Day 8 : Mile 134.4 Highway 3 to Palmer

August 7/2010: We left the Mary Carey Mt. McKinley Lodge and headed south to Wasilla. But a lot of things can happen between here and there, and they did.

  At the Trapper Creek Trading Post gas station Bitchy Linda had a small mishap. Sigh. Which resulted in some free yellow paint for Maria (and her unfortunate incontinence-inducing rain suit) when she fell off the bike and onto the curb, as well as leaving Bitchy Linda's clutch handle a little worse for wear.

The stop and flop, and a mysterious sound from Hailey's chain, lead us to the first bike shop we could find in Wasilla. Which just happened to be the Denali Harley-Davidson Shop (907-FREEDOM; www.denaliharley.com) and Wow! Really, wait to you hear what happened next!

Paul

Heroes to Sparkle and Bitchy Linda: Paul, Mitch, Shawn, Greg

Upon meeting two stressed out Canadian travellers, General Manager Paul Ramage put his arms around us and said, "let's go to the bike hospital." Our bikes received the attention they required....

This doesn't really need a caption but a certain person who is planning our homecoming/birthday party should keep this particular meal in mind as it is the birthday girl's favourite grub. Just sayin'

 After making the bikes feel better, Paul and his employees invited us to stay for the 5th anniversary of the local Harley Chapter 1836. 

Where we had party games, great conversation and Maria won the door prize--literally. Each year the chapter gets someone to sign their door. Boy was Maria ever surprised when she found out she had the winning ticket!

 They tried to convince Hailey to buy a Harley. (Note that she is already wearing Harley colours--orange and black!)

We met Bob and Cissy at the party who invited us to stay with them at their home in Palmer (just outside of Wasilla).

Precious their pit bull is the friendliest dog we've ever met. We received some kitty loving too from Tigger and....okay, we can't remember the other cat's name. Sorry puss.