Sunday  July 14        Rest Day 2

      Dawson City (Y)

Bastille Day. Happy occasion to all ye French people and fellow Europeans.

A nice relaxing sleep after the entertainment last night but still up at 7:30 in order to keep the body clock in check and not suffer from social jetlag.

Had a full Gold Miners Buffet over at Belinda’s for breakfast and enjoyed it at my leisure. At that hour the large breakfast hall was packed, all of the elderly profile and part of the many package tours that regularly reside in the Westmark. 

Many of these tours are a side trip from cruises up towards Alaska. Coaches at the ready to move on and luggage lined up for loading.

I enquired last night and discovered that Mass was at 10:30 in St Marys just two blocks further down Fifth (our hotel is on 5th Ave...ohh) and met Fr Jonathan on the way in. 

I was made welcome and he informed me that Fr William Judge (The Saint of Dawson) was of an Irish-American family in Maryland. He was a SJ in Dawson during the Gold Rush and ministered physically and spiritually to all the tough men irrespective of creed or reputation. Sunday Mass there has a regular attendance of 15 but this morning that was doubled. Mass followed my expected American pattern....long on the talking sing part and short on the worship part. But glad that Rest Day fell on a Sunday and a church nearby.Back to the nitty-gritty of the bike ride. 

Bike needed a bit of TLC after the 900+ km on gravel. Now it’s pavement. I didn’t switch to the narrower 28mm tyres but am sticking with the 40mm for the sake of comfort, and they don’t really effect performance to any great degree. This is a 5 day stretch with two Bush camps to Whitehorse. There are some forest fires down that direction so things might change.

In the afternoon,  four of us booked a boat excursion on the Yukon ( and two other Australians). The guide, Tommy Taylor, brought us upstream against a strong current and then gave us a account of Dawson long ago as we drifted down, pointing out such things as Moosehide Village where the locals moved to when the Gold Rush crowd arrived. He brought us to his fish wheel, a practice that came with the Chinese. He didn’t catch anything as we paused there for 15 mins or so even King salmon and Chump salmon are running at this time of year. We spent a while, and had tea, at his log cabin on Dog Island where he was reared. On the return trip upstream to Dawson he pointed out and explained such things as the Ships Graveyard, the ferry, resident birds and other methods of fishing like the gill net, the most popular. Two hours well spent.

                   Must have a Wexford connection!

For dinner this evening 5 of us resorted to Katie’s Corner for the pork tenderloin. Not as nice as last night’s steak. Now for an early night and ready for the off tomorrow.

And safe journey to those other good people flying out in the morning. 

Thank God for a lovely day