Oh, Canada!

When it comes to the RV, I'm like a first-time father who's reluctant to even pick up his newborn for fear of breaking it.  Don't use anything until we absolutely have to--that's my motto.  As a consequence, we tucked in for the night without turning on the furnace.  We assumed, quite wrongly as it turns out, that we had more than enough blankets to keep us warm.  Finally, about 4:00, Nicole decided to take matters into her own hands and turned the furnace on.  In the dark, however, she was unaware that the thermostat was set at 55, so we still had no heat until after we got up this morning and discovered her mistake.  Amazingly, I started feeling warmer anyway as soon as I thought she had turned it on.  Ah, the power of the mind!

We naively thought that we would just pop out of bed this morning, make a cup of coffee, and be on our way.  We discovered instead that we were so disorganized that everything, even making coffee, seemed to take forever.  And then there was the waste water dumping, another one of those things I had put off for as long as possible.  In truth, it is a rather simple procedure, but, for obvious reasons, one you never want to screw up, so Nancy and I took extra care.  The hose was brand new, still in the box, so we had to unpack it, read the instructions, assemble the parts, read the instructions, hook it up, read the instructions, re-read the instructions, then open the valves and drain the black water and gray water tanks. Much to my relief, it worked just as advertised, but by the time we had unhooked the hose and stowed it away, the whole thing had taken a good half an hour.  By the time we were finally ready to pull out, it was already 10:30, just like yesterday.

For the last 50 or 60 miles coming into town yesterday we were traveling almost due east, but just beyond Glennallen, the Wrangell Mountains rise abruptly and block further progress in that direction, so we are now forced to turn almost due north.  After about 15 miles, we alter course again, this time to the northeast, and by 2:00 we reached Tok, yesterday's intended destination and the northern most point on our trip south.

A left turn onto the Al-Can and a 94 mile run to the southeast brought us to the border. We had to stop for the obligatory "here we are at the border" photos then entered Canada in high spirits.  Our elation barely lasted a mile, however.  The pavement disappeared and the road became a washboardy dirt nightmare that was nearly undriveable.  The speed limit sign said 40 kph (25 mph) but even at 10 mph, it felt like the RV was going to be shaken to pieces.  Fortunately, the solid pavement returned after only a few miles.

About 20 miles into Canada, we stopped for the night at Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory, where the Canadian Custom Station is located.  Our inspection was perfunctory.  We stopped at the drive-up window.  We handed over our passports, the Custom Agent inside asked half a dozen questions, wished us a safe trip and sent us on our way.  I wish it was that simple catching a flight.

Day 2
Glennallen, Alaska - Beaver Creek, Yukon Territory

Daily Mileage:  248.3
Total Mileage:  433.3