May 28 - to Dawson City, YT

We did not leave Carmacks until about 10 am.  It was 60° out, but it not feel cold.

We stopped at Tage Cho Hudan Cultural Center just over the bridge (seen in yesterday’s pictures).  It didn’t open until 11, so contented ourselves with looking around the outside.  I could have spent a couple of hours on the grounds with my bucket and trash picker.  The grounds, much like the area off the River Drive boardwalk was seriously littered.

 

Ladder up to where they store their food cache to keep away from bears.  Not my kind of ladder.

Little flag on the edge of the road means SLOW DOWN the road is bumpy.

We had just come over the blue bridge.  This is Pelly Crosing.

Pelly Crossing

Pelly Crossing.

 

This is early in the season for the Dawson City traffic, so there wasn’t much traffic on the road making for an easy drive.  With drive time and stops, we completed the 220 miles in 7 hours.  It was 79° on arrival, with snow piles still evident on the perimeters.   The small rented RV (we were behind at the bridge construction) and a couple trailers are familiar form them passing us several times during the day.  You’d think we were playing leapfrog.  It is almost 9 pm and we are still the only class A mh in the park.  There are two trucks with slide-on campers.  I’ve seen more of that type RV on this trip than I’d seen at home in years.  The RV that parked in the Carmacks campground was a truck camper too.  They must be in a bigger hurry than we are.  They came in so late and were out before I got up and out this morning.

I much prefer to drive down the middle of these bridges than being forced into a single lane. 

The sign on the left leans into the lane at my mirror height.  I didn't notice it at first, probably because it was facing the other way and nothing to read on our side.  I noticed it at the last possible moment and was able to input some steering to avoid hitting it with my left mirror.  Missed by and inch.

David said all the trees start to look just like trees...nothing to look at but the inside of his eyelids. 

 

Sometimes the flags warn of more than bumps.  Here the road is only gravel.

We go from way above the water to literally being right at the Klondike River's edge.

That is snow on the left side of the road.

There was water rushing down underneath the stow into a culvert under the roadway.

We traveled to Dawson City on the Klondike Highway.  Thursday we'll take the ferry across the Yukon River, then drive about 67 miles west to the Alaska (USA) border.

The permafrost causes the ground to move, so not much in the way of paved streets here.  The structures take special construction to keep them from sinking.  This is the intersection for the entrance to the campground (office is the blue building).

We are at the end in the corner spot.

 

We are now camped in downtown Dawson City.  When I walked to the entrance of the park to get a picture, I kept on walking a block or two and found the Catholic Church.  They had an evening Mass scheduled for 7pm.  It was another new experience.   Instead of leading the congregation in music, David got to be the reader.  The priest made some modifications in the text of the Mass acknowledging our presence too.  Where normally they say … “our sisters and brothers”.  He was saying …”our sister and brother”.  David and I were the entire congregation. 

 

The parish was established in 1896, but I think it is in serious trouble.  Father Ernest said they could not afford to heat it in the winter, so attendance drops off.  The campground owner said it gets to 60 below zero here in the winter.  I can see no heat would be a problem for communal activities.

 

We walked over to the George Black Ferry landing and watched it load and unload.  We’ll probably ride it tomorrow, just for fun and to see how the exit site looks.  They just pull up to graded dirt as far as we can see, but they warn against possible damage to low hanging vehicles, or those with extended rears.    They have people line up in three rows; RV’s in one lane, busses and commercial trucks (they have priority during some hours), and vehicles under 19 feet.

Our only animal sighting today was one black bear.   The road was narrow, so I did not try to stop to take a picture.   I think we will see more. 

They have limited Internet here and it kicked us off the system last night.  We think somethings were automatically backing up to our storage.  Hopefully we have that stopped today, so I can get this posted.  We still hope to get to the USA on Thursday and get some cell coverage.  We've been told by several campground owners that our Verizon phone won't work in the Yukon.  I'm thinking I should cancel the data plan I put on the phone.