Day 9 -- Whitehorse, Yukon, to Tok, Alaska

Sorry for lagging behind, guys. I'm in Fairbanks trying to get my stuff together, so I'll finish the trip as soon as possible. Life's good.

My clock alarm woke me up at 7:30 that morning with a CBC talk show about the stock markets or the economy or something. I couldn’t really tell because my attention span was in a seller’s market. A few too many rounds of Yukon Gold pale ale will do that.

I was wearing last night on my sagging face and on my bloated belly. It was going to be an interesting drive to Alaska.

My first mission was to find a suitable place to participate in a fantasy football draft. I was prepped to do it at its original time at 6 a.m. from the comfort of my hotel room, but the time was changed to 2 p.m. Pacific sometime the day before. There was no chance of making it to Tok by then, and no way I could wait in Whitehorse past noon either, so I’d have to find wireless in the Yukon Territory with it’s two most populous cities already behind me.

Once again. Oooh. Aaaah. Big rocks coming out of the ground.

I was still blown away, but my drive today was three hours longer than my previous forays in to the Rockies. That helped restrain me from getting lost in hikes and scenic stops.

One thing I couldn’t help gaping at, however, was Lake Kulane (koo-lawn-ee). When I get my first long weekend, this is where I’ll be spending it.

I parked at an RV camp in Destruction Bay and bought an early lunch. The place had WiFi, so I decided to do the draft from there. I tried doing it outside, but it was too bright, so I resumed my familiar position of slouching in the driver’s seat and firmly lodging my laptop between my upper stomach and the steering wheel. (This by the way, is how most of The Diagonal’s content is posted.)

It was only noon, so I killed time by writing a blog post (Day 8) and e-mailing my contacts in Fairbanks. In the midst of writing, I didn’t notice a tall man just outside my open passenger side window. When he barked a “hello” at me, I nearly threw my laptop at him in self-defense.

The place was shutting down for the winter, and they were about to turn off their server, he told me. He was nice enough to let me know so I wouldn’t lose any unsaved data.

There were still a few outposts ahead with possible WiFi signals, so I wasn’t worried. But Labor Day weekend is shut-down time for most resorts in the Yukon. It’s prone to start snowing in a few weeks, and few businesses take the chance of staying open far into September.

So I missed the draft (which I later found out was bumped back 45 minutes) but who cares when this is where you were when you missed it:

The roads got rough about 100km from the border and the 90km/hr speed limit wasn’t suitable for the Kia. It’s not that they were too curved or unpaved, but there were dramatic dips and bumps. I was doing 80km/hr when I suddenly went airborne. I got out at the next rest area and gave my little black sedan a rest for being such a trooper.

I, on the other hand, was not ready to stay on the ground:

At 3:30 Pacific, I was back in the U.S. and fairly impressed by my new home. Customs were light, which gave me time to hit some scenic detours.

Yup, this is where I live. Stop on by any time.

Just over the border, I found a tiny gas station and fueled up. When I went inside, I remarked on how hard it was to find open stores on the highway this weekend. He laughed and said he was leaving tomorrow as well, so all prices were negotiable. I got a bag of trail mix for 50 cents and a 12-pack of Hamm’s for $2.

This made my first impression of Alaska a positive one.

I was missing a few college football games … nothing major … except maybe the biggest upset in the history of the sport, the VaTech opening ceremonies and, of course, the Gators game. After checking in to the hotel in Tok, I made a beeline to the lounge, where there was food, wireless internet and a TV. I talked trash with some Tennessee fans and a Texan bartender.

Sure, my college football ritual started at 5 p.m. Alaskan (9 p.m. Eastern) but I still had a ball. I was comparing stats and highlights online plus watching DeSean Jackson break Tennessee defenders ankles all while juggling a call to my family at the USF game and gobbling down reindeer sausage.

Saturdays are going to be very different up here.