Cold and wet again, brrr part 3...

As you can see by my last blog, it was warm enough for me to wear shorts. When getting up this morning, I naively thought it would be about the same as yesterday weather wise. It was overcast and it didn't feel too bad for a northern BC morning, about 8 deg C.

The lodge had gas pumps as well but when I checked the price, $1.70/l, I double-checked the amount in our tank and decided to wait until we were in Watson Lake, YT. I figured that in the Yukon they didn't have the carbon surcharge and being a much larger community, the gas would be less expensive. Sure enough, the gas price in Watson Lake was "only" $1.12/l.

Well, I got to tell you, as soon as we drove off from Muncho Lake, after checking out our hotel, it started to drizzle and shortly thereafter it started to pour. In addition, the temperature started to drop and reached an astounding 3 deg C. later in the morning. It was a good thing we were in a well heated vehicle. Even so, after awhile we stopped and I got my jeans out and changed into them for the rest of the day.

The scenery is still very beautiful despite the low hanging clouds and rain. We're in and out of the mountains all the time. The road is generally quite good. The first stretch from Muncho Lake was very twisty (I don't know if this a good word but you get the idea) and a little rough. A little later this got a lot better and the road was quite good. It is interesting to know that today's Alaska Highway follows the original ALCAN highway mostly. However, over the years it has been vastly improved with new bridges and straightening of curves and widening the roadbed. In some places though you can still see remnants of the old ALCAN highway that was constructed by the US Army Corps of Engineers in 1942 (total construction time: 9 months, total length: 2237km). An interesting factoid is that the US Army Corps was a black outfit, segregation still being in full force at that time.

Along the way we saw at least half a dozen bison, wild ones this time. We crossed Teslin Lake across the longest bridge on the Alaska Highway. Although we think BC is one of most beautiful provinces, we have a few beefs with its government. They should get on the ball with placing proper signs at the natural points of interest and please, please get with it and build proper rest room facilities along the main highways. It is a good thing we brought along a roll of toilet paper because we had to do our ablutions in bush sometimes when we couldn't find a commercial establishment. They seem more concerned with litter because every 10 km or so there was a litter bin. Alas, no outhouses even at those points. When in the Yukon, this is much better. At least when you cross a major river, you'll know the name of it and there are numerous rest stops with facilities along the Alaska Highway.

Finally we arrived in Whitehorse shortly after 4 o'clock. We had a really hard time finding a hotel room here. Finally we found a cabin for a reasonable price but it has no running water so we have to take showers in a shower/bathroom facility. A little quaint but we'll survive for one night. Quite a difference from our luxury Lodge last night but it's all good. Well, I'm done again for today, good night to all.