The 17th stage officially ends its Alaskan adventure

Participation in the Bike Jamboree project, a stage through Alaska, was undoubtedly an adventure of life for us. For the first time in the USA, for the first time we lost our luggage and travelled for almost 4 weeks only with hand luggage and borrowed items, for the first time we organized a drop action for us.
A word of explanation. We understand that in this exceptional situation the organizers first of all wanted to help us and for this very, very thank you, but many things happened without our knowledge and consent. When we received information about Zrzutka (we didn’t have access to the Internet every day, and when it’s a day in Poland, Alaska is in the middle of the night), we asked the organizers to stop the action and close the collection. Unfortunately, the machine moved and it was not possible to stop it so quickly. Our situation, thanks to the help of many people who appeared on our way, was not as dramatic as it was presented in the bedding. What’s more, the kindness of these people was so great that we managed to implement the assumed plan of the 17th stage of the Homer-Fairbanks relay. Not all of us were on bicycles, but we travelled the planned route. We would like to thank Agata Krozel and her husband Ashley, who hosted us at home, borrowed the necessary equipment and helped us in the most difficult moments. Without you, we would not have been able to do without you. We felt at home with you. We would also like to thank Justyna and Krzysztof Miłoś for their help and understanding of the idea of the project. We would like to thank Danuta and Józef Górski for the fact that thanks to them we managed to complete the Homer-Anchorage section very efficiently and for the delicious ice cream on the way. We would like to thank Agnieszka and Norbert Seremecki for taking under their roof, evening Polish conversations and delicious broth, and Sabine Schattling Simmons for supporting us and Bike Jamboree from the very beginning, for support and beautiful, spiritual walks on the ocean floor. Without the help of all these people, it would indeed be difficult. We did not use the money from Zrzutka because we did not want to do it. Participating in Bike Jamboree was a challenge for us and we simply couldn’t give up. After all, we were driving heartily with our children, from Halszka and Simon, with dedication: “You can do it! We love you!
Long preparations and plans for the route were destroyed, but the history of our expedition was constantly being created. This story was created by all the people we met, helped us and spent unforgettable moments with… Of course, we must not forget all those who were involved in the search for our things. In particular, we would like to thank Brother Beata, Darek Kordy for his stubbornness, commitment, time devoted and crazy ideas of regaining luggage 🙂 You are great!
We spent time at Fairbanks exploring interesting places. We were impressed by the Pioneer Park, which, in the light of the setting sun, took us back to the times of gold prospectors. We also visited the “local” Santa Claus, who regardless of the time of year bravely performs his duties (from 10:00 to 19:00 🙂.
The next day, our roads took us to an American primary school, where we told the children about Bike Jamboree, Poland and taught them the Polish language. Together we laughed at the more or less successful attempts to break the language of Polish words. The children were very active and asked a lot of questions. We all had a lot of fun. Thank you for this warm welcome.
After the classes at school, we rushed by bicycle to the airport to welcome the 18th stage.
The 17th stage officially ends its Alaskan adventure and wishes the 18th team a lot of sun, wind in the back, wonderful and just good adventures!
The baton passed on goes on.
With an Alsatian greeting and to see!
Stage XVII of Bike Jamboree – Beata and Arek Kościelscy