Entering Canada - Day Two - September 21st, 2010

The distinct alarm from Dennis iPhone woke us both abruptly. It was already 5 o’clock in the morning and we wanted to be on the road in less than 15 minutes. Dressing, brushing, and packing we prepared ourselves for the next journey. After performing a under the bed and outlet check we headed to the car and began our second day of travel.
The day was off to a very dark beginning. The only light to be seen other than the stars, was our headlights. We had ninety miles until we would get gas and hit the boarder of Canada. The sun was slowly rising from what appeared to be the north, but at the same time everything to the left of me was north in my mind! The further the sun rose the more vibrant the tundra became. With every fall color imaginable in sight, we headed east.
After about an hour of driving at a very rapid pace we stopped for gas at Border City Lodge. Dennis hopped out of the car and pulled out his credit card, there wasn’t a place to slide the card. Prepayment was required inside! I am sure this wasn’t the first time that I had seen this, but it was the first time in a long time! Dennis went inside and I headed outside to take some pictures. As soon as I cracked the door open the cold coated my body. It was a very crisp 10 degrees. I snapped a quick picture of the Boarder City Lodge sign before I decided it was way too cold to be playing around. I did a quick shuffle back to the car and noticed the gas price! $3.959 for a gallon of gas! The idea of this was shocking, but when I turned around I remembered… they have no competition for a good 90 miles. Dennis filled up the tank and we were on our way. Little did we know that this would be our last time paying for a gallon of gas for the next 4 days!
Covering ground faster than we expected we came up to the US/Canadian border. I was shocked at how plain and boring it was. The US side had cameras and lights, while on the Canadian side of the road there was nothing but a sign welcoming us to Canada. About 10 minutes later we came to the Canadian border patrol station. It was a small brown building with lots of windows. We pulled up to the window as if we were ordering some breakfast at McDonalds. The chubby woman on the other side asked a couple of questions about our journey while she inspected our passports. When she was finished she handed back our passports and sent us on our way. As we rapidly entered and exited small almost condemned looking towns we saw the occasional motor home pulled to the side of the road and random hotels that you couldn’t really tell if they were open or not. The lighter it got outside the more excited I got. The fall colors were really showing themselves and the sky was forget-me-not blue.
After absorbing as much of the scenery as I felt was necessary I grabbed my “Total Pillow” (compliments of my awesome previous boss) and attempted to get some sleep. Thoughts of sleep slowly flooded my head and then were quickly released as the truck bounced off of the top of one bump and slammed down on the bottom of the next. I guess in reality it wasn’t really slamming, but my head and my stomach felt as though I was on a really crazy rollercoaster. “Ughhhh ughhh” I murmured at the top of each bump. At first I didn’t open my eyes, then quickly prying them open to look at the speedometer. We were going 120km/hr! I wanted to scream, but then realized that we were the only ones on the road; Dennis was happy and the faster we drove the faster we would get to get out of the car! The day was pretty uneventful other than a couple of pee stops on the side of the road and the occasional stop for gas.
When we reached Whitehorse I was shocked at how small it was! Being from Girdwood I am used to small towns. But from my understanding Whitehorse was a larger community for the Yukon Territory. NOPE! Boy oh boy was I wrong. Yes the town has a Wal-Mart and a couple of fast food joints, but other than that there wasn’t any sort of epic attractions!
After driving all over Whitehorse in attempt to find our hotel, we refered to our Milepost and found that it was right along the side of the Highway. The Skky Hotel was a newer hotel that overlooked the town of Whitehorse. We checked out our room and it was BEAUTIFUL! Nice rock tiled shower with a King bed and a flat screen TV! What more could a girl ask for in the middle of the Yukon!?
After disconnecting the trailer we decided to go downtown and find some food. We parked along the Yukon River and took a few pictures before we started our meandering for food. We made our choice and sat down in an empty restaurant and ordering our food. Dennis and I attempted to enjoy our meal which was far from fresh and headed out. Just before we left I asked “Is there anywhere to get ice cream around here?” The young boy working the front desk of the hotel look at me as though I just asked him when the next flight to Jupiter was. He blinked twice and responded “Uhhh we don’t have an icecream store here. We don’t even put ice in our drinks.” He thought I was the weirdo? I am from ALASKA and I love ice water, ice cream, icebergs, and ICEES!
After the disappointing dinner we needed to find some grease for the trailer. We decided Wal-Mart would be a great place to start. After entering all of 10 feet into Wal-Mart we decided that wasn’t the best option. Boxes of unpacked stock had been placed on hand carts in the middle of the walkways. Not one shelf was properly stocked and the auto department was barely navigable. Finally finding the auto department we walked each isle looking for our grease. NONE! Then we went separate ways looking for an employee. NONE! After 10 minutes of wandering the isles we gave up and headed out the door.
Apparently we hadn’t noticed the large Auto store adjacent to the Wal-Mart from Hell. Just minutes after asking the greeter where we could find the grease we had it in hand, made our purchase and were back off to the hotel! Reconnecting to the trailer and preparing the truck for the next-day drive we headed to our room. A hot shower and some TV was just what we needed.

Dennis announced that he needed to run out to the car and that when he came back I would need to hide in the bathroom. So when I heard the knock on the door I hid in the bathroom. A few minutes later he told me to come out. There he was holding a heavenly slice of cheese cake with a delicious raspberry sauce topping and a lit candle. I cried a little and then blew out the candle. Dennis was so thoughtful! He didn’t know what the next day might bring and he wanted me to have a little birthday cake. What a great man I have. After eating my cake we headed to bed and prepared for another early morning.