While investigating some of the small shops, I found Top Of The World Hemp. Inside, I was told that the Top Of The World highway was closed due to heavy smoke from the forest fires and they are still considering evacuating Dawson City.

Most of the afternoon was spent sorting through photos and getting caught up on my journal entries. Then I was back on the streets and I found Aroma Borealis, a cool little herb, spice, and tea shop. Inside I met Raven, a chartered herbalist. "Yeah, my parents were hippies" she said, referring to her unique name. Raven is like many of the Canadians that I’ve been meeting, easy going and pleasant to talk to. The shop has a large selection of herbs, teas, and spices, that are prepared and packaged on the premises.

Looking for a new tape for my walkman, I went to De JA Vu Music. Unfortunately they didn’t have "Surrender", the latest one by the Chemical Brothers. It has the song "Let Forever Be", which I think is a kewl song. The girl in the store directed me to the only other music places in town, one in the mall at the Easy Foods grocery store, and the other inside Haven’s Center on Main Street.

As I was walking in front of Easy Foods, I saw Patrick out front putting away his purchase of powdered skim milk and getting ready to leave. Cool, I had a feeling I’d bump into him before he left for Skagway. The Germans were there too. They were packed and ready to leave town as well. We shook hands and said "Bye" to each other. There were some good times hanging out together, and I’m going to miss some of those evenings at the end of a day of riding. Many times we shared stories of our similar pasts, wild times, relationships, partying, and rock concerts. Having a buddy to ride with has been great but now I feel like I want to be solo again.

I was finally able to find the Chemical Brothers tape at Eric’s Music, in Hougen’s Centre and then went to the Holodeck to check my email. The charge was $4.00 for 1 hour or $2.00 for 30 minutes. Midnight Sun Coffee Roasters charges $3.00 for 30 minutes or $5.00 an hour. Anyway, I enjoyed reading my email and my guestbook entries. I’m always surprised to see the effect I had on people, either in person or through my journal entries on the net. But it does work both ways. Many of the people I meet provide me with inspiration and I can usually learn something from them. I just wonder what the bloody Germans are teaching me. :-)

Last year when I saw the tattoo my friend Chris got, I started debating the issue, going back and forth on my opinions of them. During this journey, I’ve considered getting a small one as a symbol of this life changing event.

One thing I’ve previously mentioned is all of the things left out of this journal. For some reason I forgot to add some things from my days brief notations to this more complete version as I expand on my shorthand notes. There were many conversations with Dave, Andy, and Joe, that never made it. And I guess it was my slight hangover which affected my writing of that last night in Jasper.

Canadian Lingo To Know

• Right on – Said in agreement to something cool.
• Eh– said at the end of every sentence
• Rocks – If something is really cool, it rocks.
• Clicks – 1 click = 1 kilometer
• No worries –  no problem, it’s ok
• Looney – 1 dollar coin
• Twoney – 2 dollar coin