On a sunny Soldotna day, on the outside lawn of River City Books, about a half-dozen cyclists mingle before hitting the road with a new friend.
The plan is to travel to Kenai, biking a multi-use trail along the Kenai Spur Highway. The community bike ride is part of author Tessa Hulls’ bike/book tour, which began earlier this month.
“Alaska is the place I love more than anywhere else, so it was a no-brainer for me to come spend a month of cycling visiting all my friends,” he said. “The book part is kind of secondary, my editor “I think I’ve lost my mind.”
The new book, titled “Feeding Ghosts,” is a graphic memoir that follows three generations of women in the Hulls family. She says it starts with her grandmother, who was a journalist in Shanghai during the communist takeover in the 1940s.
“It’s basically tracing what happened to two generations to teach about a century of Chinese history,” Hulls said. “Like many people who end up in Alaska, fleeing the familiar darkness to become wild in the wilderness. “This book is me coming home and facing that story.”
The book tour began in Fairbanks, where Hulls traveled up the Denali Highway to Valdez. Next, she took a ferry to Whittier and biked to Seward, Cooper Landing and Soldotna. He also took another ferry to Seldovia and still has more stops along the way.
Hulls completed her first big bike trip in 2011, when she traveled alone from California to Maine. Since then, she has spent a few months a year traveling by bike and picking up seasonal work contracts. She says her favorite aspect of cycling is the connection it gives you to people and places.
Tessa Hulls signs a copy of her new book “Feeding Ghosts”
“I also enjoy solitude and having time to think,” Hulls said. “Like many people who have spent time in Alaska, I think better when my body is moving and I find areas of my brain I wouldn’t otherwise be able to.” “There is no access.”
Since starting his bike tour, Hulls says he has met a lot of new people and seen a lot of new places. Along her journey, she was unofficially adopted by a librarian, stayed in a free cabin, and was given the keys to someone’s car.
“I think bikes are great ways to chat with people while looking at the scenery,” he said. “I don’t think I have an agenda, it’s just my favorite way to hang out with people.”
Although she lives in Seattle, Hulls has been spiritually connected to Alaska since she worked as a cook on a ship in Petersburg years ago. She’s officially moving to Juneau this winter.
“I think Alaska has been my home for a long time, and finishing this book kept me a little bit chained to my drawing table, which made me pretty miserable,” Hulls said. “I’ve been joking that it’s that point in the romantic comedy where I finally admit that I’ve always been in love with my best friend, so I think the fact that I finished this book and took the plunge and moved to Juneau is just for me.” me, reassuring myself that Alaska is really where I want to be and that I’m happy to finally move up.”
The next stop on Hulls’ “Feeding Ghosts” book tour will be Wednesday at 6:30 p.m. at Kenai Peninsula College’s Kachemak Bay campus in Homer. It will end with a party and community bike ride at The Writer’s Block Bookstore and Coffee Shop in Anchorage on Thursday at 6 p.m.
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