Day Nine - July 15
Dustee Boots and Sonny Miles here with an update...First of all we had no internet here in the wild west last, also known as Whitehorse in the Yukon territory. We saw a full internet singnal on the PC but we could not wrangle it onto our computer. That meant I got the night off and got to sleep at 930. I think that is the earliest night for me for the entire trip. See the map below for a point of reference in our quest to conquer North America. I have highlighted Whitehorse with a little orange box.
Gettin Closer...
Honorable Mention
This is Mike and Tom on the stairs of The Historic Air Force Lodge in Watson Lake, Yukon. This is where we spent the previous evening but had not taken this picture until the following morning. A very neat place with some cool history and worth a snippet.
This is the only building surviving World War II, and previously served as sleeping quarters for war pilots. Mike, who spoke with a thick European accent, had the building moved from a location approximately ten miles away. They had cut the building in half and moved it to it's current location along the Alaskan Highway. It is built like a tank inside with dorm like rooms to the left and right of the entrance and basic fixings. It was very clean and neat and had separate mens and womens showers and restrooms. Recommended if you ever find your self in the Yukon area.
Mike had greeted us at the door and house rule number one, no shoes, all the guests in the quarters left there shoes at the door. Mike said they have never lost a pair in ten years. Mike also did all the remodeling himself and spend a considerable amount of time in his crawl space of less than two feet. He did indicate he was a smaller man ten years ago. If he hates his crawl space as much I hate mine, we have a lot in common.
He has had the place operational for about ten years and he boasts the roof can hold twenty five feet of snow and he is the only show around that has not closed due to mechanical difficulty or snow collapse. I also heard Mikes son running around and asking for ice cream. I asked Mike how his boy liked living there and he said his son has lived there his whole life and knows nothing else. Cool way to grow up.
Build it Mike and they will come.
This is the only building surviving World War II, and previously served as sleeping quarters for war pilots. Mike, who spoke with a thick European accent, had the building moved from a location approximately ten miles away. They had cut the building in half and moved it to it's current location along the Alaskan Highway. It is built like a tank inside with dorm like rooms to the left and right of the entrance and basic fixings. It was very clean and neat and had separate mens and womens showers and restrooms. Recommended if you ever find your self in the Yukon area.
Mike had greeted us at the door and house rule number one, no shoes, all the guests in the quarters left there shoes at the door. Mike said they have never lost a pair in ten years. Mike also did all the remodeling himself and spend a considerable amount of time in his crawl space of less than two feet. He did indicate he was a smaller man ten years ago. If he hates his crawl space as much I hate mine, we have a lot in common.
He has had the place operational for about ten years and he boasts the roof can hold twenty five feet of snow and he is the only show around that has not closed due to mechanical difficulty or snow collapse. I also heard Mikes son running around and asking for ice cream. I asked Mike how his boy liked living there and he said his son has lived there his whole life and knows nothing else. Cool way to grow up.
Build it Mike and they will come.
Dealers and Healers on Two Wheelers
When on a trip like this you often meet people that stick out as some of your favorites. This may have been one of the most eclectic and interesting bunch to date. They take the cake as one of our most memorable road side Dan Rather moments. They came to greet Helen and wanted to know the story. After the jokes subsided we took the opportunity to get to know these folks as well. From left to right is Li ( pronounced Lee), Wan (pronounced Won) Helen, Chad, Steve and Richard. Tommy took the picture for us in this one.
Upon our arrival at another random rest stop, this crew was making peanut butter sandwiches and eating M and M's. For us, this was an unscheduled beef jerky and Molson Canadian beer moment.
Steve, next to me, is married to Wan and their son is Li. Steve is a retired doctor (healer) and practiced as an internal medicine doc at Harlem hospital in New York. Surprise, he said it was a busy hospital. That is hard to imagine in Harlem. After retiring from the hospital system he spent ten years in the Doctors Without Borders program and practiced medicine in remote needy areas. He said he is now officially retired and enjoying his time.
When I asked him how he met Wan, he said she was selling ties at Harlem hospital. He clarified, she was selling ties and not Thai's. He commented, she is Chinese, aren't they always selling something. They were an awesome pair. She is quite feisty too.
Li, is a Stanford graduate and his sister, not traveling with them is a Harvard grad, and I thought junior college was rough. I do not know why I thought he was such a cool guy...oh yeah he works as a programmer for Google. He writes code that deals directly with the search functionality, so the next time you "GOOGLE" something you can thank Li.
I asked Li if this was his first trip, he mentioned that he had done this before many years ago with his parents but he mentioned that trip was in Thailand or some other foreign country I cannot remember now. Li said that the bike and helmet belonged to his dad (Steve-O), and that his parents had did all the planning and they called and invited him and he just "showed up" Hey Li why don't you pull yourself together man and do something with your life :)
There was also Richard, probably the crazy neighbor living next door, who invited himself on the "family" trip. Richard is a retired hospital pharmacist (dealer) living in the Seattle area. He mentioned something that caught our ear, he said that likes to sail. When we asked what kind of boat he said it was one he built. He sailed in his imaginary boat, in his yard, starting in 1973 as he began building it. The name of his grass going vessel was the Raggedy Ann. He sold the boat in 2005...probably after his neighbors complained of all the pirate noises and swash buckling late at night.
We departed by telling these guys they were our favorites so far to which Wan replied "I bet you say that to everyone" and Wan we say ....we told you so.
Upon our arrival at another random rest stop, this crew was making peanut butter sandwiches and eating M and M's. For us, this was an unscheduled beef jerky and Molson Canadian beer moment.
Steve, next to me, is married to Wan and their son is Li. Steve is a retired doctor (healer) and practiced as an internal medicine doc at Harlem hospital in New York. Surprise, he said it was a busy hospital. That is hard to imagine in Harlem. After retiring from the hospital system he spent ten years in the Doctors Without Borders program and practiced medicine in remote needy areas. He said he is now officially retired and enjoying his time.
When I asked him how he met Wan, he said she was selling ties at Harlem hospital. He clarified, she was selling ties and not Thai's. He commented, she is Chinese, aren't they always selling something. They were an awesome pair. She is quite feisty too.
Li, is a Stanford graduate and his sister, not traveling with them is a Harvard grad, and I thought junior college was rough. I do not know why I thought he was such a cool guy...oh yeah he works as a programmer for Google. He writes code that deals directly with the search functionality, so the next time you "GOOGLE" something you can thank Li.
I asked Li if this was his first trip, he mentioned that he had done this before many years ago with his parents but he mentioned that trip was in Thailand or some other foreign country I cannot remember now. Li said that the bike and helmet belonged to his dad (Steve-O), and that his parents had did all the planning and they called and invited him and he just "showed up" Hey Li why don't you pull yourself together man and do something with your life :)
There was also Richard, probably the crazy neighbor living next door, who invited himself on the "family" trip. Richard is a retired hospital pharmacist (dealer) living in the Seattle area. He mentioned something that caught our ear, he said that likes to sail. When we asked what kind of boat he said it was one he built. He sailed in his imaginary boat, in his yard, starting in 1973 as he began building it. The name of his grass going vessel was the Raggedy Ann. He sold the boat in 2005...probably after his neighbors complained of all the pirate noises and swash buckling late at night.
We departed by telling these guys they were our favorites so far to which Wan replied "I bet you say that to everyone" and Wan we say ....we told you so.
Betting Men
As a side note Tommy and I said when we started this trip that we bet we run into someone that we know or someone from one of our towns. Well today we have our first contestant. While at the rest stop with Google man , up pulled Matt Loss. He works in the construction trade and hails from Milwaukee. Right now Matt is the winner. We will keep our eyes and ears open. We located him already and sent him an invitation on Linked In and invited him for some beers back home. We also took his dinner recommendation of, Sanchez, a Mexican restaurant in Sanchez. Just gave us a lot gas.
Leap Frog
As we were driving we can see a little pile up starting to gather behind a mobile home and one by one people began to pass. Man was this vehicle moving slow. Finally it was our turn to pass and I began my leisurly drift into the forever long left hand lane, I noticed the plates, New Mexico. I got even with the driver, it was "The Turtle." George and Lydia from yesterday. We waved feverishly at them, I think they recognized us!
It is also kind of cool, every few days we see other people we have met and it is nice to greet them my name and shake their hands. We also saw both Ron's today.
We also realized something else up here in the far north....at home gas stations are located in towns, out here gas stations are the towns..
It is also kind of cool, every few days we see other people we have met and it is nice to greet them my name and shake their hands. We also saw both Ron's today.
We also realized something else up here in the far north....at home gas stations are located in towns, out here gas stations are the towns..
A Few Random Thoughts
A few other people we met along the way. Click on the picture to enlarge and view the captions.