Day Fifteen: Whitehorse, YT to Fairbanks, AK

During World War II the Whitehorse refinery supplied much of the fuel to power the American aircraft defending Alaska, but the refinery was shut down and moved to Edmonton long ago. Whitehorse is deep within the Yukon, and while there is lots of oil being pumped nearby, there are no refineries. All fuel has to be trucked in across the rough Alaska highway for hundreds of miles, so fuel is about 40% more expensive here (~5.66 USD/gallon) than in the cities of Calgary and Edmonton (~$4.00 USD/gallon). While this is not outrageously expensive, I am very cheap so I started trying to fill my tank with used cooking oil. Luckily the nice people at the Sakura Sushi restaurant had a huge stockpile and gave me enough oil to make it from Whitehorse all the way to Fairbanks.

Downtown Whitehorse:

From 629-2011

Exploring Whitehorse, I found the Klondike. The people of the Yukon are proud of their Klondike. Their license plates all feature the Klondike. I'm still not sure why, but I'll look into this.

From 629-2011

Again I found many friendly people in Whitehorse. While parked in a McDonald's at midnight, I was fiddling with my oil filter pump, and some nice teenagers wandered over and asked if I was using biodiesel. We talked for a while, and I asked how their families ended up being in such a remote location. They were children of pilots, miners, and oil workers. They all seemed intelligent and peaceful. I would be comfortable with my kids (if I had kids) hanging out with kids like these at midnight.

The border crossing into the U.S. was much easier than the crossing into Canada. The customs officers were still puzzled by my oil filtration setup, but seemed to believe everything I said, so I zoomed along after only five minutes of questions. Crossing the border into Alaska, everything changed. The pavement was much better quality, and the sun seemed to pop out immediately after driving through rain all morning. Traffic did not increase though.

From 629-2011

I met an interesting Dutch family in Tok, the first city I came to in Alaska. They were driving a beautiful 1980 Mercedes 911 outfitted as a motor home. This is truly the way to go motorhoming. American motorhomes and RV's don't stand a chance at offroad conditions, but the 911 can go almost anywhere the German army needs to go. If I ever want a motorhome, I will be converting a 911.

From 629-2011

Further up the road, I saw evidence of just how cold the winter in Alaska can be. Ice still remained in some dried riverbeds.

From 629-2011

I wandered down to one of these riverbeds to see what I could find.

From 629-2011

These rivers vary greatly in size as seasons change. As ice melts they flood over, leaving behind wood, rocks and silt. I was hoping for more (maybe some gold nuggets :), but this was enough.

From 629-2011

I arrived in Fairbanks and looked up a hostel, hoping to meet some interesting fellow travelers. I had great experiences with hostels in Africa, and I thought I could use a shower after six days without one. I got a bed in a dorm-style room, and ended up sleeping in my car. I had forgotten my earplugs, and the chorus of snoring was beyond belief. At least I got to shower and talk with some people. It's not worth another night though, I'm going back to the authentic life of sleeping in my car for now.