Leave it to the Germans to make the bath house into a sauna. A couple of kayakers came out all rosy and smiling and when I asked if the water was still warm, they enthusiastically motioned for me to go off and enjoy. The fire was blazing and the water was hot. Aaah. I love that bath house.

This morning, the fire starter promised he'd make another one tonight. It's a real highlight here - almost makes up for the cold weather. A young traveller from Israel arrived last night just when I'd finished bathing. I told him how wonderful it was and he asked if I was being sarcastic. He'd just spent ten days in a Best Western in Whitehorse and couldn't imagine bathing in a rustic wood cabin. I ran into him this morning and he's a changed man. Well, maybe not quite that dramatic, but he did actually enjoy it.

I took Henk for a ride to the "Top of the World" yesterday. It felt like the top of the world. If you follow that road, you'll cross the Alaska border and eventually arrive at a place called "Chicken." Everyone says "You gotta go to Chicken." But really, I have no desire. What's there? "Oh, about 7 people and a bar where everyone from all over the world and all walks of life congregate." Hmm.

I turned Henk off at the top and we sat in absolute silence looking out at the Yukon River valleys and layers upon layers of rolling mountains and changing weather. A huge black raincloud hovered on the Alaska side, threatening to move east as they all tend to do. A couple of adorable baby foxes peeked out from the ditch. I called to them in the voice I use with Willow Green Eyes and one actually started toward me, but turned back when he got within 20 feet. I don't know what I would have done had he come right up to Henk. Pet him? Can you pet foxes? A loud American from southern California travelling with his son the other night said I'm "sooo Orange County." I think that means I'm prissy or something. I didn't want one of his son's smores that he was so proudly distributing around the fire. Too much sugar right before bed, I said. I'd be climbing my tent walls. But then he said I made up for it by doing this trip. "It's not every day you see a woman biker out here by herself." Yeah. Back off.

I went to introduce myself to the sister of my friend Dawn from Christina Lake. Gail and her husband John run the Bonanza Gold RV park and Motel. I was planning on leaving in the morning and heading for warmer climes, but they're insisting I stay here in a warm room with "a real bath" for a couple of days. John is a professional gambler and promises that tomorrow night at Diamond Tooth Gertie's there'll be some good action. Maybe I'll pick up some pointers. Maybe I'll make a fortune. Maybe, in typical gold rush fashion, I'll make a fortune, then lose everything. Those guys risked and spent and went wild with adventures and made fortunes and lost it all, and at the end of their lives, when someone asked if they'd do it all again, ten out of ten said in a heartbeat.