It has been wet !
Probably the easiest way to put it.
I just got the tent pitched in Whitehorse last night, and then it
started raining, and it rained most of the night. Luckily I woke up at 6 am this morning and
found it had stopped for a moment, but I could see more black clouds coming, so
I got everything packed up by 7 am, and then the rain started again ! It then rained off and on all day while
driving, and then in Watson Lake tonight I just got the tent pitched before the
heavens opened again – This time a full blown thunder storm, the first thunder
I have heard in this part of the world, although apparently thunderstorms are
quite common in the summer. So the
pictures today are mostly of rain clouds and wet roads – Not very
exciting. I drove this section of road
some 6 weeks ago, and I have to say this country is more interesting to me when
it is snow covered and cold – I just do not find the summer greenery to be as
dramatic. There are also a lot more
people, and a lot more mosquitoes at this time of year !!!
The campsite in Whitehorse was really good, with a nice
area to sit around a fire under cover, and good wifi. But this morning when I went to check weather
and road conditions before I started, the wifi was not working, and no one
seemed too keen to do anything about it.
So I went into Starbucks in town, in the pouring rain, and theirs was
having problems too ! I have found out
that wifi in Alaska is a known problem because they only have one provider up
here, and due to cabling restrictions there is limited bandwidth
available. This is why skype quality is
so poor up here – apparently it takes up a lot of bandwidth, especially if you have the video
on. (I am not a techy, but it is
something like this.) Anyway, so left Whitehorse
a little frustrated, in the pouring rain, and of course sitting around in the
rain is not much fun for the Elise as it starts to drip over the sills when you
get in and out !!
Once underway, it did get better though. The drips stopped, and eventually the sun
came out, although it was to rain and sun alternately most of the day, with
some very dramatic and very black rain
clouds occasionally. I think this is probably the most boring section of the
Alcan Highway, with no dramatic mountain peaks, and at this time of year very
little snow. But “boring” is relative, because it is still a pretty interesting
road when compared to normal roads we drive on every day !!! Also no wildlife seen at all by me today – so
hopefully this will change tomorrow as the next section has been getting a lot
of sightings of moose and bear.
Once through that section it was a pretty easy run into
Watson Lake, where I stopped at the Sign Post Forest which is on the way into
town. It was apparently started by a
homesick Army guy when they were stationed in Watson Lake building the Alaska
Highway back in the 1940’s, and he put up a sign about his home town. Now there are literally thousands of signs
from all over th world – So you have to stop and have a wander through them. I like the religious area, and then someone at
the top has posted “Come to the Dark Side – We have cookies !!”. Good for a laugh, anyway !
I then had to go
back 10 miles to a campsite that would accept tents – The ones in Watson Lake
are RV only. But the one I am in is
really nice, with a friendly Camp Host, and a nice warm laundry open all night
so I can do my blog !! I was pretty
disconsolate at 5 pm with it bucketing down with no respite in sight, and
trying to heat some soup for supper in my tent, but after an hour or so the
rain cleared up, and the sun even came out, so I was able to go for a 40 minute
walk around the woods nearby down to a lake (with my bear spray in my pocket
!!), and then found the nice warm laundry to work in, so all worked out OK in
the end.
In the morning I will head off to Fort Nelson – Some 500
kms SE. This is a totally new road for
me, so I am looking forward to what sights and adventures it may bring !! Hopefully the rain will stay away for a change, and the animals will come out to watch me pass by !!
