On the road and I know what it takes to ride on a hilly terrain with 20kgs of load. It took me about three hours to cover a meager distance of 15 miles. Simply put - it was HARD. The weather was against me with constant head wind blowing all along, it was cold with intermittent drizzle, and the grade was a constant mild uphill. Dammit! Did I overestimate everything?.
Another three hours and I reached Cantwell at about 11:30 in the night. Serious doubts were raised on the success of the trip. However, that was for the next day. The imminent concern was finding a proper place to sleep. Cantwell is a small town without any arrangements for accommodation (the next day I was told that there are a couple of lodges in Cantwell). The only option left was to camp, not sure where. Trying different places for safety from weather, bear, humans, I finally saw a cluster of `for sale' houses. A quick peek in a couple of houses did not reveal any sign of life. Taking my chances, I decided to camp there. Thus came to an end, the first day of my biking in Alaska.