Side trip

Side trip Atlin Lake, Canada

Atlin Lake, Canada Temp H 62 L45, Cloudy Hwy1 NW thru Teslin, Johnson Crossing, Jakes Corner, then South on Hwy 7 to Atlin We departed Watson Lake at 9am. Since we have boat tour reservations out of Skagway to Juneau on May 22, we have a few days in the bag. So we decided to take a side trip to Atlin, BC. We had a real nice drive through the foothills of the Rockies. The ALCAN was in pretty good shape. There were a fair amount of Rib Rattlers, but I went slow, or so I thought…..hold on to that thought… After we turned off the ALCAN Hwy 1 to Hwy 8, then south to Hwy 7, there is a pull out to the west side of the road right along a beautiful lake. So we have to live somewhere, so we pulled in. This is awesome, enough room for a 3-4 RVs, with a boat ramp, and a snow covered mountain view that is out of a story book. Kool !
As I was getting the rig level, I notice the spacing between the passenger-side tires look “different” . Yep, lost the rear leaf spring hanger mounting bolt, missing, gone, not there…notta….. From the looks of it, it wobbled for a time which caused the tire to move forward slightly.
The rear eye of the rear leaf spring was not even in the “hanger”. So I looked around and found a tree that had been cut down, slid it between the tires, and moved the axle to the rear and the leaf spring popped into the hanger. OK, now what do I use for bolt? Before we left Watson Lake, I checked all the lug nuts on the trailer tires. The last time I checked the leaf spring bolts was in Florida, some 5000 miles ago, hmmm. At that point, I said, you know, this is why we have Roadside Assistance. But wait, do we have cell service? We are out in the middle of absolutely nowhere. Yep 3 apple bubbles. We look up the mountain, and see a cell tower there… (Thank you Troy, Matt, and Michael). What luck….. I called CoachNet and explained the problem. After some explaining, they finally found our location, but they could not find a repair service. Really…….but would try again in the morning. I got off the phone with CoachNet and a pickup truck came by to use the outhouse by the boat ramp (which the locals seem to use alot). Anyways, I asked the guy where the nearest hardware store was. He said Whitehorse was only 45 minutes away and they had a hardware store and a Canadian Tire (which btw is my new favorite store up here, it is a cross between, Tractor supply, Autozone, Ace hardware, and Menards). I went inside and got online, to find three RV dealers in Whitehorse, one that is open on Saturdays and sells suspension parts, and another that does welding (but closed Saturday). Now if CoachNet could just use Google, they could have found the same thing. So tomorrow morning we will unhook and take the BFT into Whitehorse and get a bolt and come back and git-r-fixed. Then on Monday we will take the rig into a repair shop in Whitehorse and get the spring hanger welded. So did I say the view was awesome? Right outside our window, it is as picturesque as the Alps.
Atlin was founded as a result of a demand for gold mining in 1898 on the eastern shore of Atlin Lake. It was nicknamed the “Switzerland of the North” because it is surrounded by mountains in much the same way as Switzerland.There was no road to the settlement, requiring tourists to travel up the Inside Passage by boat. Atlin was largely isolated from transportation and commerce until the Atlin Road was built in 1950-51. Wildlife Count
Black Bear- 4
Brown Bear- 0
Wood Bison- 8
Moose- 3
Elk- 7
Caribou- 6
Deer- 0
Beaver- 1
Bald Eagle- 2
Red Fox -1
Prairie Dog -2 Our Trip Stats for Geeks
Today
Miles – 225
Gallons of Fuel – 18.2
Cost of Fuel – $62.87
Price of Fuel per gallon $3.45 Beginning of Trip to Date
Miles – (from Key West) 5319
Gallons of Fuel – 606.1
Cost of Fuel – $1,782.52
Avg Price of Fuel per gallon $2.94
Avg MPG – 8.8
# of Days Boondocking – 11
# of Days @ Campground – 19
Avg Cost per night – $18.21
]]>