We Have Posted!

We Have Posted! Watson Lake, Canada

Watson Lake, Canada Temps H62, L45, Cloudy, Part Rain Stationary today Today was a nice easy day for us. George worked and I went grocery shopping and did some laundry as we have full hookups. Absolutely love having a washer and dryer on board. After a quick lunch we went to the Watson Lake Forest. Not your typical forest of trees and shrubs. These trees consists of 6′ x 6′ posts with wood, metal, and plastic branches. In 1942, while building the Alaska Hwy, it was common practice for the US Army of Engineers to put up a directional post at their camps. It gave directions and mileage to surrounding communities and various parts of the world. While working on the Alcan, Private Carl K. Lindley from Company D, 341st Army of Engineers was injured and taken to the Army Aid Station in Watson Lake to recuperate. During that time Carl’s commanding officer got him to repair and repaint the directional post. While Carl was carrying out this task he decided to add his home town sign of Danville, Illinois. Unfortunately over time that sign disappeared. While celebrating the 50th anniversary of the building of the Alaska Highway, in 1992, Carl and his wife Elinor returned to the Yukon and Watson Lake after a 50 year absence as guests of the Town of Watson Lake. While they were here, a replica of the directional post was erected and Carl replaced his missing sign of Danville, Illinois. On February 20, 2002 Carl Lindley passed away in Danville, Illinois were he had lived all his life. (thank you Wiki) The tradition continues to this day with over 82,037 (counting ours). The unique thing about this is folks from around the world have tacked up signs on the posts. You see everything from gold pans, to wooden signs, to signs pilfered from their hometowns. Lots and lots of license plates. Wow there are alot of signs. We called Virgil and Delores to find out where their sign was they put up last year from their Alaska trip, and we found it while talking to them. Pretty kool.
So we had our sign made a few month ago, it is aluminum with reflective coating like a street sign. I “Posted ” it with 4 stainless steel screws, so no rust on that sign! It will last longer the the 6×6….. After visiting the forest we went across the street to the Northern Lights museum. The museum has a dome shaped auditorium and they show a movie about the Canada space program and the Northern lights.
When we got there they had started the movie 40 minute movie 15 minutes earlier. The attendant let us in for free, so we were able to catch the Northern lights. Very interesting and beautiful to see. Remember you can double click any picture to make it larger or view a video
Wildlife Count for Trip
Black Bear- 3
Brown Bear- 0
Wood Bison- 8
Moose- 3
Elk- 7
Caribou- 6
Deer- 0
Beaver- 1
Bald Eagle- 2
Red Fox 1 Our Trip Stats for Geeks
Yesterday
Miles – 208
Gallons of Fuel – 23.3
Cost of Fuel – $76.84
Price of Fuel per gallon $3.30 Beginning of Trip to Date
Miles – (from Key West) 5154
Gallons of Fuel – 588.0
Cost of Fuel – $1,719.65
Avg Price of Fuel per gallon $2.92
Avg MPG – 8.8
# of Days Boondocking – 10
# of Days @ Campground – 19
Avg Cost per night – $18.84
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