Tuesday, August 4, 2009 (Day 9)

Whitehorse Main Street

Alone in Whitehorse. I slept in till 6:30 am, fiddled around and relaxed.

I did some motorcycle maintenances, checked tire pressure, gassed up, cleaned off about 1/2 of the dirt and mud. (Not doing a thorough cleaning because it is forecast to rain tomorrow ——mother nature’s bike wash.)  Went to MacDonald’s for breakfast. Did some computering. Went to town —–  Whitehorse downtown ——- about 2 blocks wide and 5 blocks long, and bought a new pair of cheap walking/running shoes for $60. It was too hard and getting blisters on the heels for walking so long in the riding boots.

Stopped by Tim Horton for sandwich lunch.  Came back to the hotel by 12:30 pm. So I was going to stay in the room, kick back and relax. I’d be ready for the evening ride. Temperature was sunny and hot 26C, but it would cool down and rain tomorrow.

I forgot to mention that I saw a full grown fox crossing the road in front of me about 3 days ago.

From my observation in the past week:

There are very few young able males in northern BC, northern Alberta and Yukon. I suspect that they are like in inland China; they go to where the jobs are ………. e.g. oil fields. A lot of the workers are “mature” adults and younger ladies. There are lots of young ladies operating vehicles and machines on the highways. Almost all the servers are young ladies.

I have been holding my tongue, but I think I would ask the next time the opportunity comes up. I couldn’t place the accents and ethnicity of these people. They looked like a blend of Philippians, Mexicans, Japanese, Koreans, First Nation natives, Inuits and Eskimos.  Curious Bon was going to approach the young ladies again.

OK, I found out that they are Philippians. Tim Horton even set up a dormitory for them here because they can’t hire enough workers, so they have to import them. There are about 350 Philippians here.

Well, we have finished 4,000 Km of our 6,000 Km ride. The rest of the journey will be easier. There will be 2 nights and 1 day that we will be on a ferry from Alaska to BC, through the Inside Passages. It should be lovely. Margaret & I went through it last year on a cruise ship.

I don’t know when and I don’t know where (sounds like a song?? ) , I got bitten by a mosquito under the left ear lobe. Of course I have huge swelling. That is not a big problem. It triggers my immno response ……..  arthritis. Now, all my joints are aching. I hope it doesn’t develop into gout. As a well prepared traveller, I brought all the medications.

The rest of the gang came in at about 4:40 pm from Dawson City today.

Dr. Ron Pearson, my classmate from UBC, met me at the hotel at 5 pm, after he finished his day of dentistry. He took me for a 220 Km circuit ride south of Whitehorse, seeing the back country, the lake fronts, the OLD (Klondike days old) little towns, his cottage, etc. We ate at a little eatery almost nowhere in the sandy road, but the hamburgers were really good.

I just came in at 10 pm. Have to pack for big day tomorrow. We are going to cross border to Alaska, USA. Have to have my passport handy.

Trivia: The Yukon River became a rapid and threw water high. The shape of the water spray looked like a horse. That was why this place was named Whitehorse. Unfortunately, it cannot be seen anymore. They built a dam at the rapid and it becomes a hydro station. They have to build a ladder for the salmon to come upstream to spawn.