Day 14 – Cash Only – Even at Walmart?

Some mosquitos got into the Airstream during the night somehow and they like my face, maybe because it’s the only thing sticking out of my covers while sleeping?  They like Braxton’s legs. 

Today we’re heading to Whitehorse.  Before leaving I tried fixing the fridge by wedging some hairbands in the handle to add tension, hoping that will keep it from popping open when driving.  (Spoiler alert:  It worked.)

We bypassed getting gas at Junction 37 to get it at Nugget City.  Nugget City was out of gas.  Wait, more gas stations out of gas?  What’s happening here?  Apparently, the gas trucks haven’t been able to get to the stations because of the road washout. 

We turned around and went back to Junction 37 for gas.  Cash only.  Not just because it’s a small station, but because the internet is down.  It’s not just down here, it’s down in all of Yukon.  Why?  Remember that road that washed out that changed our plans?  Well, when they were trying to fix it, they accidentally cut the fiberoptics.  Oops….

As a refresher, Yukon is in Canada.  They use Canadian money in Canada.  We, like many people passing through Yukon to get to Alaska just planned on using credit cards and didn’t exchange American cash for Canadian cash.  Well, too late now – the ATMs aren’t working and the banks won’t exchange either with the internet down. 

The guy at the Junction 37 gas station took American money for our gas payment and gave our change in Canadian using some kind of exchange rate he came up with….

Next gas stop is Teslin.  Their credit machines were actually working and they had gas – SCORE!  We filled the gas tank, grabbed lunch and set out to finish the last leg of our drive to Whitehorse where we will be staying at the Caribou RV Park.

The Caribou RV park is a nice place.  The owners are very friendly and speak a bunch of different languages so they can cater to a wide variety of people.  The dump station was kind of tricky to get to when dumping upon check in, hopefully it’s easier on the way out.  Our site had everything except for sewer.

We have had problems unhitching a couple times now, the stinger gets stuck when trying to pull it out and the whole trailer ends up trying to follow the truck.  Super stressful.  It happened again when we tried to unhitch.  When it happens, it’s a big deal.  It makes it hard to rehitch and trying again to unhitch could keep dragging the trailer when trying to pull the stinger out.  It could backfire either way.  Lots of prayers, heartburn, panicking, and a loud bang later, the stinger was free.  It was so dusty.  That had to be the problem.  Right? It was getting stuck because of all the dust/dirt preventing a nice smooth slide out.  Braxton cleaned it out, relubed it and hopefully that solves the problem.  It sure looks a lot better – thank you Braxton!  We’ll know the next time we unhitch if this was the issue.  Stay tuned.

For dinner we had salad and Buffalo Cranberry sausages that we picked up at the sausage place in Smither’s.  They were really good.

We also met some Airstreamers from Colorado who were staying at the same RV park. Chatted with them awhile and shared our experiences so far and our upcoming plans. We plan on seeing them again in Skagway.

After dinner we tried to get groceries and gas.  I say “tried” because we went to multiple grocery stores and gas stations in Whitehorse, including Walmart, and they all were on a cash only basis because the internet was down.  Ugh.  Maybe tomorrow?