Wilderness As Far As You Can See...

Have you seen the 3 1/2 minute music slideshow that I put together from May 1 through May 4 and posted yesterday? CLICK HERE TO WATCH IT! I'm sorry that my access to the Internet has not been very good in this part of Alaska, but that was to be expected. So, since many of you have been wanting to see recent pictures, I thought I should at least make another music slideshow. I'll try to post other photos soon in the column to the right for the past few days. Thanks for your continued patience! Remember, audio files are posted daily by my friend Rob (and you know when those are ready to listen to when they have a red check mark next to them). The same is true for the video files in the column to the right!

Not The Best Of Days...

Yesterday was a good day on the road. Today was a different story. It started out okay, but went downhill at mile 13. I logged today's 30 miles in mainly cloudy weather that actually brought a little snow and some sleet. I don't believe it warmed up over 38 degrees. All was rolling along pretty well this morning. However, things changed when I reached the 10-mile point. That's when I began a 9-mile stretch of road that climbed gradually... one hill/mountain followed by another. My body was having a difficult time warming up today and at mile 13 (after about 3 miles of pushing Bob up steep inclines) my right calf muscle - technically known as the Gastrocnemius - tightened up like a rock and brought me to a standstill on the side of the road. Yep... it really hurt. The muscle was contracted and wouldn't relax. I rubbed some heat into it, took some Ibuprofen, massaged it, but was not getting much relief. So, I had to continue on with the pain and discomfort - for another 17 miles. It made for a long day and the elevation gain was well over 1,000 feet with the tight calf muscle. Pushing 80 pounds uphill with one of your calf muscles locked up is not a pleasant experience. So, I am now spending the evening in Fairbanks. I've had a shower and have done some icing as well as self massage of my calf muscle. I'll do more tomorrow - during my "transport day". I may or may not be able to make it to the Arctic Circle. We're scheduled to drive north toward the Circle tomorrow, but the forecast and current conditions are not looking good. Alaska is now covered with clouds, rain and snow. It is very different from the 70-degree weather that dominated the state just a couple of days ago. Now, Alaska is experiencing its usual weather for this time of year.

Going For The Arctic Circle...

Tomorrow we will drive north to try and get 30 miles south of the Arctic Circle. It is from there on Friday that I hope to run 30 miles to the actual point of the Arctic Circle. However, here's the conditions that the weather service posted this afternoon:

James Dalton Highway: at Alder Mountain Summit, Milepost 118 - difficult driving conditions, icy patches, snow on roadway. Current temperature: 28 degrees; 2 inches of snow on the roadway.

Hopefully, I'll be able to run to the Arctic Circle. We'll just have to see how the road is as we get further north. I likely won't have an Internet connection tomorrow evening, but will try to get a call out to my friend, Rob, to post a report onto tomorrow's journal so that you will know what my plan is. I'll do my best!

Go Back And Take A Look...

This evening I have a good Internet connection and decided to focus on getting the videos I've taken with my little video camera online. Please go back to the journal pages for the past several days to view the many videos I've posted from the road. You'll find them in the right-hand column on any page in the "Today's Video Files" section. I'll post today's videos (Wednesday's) tomorrow morning. I'd post them now... but it's 10:00 p.m. and I'm very tired! Thanks for your patience.

More Pictures Are Coming!

I hope that everyone has enjoyed the music slideshows that I've created occasionally during this journey. You can find links to those within some of the journal pages. However, I know that there are those of you who are wondering when I'm going to post some individual pictures for the past several days in the column to the right of the journal pages within the section reading "Today's Pictures". I plan on working on individual pictures tomorrow (which is a transport day) and posting those perhaps Friday evening. For now, I hope you have liked the slideshows!

That's all from this Alaska milepost! Thanks for stopping by and be sure to run back here tomorrow.