Slow rush and Holly's Place... August 2007 Dawson City, Yukon Retrospective Memories

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August 2007 Dawson City, Yukon... Slow rush and Holly's Place

Back in Dawson City we were on the lookout for Eric but still could not find him. However got a tip from a local girl to check out the Pit. It was the local bar that Eric had refered to and although I am not much of a bar guy we enjoyed the good music of the house band. I notice a young couple that was sitting across from us but we did not connect with them. The next day however while I was sitting at the local internet café this guy comes up to me and says:” I think I am doing the same thing as you” I was a bit surprised about his comment since I was not really doing anything and replied: “ What nothing?” He just grinned at me and we started talking. He introduced himself as Holly and told me that he was originally from east Germany but had immigrated to Canada fife years ago. He was going to do his radio show later and wanted to interview me. I liked him and said sure why not. So we met later that afternoon at the radio station across the street and had a fun little session with his favorite music and some short little discussions about traveling and sailing.

After the show he invited us to come over to Sunnyvale where he lived with his wife Kirsten and two kids. Laura went with him in his little plywood boat over the river and I had his Kid with me as a guide taking the longer way crossing the river with the ferry and passed west Dawson to Sunnydale. The little fellow missed to tell me where to turn onto the little dirt road and we were laughing about getting lost on the way to his home. We arrived at their beautiful little log home and it was the beginning of a great friendship that would change our plans ones again.

It is funny how we meet people and how they influence our lifes. In the next few days we fell in love with the simple lifestyle, the beauty of Sunnydale, Dawson City and its community. We met lots of new people and felt accepted and included right away. We went canoeing on the Klondike were invited to parties and enjoyed the summer thunder storms on Holly’s porch. We took a bath in a outside tub that we heated up with a small fire and soon could not understand anymore how anyone would not want to live like that.

The “house raft” on the Youkon

There was always stuff to do. Holly asked me if I would be interested in going upriver for a little adventure. He had purchased a log cabin from his friend Klaus and it had to be moved to his property twenty miles further downriver. We were going to camp there for a couple of days and would take the cabin apart, make a raft out of it and float down the Yukon River and hopefully pull it at the right spot on land and stack the logs so he could rebuild the cabin on his new property. It sounded crazy so I went for it. We met up with Klaus, Jonathan, Lady Miriam, and Robin Hood at the river and took the boats packed with our gear, about 60 miles upriver.

We mad a short stop at Klaus’s new hunting cabin and arrived in the afternoon at the site. First we had to whack a trail through the brush and set up a camp. The first night we were able to spend in the log cabin but for the rest of the time we would camp since we were about to take the cabin apart. Everything had to be disassembled carried to the river and stacked until we had the logs to built the raft. The roof had to be taken down and there were a lot of nails in the planks. In order to loosen the nails a little Klaus had this idea and disappears into his shop. Not long after he was hanging a can in the middle of the house lit a fuse and told us to take cover. We ran and jumped behind some trees and waited for the big bang. Just as we thought nothing was happening the explosion went off. In theory the pressure from the detonation should have loosened the boards and therefore the nails but since all the windows and the door were already removed I don’t thing it did much but it was exiting anyway.

In the evening we mad a nice campfire and enjoyed good food and great stories. Holly and Klaus were excellent story tellers and we had some great laughs. After bush coffee and breakfast we finished taking off the roof and carry the logs down to the river. We began to tie them all together and were building big a raft. The rafters and floor joists were stacked at the river and would be picked up at a later time with a boat since we did not want them to get wet. The insulation and roofing material were then packed and tide down on the raft and after cleaning up the campsite and where the house had been we were ready for floating down the river. We tide the raft on to Holly’s boat and with a few people on the raft and two boats helping navigate we took off downriver. It went without problems and it was fun and relaxing being on our “house-raft” and watching the land go by.

The one thing we were a little concerned about was pulling the heavy raft back into the slough. If we missed it we were in trouble since there was no way we were able to pull the raft against the current upriver. So we had only one chance and Holly and I went ahead with the boat to secure some ropes on the landing spot so we could toss a line to the raft and make sure we would not miss it. Everything went according to plan and it was easier than we anticipated. Now the only thing left to do was clearing some land cutting some trees and stacking logs of the raft back on land. We better got started because it was still lots of work ahead of us.

Five flats and making a decision

We had so much fun hanging out with Holly and Kirsten and met so many great people that it was hard to think about heading to Alaska. Fall was approaching fast and winter would be right on his heels. We were cutting it close already since we had to get settled and situated for winter and it would not be possible to live in the motor home during a arctic winter of 40 below in Alaska. Sad and with heavy hearts we got ready to leave Dawson behind us take on the next part of our adventure. But Bussli had other plans.

The day of our departure I had a flat. So instead of leaving I had to fix a flat. This was not a big deal but it delayed us an other couple of days since we had to go to one more party anyway. It was the birthday party of CJ and Dave’s little girl Scout. We got to meet some more of the neighbors before they were moving to Fairbanks Alaska where David was from. So we tried to leave again the day after just to find that we had another flat. I fixed this one as well and we postponed the departure an other couple of days. Büssli just did not want to leave and tried gently to let me know. The next time we made it out of Sunnydale and stopped by in town to get gas and empty the potty at the dump station. And again before we were able to hit the road I had an other flat. Now it started to look like some force tried to keep us here. I still did not want to give up and fixed it right there but did not leave town that day and after two more flats I was starting to wonder how that was possible.

I have six tires on my motor home and had already four flats. This was just too weird. But since I was not willing to listen to the gentle nudges from my little bus. So we were still in Sunydale and an other week had passed and I was under the car and was fixing the fifth flat tire and while I was working under the car I noticed a line on the differential cover. I new my bus and this was not a good sign. So now I was taking the cover off and found out that a tooth had broken off the pinion and scraped a groove from the inside of the cover so it was visible from the outside. I was absolutely sure that this must have happened recently since it was not there in Whitehorse.

Büssli always had a way to alert me of bigger problems by creating some little thing to lead me to a bigger pending problem. With all this happening I was starting to question the decision of leaving Dawson over the top of the world highway this late in the season. Holly and Kirsten were saying we should just stay and we would find a way to make everything work out. Finally we were convinced that we had to stay and as soon we had made this choice, everything started to fall into place. We were offered to stay in the little guest cabin at Holly’s neighbors and take care of their dog Sparkey while they were gone over the winter and I also had the opportunity to make some money in town to support us for the winter. So we stayed!

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Photos

The Lookout
On the way to Sunnydale passing the Lookout Overlooking Dawson City and the Klondike

Holly and Kirsten
Driftwood Holly is an great artist and Musician.

Canoe trip
Floating down the Klondike

The Bench on the dome...
Everyone that goes to the dome has seen this beautiful bench my friend Holly made.

Comments

[Tom D.]

Vicariously
Living thru you two! I'm confused though, how come the title is "August 2007..."? Are you up there now, or is this a "Post" post?? Tom and Carol