The water swirled from corner to corner around me and the drain.

This morning one of our fellow passengers was to disappear.

More on that Later.

By admin on January 16, 2010 | Posted in On the Road | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Almost

Tomorrow night we leave. Whittier can be a dark place in the winter. The sun skims below the mountain’s back even at the height of its day. Tantalizingly close the bright sky lays, across the harbor the snowy slopes gloat and glare. In the shadow of the mountain the people wait for summer’s sun to come again. Solstice is past, spring will come. Bound in by snowy peaks and glassy sea, so cold, so quiet summer seems foreign. Under the dark of night we will begin our journey south. Towards the equator where summer never ceases, where snowy darkness will seem foreign, there we will go and find new places with characters to ponder.

iPhone of 8x10 ground glass, Dec 2009, Whittier

iPhone of 8x10 ground glass, Dec 2009, Whittier

By admin on January 13, 2010 | Posted in Pre Departure | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Off topic

If you ever wondered what qualifies as chic cycling attire in Copenhagen, the web has your answer. It seems some perspicacious blogger is keeping a log of their daily street sightings. Judging by the relaxed and poshly attired cyclists of Copenhagen that I saw there, who seemed to glide effortlessly over the snow, my local Anchorage cyclists seem like frenetic hunched backed Hydes, clawing for survival at the margins of busy streets, either garishly costumed or clearly under dressed.

Oh if we were civilized

By admin on January 8, 2010 | Posted in Thoughts Unrelated | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Tick Tock…

One week left to prepare. To say good byes. To finish projects. To tie loose ends.

No time to revel in anticipation.

I’ll welcome the wide silence of our sea voyage, short lived it will seem.

By admin on January 7, 2010 | Posted in Pre Departure | Tagged | 1 Comment

A load off my back

For those familiar with the Adventure Cycling Association, it may come as no surprise that they have some wonderful maps available for cyclists taking many well travelled routes across the U.S. I was very happy to rediscover them in the course of planning my segment of our expedition. After investigating my initial purposed route I found that mine and theirs down the west coast of the U.S. coincided rather nicely. So well infact that after purchasing their map set I am left with few details on the first part of my segment to look into beyond what diversions inland we might wish to make and what amenities and challenges we would face.

Of course there still is that little stretch from California to Puerto Vallarta.

By admin on December 17, 2009 | Posted in Pre Departure | Tagged , | Leave a comment

Jabs in the Arm Again…

photoThey just keep coming, first a PPD or Mantoux test to see if I’ve been exposed to tuberculosis. One small shot in the arm. Negative, not terribly surprising considering where I live and where I’ve been but it is nice to know I have yet to exposed to that rather nasty disease. The incidence is highest in sub-Saharan Africa by far, HIV infection greatly increases the likely hood of a latent TB infection becoming active. On the day of the follow up check I finish my Hepatitis A an B series. One shot. Then my Yellow fever vaccine. Another shot. This is the only one required for the expedition. Legally to enter Panama and Colombia I will need to present my Carte Jaune or “International Certificate of Vaccination or Prophylaxis” with the documentation of my vaccination.  All the other prophylaxis’ and treatments I receive are merely a diligent choice to prevent my becoming ill and my spreading any maladies to others.

Looking  at the idillic reef light fixture on the ceiling as the nurse continues to jab me I fail to think of what afflictions and parasites those fish would have to live with in their environment, and with out doctors to care for them. Maybe those wild iddilic reefs aren’t so friendly after all.

Perhaps it is ironic that I think of the wild “state of nature” while taking treatments against it, would Locke or Hobbes consider such fanciful ideas as-well? Didn’t Rousseau have TB, or was he simply mad?

By admin on December 16, 2009 | Posted in Pre Departure | Tagged , , | Leave a comment

Great Teeth

Today’s pre-departure dental check up went as all check ups should go, quickly and with no nasty surprises. As long as I can remember my dentist has been ending our visits with his cheerful line “You have great teeth.”, today his son delivered the report to me. Never having had any cavities and only having had my wisdom teeth removed I can’t say I’ve ever been afraid of going to the dentist, or had any reason to. The occasional flossing reminder and impish response aside, I must admit I’ve enjoyed looking out on the same slowly changing view through the office window. Perhaps the quiet pause in harried days schedule whilst assured professionals go about their business gives my mind a chance to rest in capable hands. During my last visit my dentist introduced his son who has joined his practice, I was lucky enough to have both generations of family dentists check my teeth that day. Dr. Biederman senior I gather is reducing his days of work, and I hope enjoying some well deserved time off, while his son Dr. Biederman the junior takes on more of the practice. It seems I shall get to enjoy visiting their family practice for some years to come now. As to the Wilderness Travel catalog in the waiting room, I hope they both get some ideas from it and enjoy enacting them.

By admin on November 18, 2009 | Posted in Pre Departure | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Vaccine, Did You Work?

Well doses two, three and four of my Typhoid Vaccine went down with little more than a gulp and some light discomfort. But, did it do its job? I’m not really sure. Version 2.0 humans should include a status screen or maybe different colored LEDs under the belly button to inform them of the various statuses of their body that are beyond superficial observation. Immunity is achieved, blood sugar low, liver function reduced, low battery time to recharge (Apple take note). Hopefully my next vaccine, Yellow Fever, will be administered with as little disruption. I doubt that I’ll enjoy getting it though, shots and I don’t get along well. I guess I’ll trust that they are doing what they are supposed to while avoiding catching what they should prevent.

By admin on November 11, 2009 | Posted in Pre Departure | Tagged , | 2 Comments

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