Nomadic Life: Day 3 Roadside Rest Stop

Roadside Rest Area between Teslin and Swift River, British Columbia

It was another too long day on the road.  I really must do something about this, especially since it is completely within my power to do so.  I pulled stakes at 7:30am and put them back down at 4:30pm.

Today was another sunny day full of gorgeous scenery including large mountains, large lakes, and one pair of Trumpeter Swans.  I’m pleased to report the roads did indeed improve as expected.  The Alcan is still no superhighway by any means as it remains a two lane road with shoulders, painted lines, frost heaves, and gravel sections appearing and disappearing at random for its one thousand five hundred mile length (Dawson Creek to Tok), but at least we seem to have left all of the serious “road damage” behind.  (I’m really going to try not to mention the condition of the roads again for at least a week)

There were two stops on the agenda today.  First was the Village Bakery in Haines Junction.   I had been told in advance that this is the place for internet, coffee, and plenty of big rig parking just across the street.  Thank you Bill.  I was able to post my first two “Nomadic Life” blog entries from there as well as eat what was referred to as a Bison Smokie.  For those of you unfamiliar with this tasty delight, picture a large pig-n-a-blanket.  The pig part was bison and the blanket part was sourdough and all was covered with cheddar cheese and served warm and gooey.  It was a lovely breakfast treat even though it is not on my new diet plan (don’t laugh) which now includes the drastic reduction of everything I love like fat, carbs, salt, more fat and definitely more carbs with maybe some more fat thrown in and the substantial increase of green leafy things, something called “whole foods”, lean meat, brightly colored vegetables etc.  The reason for an attempted change in diet is the result of a recent cholesterol test, which, while it didn’t throw me into the Land of Lipitor, did call for a change in the types of food I eat.  Sigh.

The second stop was in White Horse, the capital city of Yukon Territory and a major player in the famed Yukon Gold Rush.  If any of you are ever in the area, I recommend stopping by for a visit.  After walking around town for awhile, finding a geocache, and finding an ATM since I still didn’t have any Canadian money, I found a wonderful bakery called, Baked, which had high speed internet and awesome music.  You ask why I had to find an internet café so soon after just leaving one that morning?  Well, as it turns out I have signed up for a 10 week online writing course and today is the first day of class, as if I don’t have enough going on in my life at the moment.  I knew internet access would be spotty at best, so I planned my departure from Anchorage to put me in White Horse today since I would surely have access to the class from there.  With a latte in hand and David Bowie blaring in my ear, I wrote and posted the required “bio” about myself on the classroom Blackboard and copied and pasted the lecture and assignment to a word document so I could review it once I had parked for the night.

I am now parked for the night at a Rest Stop overlooking a lake somewhere between Teslin and Swift River, British Columbia so must go in order to read the lecture and ponder the assignment.

Sorry.  No photos today, but please stay tuned.