Never a Wrong Turn (Ever): June 23rd

No glacial view!

Approaching a storm.

No mountains for sheep to lick! We woke up to rain and more rain. We have been so lucky with weather, that I understand that it was our turn for rain. But we were also traveling through beautiful mountains that were completely invisible. No glaciers, no snow covered peaks, just wet stunted trees, bushes and road. Even the animals were hiding out. I tried to find bright spots and have to admit, there are many pretty flowers along the road. And I saw lots of beaver dams and lodges and a few swans in ponds.

I also had the luxury of getting up, and sitting in the passenger seat in my bathrobe and slippers drinking coffee while Mike drove. He was up before me (always) and had packed everything up, prepared my coffee and a roll for me. Later we stopped for me to shower and dress.

We took the Al-Can highway back rather than taking the Top of the World Highway as we had before. This was supposed to be a better road, but it is the worst road we have traveled so far! We went through thirty to forty miles of construction where the road was dirt. Signs warned us that the roadway would be “extremely dusty”. I beg to differ. Clay roads, covered with rain make mud, mud, mud. And not one speck of dust. At one point, when I was driving, we skidded at least 20 feet, in the correct direction, but completely out of control. My heart is too old for such terror! The stairs to the motor home were covered in three inches of mud by the end of the day, and of course the motor home and the bicycles behind are all encrusted with the stuff. We were sure that when we got to the border the roads would improve. First, nothing changed at the border and the customs station is twenty kilometers past the border. Second, the roads then changed to some of the biggest frost heaves we have ever seen. You could lose one of those sky scrapers in them! At one point, I watched while our front right tire rose two feet on a heave and the left tire sunk one foot in a dip and I glanced to the side of the road, where in Yukon fashion, someone had written “OVR” in rocks. Were they telling me we were done or was this their initials? I don’t know the answer to that question, but it was sure appropriately placed!

I was driving as we crossed the border. I handed the customs officer our passports, dog papers, insurance information and waited for further instruction. She asked me if we had any guns. I said “no”. She asked me if we had any “pistols”. I said “no”. She asked me if we had any weapons. Again, I said “no”. Then she asked me if I had anything that could be used as a weapon. Well of course we do! Axes, knives, purses, shoes, my tongue, you name it – we have lots of such items. I said, “we have butter knives”. If looks could kill, I would be a squished rat. But she did tell us to go on. And Mike told me how incredibly stupid that was.

We stopped at a remote commercial campground for the night. Mike looked under the motor home and found that one of the straps that hold the gas tank in place had moved a couple of inches and repaired it, but other than that we seemed to have survived without major damage. This was the first campground that has had a communal fire pit and we thoroughly enjoyed it. Everybody was talking about their driving experiences and the condition of their rigs. The owner joined us and said that the road had been repaved the year before, but that the way the ground melts under the road changes the road constantly. He claimed that you could pound a post into the road and spray paint a line going out from the post and return to it a week later and the line and post would be a foot apart. The people going north were disappointed to find that the road continued in bad repair. The people going south (us) didn’t feel any better. The owner also had two very cute dogs (1/2 Shihtsu and ½ Brichon) that played with Bernie. At one point Bernie marked a bush and the two dogs ran over, and with their heads together lifted their legs to mark the same spot in perfect mirror image. I wish I had my camera ready! One couple at the fire had planned on staying at a public campground near there and were disappointed to find a sign that said, “no tenting” and another that indicated the place was closed. The owner relayed that “they” (whoever they are) shot a grizzly there today and that was why the place was closed. He then went on to say that we tourists feed the bears and leave. And that we don’t see the damage we do when the bears have to be shot to protect the public. While I agree with him, I am uncomfortable being grouped with the bear feeders. And I also have to admit that if I am fishing and a bear wants my fish, I will feed the bear! The owner, who was born and raised in the Yukon, told the Texans at the fire that when he visited there he was flabbergasted to see all the stuffed and mounted animal heads on the walls. He said that when he needed meat, he went hunting but that he never thought about hanging the heads on his walls. (I did not ask him about the stuffed moose, bear and elk I have seen in many gift stores). We went to bed dreaming of smooth roads and clear skies.