It was about 10pm when i approached Deadhorse everything was soaked through to the bone and caked in mud.
In those final kilometers i got emotional in the helmet. I began remembering encounters and situations from the previous months. I then pictured the world seen from space and the pathway i had etched to get to where i was. It was a strange flow of emotions i was experiencing. I was happy, excited and even sad and teary all in the same moment.
When i got into town it was initially difficult to tell which direction took me as far north as i could get. I found a motel and decided to question the price of a room. Despite it being out of my budget, they had no space. I was then greeted by a fellow rider having a smoke outside. He kindly rang the other motel who was also at capacity.
The decision was made then that i would have to camp and the fellow rider gave me a quick rundown of the area. He said there was an option to do a bus tour of the oil field if i handed my passport in for clearance for 24 hours. No passport, easy decision.. I got my bearings and left.
Welcome to the end of the road!!!!
It was 11pm on the 17th of July 2010, I landed in Chile to begin my venture on the 17th of February 2009…. 17 months earlier.
I now had four days to get back to Vancouver in Canada. Claudia my Bolivian love arrived on the 21st and her birthday was on the 25th. It was 4000 km and a border crossing between us.
Before i left Deadhorse, i needed fuel, I went to the gas station not sure what to expect. I quickly realised that it was unmanned and without a credit card i was stranded until work began again in the morning.
When i entered the building to use the bathroom, the door opened to a heated coatroom with the bathroom through a door to the left. I knew immediatly that i had found my accomidation for the evening.
I then reached deep inside my panniers fro a can of peaches and some luxury items i had purchased in Fairbanks that morning.
My hands were dirty, wrinkled and calloused.
But I had done what i set out to do and thoroughly enjoyed the party!!
At 5:30 in the morning i woke to the door of the coatroom opening onto my legs. The first employee had got to work and didn’t seem surprised to see me huddled beside the heater. I got up and he gave me some coffee.
I wasted no time, filled my stomach with coffee then my bike and containers with gas. I was back on the road early with a marathon ahead of me.
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