We end where we started. In the great outdoors with high ceilings and landscapes that are so magnificent that we have to pinch ourselves to be absolutely sure that it is reality.

Alaska has always been high on our list of places we want to visit. We, like so many others, are drawn to the raw landscapes and uncultivated nature. The dream of expeditions moving in unspoiled land can actually be done here. The dream of being in the wilderness. It is interesting to see on a map how much untamed nature and few roads there are in Alaska. So the car is not always sufficient if you want to go on an adventure.

We met two hunters who had hired a small plane to transport them to the Alaskan mountain range. Here they were dropped off on a piece of tundra, which was only slightly less bumpy than the rest of the landscape. It was good enough. It was the landing pad and perfectly normal. Five days later they would be picked up again by the pilot. They found a place to make camp and then trotted up and down the mountains to find a ram old enough to be shot. You can see this by the fact that the horns go all the way around and form a full circle, seen from the side. Nathan and Luke were lucky. They had applied for one of the very few permits issued each year to shoot sheep in the Alaska range. They were drawn, went on an adventure and got a ram for the winter's supply.

We have spent quite a bit of time in Alaska while the moose and caribou hunting season has been open. Hunting is big and in several places along the smaller roads the hunters park their campers, ATVs and on the rivers flat-bottomed swamp boats or rubber boats are used. We have seen how much work is actually involved in acquiring a caribou or moose. Hunters often take weeks, or even months, to find an animal to shoot, and it takes days to process the meat to put in the freezer. A moose easily provides meat for several families, and it is clearly the most organic meat you can get. It's not as cheap meat as you might think. The time and equipment required to kill such a large animal does not come for free, but the hunters we have met take pride in providing good meat for their family and friends.

On the way to Denali National Park we camped in a dry river bed just before the small town of Healy. We set the alarm for 01 o'clock, because we wanted to see the northern lights so badly. It wasn't the first time we had set the alarm clock, and we were afraid we had missed the chance. The forecast called for gray weather, but this area was the best place to see the Northern Lights. The weather turned and the clouds disappeared. Kenneth looked out the tent door when the alarm clock rang. He made a quick jerk and stuck his head out further. “There are Northern Lights!” he said. We hurriedly put on all our clothes and went out into the dark starry night with auroras moving in the sky. First as a long rainbow, then as impulses across the sky to dissolve in different places and then come again. "Wake up everybody – the Northern lights are dancing” shouted a guy from another camp who was also chasing the northern lights. And that was so true. It really looked like the northern lights were dancing across the sky and putting on a show for us. It was a great experience and another reminder of how amazing nature and the universe are. We're just little people. A very small part of something very big.

People are nice in Alaska, but there is definitely a different culture than we have seen in the other states we have visited in the US. You are used to fending for yourself and dealing with the elements. Getting ready for winter, when the shortest days have less than four hours of daylight. It requires you to be hardy. Some have also moved to Alaska because they want to take care of themselves. Be at peace with other people, laws and systems. And then there are all those who are super nice and welcome us to Alaska. And who love to be in and use the fantastic nature.

We were sitting on the side of the road on a small forest road when Jo and Greg stopped the car to check what kind of species we were and what we were doing. We prepared dinner and we had set up the tent on a small side road in the forest. They looked at us. "There are many bears. Lots of grizzly bears because of the river”. We said we would take care. After all, we had seen 51 bears so far. They asked if we had a gun. We didn't have that, but we did have bear spray. Greg looked at us skeptically and Jo whispered something to him. "It is better that you come home with us and sleep”, Greg said. We said "Yes please” in chorus! It is the best to be invited to the homes of locals, see their homes and get an insight into their lives.

Jo and Greg lived just around the corner in a beautiful wooden house that Greg had built himself. It was really nice. We enjoyed Jo's delicious homemade Chai tea while listening to the fire crackling in the wood stove. Greg had served in the Air Force and had fallen in love with this place on a flyover, after which he had moved here. He lived for many years as a fishing and hunting guide, but now he makes beautiful jewelery together with his wife. Greg still hunts grizzly bears as a service to the Indians, as the Indians believe that they are spiritually connected to the bears and therefore cannot shoot them themselves. There are so many bears in the area that they need to regulate the population, otherwise it affects the moose and caribou herds, which they shoot to get meat for the freezer.

Jo is from Florida and when she turned 50 she decided to follow her dream of moving to Alaska. She moved to Anchorage, but it wasn't the Alaska she had dreamed of. On a blueberry trip she met Greg, and after some time she asked him if she should move in with him. After all, he lived alone in the big house. She did, and now they are married and have been living together for the past 15 years. It was hard to leave the next day. Another fantastic experience to keep in your heart. Certainly better than a rainy night in the tent.

In Denali National Park we met Donna, Tom, Sarah and Russ, where they were also on bikes. We were happy to see other cyclists and we stopped to talk to them. Russ lifted apples out of the bag to give them to us. Russ and Sarah had been cycling in Korea, Ireland and in two weeks they would be in Portugal on a trip, so he knew that fresh fruit is the best thing cyclists can get. Even from their own garden. He also said we were very welcome to stay with them in Wasilla, which is on the way to Anchorage. We had actually thought that the last night on the road would be in the tent, but on the other hand it was very symbolic of our journey that it would be with strangers who were so kind and thoughtful to open their homes to us. So we took them at their word.

Tom and Donna own a fantastic piece of land inside the city, but which is next to a piece of forest, so when you look out of the large panoramic windows in the living room you see the forests, the mountains, their orchard and kitchen garden with the most delicious vegetables. On the other side of the garage, Sarah and Russ live in an extension. They have lived like this for four years. It happened by chance when Russ was going to an interview at the hospital where Tom works. Tom and Donna offered to let Russ and Sarah stay with them during that time. They clicked and Russ and Sarah ended up moving in. It was truly inspiring how they enjoyed each other's company, made things together and helped each other. It's a dream to live with your friends, so that you don't have to book the calendar three weeks in advance, but can just poke your head in and see if there's anyone who wants to play.

We were actually only supposed to be there one night, but it was so nice that we ended up staying an extra day. Tom and Russ had planned a hike up to Frontier Peak, which is a mountain peak just outside the city. They asked if we wanted to come. We met up with Josh, who is one of their friends, and then we were ready. The first small two kilometers were forest path. We were there. From there it was straight through the forest without paths. We had also tried that before. From there it went very steeply up through thick grass, scrub and through a stream. "It's Alaska hiking” Russ shouted as he effortlessly led the way through the wilderness.

We reached the tree line and we admired the fantastic view out over the valley. Wow that was beautiful. Furthermore, it went up steeply with the reward that the view got nicer and nicer. We could now see a large glacier, where Josh said they fatbike in the winter, and the same on the frozen lakes. Russ pointed out the different places they skinned up the mountain and skied down.

We saw bighorn sheep on a mountainside and we were lucky to see mountain goats on two different mountain ridges. We have looked and looked for them, but we had not yet seen them, but there they were. Far away now, but exactly as it should be. It is so impressive how they can move everywhere on the mountain sides. We called Josh, Tom and Russ the three mountain goats because they were so fast and moved so easily over the terrain. Especially in the last part up to the top of the mountain, which was loose stones.

The two small white dots are mountain goats.

We reached the top! 360 degree view of mountain peaks with white peaks. We could even see Denali mountain, which is the highest mountain in North America. The mountain that we hadn't seen in Denali National Park because it was cloudy. Now we could see it high above the other mountains. We had a view of the Alaskan mountain range, of glaciers and of a lot of other mountain peaks that we did not know the names of. It was so beautiful. At the top, there is a plastic tube with a note on which you write your name as proof that you made it the 2000 meters up the mountain.

Back home in Wasilla, a feast of moose, salmon, halibut, which is very delicious white fish, delicious salad and vegetables from the garden, home-baked bread and home-made dessert with berries from the garden and home-made ice cream awaited us. Both families had contributed various things to the meal. It was so good that Kenneth asked Donna if she and Tom were married, because otherwise he would run off with her. Everything was from their own garden, fish they had caught themselves or bread baked from local flour. Even the elk was local – or hit locally. It is done in such a way that if a moose is hit by a car, the authorities call the people who have signed up on a list, and then they can come and collect the animal. Russ and Sarah had been called at 03 at night on a cold winter night and then it was just a matter of getting started. Fortunately, Tom and Donna know how to handle the meat, so they had all helped each other. It is approx. 300 moose are killed every year, so it is really good that the meat is not wasted, but is used.

Tom, Donna, Russ and Sarah showed us great hospitality and kindness that we will take home with us. They even helped us to get some bearings changed for a front wheel and to get bike boxes for the trip home. By the time we left, four strangers we met in Denali National Park had become friends.

We have now arrived in Anchorage. The last stop on the journey. 15 countries, 639 days and 30,500 kilometers of adventure ends here. Fortunately, memories last forever. And we remind ourselves that life is a long adventure. So although on the one hand it is sad to pack the bikes into cardboard boxes and leave our everyday life on the bikes, we are also looking forward to all the new things that are coming and, above all, to seeing friends and family again!

It's crazy to think we did it. We were chasing a dream. We cycled from Argentina to Alaska. We worked for and prioritized that it should come true. Now it is reality. It feels on the one hand like we started yesterday and on the other hand it feels like we've never done anything else. We have seen so much. Experienced and learned so much. The encounter with so many different cultures and ways of living, history and stories, geography and nature. We have met so many nice, inspiring and fantastic people who have made a huge impression on us and whom we will never forget. A kindness and hospitality towards two crazy strangers on bicycles. It's absolutely amazing how people have opened their homes, shared their food and helped us in all kinds of imaginable and unimaginable ways. It has been the greatest experience of them all and we look forward to giving back.

Soon we will land in Denmark. We look forward to seeing you all again!

Happiness is only real when shared…