OK, time for an update.
After the boat haulout, we lived on the boat for about a week in dry dock. Then we had a scheduling/safety issue that made me decide to skip the leg south to Aruba in favor of heading back early to D.C. for the holidays. I headed to D.C. and am still here visiting for another week. Will be leaving D.C. in a week to go live in Vegas for a month or two, then back down to St Thomas for more sailing in March. Still trying to decide if I want to rent a condo in Vegas or just live in hotels. I've asked for advice in the LVL forum. Also going to try to get a little sailing in on Lake Mead while I'm there if I can. If anyone is in Vegas and wants to meet up for a drink, let me know. I should be there through the end of February.
So when we last left our hero on the epic road trip, I was at Liard Hot Springs in the northern part of British Columbia.
After enjoying the Hot Springs for a few hours, I continued along the Alaska Highway where I saw this hitchhiker:
Recalling the anti-hitchiking laws, I did not stop to pick him up. I saw a few small (20-30) herds in this area, but this guy was just walking down the road by himself, not a care in the world. I guess when you have that much mass, you aren't really concerned about anything other than doing your thang.
Eventually, I made it into the Yukon proper:
and stopped at Watson Lake for the night, only to find there were zero hotel or motel rooms available. I stopped long enough to take a few photos of the
signpost forest:
and then continued onward. Around 10pm at night, I spotted a wolverine walking across the highway. Luckily there was still a little light at 10pm, so I was able to take a photo. Unluckily, he had no interest in having his photo taken and trundled off the highway. I did manage to get this terrible blurry photo:
You'll just have to take my word for it. He looked like he was in a bad mood so I didn't try to get a better photo and I figured getting out of the car would not be in my best long term health interests.
I stopped for the night around midnight at some random pull off on the highway where there was a semi and another car parked, and slept there for the night. This was the first night sleeping in the CRV. The mosquito-proofing worked wonderfully and allowed me to keep a window open, but the CRV frame dug into my back even with a sleeping pad under the sleeping bag, so I decided I'd be getting a sleeping board at the next opportunity.
The next morning, I was greeted with this sight a few miles down the road:
Must have happened minutes before, as that blood was super red and fresh. That used to be a porcupine, if you were wondering.
The next stop was
Whitehorse. I wish I had spent more time there. It's a great funky little Yukon town right on the Yukon River, and I really enjoyed being there. I'm not sure how to describe why I liked it so much, other than that it just had a really nice vibe. I spent the night there and pretty much all I ate was caribou or reindeer for the two days I was there.
I took a workman's special to go from that deli when I left. Caribou and reindeer sausage ldo.
One of the things I got a kick out of in Whitehorse was the first Northwest Territories license plate I had seen:
I've seen some interesting license plate designs in my time, but nothing can beat a license plate that is shaped like a polar bear. That is as good as they get.
Closing in on the AK border, I passed
Kluane Lake which is a weirdly chalky shade of blue and surrounded by some sweet mountains:
It's mostly fed by glaciers, which means you end up getting a nice variety of smooth stones in the lake floor. I hung out there enjoying the view and skipping stones for an hour or so.
There is a tradition along parts of the Alaska Highway where people will leave messages by finding rocks that are a different color than the predominant rock color along the side of the road, and stack them to write things:
I thought about making one, but didn't want to ruin someone else's message and was too lazy to go find my own rocks.
For most of the trip along the Alaska Highway, I had read over and over again in the Milepost guide about all the swans that summer in the ponds along the highway. I had not seen a single one at this point and was nearing the Alaska border when I came across these guys:
which was nice, especially with the clouds reflecting in the water like that. This was about 2 miles away from the border.
The Alaska / Canada land border had a bunch of monuments and international division signs, but my favorite was this little bench:
Oh yeah, welcome to Alaska btw:
The customs station was significantly smaller than I thought it would be:
Only one of the two lanes was open, and there was only one car ahead of me. Big difference from the customs station entering Canada. There were no cars behind me so I hung out and chatted with the customs agent for a few minutes, but she cleared me in about 30 seconds flat. Also another nice change from when I entered Canada and got the full vehicle search.
I stopped for the night at a campground just outside of
Tok. Tok is the junction in Alaska where you decide if you are heading south to Anchorage or north to Fairbanks. Having picked up a sleeping board in Whitehorse, the CRV was much more comfortable to sleep in, if a bit crowded:
I knew I was back in Alaska when I saw all the wolf pelts for sale in Tok the next day:
Next leg of the trip report will take us up to Fairbanks, and finally to the fabled
Dalton Highway. Then on to the Arctic Ocean for a toe dip.
Last edited by chopstick; 01-10-2014 at 03:53 PM.