On the road day 3: Dawson City
I love traveling! (you may have noticed that theme here 🙂 ) On Tuesday I began a new gig as a tour escort – after many years of having an escort handle the details of my groups’ tours while I drove the motorcoach and talked a lot, now I have a driver while I take care of the details (but I still get to talk a lot!). I was afraid that it might be just too weird, but I’m really enjoying it, at least partly because my driver is both very good, and an Alaskan (a real Alaskan) who I’ve known for a decade or so. A big part of the enjoyment also comes from the fact that I’m working for a New Zealand tour company (and their BC partner) that I’ve worked with for 8 years as a driver – the people I’ve met in that time are the main reason that Cathy and I are going to New Zealand next February.
On Day 1 my group of 18 New Zealanders arrived in Whitehorse on an afternoon flight from Vancouver, and yesterday we made the long trek down to Dawson City. We arrived after 6:00, so today is the real “Explore Dawson” day. The photo below was taken at Dredge #4 this morning while on our goldfields tour.
I never get tired of Dawson, so while the other folks were doing their own thing this afternoon, I saw a film about the last voyage of the sternwheeler Keno, then took a tour of the boat itself. Doing things like that helps me keep some things in perspective. On that last voyage in 1962 (from Whitehorse to Dawson), a young man named Henry Breaden was First Mate on the Keno. Over the past 3 years, that same Henry and I have sent scores of emails back and forth, discussing the Yukon’s boats and rivers. Henry’s mind was sharp, and he was extremely enthusiastic about sharing his love of steamboating. The stories, however, ended a few months ago when he died on Vancouver Island. I never met him in person, but having seen him in the film, I miss his emails a lot right now.
In half an hour I’ll be meeting my Kiwis over at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s Casino – it’s never a long night, but always fun!
About The Author
