66° 33’’ is reached! Panmundo.com meets the Artic Circle! There, an Englishman who is just about to finish his cycling trip from the very South of Peru to the very top of Alaska was just about to erect his tent. Right ON the Arctic Circle. After more than one year sitting on the leather saddle of his bicycle, Ian is a mere 4 days away from his final goal: the Artic Ocean; up at Prudhoe Bay.

This morning, I have left my host and couchsurfing friend Rachel Lord (these couchsurfers all seem to have cool names!) after glancing back at her fabulous place for a last time. She studies and lives in Fairbanks; Alaska’s second biggest city. And it what an amazing place she lives: right in the forest in a wooden cabin (that’s where a normal graduate student lives up here). No running water, no shower. But one hell of a cosy place. Only in winter it must be a bit though: imagine walking to the outhouse which is about 30 metres away from her cabin while it is some 50 degrees Celsius below zero! Brrr…

My head was clear, even though we had some beers with her friends and Stephan, a German fellow who joint our round. Not only does he own a privately imported Toyota Land-Cruiser, he is also a bush pilot flying cargo in a more than 50 years old DC-6 propeller plane. When asked about technical problems with such an old plane, his eyes were shining like if I had asked whether he likes Christmas. “Yes,” he said, “quite often so.” But this seems to be rather fun than frightening, since his baby keeps flying with only two out of four motors running.

The Dalton Highway leads straight North from Fairbanks. It was built in the 70ies for only one purpose: OIL! Next to the highway you see the huge pipeline, which connects the oilfields of Prudhoe Bay with the Gulf of Alaska. The highway it is not paved, or, in other words: about as flat as freshly ploughed potato field.  However, this does not prevent trucks from rallying up and down. They drive much faster than I would dare and I have stopped counting stones crashing in my window after crossing these racing monsters.

However, back to Ian and the Arctic Circle. I really must say, I expected these continent crossing cyclists to be crazier people, having a sort of “lost in reverie” glance… Not so Ian: a serious Englishman with a purpose who is eager to drink beer and who managed to win a couple of mountain bike races along his way up the American continent. Back in England his girl-friend awaits him and he will go back to his job selling software to institutional clients. Well, I think it won’t take long until he will venture for his next trip – I clearly registered his interest in my Toyota! If you wanna learn about his adventures, go to www.mountaincyclediaries.com.

For the moment though there is only on pressing question: let’s see how one sleeps right ON the Circle!