We had a problem that led to the longest day yet

We left early this morning. About an hour down the road, we saw a sign for fresh cinnamon buns and gas at Tetsa River Outfitters. Of course we stopped.  There was a sign on the door: Santa Claus Crossing Alaska with a picture of the sleigh & reindeer. Ray gave the owner a Santa card and we ate some delicious cinnamon buns. The owner wanted to take a picture of Ray with the sign. Santa borrowed one of their red vests to complete the picture. Santa Ray also told the lady that she could do whatever she wanted with the picture. When we were ready to leave, the owner came running outside & gave him the vest and said that she was putting his picture next to the sign on the door.

Here is a list of animals that we saw today: stone sheep, a mom & baby with the ram close by; 2 bear; about a dozen buffalo; and a caribou.

This is the ceiling of a gift store.

 

We saw lots of pretty scenery this morning and stopped for gas at Muncho Lake. When we left, our car made a squeaking sound and Ray thought that it was a brake dragging. We were next to a small air strip so we pulled over there. The left front wheel was hot and you could see grease coming out of the hubcap. The guys pulled off the wheel and saw that the paint on the hub around the outer bearing was burnt white from the heat.It took a while just to get the hub off. The bearing was in small pieces. The inner bearing was stuck to the spindle. The heat had welded the inner race to the spindle. After three hours of cutting, drilling, and hammering, they were able to chip off the race, piece by piece. After reshaping the spindle with a file, they installed new bearings & were back on the road, almost 5 hours of lost time. The good news was that it was a nice day in the 60's and that we had a good place to work on the car. It could have been 40 degrees and raining like it was in Montana. If it had not been for Jim, our tour guide & mechanic and a new Model A friend Ed, from Houston, I don't know what we would have done.
We stopped at a welcome sign for the Yukon sign & met 2 guys from Chicago doing a documentary about a trip 3 guys were making, playing golf all the way to the Arctic Circle. At the Arctic Circle, they were going to spread ashes of a fourth buddy.

Tomorrow we will travel about 270 miles. Our miles today were 320 which puts us over 3,000 miles. We saw lots of unique signs today. I have posted several of them