South to Seward

Monday 9th June

We rode back 3 miles to Rosie's Cafe this morning for breakfast.  We both had oatmeal which was great!  We were dressed up to guard against the cold but the heat in the cafe was amazing!!  I was very glad to get out of there.

We got on the road early as today is a very big riding day.  We were about 30minutes down the road when we came up behind a car towing a small caravan (trailer house for you Americans) David looked to see if he could pass but there was a truck coming so he waited and I must have had a microsleep cause next minute the caravan was looming large and David had slammed on the brakes the front and back of the bike were simultaneously fishtailing.  Thank God we managed to stay up and avoid a collision.  If you are towing ANYTHING please check your lights and flashers before driving.  There was no indication whatsovever that this vehicle was braking or turning!!  I'm so glad David didn't choose that moment to overtake or it could have been game over!  Needless to say he got a horn blast and a friendly (LOL) wave.  We stopped a short way down the road for petrol and a reassuring hug :)

Our next stop was at McKinley View Cafe and yes you guessed no McKinley view today!!  Shrouded in clouds again.  We had a hot drink and a piece of brownie to share.  I am getting a cold and thank goodness we have cold and flu tabs.  My nose is so stuffed up!!

Our next stop is Willow for more fuel and a stretch.  We planned to stop in Anchorage for lunch today but totally missed it, not because it was so small like some places but because we took our turn to Seward and kept thinking we'll stop in a minute when we see something and completely missed one stop.  So lunch was in Girdwood and i'm glad it was we had burgers and they were such great burgers!!  I think it was the buns more like the ones we have at home.  We met two lovely young Alaskan girls while having lunch one asked if we were from Australia, they were admiring our patches and one of them said "It's a pity I don't have my car with me I could have given you an Anchorage Police Patch" they had just been up to their cabin for the weekend and were heading home she explained to us that her parents are in the police service.  We pushed on and stopped in Moose Pass for a hot drink, it's been very cold riding today some short showers and snow capped mountains in view at all times.  So we pull over to what we think is the trading post with a talking moose and fudge.  We order our drinks and then I notice they don't have a restroom and the sign says 'Please don't ask no exceptions' when we ask where the closet one is the young girl behind the counter says 6 miles down the road is a campground!!  I am not in hurry thank goodness so we drink our tea and are on our way a couple of hundred metres down the road is where we meant to stop LOL not sure if they have a loo but we are going to stop there on the way back out and check :)
We arrive in Seward (pronounced sewered) and find our hotel it looks REALLY dodgy from the outside and the manager James reminds us of Arnold from Happy Days he says something and then lets out a big bahahahahahaha he's a crack up and a gem!!  The room turns out to be OK and bit dated but really comfy bed, nice shower and cooking facilites.  I've stayed in waaay worse!  So once we are settled in we ride down to Safeway to get some supplies for dinner tonight and tomorrow night and breakfasts.  James gives us his Safeway number and we get $5.20 off our groceries and $2 off our wine bargain.  We got some chicken thigh for tonight, steak for tomorrow and veges.  Some cereal, yoghurt, juice, milk and bananas for breakfast.  You would not believe how hard it is to buy just ordinary milk in this country!!!  We walk out of the supermarket just as a HUGE RV driving around the carpark wipes out the back of a truck parked in disabled parking!!  the noise is horrendous and there is a large group of people standing outside and they all let out a simultaneous chorus of "Oh no!!!!" it's pretty funny.  Then the next 15 minutes is them trying to drive the RV away from the truck it just gets worse and worse I wish I could have filmed it I could have won money on Funniest home videos.  I buy a bottle of wine from the liquor store next door and we go back to our hotel.  David cooks us a lovely dinner.  The wine is merlot my favourite and I thought that my cold was making it taste funny but David says no it tastes funny LOL.  We are very fortunate in Australia that we can pick just about any wine off a shelf and it will be good. We are unable to connect to the internet so we watch a movie and go to bed.