Day 60, Friday, October 6, Mountain Ridge Motel, Whitehorse
Up before dawn again today. Slept like a log last night. Nothing more invigorating than sleeping in a cold tent with a dog next to you to keep you company and provide some ambient heat. Donner probably thinks the same for me. Temperature hit minus 8 Celsius last night I heard, but it was quite cozy in the tent.
I was not the last tenter in the Yukon, after all. As I was preparing Donner's last cooked meal in the freezing cold this morning, a hardy couple from Saskatoon, Tor and Lauren, drove by from inside the camp where they had tented the last three days. Recent grads, they decided to try to start their working lives in Whitehorse. What spirit! This is all new to me. Tor asked me if I had been stalked by the brazen Wolf Creek Camp fox as they had been, but I said i had not seen him. He also told me that Saskatoon had just gotten six inches of snow, confirming my decision to not take the northern short-cut home.
Spent the entire day on chores...
Visited DHL's office to try to get that mass air flow sensor from England, which has been stuck in Vancouver for payment of duties. Later, Shane from FedEx called me to tell me auto parts from Atlantic British, including the same sensor, arrived there with him, one day after I ordered them.
I decided to break camp at Wolf Creek and move into the room at Mountain Ridge today. Although I love tenting in this weather, my better judgment told me it was time to move indoors, sort of.
I met up with Eileen at Mountain Ridge Motel at noon to take a look at my new lodgings. Not exactly the Ritz Carlton, but it will have to do. It Is not beyond me to say that I have to do something to minimize the financial hit of this hiccup, and she is helping me to that by renting me the storage room. I suspect that they use this place in the winter as a homeless shelter, and, frankly, this experience will make me appreciate what I have at home even more than I now do.
Renewed the rental car for another five days. Because I am with Donner, I must have a car. By the time I leave, I will have spent more on car rentals than all of mine in the past.
I also stopped by the auto repair shop to drop off my tent etc at the Defender and retrieve some more things for my stay at Mountain Ridge. I have to now develop a whole new daily routine. I will stay here until a day or so before I leave and then move into a motel to organize my departure better.
Another errand today...shopping. I decided to buy my lunch in town each day during my stay to save time. Today I bought a salmon panani. Before I went into Staples, I hid it well in the car with Donner's cottage cheese to prevent Donner from getting to it. When I got back, he had found, dug out, and had gotten into the bag, but he left the panani for me and was only interested in the cottage cheese. Bad dog, good dog.
When I returned to my "room" at Mountain Ridge, I turned on the portable heater and the light, and that blew the fuse. So tonight I will in effect still be tenting, although this room will not be as warm as the tent. And I guess I will still have to rely on the rental car for heat and recharging for some time.
My mind is less focused these days on the Defender as I am confident it will be up and running in two weeks for me to catch the October 24 ferry from Skagway to Bellingham. But just in case, next week I will sharpen up Plan B. I also need to start thinking about the 5000 miles I still must travel to get home with most all camp grounds closed. I have encountered greater problems in life.
It's cold and late and time for me to turn in. Donner has already turned in and is sleeping comfortably covered by his red blankets in his bed on the floor next to my bed, where I will be sleeping again in my two sleeping bags.
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