I'm in love with life. We are one day from the Alaska border and this summer has been a blast. I've definitely grown significantly since we set out June 1st and I will be sad to see the end of summer. Meeting up with Sierra has been great. With their arrival has come new faces, old friends, and a fresh perspective which will carry us through the final portion of our journey North. Tomorrow we race for Alaska. I was considering trying to invent a girl's division for this race but I think we'll just race with the boys. Having 40+ riders on the road has its disadvantages and risks but on the whole it's been really great to ride in pacelines with the whole group. Everyone has gotten stronger and it is a priveledge to share the road with these fine folks. I have much respect for everyone for taking what was an idea over just a year ago and making it happen. I can honestly say that I am proud of the way we've spent our summer. The roads up here are very much under construction but we are managing.

A quick story:

My last drive day (Sunday) I was following the last group of rider in the van when I hear them shout "Grizzly!" We all stop and observe this enormous animal grubbing up on the hill about 50 feet from the road. So Abram starts screaming "It's so big... omg it's so big" unfortunatly drawing unnecessary attention to our presence. The bear gradually inched towards us parallelling the road until just as the last two riders were clipping in to ride off it lowered its head and starts sprinting towards Adriano and Dustin. Now I believe all those people who said grizzlies can get up to 40Km an hour. Wow those things can run. Luckily the sound of the car's engine (or perhaps the bear's change of heart) caused the giant to change trajectory less than 20 feet from the riders. Skip was definitely dissapointed he missed it.

Off to Alaska...

I love you all!