June 18: This was an “unscheduled” day until late evening, so we did a little exploring around the “city centre” of Whitehorse, YT. I did some shopping and checked out the local quilt shop. I saw some lovely “northern” print batiks, but didn’t buy anything. (Fabrics cost a lot more in Canada than in the U.S., so I’ll do my serious shopping in Alaska!). Dave was able to find the bolts he needed (2 to use and 2 spares), which appear to be an exact match, metric and all! Our thanks to the diesel mechanic who raided their private larder and provided 4 new ones! Now our throttle mechanism appears to be soundly back together … but to be on the safe side, we’re leaving on the baling wire that our mechanic attached to get us back on the road a couple of days ago! 😉

After dinner, our Motorcade group met at a local theater to see a live production of the “Frantic Follies.” This was a delightful rendition of an old-time vaudeville show, really entertaining and fun! The musician-dancer-actors were excellent, versatile performers, and the action was fast-paced. It even used audience participation, which made it all the more fun. After the show was over, our group adjourned to our coaches. I might add that it was 10:15 p.m., the streets were deserted, and it was bright daylight outside! (Predicted sunset 12:49 a.m., predicted sunrise 3:48 a.m., and we’ve never found it truly dark outside at any time!) Tomorrow would be a long day (335 miles) that would start early, so we drew the blackout drapes promptly after we got back!

June 19: We indeed got an early start for a long drive through more of Yukon Territory as we made our way toward Dawson City. Let me point out here that the entire population of YT is about 37,000 and 28,000+ of them live in or near Whitehorse. That doesn’t leave many people remaining among the seemingly endless expanses of forests, mountains and rivers that make up the rest of the province (territory?). The point here is that there is very little traffic so 2-lane roads move everyone along nicely. But right now (summer) is the only time that road repairs can be made—a short window of opportunity—so we frequently encountered brief stretches of graveled road that was passable but not completely finished yet. We tried to drive carefully across these areas and hoped oncoming traffic did as well! At one of the one-way stretches, Beighley got to meet the flag lady and get a scratch behind the ears while we waited for a pilot car. B is such a goodwill ambassador!

It proved to be a long day of driving and the frost heaves were problematic, but we all arrived pretty much intact and ready for the delicious dinner awaiting us in a meeting room at the local hotel. After generous portions of scrumptious food and drink, followed by a drivers’ meeting, we were more than ready to head back to our coaches.

June 17: This morning we drove to Skagway, AK, (about 100 miles from Whitehorse, YT). Our group then gathered at the train station in Skagway to go on a round-trip sight-seeing excursion up to White Pass, which served as the entry way to the Klondike Gold Rush area. It was a beautiful train ride, but I can’t imagine lugging on foot the 2,000 pounds of goods and equipment each miner was required to have in order to prospect or stake a bona fide claim. Each miner made several trips to transport his supplies. Our group had an entire train car to ourselves, so we weren’t crowded and had a delightful time on the journey, especially when going through the dark tunnels (hee-hee-hee!). Think “vintage cars” here, that were pulled by small diesel-electric locomotives. The cars had seats that flipped over for the return trip if a locomotive was hooked to the other end rather than taking the train around a loop. Our trip was lengthened somewhat when the train in front of us had mechanical trouble. This meant that our train had to back a mile or so down the track to a siding, so that the train with problems could go past us and on down to the main station. Given the mountainsides, bridges, etc., along the way, it made for a thrilling, chilling procedure that the engineer and train crew executed safely and well! After returning to the station, we had a bite to eat, then drove back to the RV park. We arrived about 9:30 p.m. and that was it for the night.