June 8 through June 11, 2014

June 8 and 9, 2014

We have had very sporadic internet service the last several days. We left Watson Lake somewhat early so that we could have an afternoon and a full day in Whitehorse. Whitehorse the capital of the Yukon is a pretty cool place.

I forgot to mention that in the Watson Lake Visitors Center they were giving out these "passports". I guess they have been doing this for a couple of years now. If you get ten stamps from various locations in the Yukon you give your passport to the last location and you are entered into a drawing for 2 ounces of Yukon gold. If you have 20 stamps you are entered into a drawing for 5 ounces of Yukon gold.

Well...you can get around 8 stamps just in Whitehorse. So we have been stopping at various locations; mainly visitor centers to get a stamp. It has been like a scavenger hunt. What a blast. Not only do we get the stamp, but we get to visit a new place and learn its history. We have 11 stamps so far. We will turn it in on our return.

 

June 10, 2014

 

We had a fairly easy run up to Destruction Bay. Loren the owner, is quite a character. He purchase the RV park back in 1995. He had quite a few good years, but ran on hard times during the U.S. recession. He is coming back, but his competitors around him are all out of business. The park itself is ok, but Loren is working on getting water and internet running in the next couple of weeks. Destruction Bay was a camp during the construction of the Alcan. It held up to 10,000 people. Now only 40. It is situated right on the Kluane Lake (cloo whan ee). What a beautiful lake. Loren informed us the ice just broke up last week.

 

 

 

 

 

June 11, 2014

 

Well, this was the worst section of the Alcan. I was under the impression that "frost heaves" were a problem. Well I learned that it is not just the "heaves" you need to worry about but the "dips" or sink holes. When they exposed the permafrost during construction of the Highway, they did not realize that you cannot re-freeze the permafrost. It was frozen from 10's to 100's of thousands of years ago and can be over 40 feet thick. When it melts, the road sinks into the void. Very Very dangerous driving. It took us over 6 hours to get from Destruction Bay to Tok. (Got right through the border).

 

Most of the driving was less than 30 MPH. There is a 30 mile section that the Canadians convinced the U.S. to pay for the repairs. (32 Million US$). That's over $1 million per miles.

 

But we made it to Alaska!!