This is my third time in Watson Lake -- and I am staying at the Air Force Hotel again. I can't say I am very enthusiastic, but it is the best in town. Our German host puts me in the same small room with no furniture and no bathroom at the end of the hall with weak wi-fi -- very authentic 1942 dorm feeling. A time for sleeping, a time for waking, no shoes inside the hotel. The German flag now flies in Watson Lake (but then, so does everyone elses...).

This town is now home to a huge sign collection (originally license plates) that has grown up in a sunken plaza just off the Alaska Highway . Everyone brings a sign of their choosing and sticks it up. Yes, I found Texas, Tupelo, Prairie du Sac and Virginia license plates, and one or two others. Berlin has a large sign close to the title sign facing the Highway. Some how this random collection has a beauty all its own. The size, age and depth of the collection is attractive.   It is clearly a complex and meaningful statement by the international road trip community -- not clear what it is saying tho'.

I had a wonderful GoPro moment this morning. Heading North out of the lodge I came upon a couple of Canada geese taking their morning stroll down the highway, in my lane and going my way. They took off as I approached, and then for some reason, flew at motorcycle height and speed straight down the road in front of me for a hundred yards. I fell in behind them and kept going but felt like I would rise up into the air like Mary Poppins at any moment.

The run up the Cassiar, while still stunning, was cold and rainy. My rear tire (a new brand I am testing) has worn itself down to the bone. I spent half the time worrying it would blow, and wondering where I could get a new one. Happily it didn't, and I found a replacement in Whitehorse, a ways up the road. Just gotta hold for 300 miles now...