Day 63/64: Whitehorse, YK

We are alive and well, here in Whitehorse, the only major city in the Yukon. The population of the Yukon is 32,000...Whitehorse's population is 24,000...so now you can see why we weren't able to write the blog for yesterday. As a consolation for missing out on a blog, I'll update you on what happened.

Now before I sequence the events from yesterday to today, I first want to explain to everyone what the plan was (or lack there of) for yesterday, July 16. We woke up late as always, however since the sun is still shining until 11:30pm here in the north, we really weren't missing anything. The plan for this section was to drive, in order to make it to school on time we had to take time off the bikes for this portion of the trip. Which wasn't that displeasing to the rest of the group, since it allowed us to see comparably why bikes aren't the preferred vehicle for travel.

Driving through the country, however didn't feel the same, after a while in the van I was missing the open air and the solace I found while riding a bicycle. My legs felt weighed down and my body yearned for exercise. With all the open spaces of the Canadian wilderness, I can truly say I missed my bicycle.

HW 37 is known for its vacancy. On the road we were able to truly catch a glimpse of our seclusion, by seeing several black bears crossing peacefully into the brush. Knowing how menacing they could be, we kept out distance. Even with present danger we couldn't help but stop the van and watch them safely from a distance. What can I say, we take pride in being Baylor Bears.

We were alone on this stretch of Highway except for the occasional RV. The roads are just as secluded, meaning maintained as such. Its now wonder why locals looked at us strangely when we were coming this way. Loose gravel littered the roadway, and when cones said "slow down" they weren't cautionary they were meant to be taken literally. I couldn't imagine riding my bike on this kind of path.

Dease Lake, was our confirmed stop for the night, we arrived at 8:00pm hungry for anything to eat. Luckily we found the only restaurant in town, called "Mama Z's". At first we were apprehensive about eating at a road stop, especially since its the only restaurant in town, but we were definitely surprised by how great the food was.

After dinner we were on our own, meaning we didn't have plans on where to stay or somebody to meet. We figured when we got to Dease Lake all would be clear, it wasn't, and we were left fending for ourselves. We drove throughout the night looking for a place to camp but all we saw was private property. After going through town we reached the outskirts of the city and decided to turn around and look again. As we were turning around, who would have thought but we got stuck in the sand. Just like Arizona our van sunk into the dirt. We were stuck on the side of the road just on the outside of civilization. Figuring it was too late in the night to call for help, Nathan said, "Well, I guess we found our campsite." We made a crummy situation a little more enjoyable and had fun sleeping on the side of the road.







I woke up with giant mosquitoes everywhere. All through the night we were attacked by swarms of mosquitoes and up on the tent there the lay. We did all we could to get rid of them but eventually we had to give up...so much for bug spray (it only worked for a little while). Feeling the bites, we got up and I went to search for help. I found a car shop only a short distance from our camp and he was able to help us out, pulling our van from the hole. We were relieved that we would get a good start for the rest of the day.

All day we sat in the car, listening to road tunes, and drinking soda. I still missed my bike. We finally hit our destination, the first stop in the Yukon, Whitehorse. We met with Pastor Clayton and his wife at the Church of the Nazarene. They gave us a tour of the church and showed great hospitality. They even took us to some sites that are particularly known for in this part of the world. They showed us 1 out of six rivers that flows north, and then they took us to a swinging bridge that all of us were happy to rock back and forth, only Nathan decided to stand where there was solid ground (he's a little afraid of heights). But to top off an already busy day, we decided to watch The Dark Knight during the midnight showing. We saw the first showing of Batman in the Yukon! The movie was awesome by the way. I think we're going to be talking about it all night.

Tomorrow I'll be happy to get back on my bike. So far the van has had more troubles anyway...

-Justin Brown

p.s. As soon as we have the ability to post pictures, we'll update all of you..thanks for being patient.