Return to Watson Lake and the new transmission

 

And….our week back in Watson Lake

July 12 - 19

In hindsight we should have stayed in Whitehorse and ventured to Dawson City from there but, believing that the transmission for the pickup would be in any day now we took the Kaska shuttle back to Watson Lake on the 12th.  We can now add elk to our list of wildlife seen along the trip as we saw a small group on our 5 hour shuttle ride.  

 

We make the most of it, keeping our spirits up by walking to town, taking showers, doing laundry, grocery run, etc.  All the usual chores.  We play cards and watch downloaded movies.  Sam spreads out in "her" living space and writes out thank you cards for her graduation gifts .  We talk with the mechanic and nail them down a bit more and find out that, yes, as of today, Tuesday, the transmission has shipped from Edmonton.

Evenings find us around or in, our trailer enjoying dinner in our junkyard camp spot.  Tonight’s entertainment is feeding the Red Fox that we have seen a few times.  She is not too timid when the smell of chicken comes off the BBQ.  Carl even gives up the chicken bones to her.  We also get to pet and chat with Buddy, Bronze and Lilly, the mechanic’s dogs.

 

                  

                                 Rec Center Foosball! 

The transmission finally arrives Thursday the 18^th.  Most likely it went from Edmonton, right on through to Whitehorse, and back to Watson Lake on a smaller transport van.  The van disgorges 4 (!) transmissions and we are assured that they will start our install in the morning.  

The install and test drive take all day.  However, we DO have a truck that works.  Given how late it is we decide to spend a night in the Downtown RV Park and take care off all of the normal chores, tank cleaning, taking on water, etc. etc.  Our plan is to leave the park at 0700 tomorrow and head towards Anchorage in the hopes of getting Sam to her Thursday flight home.

While it took much longer than thought, overall, the mechanic shop, James Bailey, did fine.  They also let us park the trailer in their lot so that saved us the cost of an RV park each night and allowed us to take our side trip to Whitehorse and not worry about the trailer.

We look forward to a decent day tomorrow and hope towing the trailer is not too much of a strain on the new transmission as we break it in.  It will be good to have Watson Lake in the rear view mirror!