The Price of Adventure (at Tombstone)

On our way to Tombstone Territorial Park in Yukon we drove a short stretch of the Klondike Highway and then the infamous Dempster. Up here there’s constant roadwork in the summer, and by roadwork they mean, “bulldozing the old road and pushing a pile of dirt beside it for a new road.”

I was too amazed at what we were driving along during the roughest patches to take video, but here’s a bit after.

What We Paid

What price have we paid so far for this adventure?

• Cracked windshield
• Cracked grey tank
• Busted fridge shelf
• Vibrated-out strip of sealant between an interior and exterior trailer wall
• And, lest I forget, the shower door, again.

For the record, I’ve broken it twice but by two different means. So I didn’t technically make the same mistake twice.

The first time, I left the door unlatched, and on windy Tennessee roads it swung open, then bounced until the hinges broke.

What a “Bad” Travel Day Looks Like

This time the door remained latched, but we bounced so much that my stacks of bins inside the shower un-stacked themselves and got thrown against the new shower door such that it shattered. This was the sight that greeted me at Tombstone Territorial Park.

Tracy and I are still finding glass.

We kept the shower curtain that Sherri hemmed for me, so that’s back up! But Tracy’s going to try to fit in a sheet of plexiglass once we’re in Alaska.

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This also is a repercussion of our travel days up here. Can you even find our license plate? Tracy had washed off this amount of mud just the day before by carrying small bucket after small bucket of river water up the bank at our campsite and splashing it on the trailer. Otherwise this stuff will become cement, especially at the hitch and tank valves. Ie: our moving parts will no longer move.

What We Paid For

Walking with Doug and Melanie at midnight, in search of moose. Who cares that we found only prints in the mud.

They had just gotten back from the Arctic Circle and had slept in their truck for several nights of the trip, so they were very much in need of hanging-out time.

That we can get behind.

We also hiked a bit.

And a bit more.

We’re now back on the road, at Dawson City, on our way to Fairbanks next. I’d say the price we’ve paid so far has been more than fair.