Day 26 of Our RV Journey to Canada & Alaska - 6/07/14 Travel from Whitehorse to Dawson City, Y.T.

We had no WiFi so I'm 2 days late posting this.

We were up and in the truck with engine going at 8:20 am.  This is going to be a slow travel day due to the pot holes, washboard, chip seal, sections of gravel that are on our route today… just waiting to suck us up if we aren’t watching for them.  Some of these poor road conditions are marked with flags on the edge of the road, some potholes repaired, but most not.

Dawson City is approx 330  miles from Whitehorse (where we left from today).  Plans are to drive till the guys get tired of dodging potholes….we made it to just before getting in to Dawson City.

Our travel companion on this trip once we got to Dawson Creek (Mile Post 0) is  the book “The Milepost”.  It  provides mile-by-mile descriptions of all major highways and roads  in northwest Canada  & Alaska.  The backbone of The Milepost are the highway logs.  In the mile-to-mile descriptions it includes where campgrounds can be found, food, lodging, gas and other services, attractions, fishing spots and what type of fish are caught in that particular spot, road conditions, warning of animal(s)  in area that might be crossing the highway, geography, history tidbits, and much more.  It  also contains some maps.  It is really a “must have” for a journey of this kind.  While Bob is driving, I have The Milepost in my lap with it opened to the particular area we are traveling and I read ahead a little to warn Bob of anything he needs to be aware of on the route.  We are getting quite the history lesson as it briefs us on the history facts mile-by-mile.  We are finding this book, that is updated yearly, quite handy and would highly recommend it to anyone making this trip.

Thanks to “The Milepost” wealth of information, we stopped at Braeborn Lodge to purchase and eat one of their “world famous cinnamon buns” made & baked fresh daily.  Now, these cinnamon buns, were huge---enough for 4-5 people, and they charge $10 for them.  They are raking in the money but I’m sure their sales are way down in the fall & winter months.  The lady told us that they sell 100 a day, and in the months of July & August they sell 200 per day.  They make 21 per batch and have oven capacity for 10-11 buns at a time.  She said that throughout the day yesterday they had 5 tour bus loads of people stop at the store,  many buying the cinnamon buns.  They had hot coffee, cold drinks, cookies, and a lot of other stuff for sale also, as well as hot food made to order. She said the tour busses  usually stop for only a quick 15 minutes and are back on the road again.  The cinnamon buns were very good.  We told her that we stopped at a place several days ago on route that claimed to sell the “worlds best cinnamon buns”….but we all agreed the Braeborn Lodge had the other place beat, hands down.  This place is  also the official checkpoint for the Yukon Quest International Sled Dog Race.

This is the restaurant's security dog....think he's ate a few too many cinnamon buns.

There is a airstrip on the other side of the highway from the Braeborn Lodge…locals refer it to the ‘cinnamon bun strip’.

Today’s trip was quite boring as far as animal sightings is concerned…we only saw some Prairie Dogs.  Jesse and Ginger is one up on us, as they saw a kitty cat while pulling out of the park this morning.
We did see a person with a shopping cart walking along the side of the road….suppose it was a homeless man.  I would hate to be homeless in this desolate area as you could do a lot of walking before getting to where any humans live.  We also saw a couple of motorcyclist stopped in a lane of the highway…not sure what they were up to.

Being a lover of flowers and plants, I did see some pretty purple wild flowers growing along the side of  the highway.

The guys decided  they were up to driving on in to Dawson City.  We are staying at the Klondike River Yukon Government Campground  (provincial park) with no hook ups for the next two nights so we can see what there is to see in Dawson City tomorrow.  ($12/night x 2 nights = $24Cap)

I am the ‘chief cook and bottle washer‘ tonight  for the four of us.  I fixed tenderloin, cheesy potato casserole and tomato/cucumber salad.

Have a great ‘rest of the day’!!!

Total Miles Traveled Today =  330 rough & bumpy miles

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