June 17 and 18

Well, once again we tried so hard to stay up until the sun goes down, but damn it we just couldn’t do it. At 2:00 Jen snuck off to bed, “Going for a pee” my ass! Alice and I lasted until 2:30 and then admitted defeat and staggered to bed. Surprisingly, I woke up sick still. I’m not sure what is kicking my ass more - the head cold or the martinis. We have a hard rule about only having 1 martini but Jennifer has recently instituted a “topper up ‘er” Jennifer, I’m not stupid a “topper up ‘er” IS 2 MARTINIS! I will only fall for that 2 more times! Also, the further North we go the more native Riggs is getting. He realized that his ancestors are from the North and he is barking with an Inuit accent now. It wouldn’t take much convincing and he would pull the motorhome. I mean, he still sleeps on the leather couch every night, but, he is loving the Yukon life. 

I have a couple more Alice stories, because she is so bloody entertaining, the boys christened her Wonderland, as in Alice in Wonderland. So I’m the morning when we are getting ready to catch the bus to go on our tour and no one had checked on Alice yet. I stuck my head in Howie and Terry’s motorhome and asked if she was up, I heard yes. So we waited for a few minutes or so pass and Alice stumbles out of the motorhome, in her pyjamas giving a big stretch and asks how long she has to get ready. Zero. Zero minutes. God bless her, she made the bus. 

While sitting around the fire finishing our last drink it was quite quiet. Wonderland said, “Imagine if you were the first person to discover fire. How bloody surprised you would be!” I couldn’t talk I was laughing so hard. She was so serious. 

Anyway, back to our slow morning, finally ate breakfast cleaned up, got organized and walked the 5 kms into town, Howie and Terry met us in Whitehorse and we went to the museum (very cool - saw Sam McGee’s cabin) and decided we had been as educated as we could be on the Klondike Gold Rush and we headed to the ‘98 Hotel and Bar. The bar’s claim to fame is it is the second oldest bar in Canada west of Winnipeg. I have not fact checked this but after being on there I do think it is a legitimate claim. I can say with a fair bit of confidence that some of the patrons of this establishment are original minors from 1898. One old fellow, standing behind Jen and I, fell over (no judgement) and the waitress yelled, “ARE YOU OKAY WAYNE?” Wayne’s stood up, dusted himself off, put 1 hand on Jen’s shoulder and 1 hand on mine and leaned down to address us and said, “Sorry ladies, I might have had too much, I’m going home” He waved at the waitress and off he went. Much respect Wayne. Not everyone knows their limit. Anyway, we get our beers and we’re talking about how far we walked (far enough that I had blisters on 4 of my toes) so I went onto my phone to the Health App. My phone is an asshole. We walked 6 kms and my iPhones comment was, “You walked and ran further today than you did the day before. On average, you haven’t walked and run as far this year as last year” Rude! Wayne was far more gracious and kind than my phone. Had a second beer and contemplated throwing my phone across the bar. We sent the boys on a quest -  Canadian Tire and a dumpster to dispose the television we removed from the motorhome. Had a great supper but they did forget Howie’s meal, but, to be fair, Howie’s meal is usually the one that gets screwed up. Then home and early to bed because I have bad news…..

June 18 - Ryan was up and taking Alice to the airport. Yes, sad news, Alice could only handle this adventure for 9 days. She is headed back to Calgary because her friend is coming to Canada and now they are on their own adventure. No Wonderland on the second part of our journey. So big day today. Our final push to Dawson City. Long day - 530 kilometres on less than dependable roads. Off by 9:00 am. Everyone is in good spirits and ready for this day. Plan is to stop for lunch at noon. Ryan and I are on the lead, great music playing, saw wild horses, great views, we get to Haines Junction and Ryan and I look at one another….uh-oh. Our choices are Fairbanks or Haines. WE MISSED OUR TURN! WE TRAVELLED 160 KILOMETRES THE WRONG WAY! I have never said this word with more anger, frustration or disappointment- FUCK!! Fuck, fuck, fucking fuck. Our longest day yet has been 619 kilometres and that was a doozy. Today is a 850 kilometres and we are not there yet and we have been on the road for 11 hours and 30 minutes and we are still not there!! They are rebuilding this road and I cannot stress how awful it is. We are 4x4-ing in the motorhomes! Also, I was going to do double duty and make lunch while we were driving so when we did stop to eat we didn’t waste anytime. So I’m on one of the twistiest, bumpiest roads and I’m cutting up pickles, meat and cheese (basically juggling with knives) when the full jalapeño jar falls off the counter and smashes, quickly followed by the pickle jar, that does not smash because it’s fall was cushioned by my third toe on my left foot. That poor fucker has a blister from my walk yesterday and now it is going black. So I had to clean my floor, on my hands and knees, trying to not think about my possibility broken toe, while being bounced from cupboard to cupboard. When we did stop for lunch at Braeburn gas station this woman came out yelling at us that she had just made her third batch of fresh cinnamon buns. Then she came over, drank a glass of wine and didn’t stop talking for 20 minutes. Also, the campground is trying to contact me about our stalls, I keep getting cut off so I can only hope she is holding our stalls. So, Alice left us and everything has gone to shit. But we agreed that these make the best stories. But only when we are back in Whitehorse because it is supposed to rain here so we might live here now. And we killed a bird. And I broke the zipper on my new beer coozy. All in all, not the best Fathers Day, but one we won’t forget!