We got a little bit of an earlier start to our day than usual. It was a partly cloudy this morning, so we were hoping that it wouldn't rain. The first 15 miles of the ride went by really quick. There was an RV campground that we passed that had helicopters flying in and out dropping things off; it looked like they were going to build something. That was kind of fun to watch. We crossed the White River and a little ways after that we met our first cyclist that we've seen in 4 days. His name was Eric and he was from Prince George. He is doing a combination of riding and taking the ferry around Alaska/ Yukon/ BC. We talked with him for a little bit while we were waiting for the Michaels to catch up. About 5 miles further down the road, we met more cyclists! They were sitting in a pull out having some lunch. Their names were Matt and Jimmy. They are from France and are riding from Pruedo Bay, AK to Quebec. We continued on and were starting to get hungry for lunch. Joe and I waited at a rest area part way up a series of climbs in case the Michaels wanted to eat there. We were already at 24 miles, which is more miles than they usually ride before lunch. There was however a campground that we knew of about 6 miles down the road, so we were hoping to go to that for a picnic table and hopefully a shelter in case it started to rain. While we were waiting, we thought we saw a cyclist coming down the hill in our direction, sure enough it was another cyclist. Chris was from Seattle and was riding from Anchorage to South America. We had a lot of fun talking with him, and who knows we may even see him again since he will be riding down the west coast around when we will be. The group decided that we would go to the campground for lunch since it looked like it was going to rain. It was mostly uphill to get there, but when we got there we found a picnic shelter fit with a wood stove and everything. We were glad that we made it there because as we were climbing it started to sprinkle. Joe got some fire wood, which is always cut and ready here in the Yukon campgrounds, and made a fire in the stove to warm it up a little. Joe and I started cooking our Mac and Cheese while we waited for the Michaels. Although it was only a light rain, it continued for a while. The RV-ers we met last night gave us another pack of Peeps to take with us, so we had fun roasting them over the fire after lunch. By the time we got back on the road, the rain had stopped. It was still cloudy for the remainder of the day. As we were riding, Joey made a comment about how the way the trees looked made it seem like we were riding through a Dr. Seuss book. The ride from the campground to Beaver Creek was only bout 12 miles. I thought it was kind of neat that we would be staying there because it is the "Most Westerly Community in Canada." Like usual, our first stop was the visitor center. We were happy to find out that even though there wasn't a full grocery store, there was a little convenience store down the road that would have some of our staples to get us to Tok. We saw a sign that said "swim," and when we asked about it, we found out there was a pool in town! Joe rode over to see what the hours were and how much it would cost. The girl who runs the pool, Kaitlyn, told him that she would keep it open til 8 so that we could all swim. So Michael, Joe and I got to go swimming, and get a shower for only 4 buck each. It was so much fun. The pool was awesome, there were so many toys and fun things for kids to play with. They even had a slide and a rope to swing on. The water was the perfect temperature and it sure did feel great on our muscles. There were a couple local kids swimming, so we had fun playing games in the pool with them. I couldn't get over the fact that there was such a nice pool way out here. What a great treat to get to go swimming and get a shower today! We headed back to the visitor center and sat on the porch to make some rice for dinner. The Michaels wanted to go out to dinner, so once we were done we went over with them. We planned on just getting an order of fries to split just for a treat, but when we got there we found out it was wing night, so we each got 10 wings instead. They were delicious, but quite a bit smaller than the wings back at home. We saw Kaitlyn at the restaurant again; she sat with us for a while and we had a fun time talking. The funny thing is that she looked a lot like Joey's Aunt Kathy. There was a pool table in the room we were eating in (we couldn't eat in the actual "tavern" part because Michael is only 14), and it was free, so we had a fun time with that. By the time we were ready to set up camp it was already close to midnight. We all headed over to the little tiny church in town to set up behind it. The inside of the church was so tiny, there were only 6 short pews! We had another fantastic day. Tomorrow we will be in Alaska; I can hardly believe it. Since we got back from our last bicycle tour to FL, we have been planning to ride to AK, and now we're almost there. It is amazing to me how quickly the time has gone. To most people spending 4 months on a bicycle would seem like an eternity, but it has just gone so fast. I can't believe that we are in the Yukon so close to reaching our goal. Tomorrow will be such an exciting day! Our miles totaled 45.40 miles today.
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