Law and Government

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Beer Buying Adventure

Washington is such a civilized state. Like in Quebec, you can buy beer at the grocery or convenience store! And it’s super cheap, too, as low as a dollar a beer for some brands! I went out to get some fresh seafood for dinner tonight and was lured into the ‘beer cave’ (which appears to be Washington parlance).

Mesmerized by the selection and low prices, I barely took notice of someone entering the beer cave hot on my heels. It was a store employee.

“Miss! You need to be 21 to be in here!”

“I’m well over 21!” (I’ll be 32 next month!)

“Let me see some ID, please.” I pulled out my driver’s license and she squinted at it. “This won’t work; I need government issued ID.”

“It’s my Yukon, um Canadian, driver’s license.” (No one here seems to know what the Yukon is. I’ve been describing it as ‘between BC and Alaska’ (‘There’s something between BC and Alaska?’).)

“That’s a driver’s license?!” The Yukon license is a piece of cardboard with your information typewritten on it and a Polaroid of you glued to it, with the whole thing laminated. I could understand the reaction.

“Yes. That’s what five bucks a year will get you!”

Must have been a good answer since she just shook her head and left me to choose my beer in peace. I ended up going with a locally brewed pale ale.

Must have made quite an impression since I wasn’t carded a second time at the cash.

BTW, you can buy a salmon fillet and five prawns for $4 in Washington. I won’t even get into the price of produce!

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The Whitehorse Slog

I was up early by my standards today (7:30) even though I couldn’t leave early since I wanted to check out the post office one last time. I did some work then went into town. My package wasn’t there, but the mail clerk offered to go through the pile that hadn’t been sorted yet. I told her that wouldn’t be fair to the folks waiting in line and made her promise that she would let my friend pick up the package for me when it finally arrives.

Speaking of mail, my friend convinced me to keep my box in Dawson until I have firmer plans for next summer. She’ll check it for me and forward the contents as needed. One less thing to think about and lots of money saved!

I pulled out of the RV park at quarter to eleven without any problems. I didn’t even have a single one of my usual worries. Miranda behaved as she normally does prior to departure: well. I did top up the truck battery since it was a bit low and had a feeling that it would not restart when I shut it off at the gas station.

Gas at AFD was a ridiculous 112.9, vs. 139.9 in town so I was able to take on 130 litres for less than $150, a great start to my trip.

The Klondike River glittered against the amber poplars as I made my way south, feeling nothing but deep satisfaction as I left the Klondike and Dempster behind me. I had followed my dream to its limit so there was no regret at moving on.

Being behind the wheel felt normal and stress-free, and even though the drive to Whitehorse was long as ever, it wasn’t hard. I am tired of this twisty, frost-heave strewn road, though, and look forward to trying out new ones next year.

I made it to Whitehorse in my usual seven hours and decided to get gas and propane instead of having to come back into the city tomorrow. I like to go to Integra Tires, about two thirds of the way down Two Mile Hill. You can get propane then circle around the back to get to the gas pumps. Price was the same as in Dawson (!!!), and they are full service. It’s very luxurious to go for a leg stretch while someone else fills the tank and washes your windows and mirrors! As a side note, I didn’t come anywhere close to running out of propane this summer, yay!

I made good on my promise never to sleep at the Whitehorse Walmart ever again and headed back to Hi Country, where I tented back in June. I splurged on a pull-through spot, one that I would never have gotten into with the toad attach. It’s a nice RV park, but tight!

Even though I was pretty tired by this point, I went back into town to get some supplies. I’ll do groceries and beer tomorrow, then head on to Nugget City, keeping me on schedule. There’s really no reason to hang out in Whitehorse.

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A Yukoner At Last!!!

It took a couple of attempts to get satisfactory proof of Canadian citizenship, but I have health insurance! And I’m officially a Yukoner!!! Yup, I finally got my health card!

While I was still technically insured in Quebec, my sun card would have been useless out here seeing as Quebec does not participate in the reciprocal agreement with the other provinces. In other words, I would have had to pay out of pocket had I needed to go to the ER last fall and then attempted to get reimbursed by Quebec with no guarantee of being paid back.

In related news, I received my vehicle registration papers today and burst out laughing. I owe the Yukon government $120. Compare that to the $900 I used to pay in Quebec. Plus $100 for my driver’s licence. I need to pay Yukon $50 four years from now for my licence.

My change of residency is complete and I am not looking back.

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Prince George to Fort St John

I pulled out at about 8:30 this morning and was able to confirm that Prince George really needs to put more money into its signage.

Last year, I used my GPS to get out of town and wound up on a road with a bridge that had too low of a clearance for Miranda. This year, I followed the signage and found myself on that exact same road! At least, this time the construction was done and I was able to squeak under the bridge. I had to circle back about ten kilometres only to discover that I hadn’t missed any signs at all. I put on my four way flashers in a busy intersection and took out the GPS. It told me to turn right and that ended up being correct while the signage clearly said to go straight for Dawson Creek. The idiots probably changed the roads in that area and ‘forgot’ to update the signage, cheap bastards.

It was stop and go all the way out of town, with several people cutting me off, and I was pretty cranky by the time I hit the open road. I stopped at the Crooked River rest area for brunch and then my mood improved considerably as I pushed north into my beloved landscape of poplar and black spruce.

climbing up to the Pine Pass Summit

climbing up to the Pine Pass Summit

approaching the Pine Pass Summit

snow!

stopped for construction; the guy in front of me was doing some impressive calisthenics!

stopped for construction

This construction stop was memorable for the route that followed. We had to go behind a pilot vehicle and there was no room for error. At one point, my wheels were literally a couple of inches from the edge of a cliff, with the side hanging out over a ravine. I made the mistake of looking down once, nearly lost my lunch, and then focused on the road!

approaching ‘the other Dawson’

There were some pretty impressive downhill stretches all the way to Taylor, between Dawson Creek and Fort St John, and I didn’t remember them from last year. It just goes to show how barreling down a hill with no brakes teaches you to pay more attention to the elevation changes. 😀

It got colder and windier the more north I drove and the snow on the ground at the Pine Pass remained all the way into Fort St John. There were actually a few icicles forming on the exterior of the loft when I pulled into the Walmart!

I completely avoided ‘the other Dawson’ this year, but I still felt that tug at my heartstrings when I turned onto the Alaska Highway. Some things aren’t going to get old any time soon!

It was quite the exciting driving day, but it would have been a good day on the road had this not happened:

That’s probably going to be a total windshield replacement. The impact was such that there are shards of glass inside the cab and there are three cracks pushing out of the chip. One grew and grew and grew before my eyes and I thought I was going to have to pull over and call for help, worried that the whole windshield was going to go. So far, it doesn’t affect my visibility, so I’m holding out hope that they can just fill it with epoxy and buy me some time…. I can handle a chip repair right now, but not a windshield replacement! And before I get any comments on the subject–Yukon vehicle insurance does not cover glass claims.

Well, no sense worrying about this until tomorrow, so I’m going to turn on the furnace and then go make a nice dinner!

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Sad Update About My Visitors

I recently posted some photos of the deer that like to frequent the yard here as well as the gas station grounds.

Tonight, one of my customers came into the store with tears streaming down her face. “One of the deer got hit just off the property. It’s still alive but can’t get up. The other two are fussing over it and in the way of traffic. Can you call someone?”

Who to call was the question. I could see cars slowing down and swerving in front of the gas station, so I decided that this was a public safety issue and called the RCMP’s non-emergency line.

When I called the Dawson RCMP this summer to report the finding of a dead body on our property, they actually asked me if I thought they should send someone. So, I have no idea why I had the audacity to think that the Campbell River RCMP might be interested to know that there was a hazard on a major thoroughfare. The constable I spoke with was dismissive, but I stood by my idea that the public was in danger and that finally got through his head, especially when I told him of just how dark it is on that stretch of road and that the deer was still alive. What if it managed to get up and, disoriented, wandered into the path of yet another car? He took all my information (Croft and Norma, according to the RCMP I live here 😀 ) and hung up.

Sometime later, I saw a patrol car going up and down the highway. The constable driving called me to confirm the location of the deer and said that he wasn’t seeing anything. So, it looks like the deer walked off and might, might, just might, be okay…. This mustn’t have been the same constable since he seemed concerned and thanked me for taking the time to call and report the incident.

I hope the deer was just in shock and will be okay. I’ll be keeping an eye out for it.