Tom's trip SITREP#17‏ (twenty)

Sent: Sun 3/07/10 5:54 AM

To All:

I am still in the Yukon trying to kill some more time.

Today, I rented a car and planned to drive to Skagway. I got to the halfway point and fueled up. The attendent brought my attention to blinking lights on parallel poles that were on each side of the highway and that these lights signaled that the road was closed to all traffic. This gas station highway was the only fueling point on the way to Skagway and my rental car was just above half full. It was snowing quite strongly, though not yet a blizzare. I got the feeling from the attendant, who lives in the area that a good storm was coming and I was not prepared to test circumstances.

I didn't have chains for the car, nor did I have a cell phone that worked. All I had was my SPOT tracker. Also, I didn't want to be caught in a snowstorm so I turned around and "hightailed" it back to Whitehorse.

Actually, the afternoon turned out to be a great treat. I went to the Whitehorse museum and it was just like the one in Anchorage. It had all the lore of the Klondike and how the region became settled; how the gold rush started. One section had a representative stuffed animal of all the major species that exist. They even had a stuffed grizzly like the one that Phil got and now I display at home. The museum had all kinds of factoids and items to investigate. It was the kind of place where you could spend several days assimilating the history of the "Klondike" story.

One example from the tour is how this city got it's name.

There is a rough river nearby with rapids located in the vicinity of this town. It was named the White River. However, the rapids were so rough that they "looked like a horses mane" - hence the name of Whitehorse.

I went down the main street and noted the picture scenery. All the little souvenir shops and tourist traps were located on a single street. It so resembled Anchorage with carvings and tourist oddities and shops.

The weather today was slightly above freezing and was just enough at noon for the snow to melt. All the cars are covered with brown sludge from the accumulated dirt of the entire winter. Any time one goes outdoors, you have to clean your shoes with a wet rag/cloth. There was no sun today; it is trying to snow, so it seems rather gloomy.

I'm not sure what I can do to kill time tomorrow.

I've been thinking about how to spend time like I did on this snowmobile race. The hallmarks would be somewhat of the following:

- It should last at least one week or better still - two weeks
- It should have some measure of endurance and disciplined routine after being started
- It should be something new - a new adventure - rather than an extension of the past

When I get home on tuesday morning (On Monday, I fly all night on a journey from hell; from Whitehorse to Vancouver to San Fran to Atlanta to Nashville by about 7:30am), I'll be happy to see Barb and the animals. Still, at some emotional level, I'll miss the spirit of this snowmobile race. Damn, it was fun.

We'll have much to talk about in the coming weeks.

Tom