Nice Bike Ride

Since I was heading to Barrow this afternoon, I needed to pick up my laptop from my office at the University. I took the bike and for some reason, the trip to the University got longer than usual. I took Ballaine Road to Goldstream to the University. After picking up the stuff that I had forgotten, I went to the gas station to fill up the bike. Then headed towards the Parks Highway lookout at the top of the hill just past Ester before heading back towards town on the Old Nenana Highway. There is still a lot of road damage on some sections of that road in spite of a lot of repairs being done this summer. I then headed back down Goldstream Road towards home. All in all, about 60 miles. Not real far but enough to get rid of the cobwebs. I'm not sure how many more riding days there are going to be. I thought that this may be my last chance for the summer. Winter seems to be coming quicker than usual this year. In fact, when I checked the weather at 7:00am this morning, it was below freezing. I definitely don't want to be on the road when there is a possibility of ice. I saw a couple of other bikes out including one of the "last edition" white, BMW R100RT's. I think those were made in 1984 which makes it just one year newer than mine. I wish that I had more time to ride this summer but I guess that is the price for taking a one month road trip in the middle of the summer.

Barrow is also just barely above freezing this evening. In addition, it is a bit windy. When the plane was coming in, there was a layer of clouds as far as you can see in all directions. The pilot announced that Barrow was overcast with 1000' ceilings. I was told that the weather was going to stay this way for the rest of the week. My favorite Japanese restaurant was closed this evening probably because of the holiday, but Sam & Lee's had excellent Cantonese dishes. There is a lot of things that I need to get done while I'm here. I haven't been here since the end of June. I'm glad that the phone system ran without any problems, at least none that I am aware of.

I have received a number of emails asking what I thought of the choice of Sarah Palin for Vice-President. I believe that she has been doing a phenomenal job as the governor of the state, specifically, dealing with the gas pipeline and some of the ethics "issues" which seem to plague our congressional delegation but I also believe that she does not have enough experience at this point in time. Plus, I don't think much of her running mate. I think that win/lose would be good for the state of Alaska.