When we left Watson Lake, a storm was brewing. As we reached the outskirts of town, there was a guy standing by side of the road. Feeling kind of bad for the guy, we pulled over and asked him if he needed a ride. He wanted a trip up to Whitehorse, and we let him. We figured with all the cameras and other equipment, we shouldn’t have too much trouble from him.
For several hours, we talked about everything. Politics, health care, labor, and much more. He said he worked in the road construction industry, and he just hitchhikes his way up to these remote northern towns to find work in the summers. He said that he’s never had to wait more than an hour for a free ride up the Alcan highway.
The only thing that he was probably bummed about, was when we got about ten miles down the road, he asked if we had any weed or beer. I think it would be a safe bet that if you saw an antique vegetable oil powered van driving down a Canadian road, the occupants would likely have weed or beer. But Glenn and I are tee-totallers, so we only could offer him a soda. He was visibly disappointed. That was a long drive for him. Probably should have waited for the next van. LOL.
We drove all through the afternoon to late in the evening with the guy. Eventually the rain subsided, the sun began to set on the horizon. Due to all the forest fires in the Yukon and Alaska from the drought, the skies were exceptionally red.
