7/20/17 Nix the Nahanni road. We have traveled 250 miles over the Campbell Highway road over the last two days. Spoilt by the first 90 miles of pavement the last, 160 miles (with a 110 to go) is a crawl of 30 mph mostly due to the heavy rains and huge potholes, mud, and washboard. If you have traveled the roads of the North Maine Wood’s logging roads it is similar. One’s eyes are glued to the 100 feet in front and weaving to avoid the slam of the  suspension bottoming out, praying the tires didn’t pop. We are at an incredibly beautiful Frances Lake. We did not arrive until 8 PM but thankfully it won’t get dusk until midnight. We set up and had smoked salmon, Irish butter, rye bread and a beer. Can’t beat that. These lakes are monsters. This one has two arms each very wide and 20 miles long. The water is ice cold and filled with huge fish. Probably will too, until more people can access it. Canadians seem to love and feel at ease in the wild areas. They take great pride and support the Parks and camp grounds. The out houses are spotless and with paper, bear trash cans as well as free marked firewood. All of this for $8 US ($12 Canadian). Wow. 

Keep thinking of the Top of the Word Highway (again that word “highway”…. ignore what you think… it is a road…. not even necessarily paved). The road climbs through scenery that is beyond descriptions….mountains that go on forever in 360º. If I had been transported here and opened my eyes I would think I was in heaven.

We have lived in the camper 4 weeks and 1 week visiting sleeping in real beds. The camper has become home, slowly cluttered in a way that works. We have our system for arrival and departure down and it only takes minutes. Great in the rain. Everything still works. The mud from the roads is thick on the truck and the camper back is nuts….usually have to hit it with a pale of water to get to the door. I took a couple shots of the inside of the camper that I will post too for those unfamiliar with it…. remember when looking at it imagining just standing in the back of a small pickup truck bed. It seems bigger in than out. Lots of tweaks to make it work efficiently absolutely like a cabin on a boat. A place for everything and everything in its place.

From here we hope to arrive at Watson Lake perhaps tomorrow or the next…. The wild backroads are nearly done and we enter the civilized wilderness of paved roads and restaurants and fuel not at a tank in the woods with a card slot. It will seem pretty smooth sailing. We will cut over from the southern Yukon into British Columbia, south on the Cassiar Highway and I was thrilled to be reminded that we will be near the sea again at Stewart and Hyder (AK)… so there is the hope that I may procure more smoked Halibut. BC has been having a terrible forest fire year. Hoping that the smoke is not too thick to see (or breathe). 

On the WTW site there is a topic called “Mods for under $5” … This is where the ‘Maguivers’  report their solutions to tight quarters living; ways to use space by adding a bit of this and that. Time is spent irritated at a problem until the ‘light bulb’ goes off and eureka moment arrives. I love the Isotherm fridge I replaced the top opening Engel fridge with. Very nice access to all food and additional counter space opened up. The big “PITA” is that if the fridge is not tightly stuffed with things the contents gets scrambled when driving the back road washboard and pothole express. The shelf rack front snapped  off from the impacts. The wire rack shelf is not that stiff that a bit of weight creates a sag. A proper sized slides in tupperware box and a vertical fence in the front has to be finagled as well a a number of other tweaks upon returning home to be ready for the next trip.