Outhouses, Cinnamon rolls, Keno City, and Dawson City

Outhouses, Cinnamon Rolls, Keno City and Dawson City

Sunday – First outhouses…The ones in the states at “bladder flatter” stops were often times prefab plastic or concrete blocks, screens to keep the bugs out and specially designed venting systems to prevent stink. Most of the times they still stunk. In BC, they were plywood and more basic, but still screened. Once we got to Yukon, small sheets of plywood, no screens and doors, maybe. If you gotta go, bring your hat, not for sun protection but for the skeeters. Skeeters are particularly fond of pasty white flesh. Pasty white, for them, is the same as Grade A, prime choice sirloin for us. I don’t know how they tell their buddies that there’s some of that prime pasty white available, but they do and they all come humming. That’s why you need your hat…to protect your pasty whites. In spite of the skeeters, there’s a benefit to open outhouses…they don’t stink. So keep an open mind about open outhouses and don’t forget your hat. (Please keep in mind…this is Gary’s blog!)

Not far onto the Klondike Highway, we stopped at Mom’s Bakery, a place recommended by Guideposts. We weren’t sure it was still opened when we drove up, but we stopped anyway, and we’re glad we did. Tracie Harris (Mom) is a one-woman band…she lives, bakes, serves, feeds chickens, birds, chipmunks, flying squirrels, and people to the most fabulous cinnamon buns anywhere, all in the same place! She’s been at this place for 30 years, but lived in the Yukon all her life. She has her own garden of herbs. She puts a little of her mint in the frosting on the buns. It’s her grandmother’s recipe. And she uses sweet bread for the bun. They are as big as a personal pan pizza from Pizza Hut! Tracie’s grandfather had come up during the gold rush, but was a year too late. Look at the picture of Tracie. Guess her age. You won’t believe how old she is! She said it’s the air up north. Gary told her she’s the second person to tell her about the air up north. The other one was John from Tatogga. She knows John! She said there are only 30,000 people in all of Yukon…that’s less than Holland! It’s not the fountain of youth, it’s the air of youth…up north air.

We stopped at Stewart Crossing information center before heading up the Silver Trail to Keno City. The woman at the desk was a BIG woman, eating her lunch. We asked her for information about Silver Trail and she pointed us to a rack of brochures. I bet she didn’t say more that a dozen words to us. We laughed about her being a “wealth of information.” We stayed in Keno City, the end of the road! What a great place! There are 17 people in the whole town. We met Mike from Yugoslavia, who’s been there about thirty-plus years. We met Ralph and Norma Meese, and their dog, Jesse. Ralph road truck for the mine for 35 years. We asked where the people came from to work the mine. Ralph said that when he started in the 50’s they were from all over the world. When he did lunch in the common dinning hall, it was two weeks before he heard English spoken – and then it was an Irishman which according to Ralph is barely English. Ralph drove truck hauling ore, and when we commented on how hard the life was, he said “that was back when men were men.” They own a farm down by the Junction, all organic. We saw it coming up and commented on it then…it seemed out of place from everything else we’d seen. They took two weeks off to travel last year because they had what are called “WWOOF-ers” (World Wide Organnization of Organic Farmers) to stay at their farm. These are international people who are interested in learning about other people’s way of organic farming. So for room and board, they come and work the ranch. It’s a win/win situation for the farmer and for the WWOOF-ers. We went through the museum at Keno City and Ralph guided us through, explaining a lot about the mining, shipping, tools, etc. Such wonderful people! The campground was secluded down by the river. Just a handful of people there. There was a couple from Switzerland who shipped their camper to Halifax and are touring for six months. Another camper had two sisters and their husbands, on their way to a party (can’t remember the name) that the First Nations have for the departed. One year after the death of a loved one, everyone meets at a place and they have a party in the departed’s honor. This family had their sister-in-law’s ashes with them, placed in a beautiful leather bag with Indian beading. At the end of the party, they will bury the ashes in a ceremony. Imagine!

Stats: 300.6 miles; 25 gal; 12 mph; 47 mpg

Monday, June 16, 2008 – We slept in this morning (6:45)! We stopped at a rest stop on the Stewart River and Mickey made breakfast, bacon and eggs. It was good…Mickey was sick of cereal! The Klondike Highway has lupine all along the way. We stopped to take a picture because it reminds us of tulip lane in Holland. We saw our second moose, up close. He was in the middle of the highway! We took pictures as he kept running from our truck…down the middle of the highway! We made it to Dawson City before 1:00 p.m. We are staying downtown at Gold Rush Campground. We walked around downtown, did the Museum and continued to appreciate the hard life of Klondyker’s, came back for a while, then walked back to Kate’s Cabins and Restaurant for dinner. Mickey had her first crab legs! Headed to the Top of the World Highway tomorrow!

Stats: 189miles; 16.3 gal; 12mpg; 41 mph