Work in Watson Lake

So,
It’s been six weeks sins I wrote the last chapter about all my adventures and it’s finally time to compose another part. It’s not that I’ve been lazy, that so much time has lapsed, or that life was too full with excitement, or that I could not find a computer in the wild bush, it’s just because for the last six weeks I’ve had a job, just like so many others. And don’t we all know that life kinda slows down when you get into a rhythm.

Chatting away with Jean & Scott after the bonfire with Halloween, I told them that very soon I would start looking for work in BC or Alberta, I was not sure yet what direction I would go. Hoping only that I would find a town where I could stay somewhere without paying rent, one of the biggest expenses in life. Without dual decision Jean answered that I could look for work here, in Watson Lake, and that I could stay with them for a while. ……. I was truly perplexed. Many times have I been invited to stay the night, to hang out for a while, but not for a month and a half! And Jean & Scott knew perfectly well for how long it was gonna be, I had told them my plans. They were serious; what an offer, quickly I took it with both hands. The next day I was looking for work.

You may wonder if settling down for a little while is strange after moving every day for more then one and a half year. Well, of course this is different for everyone, but in my case it’s not strange at all. With a very simple explanation: I live from day to day, not looking much further than the headlights of my car, so whatever comes on my path is a surprise and will be dealt with right then. I know what my eventual goal is, but I don’t need to see the whole road how to get there, just the next day coming is more than enough to keep me busy and occupied. It makes for a simple, surprise-full and easy living, the way I like it.

Watson Lake:
The Kaska-Dene Indians had habituated this area for centuries when Frank Watson (then 15 years) and his father came to this area. In 1898 they were the first whites and had made the trip fighting their way through unmapped country. They claimed parts of the land to prospect for gold and when his dad returned to California in 1900, Frank decided to stay behind to work their claims. He later married an attractive native girl and lived his days peacefully trapping and prospecting.

The big lake where he build his house was named Watson Lake by the Indians and it held its name when construction began on the military airport in 1941 and the Alaska Highway, both completed in 1942.
First only starting as a supply and accommodation centre for all these constructions, the town of Watson Lake now is the key transportation, communication and distribution centre for mining and logging activities in southern Yukon, northern B.C., and a portion of the N.W.T. 70% of the 1,500 residents are still native.
Tourists stop here to fuel up and wander around the signpost forest. This colorful park right off the Alaska Highway was started by a homesick US soldier working on the Alaska Hwy in 1942. He nailed the first signpost of ‘Danville, Illinois’. Now more then 50.000 others from all over the world joint his in this playful garden.

Well, within two days I was working at the local patrol station named ‘Tags’. I must admit that it sounds cheesy at first, but it turned out to be the best job ever for a little town like this. Within days I was know all over town as ‘the new girl from Holland’ and I got to know many locals by name and character.

Standing behind the till I had to control the pumps, the Keno machine, sell tobacco, liquor and all groceries in our little store and chat the day away.

In the back we have a fast food area as well, and many came here and played Keno for hours because we had the only Keno-TV in town (a TV which shows Keno number).
Besides Tags I did some cleaning jobs, but although there were a lot of people asking for a cleaning lady at first, none of them responded and after three weeks I heard none of it anymore. I was lucky with Sandra and Fred who were moving from here to Dease Lake and appreciated my help for many mornings.
On arrival the temperature was not too bad, maybe -10C, there was already snow everywhere, and so I’ve never seen this towns bare ground. The only uncovered earth has been the highway. By now the temperature has been as low as -42C and quit a lot more snow has fallen. Not as much as last year, maybe half a meter in two three day fronts, but every time it does fall this world changes into a wondrous world of white. The roads are kept clean, and only during and just after the snowfall it’s a little slippery on the road. And the ten days of -27C were an awesome experience. At that point my Silver Spirit was waiting for a boost (I had not driven her for a few days and the cold had drained her battery) and so I was walking everywhere. Fun to see the frosts build on your scarf, toque and eyelashes in only ten minutes walking. I knitted another scarf and my gloves never left my hands while I was outside.

My hosts, or maybe I should say my housemates, were fervent enjoyers of a beer at night, a cigarette in time, feel-good food and the sound of the TV, so that’s how many nights were dwelled away.
Scott , a carpenter by trade, works for the town at the moment, fixing, checking and driving around, while Jean is an enthusiastic teacher at the Watson Lake Secondary School. I came with her for one day and sat in on two of her classes. She teaches Math and chemistry to 15/17 year olds. She has a hard time sometimes, kids that have no interest, bad home situations and lack of respect, but she still puts in all her afford to give them the best, truly dedicated.

Scott took me around to see some buildings and sight in and around town in the first week, and through them I got to know most of the people that got me work or became friends.
Christen & Emily is one example. Both 27 and the proud parents of a 15 month toddler and a new born baby. Christen likes to hunt, just like Scott, and so many nights we ate Moose or Caribou: steaks, beef or jerky snacks. Like many they bake their own bread (the super marked is ridiculously expensive, no competition) and I went over one day to see the process and meet their babies, what a feast for a bread lover like me.

Not long after I settled into Watson Lake my future life started to unfold.
It became clear that celebrating Christmas in Holland with my family and in Paris with Zeph and his family was sounding way too good. Besides that, being with Zeph for longer then a few weeks is starting to be necessary for building a real relationship. My desire to tell him how my day was, to hear what his plans for tomorrow are and to discuss what we will undertake the next morning is starting to get stronger with every trip we do. It feels like I’ve walked into some ones life that is compatible with my day to day spirit, with the never ending fantasies and dreams about discovering more. Not only that, when we talk about all those plans I feel like I’m growing and that life becomes richer. It’s starting to become clear to me that exploring together can be just as fulfilling as achieving that goal alone, in some cases it might even be better.


So I booked a fight to Paris just before the festivities in December and started to plan to sell my beloved Silver Spirit.

Now this is terrible, it feels like I’m betraying her. She’s been so fantastic to me, never com-plained, never broke down and she kept me safe and warm. She stored all my belongings and made me feel comfortable. She kept me from the rain and listened to all my stories and bad singing. She is my companion on the road, my love and my home. It made me feel so sad to unpack all her spaces, to take the kitchen out, put all the boxes away, unmake my bed and pop the benches up for the first time. No more swaying souvenirs, no more sliding rocks on the dashboard, no more photos on the sunviser. She is bare, she looks different, but she still drives the same.
It took me a lot of asking around and talking at Tags, but finally I found her new owner, let’s hope he will give her just as much heart as what she deserves. Together we drove ……km in


My sled saw snow for the first time; I took him to the ski hill and sledded all the way down, what a feast. The snow was too powdery to make a snowman tough.

After the ten days of extreme cold I was able to walk over the lake and make tracks beside the wolf, caribou and rabbit tracks that had more courage then me days earlier.

Scott went wolf hunting one morning, nothing extreme, just an early drive up and down the highway with a thermos of tea, the only thing he shot at were some ptarmigans, little birds that look like chickens but are very well hidden in the white world with their white feathers.
We did see about 25 Caribou though, that was cool.

Also part of our little ‘family’ were the four dogs: Deputy, Buddy, Chester and Joe, quit often an nuances with their bark and playful chewing and jumping, but more often a cheerful bunch that kept everyone watching and moving to open the door. Joe had the particular habit of sitting on anything, like here on top of Duncan.

I think the best day was spend with a trip to Liard Hot Springs. Situated 205km South-East down the Alaska Highway, it took me more then three hours to drive there, but it was worth it every second. Under way I came across the famous herd of Buffalo everyone had been telling me about, free roaming through the deep snow, looking for anything to eat. Because of the cold, you need to warm up your car before you drive it, ten minutes or so. And when you’re inside the store or visiting a friend it’s better to leave the car running altogether. It’s too hard on the motor to start them over and over again. It’s one of the most difficult things for me to get used to, it feels so bad.

But, knowing better, I forced myself to let the SS humming when I wondered into dreamland for three hours. O my god! What a stunning picture it was that this spring created. There are just no words to describe the crystallized steam, the big fluffy snow accumulations dangling from the trees and the ice pegs hanging of the sides of the pool.

It was all natural with a boardwalk for easy access. I’ve been to many places, but this creation is definably in my top five of most magical places I’ve ever been allowed to marvel upon. Three hours it captured me, all that time I was alone. It was -27C so getting undressed and two hour later dressed again was a thrilling five minutes, making it all even more special. The stars came out and the steam rising up tried to touch them. My eyes were filled with thankfulness.

The next evening I was finally treated with the reason I had come here in the first place. Ever sins I had seen them vague in Winnipeg, three years ago, I knew I wanted to go to Alaska to see them better and bigger. And here they were, after letting the whole town know they should call me when they spotted them, doesn’t matter if its 3am, I discovered a green cloud outside my window: The Northern Lights.

The whole NE sky was covered in green flames and ribbons, swaying and shooting up. I had been lucky to whiteness the Northern lights movie in the Tourist Centre in town (it’s closed in the winter, but a class from Whitehorse came down and we could watch too) where a dome screen gives you the feeling you’re right under the sky, so I knew how distinct the shapes and forms can be. This evening it was more blurry and dark green, but still better and bigger than all the other little times before. I could not have had more luck to finally see them a week before I would leave.

The last two weeks of my stay Jean and Scott moved to their new home where they will live for a very long time if not forever. From this place in town: we moved to this, 15 minutes outside of town:

It’s a massive wooden house fueled by a furnace (which uses oil) and a wood stove. So one day we cut quit some trees on the property and dragged them with the snow mobile to the house. My first driving on one of those, awesome! The moving was a lot of fun; luckily they don’t have a lot of ‘stuff’ so it got all done in two days. Scott fenced off the dog kennel and chopped tons of wood with Christen while Jean organized and decorated her new house to perfection in the next two weeks.

The Christmas tree came out and I finally started to feel some x-mas spirit. When I rapped up all the good things out of my car, to give to Jean and Scott in a funny way under the tree, it started to nudge on me even more: ‘One more week before I will wrap presents in Europe for my loved ones.’

During one of my little jobs dog-, house- and motel sitting I told Terri, the mother of the house, that I was gonna hitch hike to Calgary very soon. I had already found two truck drivers at Tags who would go to Edmonton. “Well,” she said “my family and I are driving down to Calgary the 15th and 16th to visit my daughter, if you’d like to take the ride?’ That was just more than perfect! My flight was the 18th, very early in the morning, so this way I had the whole 17th in Calgary with my best friend Warren. Wow, it could not have been better.

Who had thought: living in a cold cold town in the Yukon. The locals will scold at me now, cause it has not even be as cold as it can be here, -45C it will get somewhere in this winter. Not for long though, a week, and it will get back to -35C. It’s amazing how ‘warm’ -18C feels when you’ve been walking though -30C for a week. It was awesome to be here, to see this small town with all it’s nutty people, talking about nothing else then the weather: “Cold enough for you yet?” With the daily customers at Tags for their pack of Export A King Size or bottle of Silent Sam. Or the ladies and a few men who walk back and forth from the TV area to my Keno machine to get their tickets authorized. The locals came to know me and started to bring me TimBits from Whitehorse on their way down (a five hour drive) and one of them brought me home made doughnuts and sandwiches while another one baked traditional bread for me. Sometimes someone would buy me a scratch ticket, or a doughnut from the fast food side. The last day at work I made ‘Oliebollen’ something like a doughnut ball but different. In Holland we eat them with New Years Eve, very traditional. They all loved it.

And without my amazing hosts I would of course not have been here. It’s so fantastic that they opened their door to this wandering ‘hippy’ who turned out not to be one “Cause hippies don’t work.” according to Scott. It’s been a new experience; I’ve whiteness a maybe not so desired lifestyle environment but a booming and blooming marriage between two individuals who have found their opposites in many ways. How unconvinced I was at first, it’s been proven to me that those two are more ying & yang then the meanings of ‘we’re done for the day’ and ‘what else needs to be done’.

Jean & Scott, have fun rebuilding and furnishing your new amazing house. With all Jeans plans it sounds like it’s gonna look like a unique home, good luck with building Scott. Thanks for having weak hearts but standing strong in opinions. I’ve been fortuned with the offer you gave me and could not have been luckier with your resourcefulness. I can’t wait to visit five years from now and see the progress. You guys are sweethearts.

Christmas, my dear parents and brother, my beloved Zeph and all the other future stories, here I come again………