Leaving Dease Lake, we continued up Hwy 37 until we crossed the border into Yukon. The last 30 km or so, we were driving through hectares of burnt trees - apparently from a couple of fires in the past few years. What a sight - nothing but bare, scorched trunks. Once into Yukon, we headed east on the Alaska Hwy to Watson Lake where we spent two nights. A must-see here is the signpost forest - a massive display of over 80,000 signs that folks post when they visit. Another is the Northern Lights Centre with its 100-seat, domed-screen theatre. Here we watched an amazing film on black holes before the highlight film on the history, folklore and science of aurora borealis or northern lights. We were told that, except for the heavy cloud cover, there would have been a good display of the lights that night.

Unfortunately, as we broke camp, we discovered that either the switch or the motor for the front stabilizers was not working so had to unload the front cubby to locate the hand crank. Interestingly, Pat had just said the day before that he should bring the crank up to the surface just in case. We'll have to get that fixed, along with the oven, in Whitehorse.

With the stabilizers up, we were on our way again - heading west, not east as planned. The local tourist office convinced us we had to see more of Yukon before turning back into BC and Alberta.