Codgers From the Yukon and I Don't Mean Us - Whitehorse, Canada
Whitehorse, Canada
Where I stayed
HI Country RV Park
As I wrote in my last blog, we left Dawson Creek, the start of the Alcan, on Monday June 10 and headed for Fort Nelson BC. Fort Nelson was not only a staging point for troops who would build the Alcan, it also housed an important airfield for the U.S. Air Force (part of the Army then) during WW II.
(WW II History Lesson: American strategists realized that the shortest distance between Japan and the West Coast states followed the Great Circle route near Alaska's shoreline. To assure supply of these military installations, especially if Japan was able to endanger or block coastal shipping, the U.S. built a series of airfields from Montana, north through Canada, to Fairbanks. The Japanese threat to mainland Alaska and to its coastal shipping never became that dire. The airfields served a very significant role, though, in ferrying nearly 8,000 fighters and bombers from U.S. production plants to be used by our Soviet Union allies against Nazi Germany.)
Fort Nelson had one of those airfields ... today, it has one good campground and not much else, so we pitched our tent for one night and then left the next day. Mush, Mush CC, on to northern British Columbia.
We stopped to tip our hats at Toad River Lodge where there are 8,000 hats on the walls and ceilings and everywhere else in the restaurant (see photo).
Mush, mush CC, on to the Yukon. Up and down we went, over passes and along lakes, viewing wildlife every couple of miles along the roadside. This section of the Alcan is billed as having wildlife every few miles and we weren't disappointed -- stone sheep, big-horn sheep, bears, caribou, elk, moose, and bison -- all eating the grass along the side of the highway.
We kept reading about this lake along the way that was the prettiest lake in the world, at least according to the local Chamber of Commerce. We drove up to this lake from below -- bright sunny day, white puffy clouds, mountains, no wind, calm waters -- we could hardly believe our eyes. In fact from the driver's seat, I couldn't figure out what my eyes were seeing ... felt like I was driving into a mountain or was it into the sky or was it into water ... very disconcerting. A big optical illusion. I couldn't tell what was the real lake or what was an illusion of the lake.
Judy saw it right away and went bonkers (well not quite bonkers, but definitely "wild"). We were at waters edge of this very large lake and perfectly, and I mean perfectly, reflecting everything around and above it. The photo below shows the lake, but not as we first saw it with its reflections. All the pull-outs were taken so we couldn't stop for a picture, and by the time we could, the reflections disappeared as the wind picked up and made waves on the lake. A picture of Muncho Lake in our minds that we'll never forget. We decided to camp on the lake for that night.
At this point in time and place, the sun sets late and rises early. The campfire in the photo was taken at 11:00 pm. (See Betsy and Peter, I can build a campfire but it takes daylight.) Wait til you see the fireworks in Fairbanks at midnight.)
We also decided to teach Maxie how to walk on a leash (no dogs around, just a big animal we never saw ... wait and see). We're both walking Maxie, who after much prodding, started to walk toward the woods. She smelled something. Heads down, we're watching her, photographing her, and marveling about how we can now walk our cat. (Next lesson will be fetching.) All of sudden the camp manager and wife came down -- we thought we had broken a rule about walking cats in the campground. "Did you see the big moose right next to you," they yelled. "Moose, what moose ... who cares about mooses (or is it moose) ... did you see Maxie walking on her leash?" I know you all would rather see a close up of Maxie on leash than a moose chasing Roger and Judy. Funny: Maxie saw the moose and led Judy right to a big deposit he left in the trees. I had uploaded my photo of moose poop but Judy edited it out and put in the one of her walking Maxie. So, now you all are going have to come to Alaska to see moose poop.
Interesting Factoid: Moose eat lots of tree bark and branches. People up here collect their poop, dry it, and burn it in wood burning stoves; or should I call them "moose poop burning stoves."
Leaving Muncho Lake on Wednesday, June 12, we stopped along the way for a soak in Liard Hot Springs. Absolutely beautiful setting -- ferns and wildflowers rather than the usual concrete. A really relaxing stop after many days of driving. Mush, mush CC, on to the Yukon.
On this day we arrived in Watson Lake, Yukon ... dust capital of the world. Tried to pressure wash the coach and the Bug, but the dust and dirt wouldn't come off. (See the photo of the Bug.) The Alaskan Highway is all paved except the 1/2 dozen or so sections where gravel is being laid for eventual chip & seal. They wet part of it down so your vehicle gets wet, and then they leave the rest as dry gravel dirt so the dust sticks to your vehicle and turns to mud. Great deal for the car washes.
Once and awhile the gravel kicks up under your vehicle and screws things up. It happen to the coach's transmission. For 100 miles we were locked in 6-th gear with a red transmission light lite blinking on our dash. Stopped at a restaurant in Teslin Yukon and asked if there was a mechanic in town. One sitting over there having coffee, I was told. He informed me that transmissions are all electronic now and no one but Allison can work on them. But, he said, turn it on and it might reset itself. It did and we had no transmission problems. The mechanic then gave me a place to have it checked in Whitehorse and went back to his coffee.
So, after arriving in Whitehorse, I went to this truck repair garage to have the transmission looked at. The whole place was having coffee -- the mechanics, the parts person, and the guy digging a trench out front. Told me to bring in the motorhome at 10:00 tomorrow. I was there promptly at 10:00, but was told by the boss, they would get to it after a "quick coffee." After coffee, they pulled computer codes from the transmission that told them what caused the warning light. Turns out one of those gravelettes hit a connector and it came loose.) They told me all was well and they all went back for a "long coffee."
I've tried to learn "patience" all my life; I don't drink coffee, only Rolling Rock; maybe I should start drinking coffee and learn Yukon "patience."
Now to the Yukon Codgers. Going over all the gavel and accompanying potholes, we pulled the tow plate loose on the Bug. I needed an auto body shop. After three "go here and then go there's", I ended up a Mike's Welding, about 10 miles outside of Whitehorse. You could not believe this place ... looked more like a junkyard than a body shop. Four guys sitting in the back of a barn-like building ... you guessed it, having coffee. I asked for the boss. Young guy (2 years younger than me), white beard, white hair, puts down his coffee cup and tells me he thinks he's the boss. I later learn this is Mike. He and another guy (George, who had pulled up in a camo ATV wearing a cowboy hat) tried to crawl under the Beetle to find the problem Of course, unless you have a 4 inch head, you can't get under a VW Beetle. So the challenge is getting the Beetle with a small frame up on their rack. "We'll do that after we finish our coffee."
They come back and get it on the rack. After much of "it could be this or it could be that," they find that two bolts came loose and fell out. Probably laying back in the gravel somewhere next to a mountain goat. Real characters these guys were -- dropping bolts, trying to find the right size wrench, and then the right size bolts, and jawing back and forth at each other the whole time. Mike sees the Colorado plate and out of nowhere asks: did that gun law in Colorado ever pass the legislator? So Mike, George, and I get into a big discussion on gun control ... of course, we couldn't do that standing under a Beetle, so we go over to the plank on barrel (i.e., the table) and have coffee. Since I don't drink coffee, they offered me a beer. After two hours, the plate was re-bolted to the frame, lots of discussions of right-wing talk shows and websites, and sharing stories from the late night talk show "Coast-to-Coast" (UFO's, Roswell NM, Hangar 18, aliens etc. (PS: Mike agreed with me that the alien stuff was a little far out, but then again...), I was on my way.
I don't know whether or not I will remember animals along the highway, 8,000 hats on a ceiling, 10,000 signs in a forest, the prettiest lake in the world ... in fact, I probably won't. But I'll tell you one thing I'll never forget -- my afternoon with two unforgettable characters: their humor, their stories, their hospitality (if you don't want a beer, how 'bot a shot of something stronger), and most of all, their ability to fix things. They were great.
You meet people in the strangest ways...come to think 'bot it, that's how I met Judy -- over coffee and beer. We're going back to Mike's this afternoon so Judy can meet Mike and George ... take some photos for the blog ... and you guessed it, have a quick coffee.
Mush, mush CC, thanks to Mike and George, we're on our way to Tok Alaska.