July 20-21, 2006 (Days 57-58)

We left Teslin at 8:30 a.m. this morning. It was 53 degrees
Before leaving Teslin, we spotted bald eagles at the very top of one of the evergreen trees that surrounded the campground. They sat there majestically as everyone left. We were told by the campground owners that the eagles had a nest in a nearby tree. The photographers of the group had fun taking pictures with their telephoto lenses.

We stopped along the way for breakfast and had sourdough pancakes and eggs (I did). I noticed that the yolks of the eggs were a very light color of yellow, almost white. I’m wondering what kind of eggs I actually had! The pancakes were huge and each one covered the entire dinner plate. I couldn’t eat both of mine.

The campground, Pioneer RV Park, was located six miles south of Whitehorse. We arrived there at 2:30 p.m., after 105 miles and the daily spattering of rain sprinkles. Among our wildlife sightings were a wolf and a black/brown bear. We are constantly amazed at the number of bicyclists and hikers we see on the road.

Dan noticed a lot of wear on one of the trailer tires and felt he needed to seek help. After several hours of driving around Whitehorse to a tire shop, then welding shop that does alignments, then back to the tire shop, it was decided to purchase two new tires and to rotate them. One shop said it looked like an alignment problem. Our options were to order a new axle and wait two weeks for it to come in and $1,000, or put on new tires at $150 each. We elected to do two tires. After assuring us that they had them in stock, they had us move the trailer to a spot in the back of their building to have them installed. Then we found out they didn’t have the right tires after all, so we just had them rotated. We hated starting out from here with a bad tire and continued wear and tear on the others, but we didn’t have any options. Finally, Dan decided to get a new tire for the spare, instead of the one we carry that is not in good shape. That way, we would have a good spare if we needed it.

During our time at the shop, we were getting hungry, so the tire man directed us to a little place a block down and around the corner that sells sandwiches at the lunch hour. It was a “mobile kitchen” where the two gals made sandwiches, fries, and some pastries. Dan had two hot dogs and I ordered a Halibut burger. No burger to it. The halibut piece in a sandwich was delicious. The meat of the fish was so white and mild. I have never had such a good fish sandwich before. That is what I like to experience…the local foods.

That evening, we went into town to see “Frantic Follies” at the Westmark Hotel. These tickets were part of our fee. It was a theater where dancehall girls entertained us with can-can dancing, rousing music and hilarious skits (vaudeville) for over an hour and a half. It was a good show and lots of laughter.

The next day (July 21), we toured some suggested places in town, including the S.S. Klondike, a grand old stern-wheeler which sits on the Yukon River at Whitehorse. It was built in 1929 and carried mail, general supplies, passengers and silver lead ore along the 460 mile route between Whitehorse and Dawson City until 1955 when it was retired. It is dry-docked at the edge of Whitehorse and renovations were completed in 2005. An interesting fact: there was a tourist and his wife that toured the boat with our group. We found out he used to work on the Klondike and this was his first time back to see the ship in its restored condition. He was showing his wife where he slept and ate and worked.

We also saw the Old Log Church Museum, Whitehorse Rapids Fish Way with the longest wooden salmon ladder, and shops in the downtown. We had to exchange American money for Canadian. For $100 U.S., we got $111.40 Canadian. Not bad! There was a potlatch and driver’s meeting in the evening.

Dan and I were postmen at this stop. We picked up the general delivery mail for our caravaners and delivered it. Several got packages and letters from home. We also carried stamps for purchase (Canadian and U.S.) and some extra greeting cards (birthday, sympathy, “Thinking of You”, get well, etc.)

Whitehorse has a population of 22,241 and its elevation is 2,306 ft. It is the capital of the Yukon Territory and serves as the center for transportation, communications and supplies for both the Yukon and Northwest Territories. There are a lot of ethnic groups here, the largest seeming to be Chinese. Whitehorse will serve as the Olympic Games Training Center for the Canadian Olympic Games in 2007.

Whitehorse has the world’s largest weathervane at the airport. It is a Douglas DC-3 which was mounted on a rotating pedestal in 1981 and now serves as a weathervane, pointing its nose into the wind.

The evening found us getting our rigs ready to depart Whitehorse the next day. There will be no services at the next stop, so fresh water tanks should be full, and gray and blackwater tanks empty. Our gas up today was $1.17/liter, or close to $4.68/gal. Ouch!

Continuing our way north…