Day 14, Anchorage, AK to Anchorage AK, ~ 60 mi

11 July 2015

We spent today goofing around Anchorage.  Nothing fabulous today, sorry.

We started at the local Farmer's Market and Festival.  This is a Saturday/Sunday thing where one can procure the usual touristy stuff, and in addition buy local vegetables and some tasty, if overpriced fruit.  Of course we purchased some of both.  

Unlike those found in the grocery store, the cherries and nectarines are actually ripe and delicious!  Birch syrup wound up in our bag - I didn't know this was a thing, but it is fabulous (ok, one fabulous thing).  The purveyors informed us that it takes multiple amounts of birch sap to produce this syrup in comparison to that which is required to produce an equal amount of maple syrup.  Of course, they also convinced us to purchase the first-day batch which definitely has a more 'fruity' flavor, but at a premium price.

We also purchased some salmon jerky, salmon chowder, and meat sticks that are allegedly fractionally composed of caribou.

A few random pix of the market...

This young guy was playing some excellent classical music:
Rodrigo (concierto de Aranjuez) Bach, etc.
I just had to flip him a couple of bucks.

Even here Austin must be kept weird

Your usual Farmer's Market scene, only in Anchorage

I just liked this sign in Anchorage

After the market we made the obligatory rounds of the tourist shops, had a beer, and watched a beautiful movie about the auroras. 

Now, what I really want to talk about today is electronics.

When I last traveled by motorcycle (early '80s) the only electronic device that I carried was a small Walkman-like device that included an FM radio and ran on batteries.  I fashioned some headphone pads to work in my helmet, and put the device in my tankbag.

  

Now examine the photo below:

Electronics gone wild!

Let's see what we have here?

1 electric razor (with attendant 110v charger, 'just in case')

1 Kindle (for the spousal unit)

1 Samsung tablet (for updating this blog, I just couldn't fit a small laptop in)

1 bluetooth keyboard (because I have difficulty with on-screen keyboards)

1 bluetooth mouse (because I have difficulty with on-screen touching)

2 110v USB chargers (at least these can be shared by tablets and phones)

2 camera battery chargers (Sony and Olympus cameras not shown)

2 cigarette lighter, double USB chargers (the white ones)

1 cigarette lighter, double USB charger (the black one)

1 'emergency' USB charger (really just another battery) for cell phone use 

2 HTC One cell phones (one for me, one for the spousal unit)

1 cable for playing music through the Spyder radio speakers

Various and sundry USB cables

The Spyder comes from the factory with a cigarette lighter style power outlet in the rear trunk, and I added another one in the front trunk, so ideally we could charge two USB items and a camera battery at the same time while riding.  This is a good thing, which we have taken advantage of.  On the downside we have to find space for all of this stuff.  And untangle the wires.  And fish out the appropriate item from the 'electronics bag' as required.

Before we left the spousal unit purchased the two white cigarette lighter USB chargers (a good thing).  However, we soon learned that the silicone grips on these things caused them to push themselves out of the cigarette lighter sockets (a bad thing).  This prompted us to purchase the black equivalent in Idaho, which doesn't push itself out of the cigarette lighter socket (a good thing).

At the end of the day this all seems to be a bit too much, but I'm not really sure what to do about it.  I want my stuff, the spousal unit wants her stuff, the Spyder invites us to bring our stuff, and so we do.  At least we didn't bring a stand-alone GPS unit.  This is something that I have seen on a lot of other bikes up here.

  

In the end our motorcycling lives just aren't as simple (electronically speaking) as they were in the early '80s.