We woke up around 9 and got our camp all packed up. Joe was done earlier than everyone else, so he had fun throwing rocks off the cliff down to the lake below. We were on the road by a little after 10 and were even able to pick a couple strawberries on the way out to the road from our camp spot. The road continued to be pretty flat since we were right next to the lake, and we had a tail wind! My morning started off great too because I found a small Yukon trailer license plate. Even though it doesn't have the guy gold panning on it, I couldn't have been happier because I thought for sure that I wasn't going to find one because so few people live in the YT. Joey got a flat early on in the ride so we had to stop and fix that. We met a cyclist who used to live in Hawaii, but recently moved to Fairbanks. He is riding from there to Peru. A little ways down the road Michael was having problems with his seat, so he and Papa Mike worked on fixing that. They insisted that we keep riding since they said it would take a while. They also said that that we could start making our lunch while we waited for them since they were just going to have tortillas and pb&j and we were going to have rice. Just before we crossed the Yukon River, I saw a bald eagle! We had a couple big hills to do right after that. There was an RV campground that let us use a picnic table for lunch. I made a little sign so the Michaels' would know where to turn to find us. It actually worked out really well. They got there just as our rice was ready and we could all eat together. From there, we only had about 14 miles left to get into Whitehorse. The miles went by pretty quick because there were a lot of signs and things to get us excited about getting close to the city. Of course, the traffic picked up quite a bit too. Going down into the city center we had a nice 2 mile downhill (which we will have to climb back up on the way out). Our first stop was the visitor center where we got a little information on the city and enjoyed a nice 15 minute video on the Yukon. From there, we went to McDonald's (the only one in the Yukon!). We were all excited to go through the drive through, but somehow it didn't work (I don't think that we were able to trigger it like a car does). We met another guy who has been touring when we got to the door. He is from Austria and started his tour in Fairbanks and ended it here in Whitehorse. We talked with him for a while and he sat with us inside for a while. We all used the internet for a while and enjoyed some snacks. I got a few french fries and Joey, like always got the $1 for any size soft drink and filled it up about 10 times. Afterwards, all 4 of us got an ice cream cone off the dollar menu (except in the Yukon, they weren't a dollar, but $1.77, nothing is cheap up here). It was such a great treat! When Joe checked his email, he found out the bike shop in MT wasn't able to mail his warranty wheel because they needed some kind of station number since it was general delivery. We didn't have any idea what that was and now it was too late to get it mailed to somewhere close anyway (it was supposed to be mailed to Haines Junction). Joe was at a loss and figured his only hope at this point would be to see if a bike shop here in Whitehorse would have a wheel that would work. We decided to stop at the grocery store to pick up some things for dinner. Right when we got there another touring cyclist arrived. To our amazement he was from Buffalo (Depew), NY! He started on the west coast somewhere and rode up to AK (he might have taken a ferry up from Seattle or Vancouver) and from here was riding to Florida. He was full of life and pretty crazy. We had a lot of fun walking around the "Great Canadian Super Store" with him. Once we got all of our groceries for dinner we headed over to our Warm Shower's Host. Unfortunately we knew he wouldn't be home until the 19th, but he said that it was fine if we all camped out in the yard. He gave his roommates a heads up so when they got home they could show us where everything was. It was really easy to find his house because he made a HUGE dome from bicycle wheels; it sure was sweet! His roommates weren't home yet, so we sat at their picnic table and ate our salad and our chicken (we got one of the whole cooked chickens). While we were eating a guy who has been walking/hitchhiking all over the place was walking by. He stopped to look at the wheel dome and so we talked with him for a while. He is originally from Boston, MA, but went to school at RIT in Rochester, NY! After we were all done eating the roommates still weren't home, so Joe and Michael started walking around looking at all of the bikes and wheels all over in the side and back yards. Philippe has some pretty amazing toys, everything from a double tall bicycle, to a rickshaw. The boys rode some of them and were having a blast. We met the neighbor, Richard and started talking to him for a while. He was busy re-modeling his upstairs bathroom, so he was working hard. He offered for us to set up our tents in his yard if we wanted and then even offered for us to sleep in his camper! Since we all wouldn't fit, Papa Mike said for the three of us to sleep in there and said he would just set up his tent. We were so excited that we would get to sleep in there; we didn't have to set up our tent, and it was pretty much like sleeping in a bed! Richard even brought his laptop outside for us to use. A couple of Philippe's roommates got home pretty close to the same time. They showed us around and told us that our bikes would probably be safest in the garage/shop. Richard didn't know his wi-fi password, but somehow Philippe's roommate was able to figure it out, so not only did it help us, but now Richard knows his password! We watched part of an episode of Breaking Bad before we decided it was too late and we probably should just go to bed. It sure does feel good to be in Whitehorse; another great day. We rode 39.39 miles today.
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