Thursday, June 9, 2016

Destination Circle: Day 24

June 6, 2016
Dawson City (not where I stayed though)

The breakfast at the B and B was upstairs in the family's living quarters and was cooked to order: pancakes, omelets, eggs, sausage, bacon, or muffins and cold cereal. At first I was the only person so was the object of attention of a precocious, cute 7-year-old who showed me her Pokemon cards and drawings and colored erasers. Her mother gently tried to tone this down and I wondered about their lives, with total strangers wandering in and out every morning all summer. The room was appealing to me: elevated so it overlooked the neighborhood, full of windows, a kitchen, a sitting area with comfortable chairs and couches, two blond wood dining tables, bookshelves....

Another couple came up the stairs. I thought they were Australian but they were, in fact, from Britain. However, in the course of the conversation (mostly between the man and me), I learned he had worked in New Zealand and also in the US for 11 years. What did he do there? and where in the States did he live? Well, in Nevada and then he moved north through Utah, Wyoming, Colorado, Montana as he sheared sheep for a living. Sheep-shearing...probably last on a list of possible professions if I'd had to guess. They now travel; his wife prefers "caravanning" in Europe as she has only been seeing "trees" in Canada. She did lighten up when they talked of a three-day visit to Las Vegas. They had no definite itinerary this trip except for having to be back in Calgary on a certain date to fly home. Gravel roads didn't bother him a whit, and they were going west on Top of the World, or visit gold mines in the area, or take a Yukon steamboat if at least 15 other passengers signed up. Loose travel plans. He did mention Watson Lake: "We were there; there's nothing there." But there WAS something there as I discovered.

Part of Jack London's cabin, now in Dawson City, YT
We talked politics a bit and he allowed how "we are all struggling" with the Trump phenomenon, meaning both parties in England. He said this carefully at first, not wanting to offend me. "Struggling" came out as "strooggling." As for Canada's leader, the owner admitted to "not liking him very much" and the Britain said he was just a "pretty boy, and he's been naughty lately hasn't he?" It is interesting to get the perspectives of foreigners, and humbling as they often are sketchy about all that we take for granted in the US. They just are not all that into us, certainly not like we are into ourselves.....I said the US acts like the British when they were an empire in that we think we are superior and know what is best for the rest of the world. Very simplistic, I know, but... And we Americans are definitely just not into the rest of the world.

It rained all day, off and on, but often the showers lasted 10 seconds. The first raindrops left tiny silver paw prints on my dry windshield. As I drove out of town, I was horrified at the mess after mining the creeks - huge piles of stones everywhere. Dawson City is protected from the Yukon by a small levee (dike)  built after a flood in 1979, one of many throughout the years.
the sequelae of gold mining - just south of Dawson City, YT

The Klondike Highway runs south to Whitehorse for over 300 miles, and I drove all day in the gloom and rain, seeing only an occasional vehicle, on a road that had no shoulder for much of the way. Like if one had a flat tire or other breakdown, I have no idea what they would do since getting off the road seemed impossible in many places as the surface dropped two to three feet at a sharp angle - a tip-over angle in my estimation. There were no radio stations available but I didn't mind the long day driving through spruce and aspens and poplar forests, over mountains and through muskeg, across rivers and creeks. The highway leaves the Yukon Valley for the first couple of hours and then meets up again. At a pull-off high above the river, I could see Five Finger Rapids. Each year there is a Yukon River Quest from Whitehorse to Dawson. Canoers and kayakers compete in a race that takes 50 to 60 hours and is 444 miles. This year will be the first time SUPer's are allowed - SUP meaning stand-uppers as in paddle-boarding. Are you kidding? Paddling standing up on this river for that long? But these people are tough.
Five Finger Rapids on the Yukon halfway between Dawson City and Whitehorse

The sun finally came out as I approached Whitehorse where I stayed for the night and where the north-south Klondike Highway intersects the east-west Alaska Highway, which is also known as the "Road of '42." It was built by the US in response to the threat from the Japanese in WWII, and to connect the "contiguous US through Canada."

en.wikipedia.org:

"When the United States approached Canada again in February 1936, the Canadian government refused to commit to spending money on a road connecting the United States. The Canadians also worried about the military implications, fearing that in a war between Japan and North America, the United States would use the road to prevent Canadian neutrality. During a June 1936 visit to Canada, President Franklin D. Roosevelt told Prime Minister W. L. M. King that a highway to Alaska through Canada could be important in quickly reinforcing the American territory during a foreign crisis. Roosevelt became the first American to publicly discuss the military benefits of a highway in an August speech in Chautauqua, New York. He again mentioned the idea during King's visit to Washington in March 1937, suggesting that a $30 million highway would be helpful as part of a larger defense against Japan that included, the Americans hoped, a larger Canadian military presence on the Pacific coast. Roosevelt remained a supporter of the highway, telling Cordell Hull in August 1937 that he wanted a road built as soon as possible.[4]
The attack on Pearl Harbor and beginning of the Pacific Theater in World War II, coupled with Japanese threats to the west coast of North America and the Aleutian Islands, changed the priorities for both nations. On February 6, 1942 the construction of the Alaska Highway was approved by the United States Army and the project received the authorization from the U.S. Congress and Roosevelt to proceed five days later. Canada agreed to allow construction as long as the United States bore the full cost, and that the road and other facilities in Canada be turned over to Canadian authority after the war ended." 

It's the only road INTO Alaska other than the Top of the World Highway. Traveling in May is a good choice as traffic was much less and rates were generally more reasonable than later in the season. Most facilities were open, although many only re-open mid May. 

Tomorrow, I WILL get the oil changed in my car....




No comments:

Post a Comment