The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Friday, June 8, 2018

An interesting place, and a worthwhile stop

Hit the road again at 6:45am Thursday morning. This time, we wanted to make it to the community of Teslin, 130 kms (81 miles) west of where we had parked for the night. The Alaska Highway to Teslin crosses the border back into British Columbia for one stretch before heading back to the Yukon for the last time.

We stopped at a couple of scenic pull offs along the way, and it was after 8:30am by the time we pulled in to Teslin.

There's a popular full service RV Park in Teslin, and it looked pretty full. It's a shame that the vast majority of these RV'ers never go out  to explore the sights in the small towns along the way. At the same location, there's a free stuffed animal exhibit of Yukon wildlife. Not our thing, but it's supposed to be quite good and it's free, or by donation if you want.

Stunning scenery.

The bridge to Teslin, Yukon.

We were looking for some free internet, and we found it at the local library. Never saw another RV the entire time we were there, and in fact not one other vehicle pulled into the library parking lot during that time! We went in and spoke to the librarian, and I'm pretty sure we were the highlight of her day.

We left Sherman parked at the library, and we did a bit of the Teslin walking tour. Not really that much to see, but it was interesting reading about some of the buildings along the way.

We walked over to the George Johnston Museum. This is an interesting place, and a worthwhile stop, especially to watch the 50 minute movie about the life of George Johnston and the native population between 1920 and 1945. George was a Tlingit native trapper who became interested in photography and bought a camera and developing kit through the Eatons catalogue back in the 1920's. Despite his lack of formal schooling, he became an avid photographer and his images depicting Yukon life at that time are amazing.

The George Johnston Museum in Teslin, Yukon.

Displays of native clothing.

George was also the first person in this area to own a car. The fact that there weren't any roads didn't deter him. After a successful trapping season in 1927, he went to Whitehorse and bought himself a brand new 1928 Chevrolet. He then cut himself a 3 mile long road in Teslin, and charged the locals $2 a ride as a taxi service. Then, he also used the car on the frozen Teslin Lake, and during the winter he had himself a 74 mile long ice road. Of course when the Alaska Highway cut through here in 1942, it opened up a whole new world for George's car.

He went back to the Whitehorse dealership in 1962 and traded the old Chevy for a pickup truck. The dealership had the car restored, and donated it to the Yukon government who has it on loan to the museum.

George's car!

Interesting stuff, and well worth the $5 entrance fee.

We hopped in Sherman and drove about 5 kms (3 miles) to the Teslin Tlingit Heritage Center. This is a relatively new cultural center for the Tlingit people, and it's still early in the season and they didn't have it in full operation yet. It was also later in the day so we didn't think it was worth the $5 admission fee for us. We wandered the grounds and took some photos though.

Teslin Tlingit Heritage Centre.

Ruth, enjoying the view at Teslin Lake.

Then, we started looking for somewhere to overnight. We stopped at the Teslin Lake Government Campground, but couldn't justify the $12 a night. It's not that $12 isn't a great price... it is, especially with free firewood. But there are so many easy and free spots along this stretch of highway that we prefer not to put up with the noise coming from other campers and their generators.

We ended up at the rest stop at the old Canol Rd. We pulled in there, but we both had also noticed the road leading up the opposite side, so I went for a walk. Sure enough, it was a better spot. We would have been fine in the rest stop, but less chance of being disturbed on the opposite side.

Went for a walk down the track to see what there was to see, but we think it was just a short section of the old Alaska Highway and it was a perfect place for Sherman to overnight.

Sherman, boondocking at GPS 60.48693, -133.290183

The old Alaska Highway.

Ruth thought she heard something in the bush beside the path. We saw something move in there, and I went to have a closer look.

It was a baby porcupine!

It was such a cutie!

I had a quick look around for mom, but didn't see anything. 
I stood and watched it, and it stood and watched me!
It was only about 10 feet away from me.

Managed to get some expensive and excruciatingly slow internet at Johnson's Crossing, but at least we got the blog posted for you so we hope you enjoyed it!

Today, we're heading up to Quiet Lake on the old Canol Road... reports say that it's not recommended for RV's, but they don't know Sherman. Wish us luck! (Actually, for those of you worried, we spoke to the guy working here at Johnson's Crossing, and he says we'll be fine... it's only really bad when it rains).

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And in Canada





22 comments:

  1. Love, love, love the porcupine! Honestly, for me one of the very best parts of long, somewhat slow-go RV'ing trips is the wildlife it affords you the opportunity to encounter.

    We head out this weekend for our own slow-go RV'ing trip to Utah and Colorado, so it will be fun to see what critters we'll encounter as we go along.

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    1. We tend to agree with you there, although we actually thought that we would be seeing more wildlife than we have but the ones that we have seen have been great opportunities to get some nice shots not just a quick one out the window.

      I am sure you both will have an excellent trip. We love both those states. We especially want to spend more time in Colorado now that we aren't working in the summer time. We will be looking forward to your pictures on facebook or instagram from your trip. :-)

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  2. I had checked earlier for a new post and saw the amazing cover photo. Another cup of coffee and see the new post...YAY!!! I cheated and browsed google for the town of Teslin and surrounding areas. I was pleasantly surprised to see medical clinics in some of the smallest towns/villages. Again, I am soooo glad you did a walking tour and shared it with us. Other folks (2016, 2017 RV travels through the same areas) did not come close to what you are sharing. They mostly took pictures of animals walking along highways...disappointing. I hope there it doesn't rain while in Quiet Lake. It might be too early in the season but have you seen any berries? We picked berries in August. We visited the government run, Indian Health Service, facility in Anchorage...it was awesome. They had five floors of native crafts and artifacts. I like to visit buildings and know the history of them too. Loved the story of George. His first car reminds of my uncle who had the first car in our rez neighborhood. It must have been an older model because I remember they had to crank the front to start the car....hahaha. As a very young child, I remember all cars being black and each time I rode in one, I 'd get car sick. I don't know when that stopped. I was born at home to illiterate parents so I don't really know my true birthday. I obtained my delayed birth certificated based on official documents and I had three birth dates to choose from. I chose the oldest birthday so I could retire three years earlier...hahaha. I used my delayed birth certificate to get my pass port.

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    1. P.S. when my dad & uncle went off to work in that black cranked car, it sometimes stalled going up a steep hill on the other side of a wash east of our house, we chant 'power, power, power' in Navajo so the car would make it up the hill. Especially after it rained & road was muddy. If it stalled, we all ran to help push it up hill so dad and uncle could get to work at clay mine in time.

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    2. I love your comments on this blog! What a life, smart thinking on the birthdate selection!

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    3. So glad that you are enjoying our posts of all the little out of the way places and things that we see and do. It is just how we travel, and why we like to travel, you learn all about the places and the culture this way.

      No, we haven't starting seeing berries yet. It is still too early in the season plus they say that the season is really a couple of weeks behind where it should be, maybe that is why we still haven't been bothered with mosquitoes. It would be nice if it just stayed like that! ;-)

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  3. A great read Mr. Read! Awesome images.

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    1. You are welcome Peter, glad that you enjoyed it. :-)

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  4. Not just a porcupine, a baby porcupine!!! Adorable

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    1. It's funny you think of the north and all the big animals and beautiful photos you see of them yet this little baby porcupine stole our hearts!It was the cutest little thing. :-)

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  5. I’m wearing a huge smile readingyour blogs in the Yukon as it reminded me of our road trip in 2013 July. Except for the places you boondock, we did the exact same route. But of course, you’re seeing more wildlife than we did coz you have the time to do more interesting exploring than us who are on a timeline e.g. few weeks of vacation time while employed. Loved the baby porcupine photo! Wonder what would have happened if the mama was there and saw you?!

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    1. So glad that you are enjoying our posts and the memories that they are bringing back to you of your trip up here. Yes, it is true, you can see more when you aren't on a short timeline. I guess that is one of the reasons that we had never made it up here before because we knew that we didn't have the time to do it justice.

      I doubt that mama would have done anything because if Kevin and seen her then he would have just left or given them more space.

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  6. Interesting read on George Johnston and that baby porcupine is so cute.

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    1. He sounded like a very interesting man and definitely had quite the life. I especially loved the story on his car and how he painted it every year, in the winter he painted it white and in the summer he painted it a dark colour. When he took it back to trade in for a truck there wasn't even a dent on it, just tons of coats of paint!

      That baby porcupine was the cutest thing ever.

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  7. Great blog. Porcupine looks so sweet! Have a great day.

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  8. Wow... the scenery and wildlife are truly amazing. Just excites us that much more to follow in your footsteps as soon as we are able. Gorgeous..ty.

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    1. So glad that you are enjoying the scenery and the wildlife. Hopefully we will have lots more to show you.

      We hope that you can make the trip up north soon then! :-)

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  9. Oh my goodness, that baby porcupine is so adorable! George Johnston sounds like he would have been a very interesting man to meet and talk with. Thank you for shari g your adventures with all of us. What a journey you have been and are still on. Kathy McGuire

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    1. Yep, that baby porcupine was the absolute sweetest thing!

      The movie they had of him and his life at the museum was very interesting and he did have a good life. We especially loved the story about his car and his pictures were fantastic.

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