Adventures with Yogi and Boone

 June 25th

Yukon Ho!  Surprise Friends, Semi-Precious Stones, and 100,000 Signs Later....

well folks, we've officially driven so far north we're wondering if we overshot Santa's house.

Yesterday was one for the books - the kind of travel day that makes you want to high-five the universe and say "Nice work, pal."

We Crossed into the Yukon Territory (cue dramatic northern wilderness music), and if that weren't enough excitement, the road gifted us a real gem - literally and figuratively.

Enter Jade City. Sounds mysterious, right? Like a secret mountaintop temple where monks polish ancient relics? Well...almost.  It's actually a tiny store (with bonus tiny lodging), but what it lacks in zip code real estate it makes up for in sparkle. They mine jade right from the mountains nearby, and the whole place has a charming "we sell mystical green rocks and maybe wisdom" vibe.

So we pull into the parking lot, and BAM - another adventure van parked right in front of us. License plate: VANBERGS.   Bobby squints and goes, "we know those people."

He was right!  (every once in a while he is right)

we march into Jade City, and there they are - The Vanbergs! A couple we met 2 years ago at Valley of Fire near Vegas, back when none of us knew which end of the van was up or how to work a marine toilet. total van newbies then, accidental Yukon reunion now. What are the odds? (seriously, what are the odds? That's some math we'll save for later.)

We laughed, we hugged, we jade-shopped. It was the perfect pit stop surprise.  

From there, we pressed onward to Watson Lake, home of the legendary Sing Post Forest. If you've never heard of it, imagine 100,000+ signs of every shape, language, and font - all stuck in the middle of the Yukon like some glorious global refrigerator door. 

It all stated back in 1942 when a homesick soldier building the Alaska Highway posted a sign pointing toward his hometown, Fast forward 80+ years, and now it's a beautiful mess of humanity. we searched high and low for something from Reno.  No dice. But we did spot Wayzata, Minnesota - the town right next to where Bobby lived to prior to giving his heart to a woman who lives in Reno.  (So...that counts as a cosmic nod.)

We ended the day at a sweet little Canadian campground on the shores of Watson lake. think BLM-style simplicity but with that polite Canadian sparkle. Gorgeous views, chill vibes, and - plot twist -a friendly German coupe also doing the great northern shuffle. We exchanged road tales and hot tips, and odds are good we'll run Ito them again. Vanlife is small world on a long road. 

Next stop: Whitehorse.  Stay tuned for that blog post as we have a nice surprise waiting for us in Whitehorse. 

The Vanbergs!