Friday July 10

This will be a quick one. I'm at a laundromat in Whitehorse, Yukon. I expect to end today at a campsite near Watson Lake. Internet will be almost nil after I leave Whitehorse.

Last night I stayed at a provincial campground at a place called Lake Creek a short distance into Canada after border crossing. I hadn't had a shower for a couple of days and needed water. Well the name is Lake Creek for a reason. It sits on a large creek fed by runoff from the high mountains. This means that the water was very cold, but refreshing. Nobody else was around, the camp ground was nearly empty and it was midnight, so what the heck. BRRRRRR.

After towelling off and putting on my fleece sweatpants and fleece shirt which are my pajamas, I decided to build myself a nice fire, heat some soup, and a cup of tea. I told myself a few fireside stories and decided to sleep on the ground beside the fire, no tent. Sounded like a great idea until it started raining. By the time I got the tent pitched, everything including the sleeping bag was soaked. I was tired enough to sleep anyway.

Now you know the real reason I'm at the laundromat. I plan on sleeping in a dry bag tonight. I should be getting to french Creek Campground where rte 37 turns south from rte 1/97 ( the Alaska Hy) and becomes the Cassiar Stewart Highway. This route is shorter than the rte 97 that I took coming up, plus it goes to Hyder, AK which is known for great bear viewing at Bear Glacier. If the salmon are running by the time I get there, there will be plenty of hungry bears to photograph.

Not only are there very few internet services up here, but I will be on international roaming. What this means is that my NetBook will cost me about 20 bucks per megabit for uploads. I love you all, but at what cost? Unless I'm at a campground with free internet, I'll be out of touch for about three days. Also, I'll be trying to stretch my gas and my tires (excuse me, that's tyres in Canada), so I'll be travelling at grampa speeds and resting frequently until I'm home.

Later