Day 41
   
   6/7/01
   Mile 3869
   Teslin Lake, Yukon
   
   Bumper stickers I've seen:
   Eat moose, 12,000 wolves can't be wrong.
   
   There is not a single mosquito in the Yukon.  They all got married and
   raised large families.
   
   It was a cold night, near freezing, and all night long I could hear
   the faint hum from the local power generator.  Most tiny communities have
   no outside power; instead they run diesel generators, and small ones
   at that.  To get an idea how remote the area is that I'm biking through,
   take a look at
  
   http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/image/0011/earthlights_dmsp_big.jpg
 
   It was a typical day: a little rain, a little sun, a lot of hills.
   People have asked me if it's a lonely life.  I tell them it doesn't
   bother me too much while I'm out in the bush.  But when you are around
   numbers of people, you are insulated from them, at a distance while they
   socialize with their group.  For all the friendly people you meet on a
   trip like this, they nonetheless float in and then float out of your life,
   never to be seen again, leaving you in a endless purgatory of sorts.
   
   Teslin lake is a wonderful place for boating, fishing, or just about
   any watersports activity.  After 76 miles I passed through it on the
   way to Johnson Crossing, or so I thought I would.
   
   The lake was exceptionally beautiful as I came into town, and the day
   perfect, especially after I'd gone through so much bad weather.  I
   continued on to the west end of town, past Mukluk Annie's Salmon
   Bake.  Nice lake; I'd shoot a few pix, then move on to get my 100 miles 
   in for the day.
   
   When I went down to the water's edge, I fell in love.  It was
   jaw-droppingly, achingly beautiful.  It reminded me of an 18th-century
   painting of heaven.  The clouds...the fair-weather clouds against the blue
   sky, how they hung in the air while the lake and mountains stretched into
   the distance.  I knew that to hurry past this would be a crime against
   nature, and that I had to stop here for the night.
   
   I sat on the beach for hours, basking in the sun, not caring about
   anything else.  It was one of those immortal moments we are all
   entitled to, but so many of us miss.
   
   "To see a world in a grain of sand,
   and heaven in a flower.
   To hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
   and eternity in an hour."
   
       --William Blake
   
   And so I stayed up to watch the Late-Late Show.
   
   Sunset.

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