The first job I got, when I moved to the Yukon in 1984, was bartending at Dezadeash Lodge.
Since it was in Kluane National Park, I was looking forward to seeing lots of wildlife but I had no idea how diverse it would be.
One afternoon, I had hitchhiked to the nearby campground for a swim in the lake and was hitching back to the lodge, when I got picked up by a big old semi truck..
“Don’t mind us if we stink like elephants,” the driver said to me as soon as I climbed up into their dirty old truck and squeezed in between them, “because we have two in the back.”
“Two elephants! No way!” Some people may call me gullible but I like to give everyone the benefit of the doubt because life is not as normal as some might like to think it is. “Are you taking them to a zoo?” I asked.
“Nope, we’re carnies,” the passenger said. “We’re part of a convoy taking a circus to tour Alaska.”
“You’ve come all the way up the Alaska Highway with two elephants?” I asked. “Where did you start?”
“Montana,” he answered, “and it’s been a bitch, too. We had three flat tires today alone! These old rigs are pieces of shit.”
I didn’t believe that they were with a circus because there was no painting emblazoned on their trucks. But, I did believe that they had had a rough trip because it was a super old truck.
“My lodge is just up there,” I said pointing. “Do you need gas or anything?”
“We just got gas in Haines Junction,” the driver said, slowing down.
“How about something to eat or a cold drink?” I asked.
“Beer, would be nice,” the passenger said, laughing. “But we can’t stop. We have to stay with the rest of the trucks in case we break down again.”
“OK, just give me five seconds. I’ll be right back,” I said, as I jumped out. I ran into the lounge and came back with a cold six-pack of Budweiser. “We sell off-sales too,” I told them. “These are on me. Thanks for the lift!”
“Oh wow! You’re an angel!” They said, “You just made our day!”
That night, one of our regular truckers came in for dinner and I was telling him how much fun it had been to ride in a big semi truck, as it was the first time I had.
“You should see my truck,” he said. “It’s got all the bells and whistles. I’m going to Haines early tomorrow morning and will be back before you start work. Do you want to come for a ride?”.
I had never been to Alaska, or one to pass up an adventure, so took him up on his offer. We left early in the morning as we had to meet the ferry to pick up his load. As we pulled into the ferry parking lot, I couldn’t believe my eyes. There were my truckers, outside their semi, hosing down two elephants!
I hopped out and strolled over. “Just had to come see if you were bullshitting me,” I said. We laughed.
I had expected to see lots of bears and wildlife around the lodge, but not elephants!
A few weeks later, my boss went to town for the weekend and told me to give the Llama Lady cabin number one because it was big enough for her to bring her llamas inside. “Okay,” I said, feeling my gullibility being tested again. But, I’d already seen elephants, so why not llamas?
The only road out of Haines goes past Dezadeash Lodge to Haines Junction, where it splits north to Fairbanks or east to Whitehorse. As the ferry traffic started filtering through that night, the customers kept asking if the Llama Lady had arrived yet.
“So she really has lamas?” I’d ask.
“Oh, yes. They’re her pets. She has all four of them in the back of her van.”
“Four lamas in a van?! No way!”
‘Well, it’s a little longer than a regular van, but not much. The Mom and Dad lama sit facing the back and the two young ones sit forward with their head poking over the head rest.”
“This I have to see.” I said.
And I did.
“I don’t know what I’d do without this lodge,” the Lama Lady told me as she led the baby llamas inside the log cabin. I’m a senator and live half the year in Juneau and the other in Anchorage.
[Having] this place to stay, halfway between, is a godsend. I’ll tie the adults outside. I reckon they could put up a decent fight against a bear, but I feel better having the babies safe inside with me.“
“Well, I’ve been working here all summer and still haven’t seen a bear,” I said. “I’ve seen elephants and llamas so far, but still no bears.”
When I finally did get to see a bear, I almost didn’t. I was walking from my little staff cabin to the lodge when a coworker told me to look behind me. A grizzly was standing with his paws on the flower box, looking through the big picture window of my cabin! I had left my camera in the cabin so I couldn’t even get a picture from behind. And since I am so darn unobservant, I had missed my chance to get a terrific photo from inside!
Later that summer, I was just getting ready to close up the bar when five big old semi- trucks pulled up to the fuel bowser. I got a bit nervous as I watched big, tattooed, rough looking truckers climb out and approach the bar.
“Hi!” said the first trucker who walked in. “We just had to stop and introduce all our boys to the angel who gave us cold beer in the middle of nowhere!”
“ Well, hello!” I said. “How are your elephants?”
