Cats in an RV

by

No Need to Dawdle

The internet in Whitehorse is pretty bad, so I had a frustrating night there trying to get work done and ended up going to bed way too late. I needed to be out of my spot by 11 Thursday morning and still had errands to do, so the morning was pretty painful. I managed to get to two stores and then lost time back tracking to Canadian Tire to get my debit card. It’s the new kind with a pin number and I’m not used to not getting my card back immediately after it’s slid through the card reader. It was therefore much too late to get groceries and beer. I decided that I could get some beer in Watson Lake and that I didn’t need to ‘stock up’ on groceries since I’m heading back into civilization anyway.

So, I pulled out of Whitehorse at 11 and headed straight for Nugget City. I stopped in Teslin for lunch fixings and a nice picnic since I’d been given a ton of veggies before pulling out of Dawson. Teslin is still the prettiest spot in the Yukon in my mind!

Teslin Lake

Sometime after Teslin I started to get quite sleepy, so I pulled over for a leg stretch at George’s Gorge:

George’s (Gorgeous) Gorge

The ride from Whitehorse to Nugget City is one of my favourites; the road is in good shape and you can actually enjoy the scenery. It’s not a technical drive at all, so I was still reasonably coherent when I pulled into Nugget City. It’s a good thing for that since my friend Amber threw herself into my arms the second I stepped out of the rig! We haven’t seen each other since May of ’09!

Forget setting up beyond plugging in the rig; I was quickly spirited away to the lake where a pair of trumpeter swans were swimming.

The male got spooked by a beaver and took off to make sure everything was good.

beaver coming up for air

After two days of hard driving, it was great to get off my butt and get some exercise in fresh air! By the time we got back to the main part of the property, I was famished, so I headed to the restaurant and grabbed a beer after putting in an order for a chicken stir fry .

Amber works late hours so she came back to see the cats on her break around ten, then showed me the digs she’s had all summer. It’s a fifth wheel, the second one I’ve visited this summer, and I have to say I really like the way they are split into several levels…

Since there’s no cell service at Nugget City, I couldn’t get online, so I went to bed at a much more reasonable hour and slept well. This morning I had time to eat breakfast before Amber scared the living daylights out of me by sticking her face up against my back window and then rocking the rig so I’d noticed her. I just about hit the ceiling! She helped me pack up, we did the round of good-byes, and then she became the first ever passenger I’ve carried in this rig, traveling with me from the RV park to the restaurant.

I pulled out of Nugget City around 11 and drove to Watson Lake. After getting gas, groceries (including the black bread and gyoza I can only find here), and enough Yukon Brewery beer to get me through to next spring, I’m now parked downtown and plan to do at least an hour’s worth of work. I’ll then meander down to Liard hot springs, then I will have a couple of overnight options. I’d really rather not go much further than Liard tonight since I’m beat. I need to start boondocking; I’d forgotten how expensive it is to stay several nights in a row at an RV park!

And, so, another summer in the Yukon draws to a close…

by

Pecuniary Shyness, or This is Real Life!

Some RVers like to talk at great length about their finances, to the point of splashing out for all to see their balance sheets. I made a decision early on to gloss over this topic because I realised early on that full-time RVing is real life. Let me repeat that: full-time RVing is a lifestyle choice, not a perpetual vacation. Everyone’s reality and circumstances are different. I don’t see any value in going into any sort of detail about my financial portrait.

This issue has come up several times over the past few days. I’ve had someone comment that I ‘owed’ it to other RVers to explain how I get by day to day financially so that they could emulate me (!). Another person was appalled that I ‘steal’ from the thrift and free stores since I’m obviously well off, with a ‘nice motorhome and recent model car.’  Another doesn’t get the difference between being ‘tight’ (choosing not to do or buy certain things in order to do or buy other things) and being ‘broke’ (not being able to do or buy anything). If I lived a mainstream life, no one would expect me to pull out my balance sheet, they would understand how someone my age living in her own home and driving a recent model car might need to be frugal in other areas of her life, and they’d understand that not being able to do it ‘all’ is normal!

So far, the financials of my RVing life have been very cyclical. I have had periods with good cashflow and periods with bad cashflow. During the good periods I get caught up and during bad periods I try not to get behind. The goal is, of course, to balance out these periods and provide a steadier cashflow instead of one with gigantic negative and positive peaks. This summer was my first taste of this ideal cashflow vision and it has been lovely, but I am now heading back into squirrel mode, especially since I have a couple of big expenses coming up.

One thing to keep in mind is that I’m single with only cats as my dependents. That gives me a lot of freedom in how I choose to allocate my money. Once the bills are paid and I’ve put money away for retirement and emergencies, there is no one to care if I decide to buy a new toy and eat beans for a month. But if I were to put all of this on a balance sheet for the world to say, I’d have to erase a lot of comments from people with different priorities and values who think they have a right to tell me how I should be managing things. I might as well save them the trouble. 😀

by

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.)

by

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!

by

Gift of a Salesman

We’ve had a fishmonger staying in one of our rooms for a few nights. He travels around in a refrigerated truck hocking frozen fish to individuals (restaurants have their own suppliers). I inquired about his wares and when he realised that I was shopping, not just being polite, he was quick to offer me a good price on a 5lb box of haddock.

Much as I love haddock, I knew there would be no way I could get through that much fish in a reasonable amount of time, so I asked a friend to split the box with me. By the time she had examined the fish and agreed, the fishmonger had dropped his price again, to $80, or $16/lb which is a good price for up here.

I’m just waitin’ on dinner…

In the meantime, here are some random pics that don’t warrant their own post:

no need to close the rear blind this winter!

c is for cat AND contentment

Dinner’s ready! And YUM! Best haddock EVER!!!