Signpost Saturday

Day 38 – Saturday, July 20

We stopped at the first big signpost as we passed into Yukon Territory (YT) at Watson Lake. (The Alaska Highway crosses the BC/Yukon Border about seven times before its final crossing into Alaska!) 
Watson Lake is also known for its “Sign Post Forest”, which is a collection of about 72,000 signs from visitors who have stopped here.  It was started in 1942, by someone working on the construction of the highway.  It was pretty neat to see where all the signs are from.
Our group had a signpost “ceremony” and posted a large wooden sign made by our Wagon Master, and signed by everyone in the group. 
Jim, Spot and I also brought our own sign to post (a Brickyard license plate), and Spot posed with it, along with his new friend Leisel from Austin, Texas, who had a license plate right underneath ours. 
Leisel’s parents, Patrick and Bernadette Vance posed with us by our signs.  We met Patrick and Bernadette on-line through a post on an rv forum, when they were asking about ideas on what to do after the caravan ends. Jim sent a private email, and found we were going to be on the same Alaska trip…it’s been fun to get to know them after emailing back and forth for about 6 months.

There is a small church right outside the entrance to our campground--St. Ann’s Mission.  It looks almost like an old one-room schoolhouse and we were looking forward to Saturday evening mass, but it was cancelled due to construction around the church.
We went to a movie about the Northern Lights tonight presented at the local theatre with a 360 dome screen—interesting, but we probably won’t see the lights because there will be too much daylight at this time of year.
The mosquitos have found us, and seem to have a direct track on us. They are big and mean!  Luckily we prepared with our Deet-laced insect repellent.  We are also trying fabric softener sheets recommended by friends (even Spot is wearing one!)
We thought it would be fun to begin reporting the  wildlife sightings for the Alaska trip, since that’s become a topic of conversation among the caravaners.  So, here is today’s tally: