YUKON HERE I COME!

I am travelling to the Yukon for nine days, and taking a journey with Tom that I took fifteen years ago for the Discovery Channel. Then I had a film crew in tow and was four months pregnant (they didn't know that at the time, but the make up artist looked into my eyes and asked if I was pregnant - you can tell by the eyes) and I had to sign documents to say that it was my responsibility etc.  But Tom benefitted from the adventure in my tummy and now he's going to benefit from it as a teenager.

I am however going to be driving an RV. I have never driven an RV before and I should imagine it's a bit like a tank but with hot and cold running water and better facilities and more space.   Thankfully the roads in the Yukon are wide and open and the scenery is quite simply the most stunning I have ever seen in all my travels. It leaves you breathless.

I remember meeting park rangers, and talking bear encounters with locals who had defended themselves with the use of pepper spray and little dogs (the smaller the better) and met a goldminer who asked if I would be his wife, which was rather sweet if inappropriate.  First Nations who told me Tom's spiritual animal would be an eagle and he would 'fly' in life, which he's certainly done a lot of over the years in our travels.  (I think they meant in other ways too..)  Kayaked through lakes past icebergs, had a bath in an old freezer box looking out at said iceberg lake, all on camera.    And danced with the dancers in the theatre in Dawson City.   Fished in the lakes, hiked the chilkoot trail and encountered and ate moose. Tried to kill a wild salmon with the back of an axe (for TV they like it dramatic if improbable), and managed to give the poor thing concussion.   I eventually did it third take. I still live with the guilt.   Oh yes, and listened to an actor reciting the poems of Robert Service, the bard of the Yukon (though he was Scottish). The actor stood in the wilderness in an outdoor theatre and recited one poem 'The Quitter', which is about never giving up or giving in, something my father use to say to me all the time.  As he'd recently died, it made me very emotional and despite the director's request to have tears on camera - I told him a categorical no.   Think this trip will be emotional too.  Driving the RV is the least of it.