Rest Day Dawson City

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We had a lazy day. Walked downtown for a late breakfast,then wandered around the shops & bought some supplies.This whole town including houses has been kept as authentic as possible to retain an 1800s feeling. It has all been done very well including keeping all the roads as dirt roads. Elevated board walks (necessary in winter) complete the picture. Many museums etc give the whole place a great feel. Back to our miners tent and we shifted rooms (due to our last minute decision to stay an extra night) a few domestic duties (washing etc) then we walked up the road to watch 4wd mud racing. This consisted of racing in 2 dug out trenches around 100m long, both filled with slippery watery mud. Quite entertaining with the sound of V8s revving to unbelievable levels - we were waiting for something to protrude through one of the bonnets but it didn't happen while we were there. Americans definitely know how to build a strong V8 engine.
In the afternoon Bryan & Ian did a historic walking tour which put some facts to the towns appearance.
A Greek Restaurant for dinner, then we went back to the Downtown Hotel & I completed the sourtoe challenge. This involves drinking a cocktail with a miners frostbitten toe in the drink. If you let the toe touch your lips you get a certificate, if you swallowed it the fine was $2500!
Back to our new rooms with glimpse views of the Yukon river.
Ride Day 26.
Leaving Dawson around 9am we headed south and immediately encountered mist & drizzle with poor visibility. After climbing to around 800m we rode out of the mist into a clear sunny but cold day With only a couple of minor patches of mist we continued south in mainly clear weather. This was a bit of a boring ride with standard Canadian scenery the Yukon river & the occassional lake. At around 150kms we stopped for a coffee at Moose Lodge where I bought a book about the history of the Sourtoe cocktail. Apparently the toe has gone missing a few times and has more than once been replaced by a another from a new frostbite victim! We arrived in Carmacks after around 350kms with still another 180 kms to go.
After gassing up we had lunch at the edge of the Yukon river, having a chat with a traveller & his wife who arrived with a huge 5th wheel behind a Dodge Ram. He was from Illinois and claimed NZ was on his bucket list.
Back on the road we headed east on the Robt Thompson highway. Stopping at an information board 200m above the river we read that it was at this point in 1906 the Columbia burned and was wrecked after 2 of the crew were playing the fool with a gun and fired into some flammable material on the deck. For their troubles they were 2 of the 6 crew to perish. As we were leaving this stop we saw 5 Indian canoes riding the current down the river each with 2 paddlers and gear aboard so we guessed this was could be a commercially organised trip.
Arriving at Faro we checked into our hotel in this almost ghost town. The mine that supported it has closed and although it appears a dead town there ae still a lot of occupied houses here. We don't know what these people do for a living now. More research needed.
Today 544kms Total is now 10,396kms.
Tomorrow Teslin.

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