Not everything goes according to plan

Not one of our better days, but it still ended up with a glass of wine, so it wasn't all bad!

The plan was to go for a drive up to Quiet Lake on the old Canol Road. There would not be any internet access up there, so we figured we would pay for internet access at Johnson's Crossing before heading into the boonies.

So we got up at 6:30am and did the five minute drive to Johnson's Crossing, which is a lodge, RV Park, gas station, and restaurant. I figured they probably open at 7:00am, but at that time the door was locked and nobody appeared until just before 8:00am.

So, we didn't get the early start we were hoping for.

Then, I paid $5.00 for excruciatingly slow internet. I know, beggars can't be choosers. But had I known it would be that bad, I wouldn't have paid and put myself through the frustration. It took about two hours to post the blog yesterday, and I already had it written in advance!

Then, to add to my frustration, I had a decent cell signal, but couldn't get the phone to connect. Very frustrating when fancy electronic stuff doesn't work the way it should.

Anyhow, we finally got the blog posted and off we went.

But we didn't get very far.

Too rough for Sherman's liking.

The Canol Road isn't as well known as the Alaska Highway, yet it took up almost as much manpower and money.

The Alaska Highway was a resounding success of American involvement in WWII, but the Canol Road was a financial disaster... so of course it wasn't as widely talked about. The American military built the road and the pipeline at a then ridiculous cost of $135 million dollars. And they pumped a total of 1 million barrels of oil through it before the project was shut down. So, the oil cost $135 per barrel to produce. 

For perspective, the Alaska Highway was the most expensive construction project of the war effort, at $140 millon. The Canol Road was the second most expensive, but very few people are aware of the story.

There are lots of articles written about it... here is a good one if you want to learn more...

https://legionmagazine.com/en/2015/12/clearing-the-canal-road/

Then Senator Harry S. Truman launched a review into the huge waste of public money before he became President.

The equipment used to build the road was all left behind.  

American military equipment on the Canol Road.

It was going to be a 75 km (46 mile) drive on the road to get to Quiet Lake. Sherman could only do between 20 to 30 km/h (12 to 18 mph) bouncing along the road, and it was not fun. I was kind of disappointed that we had to turn around, but it was for the best. Besides, reports say that if it rains, the road becomes mud.

And there were definitely rain clouds in the sky.

We got ourselves turned around and headed back to the main road.

Back on the main road and headed for Whitehorse.

Scenery along the way.

It rained on and off.

Marsh Lake near Whitehorse.

Bridge at the Yukon River.

The Yukon River.

Welcome to Whitehorse!

We headed straight to the Whitehorse public library to use some good free internet. I spent most of the time trying to figure out why my phone was still not connecting to the cellular data. I eventually installed an app that forced it to use a 4G connection only, and bingo! It worked! However, now the calling is listed as "Emergency Calls Only". Good thing we don't often use the phone as a phone. Anyhow, there is obviously something still not right. I even did a factory reset on the phone which didn't fix the problem. This of course took a lot of time, especially reloading the apps that didn't reload as they were supposed to from the backup I made to "the cloud". Arggg!

Very frustrating.

Anyhow, the phone is now connecting and working on data, and that's what I wanted it to do.

Meantime, we had been invited to stay with some people who live here in Whitehorse. Jean and Art have been here for 47 years, but Jean is originally from Cabri, Saskatchewan and she and Art had visited us at the park last summer. They've got a beautiful home here near the golf course, with lots of parking for Sherman. They were headed to friends for the evening, but said we could just pull in and get parked up. They even left an extension cord out, and the wifi password. Thanks guys!

They came home around 9:30pm, but invited us in for a glass of wine. Before we knew it, it was after midnight, so we had a bit of a late night.

Not sure what's on the agenda for today, but I'm sure we'll eventually get into the city and do some exploring.

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