A Long Drive

Start of the Dempster Highway

The Dempster Highway is well known for its beautiful scenery and rough driving conditions. They brave blowing snow, white-outs, ice fog, and creepy innkeepers on this stretch.

It seemed like everyone in Whitehorse had come to know that we were going to do the Dempster. And, immediately everyone was full of advice, even though I was very doubtful whether any had attemped a winter crossing. “With that car you’ll have no problems. No way you gonna make it with those tires. I go 80 kph the entire way. Go slow!! This is the fookin Arctic! I have a friend in… Hey, I love San Francisco, I was just there”.

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An oasis?

Start of the Dempster – We reach an “oasis”. (Map this!)

I have always loved reading travel authors – Peter Matthieson with his lyrical writings, Tim Cahill’s, outlandish adventures, Gerald Durrell’s expeditions collecting animals for the zoo. A few years ago, I picked up Bill Bryson. Although I believe he owes his popularity to his humor and wit, I find his traveling style admirable. In the book “In a sunburnt country”, he relates his travels to various towns in the outback in Australia. In these middle-of-nowhere towns, however small, he finds something interesting enough to write about. I learnt from him that every little nondescript town has some history to relate and most probably a museum where they want to talk about it.

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Happy in Dawson

Dawson City at 64 degrees North – West Dawson and the freeze-up.

We are at a Greek restaurant in Dawson City, 64 degrees North. Dawson is a beautiful little town which hibernates in the winter. It wakes up for the Yukon Quest, a 1000 mile dog sled race from Fairbanks, Alaska to Whitehorse, Yukon in the dead of winter. Nestling along the banks of Yukon and Klondike rivers, it boasts unpaved roads and brightly colored Victorian houses.

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On the Road

Vast empty spaces make room for contemplation. Some thoughts on lifestyle choices we make. (Map this!)

The drive has taken us through some vast empty spaces. The empty space is like a canvas where humans have made their mark, made according to who they are. Actually I should say who we are, since we are all connected with the common thread of humanity. What we do and who we are is reflected very strongly here in the emptiness, almost in a cartoonish way, with thick Illustrator Beziers.

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Olympic Sculpture Garden, Seattle

We are driven by deadlines. Peel River ferry closes. The journey in pictures. (Map this!)

We are driven by deadlines. We have deadlines because we have weather patterns to observe, lessons to take, people to meet. You would think that fifteen months off would allow a leisurely drive through the countryside, stopping wherever fancy takes us.

We were trying to beat the closure of the Peel River ferry. We just found out that’s closed already. […]

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