On Saturday, September 8, I arrived in Anchorage - finding myself solo for the first time in over a week. A confused taxi ride (the guy didn't know how to use the map app on his phone and I had no signal!) to my AirBnB and I did my best to settle in. This included a mile walk to the nearest restaurant (Tasty Freez?) for a burger and some ice cream, then picking up a 40 of PBR, then walking back to the AirBnB. I then proceeded to sleep for a long time.
The next day was, well, more of the same. I walked around a nearby lake, but failed miserably to make it a relaxing walk. The places I wanted to eat were closed and a guy tried to tell me how much me walking past him was the best thing that happened to him all day. Head-faking him (where are you headed? Oh, surprise, I'm headed in the opposite direction.), I went and had lunch at the same place I had dinner the night before. Then I walked another mile or so up to a bar (Piper's) where I had a few beers and eventually made friends with a bartender who was ending his last shift at the place. After a couple beers, a couple swapped stories, and a couple shared poems, he offered to drive me back to where I was staying - a welcome development given I wasn't looking forward to the long walk.
