July 28, 2010 - Wednesday

Whitehorse, Yukon Territory to White River, Yukon Territory -250 miles

68o & Sunny

Day 67

This morning we buried our battery.The nice people at Kenworth gave birth to a new one.We have noticed that finding RV parts is not an easy task.Even something as simple as a battery took three tries.It's a battery.You see stacks of them at K-Mart, Sam's & Sears.Mention RV and the price goes up (I mean UP) and availability goes down.It's some kind of Hoodoo!In Whitehorse Alaska you could be in for a two-week stay for any specialty part.The Kenworth people did manage to find a suitable battery for us and with only a four-hour delay we were on our way once more.

The road is very bad from Whitehorse to Tok.We talked to one couple that had so many problems that they were turning back and going home, just 8 hours from Alaska.It's a grueling trip physically, mentally and mechanically.Repairs are the norm and the cost is as steep as the mountains.The shear beauty keeps drawing you on.

After lunch as we drove north we noticed occasionally cars were blinking their lights at us.After our previous awning incident we decided to stop and have a look.Yep…one of the awning guards lost a bolt.As we drove the wind hitting the awning cover caused it to bend out at a right angle with the RV.Hugh has become very resourceful.He dug into his handy dandy extra part thing-a-ma-jig bucket and found a bolt that would work.We were on our way again.

We made our way around Kluane Lake, another suicide drive.This is the largest lake in the Yukon.Once again there were no guardrails, shear cliff walls, and the lake right next to you - for 30 miles. The mountains surrounding Kluane Lake were above the tree line and barren of vegetation.The lake was huge.It took and hour to drive around one side of the lake.The landscape reminded me of the moon.

We started running into, or should I say over, bad road conditions shortly after we passed the lake.The highway was still mountainous. The roads were wider, but the frost heaves were everywhere.A lot of the time we could only go 30 mph.We had really wanted to arrive in Tok, Alaska today.It was 5 o'clock and we decided to stop short of our goal for the night.As it turned out it was a good decision.

We were beat!Poor Hugh, the driving had been rough.We stopped at the White River RV Park.The Park was a little cleared patch in the wilderness 3 and a half hours from Tok, Alaska.As we pulled into the RV Park I noticed the sites had grass.We hadn't seen grass in a park for days.Abbie was eyeballing the lush green already.We settled in.

The owner and his wife were nice people who made everyone feel welcome.They built bonfires in the evening and gave guided tours showcasing the area.

We were exhausted and settled in early.Abbie would not settle down.She was acting spooky.She growled continuously at the doors and windows.Finally realizing she was not going to settle down I went forward and opened the curtains.Abbie went airborne…out front was a big brown bear.We had seen a black bear in a tree in the owner's back yard earlier.It was smaller and looked scared 40 feet up in the tree.This was a large bear, not at all scared and walking right up to our RV. Everyone else had gone on the tour and we were alone with the bear.He nosed around and went on his way.Abbie was barking like a crazy nut not realizing she was on the dinner menu.

As we finally settled in for the second time, we laughed at our circumstances and how things can veer of course for a while.That's not always a bad thing.It was beautiful!