Watson Lake, Yukon Territory, Canada
(Located in the Boreal Forest region of the Liard Basin, the Simpson Range of the Pelly Mountains lies just to the north of Watson Lake.)
August 19, 2001

I finally crossed over into the Yukon last evening. It felt like coming home again, as I knew it would. I was anxious to get here as I've missed it these last two years. In fact, for the last several days, I've been grinning for no apparent reason, whistling and singing to myself. It's a good thing I'm traveling alone!

Internet access has been almost impossible to find and so I gave up and checked into the Belvedere Hotel in Watson Lake just to check email and update the site. I'm heading north when I leave and I expect it'll be awhile before I'll have Internet access again. But, you never know around here. I could meet a trapper who has his own satellite dish and Web site. And a DSL line...

So far, I've logged over 3,000 miles on this trip and I'm not even halfway done. I expect my initial estimate of 8,000 total miles will be under the mark. The Pathfinder is doing well, perfectly in fact. I had a dream last night that it wouldn't start. I guess that would be more of a nightmare, which is something that actually did occur from time to time on the last trip with the 11 year old 4-Runner. (Nothing like being in the middle of the Yukon and your vehicle doesn't start up again.) By contrast, the Pathfinder has been superb and it handled the Cassiar Highway (brewed from mud and rock) like it was a driveway.

It's quite cozy in there as well and I've been sleeping like a king. I've been too exhausted every night to watch any movies but I expect at some point I'll pop a DVD into the PowerBook and curl up in the sleeping bag. Instead of buttered popcorn I'll probably come up with something like canned asparagus dipped in melted butter. Everything tastes great when you're camping!