The Arnold's are Searching for Serendipity: The Road to Destruction 2013

Readers of this blog will note that we have been over some challenging roads these past 6 weeks. The Top of The World Road was a dirt & gravel monster that often causes thousands of dollars of damage to those who challenge it. Running the full length of The Alaskan Highway earns the party a certificate of accomplishment. Considering all of this, The 224 mile road from Tok, AK to Destruction Bay, YK was a nightmare! The problem was these little orange flags, they are used to bring attention to pot holes and frost heaves by the highway folks. On this trip there were thousands of them, we could usually see several in our line of sight at any time.

Immediately after leaving the Alaska Border, we went over an unmarked frost heave that seemed to take the trailers wheels off the ground. I stopped before Canadian customs to discover this mess. Several dishes and crockery broken, no real damage. When we arrived at Customs we ‘won’ the lucky lottery and were picked to be inspected. It was not pleasant. We spend the rest of the next 150 miles dodging orange flags, frost heaves and pot holes. Did I mention it rained about 1/2 of the time?

Destruction Bay is a very small community located on the sooth shore of Kiuane Lake in the Yukon Territory. The lake is about 60 miles long and used as a frozen road for winter truck convoys. Route 1 {AKA The Alaskan Highway} skirts the southern shore. During the hurried construction on that road in 1942, this site was a massive supply dump and tent city for workers. A freak 100 mile an hoour wind storm destroyed that base. Hence the name Destruction Bay.

.The owner of The Destruction Bay Lodge & RV Park built this lodge 40 years ago in this beautiful but difficult location. They are true ‘Sourdoughs’ , living here year round. They use 15 cords of wood to heat their small home! The permafrost is 600’ feet thick and the ground is constantly moving, the building is often 1 foot out of square after spring melt in Mid-May!

They entertained us with a great acoustical guitarist, who came up from White Horse, 160 miles. The owner plays drums, as well as cooking the nice beef dinner with all the fixings. The major revenue source here in the 30+ caravans that arrive every year. At $40/rig X 20 + Bar Service of about $300. he is not getting rich.

The show was over at 9:00, most folks drifted away as it had been a tiring day. One of the few non convoy members was Brother William Richardson from the U.N.G.L. of England. He was over here on holiday and visiting the owner. I presented him with one of M.W.G.M. Laplace’s pins, he was pleased to the point that he produced a bottle of fine scotch which was enjoyed by all. The music resumed until 12:00 when we all carefully returned to our rigs.