Janet arrives!

Day 33 July 17. Grandview to Palmer (our Anchorage destination). Distance 70 mi. My distance 51 mi.

This will be a fun week with Janet here. Tomoko, Jessica Brown, and Janet arrived in their rental car where we had our lunch break at the 51-mi stop. I was the final driver of the day, so I waited there after the guys rode on, and pretty soon the gals arrived and it was so wonderful to see Janet again after the five-week absence. They had passed the riders and honked a hello, but continued to the RV where I was.

Janet and I drove the motorhome, with Jessica and Tomoko in the car, to overtake the riders and we then had our formal stop-and-greet (where we took the photo at the top). We then drove on to the campground and pretty soon everyone was there! Actually, Bob and Derek were a little late because Derek had a flat tire. It's so frustrating when you're only a mile or two from your day's destination and you get a flat.

Bert and I unloaded our things into the rental car, and drove about 10 miles east to our motel in Wasilla. Look how beautiful our view is out onto Lake Lucille:

The four of us had dinner at a local Mexican restaurant, and Janet kept encouraging me to eat eat eat. Which I did, of course. I DO eat a lot, but I have lost some pounds anyway.

The day started cold and overcast, and we ate breakfast at the campground cafe:

While waiting for the cafe to open at 8 am, Rick and I worked on my shifters once again, because they continue to not be right. I also did a 2nd load of clothes. Then we took off and immediately had incredible, spectacular scenery as we climbed and descended steep hills. Here are several photos:

The day warmed up as we continued along our route, and became delightfully toasty for the first time in weeks. The scenery just continued to impress with every turn of the road. With texts and phone calls, we knew the gals were on their way. Eventually we reached the lunch stop, which is where the gals found me:

Bert, Tomoko,Janet and I will visit Anchorage today in the rental car, while the others are planning to do a biking tour of the city. I'm pretty sure they will drive the RV to the city and then unload the bikes for their tour, because they are about 40 miles away from downtown.