Journey North 8

7.6.23 (continued)

Welp, did not find anywhere the mice would be entering through the engine area, so my vent theory is the strongest one still!

Vent covers!

Threw in a tire rotation while we were at it!

Dwayne is awesome. Incredibly helpful and kind, and also pointed me into the direction of Salmon glacier…

Dwayne’s wife, upon hearing about my mouse saga offered me their cat saying, “He’s a real bastard, but he will kill your mice!”

Her mom owns the only bar in Hyder, Alaska, which is right next door. I heard about getting Hyderized all the way in Haida Gwaii!

I recorded my reaction of coming up on to Salmon glacier and maybe will figure out how to post the audio file here. But for now you will have to settle for “STUPENDOUS”

It is 30C even all the way up here. Trippy to be sweating while on top of a mountain looking down onto a glacier.

I think there is a way to walk down to the glacier but it’s too hot to try.

I decided to take a little bird bath in nearby glacial stream and stuffed some snow down the back of my shirt to cool off.

I need more of this medicine.

Ptarmigan on my way back into town to see Dwayne and to tighten the lug nuts. These guys really seem slow on up uptake…

This is an active mine road. Very common in Canada for active mining and logging roads to be public access as well.

There was a “Blasting at 18:00” sign right before this turn. If it wasn't so hot, I would have stuck around to hear it.

Hyder, Alaska

Leaving Hyder, Alaska, and entering Stewart, Canada. The border guard said she had AC in there.

Back at Dwayne’s workshop, waiting for his to cruise by after some work errands.

He suggested I go to camp at Lake Clements, where it would be a little cooler and I could take a dip. Apparently the day use sites in Canada are friendly to overnighting vans, unless there is specifically a “No Camping” sign. Good to know!

Very messy va-lunch

I got a leech at the lake.

Interesting day of firsts: Glacier and Leeches!

Mosquito netting project day number 2

10PM view

7.7.23

Clements Lake in the morning. So pretty, so leech-y.

Cassiar highway on my way to Whitehorse… 11 hours, split across 2 days.

Am I happy it’s 30C still? No.

Am I happy it will be so for the next few days? No.

Am I happy about the steadily increasing number of mosquitos? No.

How about the newly discovered flesh eating flies? No.

How about the dusty van that leaves my hands brown and gets dust everywhere? Nope.

Am I happy to be driving a highway with little designated camping? Not really.

Am I enjoying the view on the Cassiar highway? Honestly, I am a bit too crabby to really enjoy it.

Look at this gorgeous lake I should be thoroughly enjoying! Except the heat, the bugs, the recent memory of leech making me wonder if I am being leeched again, and the boondock site which makes me a little anxious in general [even though I know it to be perfectly safe].

7.8.23

Seriously. It. Never. Ends.

This is an important handle because it is one of two that I pull down to lock my pop top so it doesn’t flow off on the highway leaving me without a roof. There is a metal plate in there and wiring, so I am apprehensive putting in a new hole and wondering if there is filler I can use for the old hole.

Again, no RV places have appointments, but while in Whitehorse, I will call anyways as see if I can find a quick fix. Everyone is short on techs and it’s coming into high travel season.

I had a stare with a large male red fox this morning. A good reminder that even when it’s an endless harangue of shitness, there is still stillness and peace to be had.

This is a steep little hill, I knew was going to be a bit troublesome getting back up and sure enough my first attempt was unsuccessful. I got out and moved some rocks around for better traction and gunned her up at 30MPH with good success.

Let’s drive through some heavy wildfire smoke on top of ever other fun thing so far!

British Columbia is famous for their wildfires. Nobody seems worried, so I’ll continue on my way into the Yukon then. :)

Ahh, clear skies again!

Emergency “I don’t know what the fuck I made” lunch.

View from my BNB bedroom in Whitehorse. Attempting to hide from the heat, though no one has AC here since it’s never this hot. And also letting Becca “rest” so the mouse gets brave and steps into a trap.

Canadian traffic

7.9.23

Burned hand healing well despite the last few days of sweat, grime, dust, engine oil, etc.

Local art

Dip the feet in the Yukon River!

Upon exiting a Vietnamese restaurant, I see this dead mouse, hoping its a foreshadowing of what’s to come.

Why are all restaurant servings in Whitehorse in half portions?

The sushi place put out nigiri one piece a time. Normally those come out in 2 pieces.

The Vietnamese place provided 2 little spring rolls when normally those come out in 4.

I learned quickly to order double what I would normally eat. Ha!

3AM moon

7.10.23

Good morning, Diana. Here is your mouse, still alive and in shock on the sticky strip!

I would have taken a photo and then done the humane thing and asked the workers next door to do the misery deed, but this little guy was about to break himself free… So I ended up doing a “Nope. Nope. Nope. Nope.” scuttle to the nearest garbage and chucked him in. I feel nothing.

There was a guy that walked around from behind Becca and gave me an inquisitive look. Onward and upward…

Today is van project day. I ended up starting with trying to get the handle from my pop top fixed…Luckily, the 2nd place I ended up stopping, Fireweed [which by the way is a very beautiful plan that is growing everywhere, adding nice pink colors to lovely tree and mountain views capes] was able to spare a tech for 5 minutes to help me out and solve the problem.

Went to Napa Auto parts for a hydraulic lifter fluid additive, but a replacement since they didn’t actually have that. Got a quart. Took it over to Jiffy Lube and had them replace 1 quart of the oil with this stuff and mix for a 5 quart system.

Met a few white vanners from the lower 48! NYC and Boston. They had just met at the Tim Horton’s next door. Apparently Tim’s is where interlopers go to do their business calls.

Propane refill

This is what a bug jacket looks like. I bought this for my next leg up to Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik - Arctic Circle - where apparently the bugs are even worse than they have been, by magnitudes….

Does Becca need a car wash?

JN updates on a slow wifi

GIANT score from the BNB owner who has multiple organic veggies gardens across his rental properties in Whitehorse. I got a bag of bok choi and a bag of mustard greens. Yum!

7.11.23

Daily van breakfast of oatmeal makes it into the BNB…

For a long time [my entire life?], I haven’t been able to eat breakfast until my system woke up and this would be usually 11AM or later and of course with my high metabolism, I would always bonk [low blood sugar tank] if I missed the 30 minute window for breakfast. It owned my life in many ways for a long time. With my health journey this year, I decided to also focus on this and found my way very eventually to oatmeal and now I can eat within 30 minutes of waking up, regardless what time of day. And this has trained my system to relax a bit and I can even eat regular/heartier breakfasts early in the morning now as well. This has been a great positive change helping me to alleviate a serious bonking pattern that was adversely affecting my life.

SO GOOD to see Aspens! I LOVE these magical fairy trees.

The first time I encountered them was in the Eastern Sierra this past October when they herein full yellows and oranges. I didn’t know what they were, so I referred to them as magical fairy trees until someone told me they were called Aspen.

Feels so good to be out in nature after being cooped up hiding from the heat and/or in errands mission mode!

Bought some new trail runners, as mine were dead even 3 years ago.

Fireweed!

Split ends. Need hair trim.

Reminds me when I was in my skateboarding and surfing chapters, I was cutting my own hair maybe once a year and had super bleached ends which I later learned from a hair dresser was just dead hair and needed to be cut off so the rest of the hair could breath and be healthy. Well, here we are again!

I did look for haircut places in Whitehorse but ran out of energy doing things with higher priority.

My old trail runners. Ready to retire, ey?

Water can fill mission. It wouldn’t fit under a faucet so I had to fill alternating bowls in the sink then fill the tank.