Dawson City was the wild west of the Yukon back in the days of the gold rush that started in 1868. They used to operate by “minor’s law,” which meant you watch out for your fellow man. If someone needed supplies and another had them to lend, they would be provided. Survival is so tough that people needed each other to make it through. However, if a man veered from this practice–say, he held another at gunpoint and stole his gold mined for the day–minor’s law would entail the rest of the men hanging him in a tree for others’ to witness. Justice carried out swiftly and used as a deterrent.
Today, Dawson’s City is as charming as a Dickens’ Christmas Village, complete with sparkly snow. We made it in time for the ice racing on the Yukon River and Josh was able to complete the course twice. The ice started cracking halfway through. That sounds alarming but no one seemed to fuss about it, so our vehicles kept headed out on the track, until it was dark.
The hotel we stayed at is called the Downtown Hotel and has a restaurant named after Jack London, who lived up here for a year. His stay inspired White Fang and Call of the Wild, the latter which was remade into another film currently in theaters now. The bar at the hotel is famous for something called a “Sourtoe” shot. It’s a shot of whiskey, usually Yukon Jack, with a human toe in it. The original toe came from a rum runner in the 1920s. Currently, a waitress told us, there are two toes. One of the donors is still alive. If you swallow the toe, they charge you $2500 US. I asked the bartender to see it, but he only brings it out at certain times of the night when people order. We were exhausted, and quite frankly, I have seen plenty of dead toes in my life.
We met the boys driving the other Xterra last night, #21 Matt and Trevor, after dinner last night and Josh got to give his dopamine-neurotransmitter lecture to a captive audience. I, meanwhile I had a conversation with a new girlfriend, Jennifer, a naturally pretty blond from Washington who was married right out of college to a childhood friend and has three young boys ages 8, 5 and 3 all named after men in her and her husbands’ families, a Swiss tradition, she told me. She’s traveling with her father Marcus, in a Mercedes. Their first Alcan was the 2018 summer rally. This is their first time in the winter.
Jennifer is one of those people who looks you directly in the eye when she speaks. Her blue eyes glow with kindness and squint slightly to convey understanding. Neither of us drink, for different reasons, and while we spoke, we had to keep ducking and moved our seats around to avoid being impaled by the pool sticks being used behind us. We spoke about our past life challenges, our growth and the gifts that life imparts—compassion and strength. She is deeply insightful and I think we both appreciated that instant connection of spirits. We laughed at ourselves and smiled, and when it got late, rejoined the boys’ conversation. Matt certainly had his fill of neuroscience thanks to Josh.
Josh and I headed out into the -20 degree cold, stomping down the street in our snow boots. Dawson City has dirt street that are coated thickly in snow. There was a restaurant called “Klondike Kate’s” that was closed for the winter, many businesses only operate during the summer up here. Mostly it’s charming hotels and a small casino called Diamond Tooth Gerties. With the correct gear, it does not feel cold anywhere but our noses and I think we would have walked for hours around town, if we didn’t have to wake up so early.
I want to come back here someday and stay a weekend. If I was 22, I could see myself staying the summer in Dawson City and waiting tables, spending my spare time riding snow mobiles and ice skating on the river. I did note that there is a tiny airport and we saw an AirNorth plane disembark. You never do know…
The Misadventures of Kate & Josh 