Day 1




8/1/95 - Tuesday
Lodging: Spenard Hostel, Anchorage
Weather: Pleasant.



Tonight is the formal beginning of the trip with a trip meeting scheduled for 7 p.m. at the hostel. The meeting began with our leader introducing himself, and each of us doing the same. This is really the first time we are all together in one place. A few members of the group arrived only hours before and are barely settled in. Others like me have been here for a few days. After the introductions, the leader ran through a bit of the trip itinerary; the chore chart of who cooked, washed dishes, or filtered water/hung bear bags on which days, and with whom; some safety issues of cycling and dealing with bears; and the inventory and distribution of the group gear and some of the group food, more of which would be purchased on our way out of town in the morning.

At the end of the meeting, the leader left for a while and the rest of us sat around getting more acquainted over a few bowls of popcorn. With each handful of popcorn, we got sillier and sillier. By the time we all had had enough popcorn, my sides were aching and my cheeks were sore from grinning. A good beginning.

I wandered off to one of the other "apartments" in this large friendly hostel to watch the t.v. weather forecast for tomorrow. Not sunny. In fact, not even just overcast. Rain. What a surprise. Not! I guess I'm still the Rain Goddess. Some of my former bike touring companions would not be at all surprised.

I awoke on and off during the night to the familiar sounds of rain - as forecast. Sunrise: 5.32am
Sunset: 10.37pm. Wow!


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Copyright (c) Judith J. Colwell, 1995. All rights reserved.