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| August 06, 2008. Day 56 - Tombstone Mountain Campground - Dawson City |
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| The sun is out, but continual shifting cloud coverage keeps the panels
from generating a strong charge. Marcelo moves the solar car from the campsite to just in front of the Nature Interpretive Centre. The friendly and extremely well informed staffer (Sylvia) offers us some hot tea and shares some knowledge about the area with us. Inside the centre are all sorts of artefacts, books, posters, tufts of animal hair, fossils, birch syrup for sale (made by the Silvia & Berry themselves) and name-that-scat collection in plastic tubs. Curious campers, hikers, tourbus folk come and go with questions all day. Mo and Carrie pack up their bags, looking forward to heading home to Vancouver. Marcelo powers up the generator to charge the video camera battery and computers. The weather that wasn't very sunny to began with start to worsen, the team decided to get on the road before the rain. It proved to be a wise decision. As soon as we got on the road a light rain descent upon us, as we drove further south the rain ceased and the weather brighten up a bit, it wasn't sunny but at least we could see where the sun was in the sky, kind off. This section of the Dempster was in a much better condition then when we first drove on it. The road resurfacing crew have been working hard to fix and maintain the road, a very noticeable improvement. In spite of lots of potholes at places the Dempster was in better condition than some of the streets of Manhattan, NY. The descent from the highest point of the Dempster was welcome, little energy was used to take us to the end of the Dempster. Welcoming opportunity since the weather remained heavily overcast. We took some photos and filmed the car crossing the Dempster sign, Marcelo called on the radio "congratulations team!". We enter the Klondike Lodge right at the corner of the Dempster and Yukon Highway. It was nice to seat down and have a warm meal and talk to Richard the Klondike Lodge manager. We did a quick stop at the lodge on the way to Inuvik, Richard warned us about the road conditions and reported that it has at its worst since it was build 40 years ago, he told us stories of people not making it all the way, and, even a motorcyclist that had to be medvac after loosing control in a muddy area. Richard was pleasantly surprised to see us and still in disbelieve that we made it. Yes, we did! We spent a few hours at the lodge eating and relaxing and even managed to get Richard to make a few comments on camera. The team got busy checking emails, Marcelo made his office outside by the public telephone. The office had a great view all around. In the mean time tourists and passers by gathered around the solar car to take photos. Often asking where we are traveling to and surprised to learn we have already made to Inuvik. Now, we feel like experienced explorers sharing our Dempster road experience and giving advises about the road. Only a few days earlier we were clueless about about the road and the region, now we have so much to share. On the way to Dawson we were greeted by almost everyone who drove by, they waved, smiled, gave us the thumbs up. It was a great welcoming feeling. Special thanks to all the local and regional media covering our adventure, much appreciated. At Dawson City the Triple J hotel sponsor us with a room. It was great to have a warm and conformable room after camping out in the cold. Thanks Tipple J. We parked the solar car behind the hotel and called off the night. Marcelo, who is coming down with something is talking like Donald Duck . Mo played doctor and gave him some cough syrup. We are dosing off between checking and replying to emails and watching Star Trek. Special thanks to; Helena Loh from North York, Ontario, Canada for adopting 20km Joćo Vicente from Toronto, Ontario, Canada for adopting 10km For more information about the Triple J Hotel visit www.triplejhotel.com |
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