Day 32 – July 7, 2001 – We woke up this morning to the realization that our cars had been ransacked, most likely by the group of drunks who were hanging around outside the bar. We were fortunate: the damage was minor (some torn side curtains because they couldn’t figure out how to open the doors) and they primarily stole the gas cans we had borrowed from Bill Capps (and the $3/gallon gas that was in them). Some fishermen in Juneau, who had been impressed by our trip, had given us a half bottle of rum which was in the truck and they stole that, too. Everything else they went through and dumped out but didn’t take. It was pretty frustrating, especially since we have traveled over 4,500 miles on this trip, and on numerous trips before this one, and have never had anything stolen. It certainly doesn’t say much about the Yukon Territory.

The drive up to Dawson City was not too long but not particularly pretty. It is cold and rugged country, considered pretty isolated even in Canada. It started raining rather hard about 25 miles out from Dawson City and Jennifer, who had taped her side curtains with duct tape, got mad all over again about the damage that was causing her to get even wetter than usual. Dawson City is a Disney-looking town with 1890 storefronts recently restored by the Canadian government as part of the historic redevelopment of the gold mining communities. However, unlike Disney, the streets were actually dirt or, after an extended rain, mud. You could get a real feel for the life the miners lived when you trudged your way across the muddy streets. The town is made up primarily of tourists who have come to the end of the earth to see the old mining community and the people who have figured out a way to make money of them. All of us were glad we had been here but none of us feel any driving urge to return.

707a – The gold here was taken from the Klondike and the Yukon Rivers, which meet in Dawson City. The Klondike River winds and twists close to and then away from the highway, getting stronger and wider each time it reappears.

707b – We passed miles and miles of burnt forest. The Mileposts Guide identifies the burns as happening in 1998 and 1996 and 1990 and tells how many thousands of acres burned each time. But it is hard to visualize how much land that is until you see burned forest as far as you can see and it takes more than an hour to drive through the burn. The wildflowers, called fireweed, bloom in fuchsia profusion around the base of the trees and are the first thing to reappear after a fire.

707c – We stopped by a small lake to fix lunch in the manifold cookers. Jennifer prepared soup for cookers in her pickup and Ben’s Fordor. Joyce had already put some ground beef in her cooker. We stopped again about 15 minutes later, combined the meat with the soup, and added some good bread on the side. We all decided it was delicious. We had one small mishap, though. Just before we stopped to eat, we hit a huge pothole. Within seconds we had a thick smoke coming up from the engine. Jennifer pulled up to a quick stop and she and Nancy stumbled out shouting “fire”. The cooker had bounced loose from the manifold and some of the broth had spilled on the engine. It wasn’t a fire but it was a mess. Fortunately, it didn’t turn out to be serious and there was still plenty to eat.

707d – We saw this bear ambling along the side of the road. He didn’t seem afraid or interested in us. He looks like he is losing his winter coat. We couldn’t stop long because some idiot was backing his gigantic 5th wheel down the road to take another look and was jack-knifing it in the middle of the road. We were more afraid of him then we were of the bear.