Sunday, August 8, 2010

Back in the US of A!

My AT&T data charges while in the Yukon were only $560. Note to self, when traveling out of the country add more data and change rate plan. Option B, shut the phone off and leave it that way. Fortunately they changed my plan starting on the time before I arrived in the Yukon. Basically they prorated it and charged me $60 bux for 50MB instead of $560 overall. Who wins?

Sitting in the Skagway Home & Hostel which will no longer be come Mid Sept. The guy is shutting down after being in biz for 21 years. If your looking for a business opp, this could be your moment. $15 a night for a dorm room with bunk beds, warm showers, Internet and close to town. Also get to use the kitchen to cook your meals. Which has been key for me lately. Sick of paying crazy prices for shitty food and crappy service. Could be the best thing that ever happened to me quite frankly.

After typing my previous blog which I'm still uncertain about. Not sure how I feel about airing that "dirty laundry," but whatev's. It was time to crawl in the top bunk that I was staying in. Small two bunk bed room at the Beez Kneez in Whitewhores. The nick name for Whitehorse I found out from the Hostel manager. So about 1 in the morning and I crawl into the top bunk. Damn, I should have tested the structural integrity earlier in the evening. My fear was I was going to crush this poor 19 year old British kid staying on the bottom bunk. First of all there wasn't much room for me to climb up and in. The ceiling was low and I had to maneuver my way up there. Creaking, twisting and wood stretching. I've lost 20Lbs this trip but still weigh close to 230Lbs. Could only think of the scene in Stepbrothers where one falls on top of the other. Then I started thinking about my safety. Which way was thing going to fall? Will my head go down first at an angle? Will I land directly on his head? I laid there with my arms braced at the sides hoping I could grab on as the plywood and mattress gave way. Don't want to move, but I'm a side sleeper. Now I roll on my side and start to worry that I just concentrated my weight into a smaller part of the bed and now it's really going to collapse. Literally laying there in fear that this is going to give. Soon enough morning arrived and I had made it through along with the Brit.

Then it was off to a 110 miles of biking down to Skagway. About 12 miles out of town you turn south. As soon as I made that turn the wind hit me directly in the face. Biking has not been fun at all for me lately. The Yukon has been especially challenging. There is nothing up here for many many miles. So it was only 60 more miles directly into headwinds. At just over 70 miles I stopped and camped on the side of the road. Then today it was just another 40 to get to Skags. Prolly the toughest 40 miles of the trip thus far. It wasn't a lot of climbing, just cold, wet and wind in the face. Not a fun combo for biking. Thought about putting the thumb out but never did. Was looking forward to the 11 mile downhill into Skagway from the US customs station I've been hearing about. Big deal, 11 miles downhill with winds in your face is not fun.

Glad I made it and did the biking. Realized I'm sick of being in the mountains and need to get to the coast. Almost sick of biking already. Hoping the coast and watching sunsets every night will make all the difference. Been in the mountains ever since I've reached CO. I'm a city boy and miss having services, seeing people and biking through at least small town after small town. Sure I'll miss all this soon enough.

I'm tired and going to hit tonight's top bunk. Hopefully some folks are leaving tomorrow and I can switch it up. As a kid if I was sleeping in bunk beds I would always want the top one. I'll try and post some more pix to Picasa over the next couple of days. If you haven't gotten a postcard and would like one, text me your address. Just sent a bunch more today. Kind of fun thing to do. Have a great week, thanks for following along.

3 comments:

  1. You are hilarious! I can just picture you in that bunk bed and I'm roflmbo. Thanks for the mental pic! Welcome back to the USofA!

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  2. Didn't realise you were that worried about crushing me!

    I had the same thing last night, I'm in another creaky, wobbling bunk bed and have a 22 year old woman below me. It would be awful to crush a face like hers.

    Hope the trip carries on going well.

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  3. Hope one of those post cards was for me ,)
    xo

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