Knowledge is power! I read that today’s drive was one of the smoothest of the highway. Of course, I didn’t share that with Mark, just told him that I was driving today and he could watch for wildlife for a change. Most of the highway has a speed limit of 100 km/h (62 mph) and then often slows to 70km/h or 50 km/h when passing a town or rough section so nothing happens very quickly. Before we left home, I made a cheat sheet we attached to the dash so we could go the correct speed without having to think or get a ticket. The truck speedometer (the right gauge) does show km/h but it’s really small so this has been brilliant. As a side note, we’ve been averaging right on 9mpg for the trip (which also has to be converted in Canada both because their volume is measured in liters and our currency exchange.)
In true northern fashion we’ve come to love, we were greeted by many creatures along the road. This coyote stopped and had a conversation with us for awhile, and we also spotted a moose swimming across the lake. We saw our first grizzly, without a photo unfortunately, another porcupine, and 10 more black bears. Pretty much a great day on the road!
We arrived at our third Canadian province, Yukon Territory. After a wildly successful drive (meaning we were alive and no damage), I pulled over for the Welcome to Yukon sign and permitted Mark to finish out the rest of the day behind the wheel. There was actually “the old sign” and “the new sign” a few kilometers apart, as explained to us by a man who installed the signs himself and just so happened to pull over and tell us. And now we were obligated to take pictures at both.
Since I’ve been honest about everything else, I may as well confess that seeing that sign brought some tears as I was just overwhelmed with happiness that we are finally on this journey. Across the street was a roadside lake and park, called Lucky Lake because back in the gold rush, a woman set up a tent for men to come see her (if you know what I mean) and change their prospecting luck. We got out to stretch our legs on a mile trail but had to come back early as the mosquitos started getting fresh with us.
On we drove to Watson Lake and the famed signpost forest. In less than a year, the US military built the original Alaska Highway in WWII as a route to protect against overseas invasions and the Canadians let us because it meant they got a road. Well, a GI was homesick so he posted a sign from his hometown. People have continued adding their signs over the years and there are now over 85,000 signs. The city keeps adding posts and people keep adding signs. It was way bigger than we had expected and quite a unique display. This picture isn’t close to doing it justice.
We also went to the Northern Lights Centre in town to watch a 50 min movie about Solar Superstorms and how they create the electrical disturbance we see as Aurora Borealis. The theater had a circular screen over our heads and the seats reclined about 45 degrees, but the projection and color was poor. Overall, not something we would recommend and a bit theoretical scientifically.
Like our state parks, the provincial campgrounds are cheaper than private RV parks, are in the woods or along a lake, and also provide free firewood (big huge logs that you have to chop at your site). There is no park entry fee and all the campsites are $12/night and set in great locations so those are our preference when possible. The gamble is they don’t take any reservations so you have to arrive early enough to get a spot, but late enough that you drove as far as you wanted to go before turning in. We timed it perfectly at Teslin Lake Yukon Government Campground, which was next to huge Teslin Lake. Eager for a walk, we found our way down to the rocky beach where for the first time ever, Molly jumped into the lake and chased Mark’s skipped stones. The sun was shining bright and it was just a lovely evening. In fact, we decided to take advantage of the free firewood and had ourselves our first campfire of the trip, and S’mores of course. Mark is the official s’more toaster as he browns them perfectly every time. We walked Molly one last time before bed and took a picture of the sun still shining bright at 10pm. It is definitely hard to get in the mood for sleep when it’s so light out. The custom room darkening shades Mark bought for our bedroom windows are absolutely perfect and we’ve been sleeping great, once we actually go to bed. We’re not sure what time the sun actually sets, but the farther north we go, the later it is.
Before leaving Teslin, we were so glad we stopped at the George Johnston museum. He was a Tlingit Indian who captured his culture by learning photography, including developing. With money he earned as a successful trapper, he ordered a car, the first in the area. There were no roads so he paid locals to help him build a 3 mile road. He then charged the people $2 to ride in the Teslin taxi. In winter, the 78 mile lake would freeze over giving him plenty of road to drive on. The car was green but that wouldn’t do for hunting in the winter. He needed to blend in to the snow, so he painted the car white. Then in summer, he would paint it back to green again. Apparently restoring the car took quite some work after peeling back all those layers of paint, but it sits on display at the museum along with a video of his life and those of his Tlingit tribe. They even had laws about making sure to marry someone from another tribe in order to keep the gene pool diverse.
