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Old 07-27-2008, 08:56 PM   #46
Manual Garcia O'Kely
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Join Date: Feb 2008
Posts: 96
Default Report Four continued

7/18/08 Dawson City, Yukon.

Today was a real highlight: Outside Tok is a USCG Loran-C master station - this a a navigation system that pre-dates the
GPS era, and is still in use since it's nearly impossible to jam - unlike GPS. While they have signs stating no trespassing,
I found that they were delighted to have a visitor, and quite as much to Have one who actually understood what the station
did - I received a personal tour by the duty watch officer that lasted almost an hour, including getting to walk inside
one of their 543 KW transmitters [they have two used in rotation]. They have a tank coil as big as an old metal 45 gallon
trash bin and the plate transformer is bigger than the average pad transformer outside an office building. One of the last
of the Tube type transmitters in service, it's a push-pull configuration with water-cooled finals and some Eimacs that may
be 4-1000 as exciters for the main event. Obviously, for reasons of security I did not ask to take any photos but it was
WAY cool and is worth a stop if you are on the way by.

The drive then to Dawson City was...interesting. First off, it's quite a scenic drive, at least up to Chicken, which is
the end of the pavement. From that point on, hope it's been dry or else suffer the worst mud you can imagine - we had rain
and wet and well, it was pretty bad - particularly when two jackeye [plural for that animal] hit us at high speed right in
the middle of the mudpuddle - the photos will show the damage done.

We crossed over the border then [boy, have they upgraded the border crossing since our last trip] and dropped down into DC.

There was a hour's wait for the ferry and by the time we got across, we ended up stopping to hose off the mud and decided to
stay at the RV park cluster just south of downtown. A decent place but of the gravel-lot variety - it was so late we did not
care - made dinner and went to bed early, it continued to rain that night although we had hopes for good weather in the AM.

By this point, Deb and I are both pretty tired of the unceasing rain and cloudy weather - it just does not want to stop.
The trailer is starting to smell musty due to all the moisture we are unable to get rid of without heat and dry air - even
with the fan running some nights it's a real battle.

Dawson City is like a museum with a pulse, although it is interesting enough, and the Yukon river runs right thru town. There
was a music festival on this weekend but we were too tired and sick of the weather to take advantage of it.

7/19/08 - Johnson's Crossing, Yukon

Heading back to the lower 48, this river crossing roadhouse is famous for their Cinammon Rolls - they were OK - again, we
just decided to stop and it was handy. Actually fairly cheap for a site with power and water - $15. Bath house was adequate
for our needs and we had an interesting neighbor - they had a Pinghauser RV - 6 wheel drive [yea, 3 axles] with an air-cooled
diesl motor - it looked and sounded like a Microbus on steroids. Richard and his wife were on a 6 month trip and had shipped
their vehicle over from europe for the trip.

We actually had some sunshine and were able to dry out just a bit as a result. The drive down from Dawson was marred by the
fog in the AM that obscured any possible views we might have had.

7/20 - Boya Lake Campground, BC, on Hwy 37 [Cassier-Stewart Highway]

This is the 'new' road south to Vancouver, which goes past Stewart and Hyder and Price Rupert BC.

A very new road and not all that well traveled, the scenery is magnificant - much better than the older route we came up on.

Boya Lake is a small campground right on the lake, no hookups, well water and pretty popular - not good for very large rigs
yet there were some here.

Rain was bad in the evening with wind as well - we had a minor flood in the kitchen due to a clogged drain channel - once that
was fixed, it was fine the rest of the night.

We stopped for supplies in Watson Lake - again admiring the Signpost Forest, the Super A supermarket is about the only one
on the route except for one about 250 miles down the road.

The surface of this road varies from really new pavement to decent gravel to acceptable pavement, but it often lacks a centerline
and there is just not much to stop and see - few small settlements and some less popular resorts seems to be most of it.

7/21/08 Bell II Lodge and campground on the Cassier Highway

Deb wanted a room tonight so we splurged on a very pricy room $200 [!!] here in this remote lodge north of Stewart BC. It's main
claim to fame seems to be heli-skiing as evidenced by a huge map of the surrounding area with skiing runs marked on it. It's
a nice place but seems overpriced by at least $60...but we have a roof and since it's been raining again most of the day
after a sunny AM, I agreed with her that it would be nice to have a room again.

Last night was COLD - we again resorted to the Nalgene bottles full of boiling water for foot warmers and they performed more
than adequately - with a "Full Punjabi Breakfast" [This is our joke based on the movie 'bend it like Beckham' and means bacon,
potatos and eggs with coffee.] under us in the morning, we packed in the sun and headed back out.

Again, the scenery and views on this road are really good, there's still an amazing amount of snow on the hills given we are
at only 3,000' ASL or less, but temps today were between 42 and 55 degrees, and again, it's raining hard in some places.

This lodge also has some nice RV sites with services and you can use the hotel restaurant and hot tub, but the sites are
fairly plain.

7/22/08 - Stewart BC - City campground

Stewart is a nice town, although it has the sort of feeling of a town barely hanging on - but what a dramatic drive into town,
with avalance debris on the sides of the road.

This was one of the few dry days in camp, we got a chance to actually air out the trailer, and their bath house was a good one,
albiet with coin operated showers - at least the hot water was hot.

We drove to Hyder to the bear viewing area and then up the salmon glacier in the evening. Hyder is a dump.

We did see one grizzly bear at the viewing area, and your park pass saves you the $5 entrance to the viewing area. The
Salmon Glacier is really very cool, although the road would be a bad one with the trailer - we had uncoupled so it was
merely tedious, and somewhat hair-raising due to the lack of guardrails and the very generous exposure.

7/23/08 - Tyhee Lake Camp, outside Telkna, BC

Well, we stopped in Smithers to see about getting the car's front end aligned - there is a great deal of wear on the pax
side front tire. We have to wait a day for an appointment, but decided it would be worth it. This campground is
nice, with generous spacing and good free showers - the water is almost too hot! We will stay two days so that we can
get the car repaired.

The drive down this way sort of changes from the high-country mountains to more farm-oriented land - lots of hay fields.
It is still very scenic, and the roads continue to be decent two-lane highways. We are clearing moving back into the
populated part of BC however.

7/24 - Tyhee Lake

Yep, the car was way out of alignment, but the good news is that only one tire was bad, so I got to use the un-mounted spare
in it's place, and we got the entire job done for just over $100. A pretty good deal compared to back home.

Ate at Tim Horton's for the first time. Will not make that mistake again.

Also had dinner at Boston Pizza - now I'm pretty picky about Pizza, and was pleasantly surprised by the overall good quality
of the food at this chain.

7/25/08 - 10 Mile Lake, BC

Sunny and warm today, in fact we got to air out again, the camp is a new one and not very scenic, but we are only here for
the night. I'm coming down with something. Sore throat and sneezing. Sigh.

Drive was again good, nothing of real note.

7/26/08 - Barkerville, BC end of Hwy 26 east of Quesnel

A restored mining town, this campground is one of the better - the showers are small and not very well laid out, but the
sites are very nicely isolated, and you are well off the beaten path. The road up here is about 82 KM, and it is really
a hilly trip up.

7/27/08 - Cache Creek, BC

Our chosen campground was full at 6 pm, so we decided to have a motel room tonight. That is where I am writing now.

We toured Barkerville this morning before we left - it's worth the 3-4 hours you will spend walking around, if you
have the time/inclination, you could easily spend the full day, doing the theatre show, the horse drawn carriage rides
and the other attractions in this old mining town. Many of the buildings have restoration work that you can walk-thru
and there are employees in period costume as well. Kids would probably love this, particular the carriage ride and the
gold panning options.

As we condinued south, we continue to get closer to the population center, gas stations are much closer together and
there are plenty of small towns.

Tomorrow we will be heading towards Whistler.

Photos are minimal and will have to wait until later
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