It's Not All Good .....

The roads that is .....  We left Watson Lake headed to Caribou Crossing (Carcross) for our next nights stay.  There's quite a rush of construction to get the roads repaired before winter.  Yes it is VERY narrow and VERY long.  We had maybe one foot on either side of the rigs.  I just held my breath!!

Here's what everyone expects to see in Alaska ... gravel roads.  It was as bad as you are thinking it is!!! At 40 miles an hour, we moved WAY over when another vehicle came along trying to avoid glass chips.  They seem to think this is a freeway!!  So far so good for me  :) !!

The sights make up for it though!!  We passed a bear or two, but by the time I got up they had high tailed it for the woods!!

You never know what you will see along the road.  This small plane actually landed in the road and taxied up to this driveway ... thankfully NOT when we were driving this section.

The worst road construction yet, this section was several miles long.

I was actually quite a ways behind Dan and Patty, as you can see ... or as you "can't" see, it was pretty dusty.  

I was laughing at their jeep until I saw the back of mine!!!  Payback .......

Like I said, you never know what you will see on the highway.  This poor guy is barely moving his feet to keep himself headed uphill.  This doesn't look like fun to me!!!!

Another amazing view ... around every corner is another beautiful picture.

We finally landed in Carcross ... previously Caribou Crossing.  It's a quaint little town that stays open for the tour buses from Skagway.  I'll give you a personal tour .....

Here's the end of Bennett Lake where you would be if you were a stampeder headed for the Klondike. After floating through several lakes, you would end up on the Yukon river, headed for Dawson City.

This little Duchess train, along with her brother the Duke, ran passengers (mostly tourists) across a finger of land where they would catch another paddlewheeler.

This is the Matthew Watson General Store ... the oldest general store in the Yukon Territory, still in operation.  The tour buses from Skagway stop here, as does the White Pass and Yukon Railroad.  They weren't really happy about picture taking inside, but I'm sure they would have sold me a pair of moccasins for $130!!

Here's the WP&YRR station with it's stagecoach waiting for passengers.

This train was leaving at 12:30 for Skagway.  It's part of several Land and Sea Tours available through Holland America and other cruise lines.

Across from the train station is the Caribou Hotel.  

It is currently undergoing major reconstruction inside.  Hopefully it will look as it did in its glory days.

This swing bridge was installed to allow train traffic and steam ships.  It would swing one way to allow the ships to pass ... however, it was only used a couple of times before the railroad put the paddle wheelers out of business. 

Always a motorcycle shop in town ... 

There were so many original log cabins ... and I had a "sort of" directory, but in the end can't match any of the houses to the names.  Suffice to say they are amazing ... even if they are listing a little to one side.

One of the premier paddle wheelers was the Tutshi (Too shy).  Here it is in Carcross ... after many years, the locals started a restoration project with EVERYONE joining in.

Unfortunately, when almost complete, it caught fire and burned to the ground.  What a shame!!!  They salvaged what was left and installed this memorial.

Here's the way to Gold City ... most everyone came through this little channel with their supplies, headed to the promised land to get RICH RICH RICH!!!

A lot of people stopped along the way and set up businesses ... another way to get rich ... here's a sourdough bakery.  The apple cake was delicious ... and I'm sure the piece of carrot cake would have been at $5.00 each.  That's $60 a cake!!!  I think I could go into business here.  

This is the Sibilla ... one of the boats used on the lake.

This Catholic Church was built in early 1900 and still has services today.  Notice the supply of logs for heating.

Even the church had to have an outhouse!!  Although it does have electricity, this small outhouse on the right serves the church goers.

Next door to the church was the Pastor's house ... almost bigger than the church!!

This became known as the "Miss Mathews" house ... a teacher who rented it.

A business in front and a home in the back.  All the businesses had false fronts to make them appear larger.  Everyone has some kind of electricity and a birdhouse!!!

By now it's pouring down rain and I'm headed back to the rig.  I'm so excited that tomorrow we will be in Skagway ... I will OFFICIALLY be in ALASKA!!!!

Just some fun info ... Ice Cream $13.99 a half gallon

                                  RV Park   $26.20

                                  Ben and Jerrys  $6.79

                                  Honeydew melon  $12.99

Welcome to the Yukon!!!