Last week in Whitehorse

Hope we are not tempting Fate here--we are scheduled into Fireweed RV Service at 8:30 tomorrow (Thursday) and they hope to be finished the same day.

Monday we received our mail, forwarded from home and spent a bit of time sorting that out. The best news in the post was from the Federal Government, a notice advising Art that his Old Age Pension had been approved and that his first cheque would arrive in May of 2011. He's not sure whether to be happy or sad!

Haircuts, tidying up, putting away and some maintenance items that have been put off are now becoming a priority! Art declined to pay $26.00 for a haircut that involved nothing more that running a pair of clippers over his head and vowed to do it himself! (Wouldn't be the first time!) He pays $10.00 to Gillian's hairstylist in Brentwood Bay for the same cut.



Wednesday afternoon we had everything packed away in readiness for the trip down the highway to the RV shop in the morning.

For dinner that night we made our second trip to a nice Mexican restaurant where we had been for lunch a week or so ago. Food again was excellent and we and the owners' daughter practiced our Spanish. Margaritas to start, then Chicken Enchiladas; con Salsa Mole for Art and Salsa Verde for Gillian, washed down with Coronas. The decor too was typical of many family owned and operated restaurants in Mexico.



Thursday morning. Why did I mention "Tempting Fate" last night?!!!!!

First thing on the agenda this morning was to get the rig into the shop. Even before breakfast--we'd eat later in town. While Gillian walked and fed the dogs Art began getting the motorhome ready to roll. Once everything was safely stored inside it was time to retract the slides. He started the engine to build air pressure for the brakes and suspension (takes several minutes) and pressed the "retract" button for the bedroom slide. It moved about one inch then stopped!

Next was to try the hammer trick--didn't work this time. Outside, Art heard a great rush of air from the vicinity of the right rear wheels! One air gauge was showing normal, the other very low and the air suspension wouldn't come up!.

Art drove in the car to the RV shop to get tech who returned and after much shoving and pushing we were still unable to get the slides in! The tech suggested that we drive slowly to the shop with the slides out! 7 kilometres on the Alaska Highway shoulder, flashers going and Gillian following in the car. Fortunately by keeping the rpm above 1,200 the air compressor was able to keep up with the leak so we were able to move, although the air bags wouldn't inflate so it was a very rough ride even though only doing 10 to 15 Km/H.

Art then drove back in the car to the Freightliner shop fortunately just a few Km away and was told to bring the motorhome in when it was done at Fireweed RV. Then to town for breakfast--we sat down at noon!

The RV Tech told us that he hoped to be finished by mid afternoon. We returned at 3:00 to find the rig outside; It was done! A while ago we had realised that the hot water heater wasn't working on propane, though when plugged to 120V AC it worked fine. The tech had a look, there was a fuseable link that had opened--he simple removed it, saying they are a frequent problem. It had been replaced in Albuqureque this spring. Art does have a spare--somewhere!



Once we got the paperwork done we drove back towards the park, stopping at Freightliner. They came out and took a quick look, had Art back the rig into the shop and took a closer look. The problem was traced to an airline at a fitting so off came the wheels and within an hour it was done. Art bought a couple of spare fittings!



Meanwhile Gillian had gone off to town for the final shopping; It was beginning to look like we would be moving on in the morning after all! We won't be going up to Dawson as we planned because the road from there to ALaska, the "Top Of The World" highway, has been washed out by floods! Perhaps on the way back. About 30 vehicles were trapped between two washouts. Maybe there was a reason for our delay in Whitehorse!

We celebrated our last day in Whitehorse by going once again to the Klondike Rib and Salmon for our farewell dinner. There was a short wait at the door for a table but we were soon seated and tucking in. Mmmmmmmm. ½ order ribs for Art, Muskox Stroganoff for Gillian and Yukon Red Ale for each of us. Again, Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

As we walked the half block back to the car we enjoyed a spectacular rainbow almost 180 degrees of near solid colour against the dark cloud background. We tried for a picture but the batteries in the camera were dead! TIME TO GET OUT OF TOWN!