Something strange and kind of funny happened here over the past few days...

[Xaios]

Gather round kids, time for another episode of "Tales from the Yukon" with uncle X...

So, as you all know (or at least you should know, after my opener there), I live in the Yukon. The true north or North America.

There are basically four routes in and out of the Yukon by road. First, there's the Alaska Highway, which enters the Yukon from the southeast and the west. It's the main artery in and out, bringing traffic from the south as well as the main part of Alaska going towards Anchorage. Then, there's the South Klondike highway. It's actually not a very long road, it's only about a 2 hour drive from Whitehorse to Skagway, Alaska, where there's a part. Finally, there's the "Top of the World Highway," a road which runs from Dawson City (about 5 hours north of Whitehorse) to Fairbanks, Alaska. Bear in mind that it's usually faster to get to Fairbanks taking the Alaska Highway, but it is another option.

On Thursday last week, the entire territory got hit with huge rainstorms, all at once. 3 of the 4 routes from Whitehorse to the outside world got washed out, and the only remaining route was the Top of the World Highway (which, for all intents and purposes, is a highway in name only). The news was reporting that the roads could be closed a few days.

The last time I had gotten groceries was the 1st. Yesterday, I was started to run out of milk and cereal, so I made a trip to the grocery store to buy someone.

I walked in, and I couldn't believe what I saw.

Dairy, produce, meat, baking... it had been PICKED CLEAN. About the only produce left on the shelves were things like parsnips and ginger roots. The dry goods were going fast as well.

I asked a few people what on earth had happened. Apparently when the news first broke of the washouts, people just went berserk and descended on the place like a swarm of bees. People were going crazy, doing things like buying six 4 liter jugs of milk at a time, like they were preparing for Y2K or something. People had even started to go after raw materials like flour and things like that, and stocking up on non-perishable goods and canned food. The soup and pasta aisles looked like it they'd been hit by a tornado, and the aisle with things like pop and chips was just TOTALLY bare.

The road opened again early this morning in limited capacity and the trucks with things like gas and food got priority going through the roadblocks. By lunch time I was able to get gas with no muss, no fuss, and I just got back from the grocery store a few minutes ago, having replenished my milk supply.

It was just incredible to see, though. At the first sign of trouble like a road being closed, people were practically getting ready for the end times.

I just couldn't believe it.

[The Reverend]

That reminds me of a few years when a hurricane came through. It was the year after Hurricane Katrina, so everyone was panicking. The Walmarts were empty of pretty much anything you could think of, and the highways going north were backed up literally for miles.

Then the hurricane came through, and it didn't even take out the power.

[Stealthdjentstic]

Cool story Yvon. Come back to civilization?

[highlordmugfug]

Both of your stories should end with:

And Walmart laughed all the way to the bank.

[Xaios]

Originally Posted by Stealthdjentstic

Cool story Yvon. Come back to civilization?

Well, I'm in Calgary in 9 days. That count?

[Stealthdjentstic]

[MFB]

I'm not surprised at all really, I mean from what you've said about the Yukon coupled with past tales of it from schooling it sounds like when shit like that hits it can be severe and the panic is somewhat ...acceptable? I mean, it IS terribly far north with as you've said FOUR access roads into town and so on and so forth about it's condition, so imagine all that and then the possibility of how often goods come in. But suddenly the good CAN'T come in because the roads aren't accessible. That means whatever you have at the moment + whatever you can grab at the store against everyone else thinking the same thing HAS to last until it clears up which is uncertain. Hell, I worked retail for 5 years and we had store in Hawaii and Alaska, and shit got shipped to them I think once a WEEK and its just a big ass ....ing shipment, but that's it. Once that store was cleaned out of it's stuff like batteries, milk, water, etc... the next people were going to be furious despite us telling them there's nothing we could do now and it's because of the same equation mentioned before.

[Xaios]

Originally Posted by MFB

I'm not surprised at all really, I mean from what you've said about the Yukon coupled with past tales of it from schooling it sounds like when shit like that hits it can be severe and the panic is somewhat ...acceptable? I mean, it IS terribly far north with as you've said FOUR access roads into town and so on and so forth about it's condition, so imagine all that and then the possibility of how often goods come in. But suddenly the good CAN'T come in because the roads aren't accessible. That means whatever you have at the moment + whatever you can grab at the store against everyone else thinking the same thing HAS to last until it clears up which is uncertain. Hell, I worked retail for 5 years and we had store in Hawaii and Alaska, and shit got shipped to them I think once a WEEK and its just a big ass ....ing shipment, but that's it. Once that store was cleaned out of it's stuff like batteries, milk, water, etc... the next people were going to be furious despite us telling them there's nothing we could do now and it's because of the same equation mentioned before.

See, mid-winter I could rationalize it, but it's summer. Also, we have a nice big airport, so if need be, supplies could be loaded on a plane and delivered by air. In fact, apparently a Hercules jet did come in just last night, from what I've read.

But in this case, it didn't even take 24 hours before people started running around like the apocalypse was nigh.

[ilyti]

I'm sure everyone in the Yukon knows about this: 72hour Canada

But also..


And then, just get a big freezer and store meat in there. Or just go out and shoot a polar bear for meat.

[Xaios]

Originally Posted by ilyti

I'm sure everyone in the Yukon knows about this: 72hour Canada.

Not at all.

I'm not from the Yukon originally, and it's been funny to watch the attitudes of some people versus what they're actually capable of. There are a lot of people around here who talk like they could live off the land with only a knife and a piece of string, but the reality is most people nowadays would be completely lost without grocery stores and gasoline.

Originally Posted by ilyti

Or just go out and shoot a polar bear for meat.

Heh, the only place in the Yukon that has polar bears is the very northern coast, and there aren't any people living there, at least in the Yukon.

[Imbrium998]

This is how New England reacts when the weather reports come out with a hint of snow in our area. As bizarre as it is, people run to stores and buy mild and break and anything they can get their hands on when a storm is on the way. Back in 1978 we had a blizzard that shut life down for about a week+ I am sure that its part of life for you in the winters, but people around here just are not mentally adjusted for going without that stuff for longer than a day. What you just got is a normal for Mass.
Enjoy your washout, and I hope you stay well fed somehow.

[Xaios]

Originally Posted by Imbrium998

This is how New England reacts when the weather reports come out with a hint of snow in our area. As bizarre as it is, people run to stores and buy mild and break and anything they can get their hands on when a storm is on the way. Back in 1978 we had a blizzard that shut life down for about a week+ I am sure that its part of life for you in the winters, but people around here just are not mentally adjusted for going without that stuff for longer than a day. What you just got is a normal for Mass.
Enjoy your washout, and I hope you stay well fed somehow.

Mild and break, eh? Sounds tasty.

And yeah, no one's in danger of starving around here. Heck, we could have gone another week and it would have been fine.

[Stealthdjentstic]

Thats hilarious

[Imbrium998]

Originally Posted by Xaios

Mild and break, eh? Sounds tasty.

And yeah, no one's in danger of starving around here. Heck, we could have gone another week and it would have been fine.

Haha keyboard fail. I meant milk and bread.

[soliloquy]

yeah, something similar happens in my neighborhood anything anything major happens.

earth was hit by a major solar storm a few months ago. the news predicted it a while back, and said that its nothing to worry about, just enjoy the northern lights. people panicked, bringing back qubec 1998 all over again (for those who dont know, qubec got hit in 1998 by a solar flare that knocked a huge part of the province into the dark ages for a few days). so all our tin foods were sold out and so were most of our produce and meats.

then last winter, the news predicted a crazy winter storm, and all our bakery and produce and tin foods disappeared...

and remember how our world was supposed to end last year? yup, same thing

mississauga is a strange city to be in