DAY 119

July 11, 1999

I was up and out of my tent by 7:00am. Man, that is rare for me! Going in the small store in the campground, I bought a Pepsi for a little morning caffeine boost. While making my purchase, the girl behind the counter was talking about a girl from Nova Scotia that got mauled by a black bear at "tent city". OK, I’ve heard enough bear stories. I think using common sense is an important factor, and keeping food away from the tent.

There’s a lot to do today. Grocery shopping, get film developed, update journal, buy more fuel for the stove, buy film, and buy a phone card. I bought 2 twenty dollar phone cards about…hmmm, 10 days ago? And they do not work. They were cheap looking and I should’ve known better. Since there will be a lot of photos to sort through and a lot of writing to do, I decided to treat myself to a motel room. This will be the last time until Fairbanks, and it will be nice to totally isolate myself for a while.

Looking for a cheap motel, I stopped in the Esso station. Keiran recommended the Family Hotel as the cheapest, decent motel. He also gave me the name of someone to contact once I get to Dawson City. This lady could give me some work helping to set up for the music festival, and I would get free tickets. The tickets are $60.00 each. From what I’ve heard, it sounds like this will be like the Lollapalooza of the Yukon.

I found the Family Hotel and paid $65.00 Canadian ($45.13 US) for a room. Walking around town, I noticed that a couple of places I wanted to go were closed, like the Alpine Bakery. The camping supply stores did not have the fuel my stove uses. When I went to get the film developed, I arrived too late to get it back today. So I’ll still have to wait until tomorrow to pick it up. While dropping off my film, I was overwhelmed by praises for my accomplishment in riding my bike this far. I assured her that it was really no big deal and that anyone could do it. She had gone on some bike rides to Haines and talked about how sore she was. When I was asked why I was doing this, I said that my other option would be to work. Then I told her about the screwed up healthcare system. She was shocked to find out that I am a PT and told me she was trying to get into the program in Canada. It is easier to get into a Med. School than a PT school. For whatever reason, I seemed to have inspired her and she said, "I’m not going to stop thinking about this all day." Sometimes I don’t realize how I might affect other people with my brief encounters, but she made it apparent. I was glad that I could be some sort of positive influence.

I rode my bike back to the campground in the evening and we cooked salmon on the fire pit. Mmmmm….good dinner. The potatoes got a bit burned, and some were like charcoal, but we managed to get some good ones out of the 10 we wrapped in foil and put in the coals. It was a fun evening. A great evening! I really enjoyed hanging out and laughing like that :-)

Tommo is from England and has some similar interest as me. He is interested in reading the same books too. We traded email addresses and planned to keep in touch.

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