Into White

It's been 37 hours since I walked out of the front door in Melbourne- and I find myself in a bar in Anchorage- a lively place with great food, and beer, and lots of locals having a good time. My friend Tony collected me from the airport after a pretty smooth flight- 14 hours on the A 380 giant- a very smooth flight across the Pacific into LA- an airport that despite the horror stories of unfriendly immigration and customs officials proved anything but- took the whole of 5 minutes to get thru the lot, and I was out in the sunshine- walking across to terminal 3- faster in my walking pace then taking the shuttle service- then a quick check in at the Alaskan Airways counter, and a 2 hour flight to Seattle- clear skies and amazing views-about 10 minutes out of LA the landscape changed from brown / green to progressively more white- as we passed the Sierra mountains covered in snow- and headed over Mt Hood, Mt St Helen- with it's volcanic cone clearly visible and the destruction of it's explosion few years back still very evident- an into Pugent Sound- and Seattle- and mount Rainier glowing white in the evening light- huge, proud, and familiar- from a climb I did many years ago. The one hour stop over i spent mainly playing noughts and crosses with a 5 year old from Canada- who i met at the transit lounge- who's family breeds huskies for mushers- a chance meeting that turned out very enjoyable and fascinating- learning about their dogs running in the Yukon quest amongst other races. we boarded on time for the final leg to Anchorage- alas a hole was discovered in the cargo hold and we spent the next hour waiting.... and waiting... and then some more- but eventually took off for the final 3.5 hour leg to Anchorage- arriving by moonlight with huge areas of ice glistening in the waters of Cookes inlet- along which the city is built.

When i got out of the plane- the minus 18 temp was actually a refreshing feel- beautiful clean, cold air- after so many hours in the canned environment- and snow- everywhere.

Met Tony and we headed to REI- to collect some gear we ordered- and then to dinner...the bar.. where this episode starts.

After dinner we drove towards the GGBB- the Green Ghetto Bed And Breakfast- the unofficial name for Tony's place- under rennovation- a happy home for me while I stay in AK between trips and races. On the way home met my first Moose- ambling along the road- cars all around- totally cool and relaxed about it all.

Tommorow we get the bikes- and ride!