Leaving Alaska and on to the Yukon

Well, it was finally time for us to be heading south. We had a couple of quick stops to make on our way out of North Pole though... cos they have a Santa Claus house there! Here is a picture of Bill and Ditto in Santa's sled being pulled by 2 peculiar looking reindeer (Sky and Susie).














From there, we headed towards Delta Junction, which is the "end" of the Alaska Highway and our route back towards the Yukon. I loved this sign!

Of course, at that time we had only an inkling of the troubles we were about to endure. Bill said something about the batteries not charging properly on the big RV. I didn't know exactly what that meant, but it didn't sound good. We stopped at a garage and the guy said, basically, "tomorrow's July 4th. if you stop here, I won't be able to look at it until the 5th". So we decided to carry on.

The first night, we did make it to Beaver Creek, which is just across the Canadian border. By then, the batteries weren't charging at all. So in the morning, we head over to the garage and they hook a charger up directly to the batteries to charge them. It takes about 2 hours. We drive 100 miles and have to stop again. Same thing. That night we only make it to Whitehorse, but they have a big service center there and we arrive in time to talk to the service manager. Sure, they can look at it but there are 3 RVs ahead of us. Hahaha! One of them had just spent $3500 in TOWING fees. OUCH!

First they replaced the alternator. Nope. Then they have some other bright ideas and Ditto and I decide it is time to visit the SS Klondike instead of sitting around the garage. It is an old sternwheeler that used to run up and down the Yukon River. We had a great tour guide and it was very interesting. This picture is of the lounge. It looked so relaxing... sitting up in the lounge and watching the scenery go by. That would have been way better than the bumps/potholes and gravel on the Alaska Highway!

On the second day, they think they have a plan, but we have already decided that I will continue on towards Regina, SK with the little RV and 4 dogs so that they can race at the flyball tournament that was being hosted by KAOS. I call Geoff and tell him that I plan to drive from Whitehorse to Regina by myself. His friends think I'm crazy (it is about 1800+ miles, alot of it without cell phone service). Geoff feels a little bad that he didn't tell me it was crazy too ;-)

So off I go, feeling a little weird leaving my buddies behind, but looking forward to seeing family for one night in Edmonton (Geoff's brother and his kids) and then the flyball folks in Regina. I made the trip in 3 days. That was alot of driving!
By the time I got to Regina, I heard that they had made temporary repairs and the big RV was just a few days behind me. YAY!