Yukon

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Cat Food Heart Attack

I misjudged how much cat food I was going to need to finish off the season and found myself having to buy a bag here in Dawson. The best place to buy pet supplies is the Home Hardware, so that’s where I went. They carry the small bags of Whiskas, the food my cats eat.

Whiskas comes in three sizes. The small bag is normally about $7, the medium bag about $12, and the big bag about $20. I usually have several medium bags on hand, bought for $10 or less with coupons.

In Dawson, the small bag sells for $15!!! To my horror, I actually heard myself say out loud in front of staff “It’s no wonder I stock up in Whitehorse!”

This is obviously a necessary product; letting your cat starve is not an option! So, I have to wonder if that’s why the price is jacked up so high. I understand the logistics behind getting things here, but pricing up here really does not seem to have any rhyme or reason.

I have to say that much as I love Dawson the appalling grocery situation here is starting to wear on my nerves, especially after seeing how smaller towns in the Northwest Territories have proper grocery stores. I’m really looking forward to replenishing the larder in Whitehorse!

(I’m just grateful I won’t have to buy propane in Dawson this year.)

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Detachment

I’m leaving Dawson in less than two weeks. I’ve had an okay summer this year, but I still love this town and am glad that I have had a chance to know it so well. That said, my feelings about my imminent departure are completely different from last year. In fact, this is the first time I’m going to leave a place without having my departure panic attack. I didn’t really get settled in this year and I’ve stopped thinking of this stop as a destination, as an event with a beginning and an end. It seems that sometime between leaving Campbell River and the last couple of weeks, my RVing life began to find a continuity of its own, with routines that carry over whether I’m stopped or traveling.

Financially, the summer was a blessing and going back to financial incertitude is going to be tough, but I actually managed to do a solid job of replenishing the coffers. I’ll do fine for myself well into the fall even if I don’t find a job in Osoyoos, although I have decided to look for something part-time. I have enough set aside to actually travel back south and I’m giving myself a full sixteen days to do so. My itinerary is a bit bold and I may chicken out about one section, but I look forward to an even longer period of boondocking while being able to work every night.

My fall plans are slowly coming together. I have decided to fly to Montreal at the beginning of November for a week to see my family, something that will be made possible since I’ll have a rig and cat sitter available to me. My sister had a baby on September 1st, my first niece, so it will be nice to see her and my two nephews. I’m pretty sure the youngest one doesn’t remember me!

Besides that, I have a writing project to complete and I also need to work on things related to that announcement I’m not yet ready to make. I’d also like to continue with the renovating and decorating, although I will have to be extremely frugal in all areas of my life so as to stretch my savings as far as possible. I’m committed to being in Osoyoos until December and have not made plans beyond that.

So, that’s the latest status update. Nothing too exciting, but things are going to pick up soon. 🙂

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I Love the Free Store!!!

Dawson is an awesome place to work on decluttering projects since it is so easy to dispose of items: just take them to the free store. I’ve been on a decluttering frenzy this summer, ruthlessly piling into a basket anything I haven’t used in two years, like extra linens, clothes, kitchen items, and books. Yesterday, the basket was spilling over, so I decided it was time to take everything to the dump. While there, I did some quick browsing, but I really wasn’t there to shop. I did get a couple of coffee makers for work and two sweaters for myself, then was about to head out when something told me to open a box.

I did and hit the jackpot:

It’s a working, clean, rice cooker!

I’ve been hankering to try one of these since the first time I tried to cook rice on the RV stove. It just doesn’t work because there’s too much heat. I’ve always ended up with spillover messes. The microwave wasn’t much better. So, I’ve probably had rice only about once a month since hitting the road, which is a shame since it’s my favourite carb! But I didn’t want to invest in a rice cooker until I knew if I would like having one or not.

I gave the machine a quick wipe and then added rice and water in the proportions I would use on the stove (2 of water to 1 of rice), latched the lid, and turned on the machine. The result, only a few minutes later:

Not a bad first attempt! I would have needed a bit more water and also to spray the bowl with non-stick spray seeing as I got a lot of stickage. But I’m definitely a convert! I’ll be able to make a full pot of it once a week and have rice for several meals. A friend told me that the tray at the top with the holes is for putting veggies and even fish. I think I need to read up on what can be made in a rice cooker!

There’s another wonder appliance I love, the breadmaker. I’ve had one for almost ten years and wouldn’t be without it. I can go for months-long stretches without making my own bread and then go on a homemade bread frenzy. Unfortunately, mine was dying a slow death and didn’t bake reliably anymore.

Not a problem, a friend brought me back this from the free store a little while ago:

As the title says, I love the free store!!!

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A Quiet Autumnish Afternoon

Fall crept up on the Klondike while I was in Inuvik. We’ve had beautiful, hot, afternoons, but the nights are cold and the mornings cool. It feels like mid-October in western Quebec.

I started work early this morning, so it was a real pleasure to be done for the day at 2. I went to town for lunch, then came back and tackled some housework. Just when I needed a break, there was a knock at my door. It was a friend/colleague heading out for a walk with her dog. She’d been wanting to show me her ‘secret spot’ for two summers now, but the timing was never right until today. I was glad to have an excuse to go out.

She took me down a road I’d always assumed was a private driveway and down a path that led to a solidly constructed bridge. I’m trying to figure out who spent the money for such a nice bridge there! It spans Bonanza Creek shortly before the creek spills over into the Klondike River.

When I came back, I collected my next handful of ripe tomatoes. I’m probably going to lose what’s left because we’re starting to get frost at night and there’s no place in the rig where I can bring them in and have them safe from the cats. I’m just glad that I’ve been able to enjoy the dozen or so that ripened on time. This bunch wasn’t quite as flavourful, so I decided to cook them:

I didn’t have enough to make a pot of sauce, so I mixed them with a can of condensed tomato soup and water, then added basil, garlic, salt, pepper, and vegetarian ground. The vegetarian ground makes the sauce into almost a stew that is especially nice over spaghetti (I like the multigrain variety).

Speaking of vegetarian ground:

I love this ‘substitute for ground beef’ that has so much flavour and texture. I put it in spaghetti sauce, stews, tacos… But the price has crept up over the years. I remember buying it for $2.99 a package, regular price. Now, regular price is anywhere from $4.99 to $5.99 a package down south. In Dawson, it’s $8.99 a package, which makes it a frivolous luxury. I do eat chicken now, but was a vegetarian for so long that I still have cravings for favourite foods and meals from that time in my life. In Dawson, I can eat all my favourite bean dishes, but anything like ‘mock meat’ or tofu is off limits because beans and chicken are so much cheaper. One of the first things I plan to make when I get to Whitehorse next month is a big pan of scrambled tofu!!!

Back to the vegetarian ground, I was treasure hunting at the General Store yesterday and found seven briefly outdated packages on sale for $1.99 each. I bought them all! They’ll keep up to three months in the freezer, but I doubt they’ll last that long!

Somehow, the day as crept up to 10PM already. It’s quite dark out and will be fully dark by the end of the hour. I’m going to go do the supper dishes (yes, I eat late!) and then rummage around for dessert. Yoghurt sounds good. 🙂

Hard to believe we’re already at the end of August. Departure from Dawson is schedule for the 14th of September. I’m reeling with shock at how quickly this summer passed and how little I feel I got accomplished!

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Driving the Dempster: Epilogue

There is something bittersweet about fulfilling a lifelong dream. There is the elation at having done it, but also a certain emptiness as you wait for another dream to take its place. There are a lot of things I’d like to do in the next ten years or so—tour Egypt, climb Mount Kilimanjaro, paddle down the Amazon, hike the Great Wall of China, visit friends in Australia—but nothing pressing. I may just be ready to settle for a little less excitement for a while, long enough to build a solid foundation to my traveling life.

My trip to the Arctic and NWT was only a superficial experience, I know that. I didn’t get to have any great wilderness adventures or actually try living in a remote community, but what I did was enough. I saw what I wanted to see and got the answers I came for. I had given up on this dream, watching it fade away as opportunities marched away from me, so standing there, knee deep in the Beaufort Sea was profoundly satisfying. It reaffirmed to me what I learned last year on the Chilkoot, that all you need to fulfill a dream is the courage and conviction to see it through.

My second year of full-timing, that of my Arctic adventure, is ending most satisfactorily and I am curious to see what year three will bring…