Daily Didactic
The bus started a little after 10:00 at the very pleasant Squanga Lake Provincial Campground with no assistance, in spite of the fact that we had picked a clever site at the top of a hill to roll to a start. We gassed up in Teslin and crossed the Teslin "super bridge" to the long and not too exciting road to Watson Lake. About four hours later we gassed up in Watson Lake and unsuccessfully shopped for an extension cord and whisk broom. While we will obviously live without such luxuries, there is nothing like a four hour drive to convince the mind that Watson Lake is the best place to get them. We left no better or worse than when we arrived with a little extra gas and headed the hour or two east to Laird Hot Springs.

If you've followed along before, you know what's coming here. Effusive praise of the mid Alcan natural wonder that is Laird Hot Springs. Three long days on a lonely road can make two hot pools of seriously sulphury smelling water (and no opportunity to shower off after) seem like heaven. We hung out for a while in the lower pool listening to a Fairbanks contingent jabber on about the virtues of never going anywhere unarmed to the amused looks of some Canadians. After internalizing the clear fact that we need to get all the ammo we can before Obama makes it all illegal, we headed up to the upper pool where dipped in solitude for a while. After an hour and half of pruning up, we hit the Laird Hot Spring Lodge for some much appreciated diner food.

We'd been smelling gasoline for some distance from Watson Lake and Brian thought it was probably a result of the Bus's timing being way off due to the elevation climbing we'd been doing. As he was adjusting the timing in Laird's overflow parking after our dip, he noticed a couple of pinhole geysers of gas coming out of the fuel line. He MacGyvered the fuel line up with some duct tape a hose clamp and a zip tie and we continued climbing through Muncho Lake, eventually stopping at Summit Lake Provincial Campground for the evening.

A lovely morning, perched to roll in Squanga Lake		Teslin Lake
The Teslin Super Bridge		Road shot on the way to Watson Lake
Nothing but joy!		We saw a bunch of Bison today
...and a few bears		Ahhh... sulphury goodness
Brian in the upper pool, sans ammo		Upper pool safety precautions
Boardwalk between pools		The lower pool, seriously hot in the foreground
Way funner than it looks		Brian setting the timing, discovering spewing gas
Road skillz		One of many more bison, shedding a layer or two
Cool bridge on the way out of Laird		Pretty
The omnipresent foot shot		Northern Rockies near Muncho Lake
Inserting the most expensive gas of the trip, 5.50 a gallon		Ice on Muncho Lake
The moon over Summit Lake

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