Fall trip to Whitehorse for appointments

It was time for my 6 month check up in Whitehorse with the gynaecologist who monitors me post-cancer.

I had the fantastic, fabulous fortune to be able to book a dentist appointment AND an eye doctor appointment for the same day! This is practically unheard of! And I never ever should have jinxed it by bragging about it, because a few days before I was set to depart, the gynaecologist appointment cancelled.

I thought about cancelling all of it, but getting into the other dr’s isn’t easy either, so I kept the plans, the weather was good, and decided to still go.

On Tuesday morning I headed out, with Jeff reminding me he had just put on my winter tires, so I needed to retorque the tires at some point. I left just after 8am, so it was dark, but by the time I got to the Tintina Trench rest area, it was getting lighter, so I stopped to retorque.

Now, I gotta say. Taking the torque wrench to the lug nuts the morning after doing 80 Day Obsession, Day 49, AAA exercise (arms, abs, and ass) is a special experience. I think my tires have 120 lug nuts per tire. Or my arms thought so.

Anyway, they were all good, so off I went.

The snow only lasted for the first 90 minutes, then it turned to fall south of here! No snow!

It was a gorgeous day and drive!

And I saw my first live wolverine!!! It ran across the highway ahead of me. What a distinct run/gallop they have! So neat to see!

However the road kill!

I saw a dead porcupine, near a dead bald eagle. My guess is the eagle was probably snacking on the porcupine and got hit.

The near the Montague Roadhouse, I saw a couple legs in the air and the shape was so familiar to someone who grew up on a dairy farm. It looked like a very bloated dead cow. And it was. A road kill bison and her dead calf, one on each side of the road. So sad! And is that why I saw the van 20 km or so up the road with the flat front end? My goodness they made it far after hitting them.

When I got to Whitehorse I started right in on my shopping. So many errands, so many things on our “Buy in Whitehorse” list. How these trips usually go is you get what you can, and leave the rest for next time. There is rarely anything you can’t do without! Anything urgently life sustaining is available in Dawson.

I had one McDonalds burger (no fries!) to fill the empty void in my stomach when I got to town, then I did the wise thing and bought some food at the grocery store for my hotel fridge to keep me away from fast food, and some sushi California rolls for dinner. And I was extra proud of myself for remembering to grab a plastic fork for my salad this time!

I stayed at the GoldRush Best Western for the first time. The room was big and quiet, with a couple of beds. Two beds just for me? I did necessary, and put both duvets on the bed I was sleeping on 😀 Such luxury!

The next day I pulled out the salad I bought for lunch.

It was frozen solid. And so were my fruit and berries. And my drinks. AHHHHH The only thing I didn’t put in the fridge was some bran muffins. Cheers!

My appointments went well. My eyeglass prescription barely changed so I don’t need to update my glasses, and instead I’m updating the lenses of my old Oakley prescription sunglasses so I can see better with them.

I got my teeth cleaned and polished and chatted with my new dental hygienist who moved up recently right out of school. I’m excited for her to experience her first Yukon winter.

My friend Janet was in the city at the same time, so we met up and went for a really nice (and filling) dinner at G&P Steakhouse & Pizza on Main. I had a seafood linguine with a key lime pie cheesecake. I was stuffed!

I was up early on Thursday morning so I left the hotel in the dark, before 8, and went to the Superstore for the last shopping stop. I left Whitehorse with a fully loaded truck, including a snowmobile belly pan that Jeff had ordered for his new machine, and a big Coway air filter unit I bought for our house that DHL decided to ship only to Whitehorse.

The highway was covered in frost for the first couple of hours, but it turned into a beautiful day.

I saw 3 elk as I headed north. One was on the small strip of grass between Fox Lake and the highway, on the far side of the guard rail.

The river in Pelly and this one, the Stewart River, already have ice chunks flowing along. The ferry home in Dawson was pulled for the season on Wednesday.

It was 8C around Stewart Crossing on the way back! I even drove with the window open for awhile. Fresh, beautiful air! There really is only snow north of Clear Creek.

While I was away, our friends’ industrial supply store burned to the ground! They made it out safe, but it was an old wood building and was gone pretty quick. Our local volunteer firemen were able to keep water on all the air and gas canisters and kept all of them from exploding. Which would have been devastating with all the old wooden buildings surrounding it.

I had picked up a dozen burgers at McDonald’s in Whitehorse and we spread them around the guys working at the site last evening.

Now back to work! This morning it is freezing rain. Pouring rain on our snow and packed snow streets. Everything is a skating rink. The highway is closed south to Gravel Lake. Glad I wasn’t driving back today!