Arctic Adventure

[bamfordsgarage]

Hello all, Day 2, Beaverlodge AB to Fort Nelson BC. 346 miles today, 661 total. Car running fine. No vehicles passed today.

Began the day in my brother-in law's shop adding weatherstripping to the doors — we could really feel the crosswinds yesterday with the outside temperature below freezing. The additional weatherstripping made a big difference and we will do a bit more tomorrow if we can find a warm place to work. The forecast is for -13°F tonight and we'll be plugging the car in before breakfast (free at the Super 8!) to help it get started.

The Alaska Highway runs some 1,500 miles from Dawson Creek, BC to Fairbanks AK. We are spending the night at Fort Nelson BC, roughly 282 miles up from Mile Zero. The highway (a very primitive road at the time) was built in just eight months in 1942 by the US Army in response to the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbour in December 1941, to link the end of the railway in Dawson Creek with the state of Alaska. It has been upgraded extensively over the past 70 years and much of the original alignment is no longer in use. Very interesting history, read more at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alaska_highway

Tomorrow we go a further 319 miles up the Highway to Watson Lake, just above the province of British Columbia in the Yukon Territory.

Photos: Draft-dodger Jerry; Where it all begins; Old roadbed on the right, modern on the left; Its a dirty job, but somebody's got to do it; We didn't see a single one.

Edited March 19, 2012 by bamfordsgarage
Correction

[bamfordsgarage]

And a few photographs from the construction and early days of the Alcan Highway (as the Alaska Highway was originally named).

[RobertKB]

This thread has been great reading already! Looking forward to reading all your future updates and pictures. The old D25 is doing you guys proud! What difference do you notice after the engine rebuild?

Good luck!

Robert

[Andydodge]

From sunny Sth Grafton NSW Australia I give you my warm wishes and regards, you guys really should be rewarded with your stories in print they certainly open my eyes to driving conditions like I have never experienced...........Itrust you have a save & happy trip, will be following along........regards, Andy Douglas

[Alshere59]

Great reading. I drove the Alaska highway 4 years ago heading to Portland, Maine and was wondering how are you doing finding gas stations etc open. As I remember allot of them would close for winter and open in the spring along most of that route. It was trip with a lot of great scenery but we did have to plan our stops carefully. We bought a book called the Milepost that told you where and when gas stations were available that made our planning a lot easier and was considered a must have for the military in Anchorage that made the drive. I would think you have better information living there and will be as as successful as this guy was. One of my favorite pictures from that trip.

Good luck on your adventure and I am looking forward to reading more.

http://milepost.com/

[bamfordsgarage]

...The old D25 is doing you guys proud! What difference do you notice after the engine rebuild?

Hi Robert, thanks for your comments. The engine is definitely improved — no overheating anymore (and we don't expect to on this trip!), livelier, more power, but still not strong enough to pull an overdrive on anything more that flat terrain with the load we're carrying. We are not burning any noticeable oil but leaking more than before from the rear seal (added a half quart at 660 miles). There is only minor smoking from the oil filler tube now. Pre-rebuild, a sudden stop or sharp turn would cause enough commotion with the oil (onto the cylinder walls and up through the rings?) that stinky clouds of oil smoke would erupt from the breather for a few seconds until things settled down.

Young Ed: A correction... we are not going through Juneau, only Skagway. We'll have to shout very loudly to say Howdy to your ancestors.

Missed from the Day 2 report: The 8" of snow they forecast for Saturday night turned out to be less than 2" so we have yet to give our snazzy winter tires a serious test.

The car's been plugged in for just over an hour, should be enough to start easily. Back on line tonight...

[Young Ed]

Young Ed: A correction... we are not going through Juneau, only Skagway. We'll have to shout very loudly to say Howdy to your ancestors.

alright. I've never been but I hear there's some cool stuff to see there for our family history.

[Harold M]

Only today started reading your posts, what a trip, wish I were with you.

[Mark Haymond]

I'm following your posts and knocking on wood for you.

Have fun, guys.

[bamfordsgarage]

Hello all, Day 3, Fort Nelson, BC to Watson Lake, YT. 333 miles today, 994 total. Car still running fine. Passed another semi today.

Temperature this morning was around 0°F and the car started in just four revolutions after being plugged in a little over an hour. We started the day at Kal Tire in Fort Nelson, ostensibly to get our lug nuts re-checked for tightness but mainly in hopes of getting the car indoors to install more weatherstripping and to troubleshoot the non-functioning second heater. The Kal Tire folks were most accommodating, with the stipulation that only their staff were permitted to drive vehicles in and out of the shop. One of their young guys was the resident car nut and was thrilled at the opportunity — apparently we made his week. Turns out he is no stranger to older vehicles and owns a '61 Coupe de Ville, a Datsun 510 and an ice-racing Chevette. The MIA heater suffered only from a glass fuse that looked solid and perfect, but had somehow developed an internal open yesterday. Easy fix.

The original Alaska Highway alignment has been mostly smoothed out by the new road or abandoned and made impassable. However, just north of Fort Nelson there is an eight mile stretch that is still in service as a residential country road and we were pleased to drive that segment and imagine ourselves back in the late '40s driving a late '40s Dodge over that original route.

Bison (buffalo) along the road became more common as we drove north to the point that we didn't bother commenting on them, much less stopping for pictures. Apparently they are quite a hazard at night and a number are killed on the highway each year along with, doubtless, great trauma to the offending vehicles.

Tomorrow we make for Whitehorse, 272 miles to the west, capital of the Yukon Territory and home to 25,000 of the Yukon's 34,000 population (spread over an area 11% larger than California).

Photos, batch one, another batch follows: The Kal Tire Kid having a great morning; Perfect outside, useless inside; Roadside art, possibly dating back to '42 highway construction; Along the original Highway route; Bison by the roadside.

[bamfordsgarage]

Day 3 Photos, batch 2: With gas stations sparse to non-existent, it seemed prudent to fill a jerry can just in case; The one remaining Alaska Highway suspension bridge spans the Liard River; We encountered these two Alaskans trotting down the boardwalk at the Liard River Hot Springs; Ahhh, that's better!; Rather glad we filled up that jerry can this morning...

[Roadkingcoupe]

I particularly like the "NO SNIVELING" sign on the gas pump.

Just not sure exactly what it is refering to?

No complaining of the cold weather?

No complaining of the lack of gas stations?

or the literal meaning of running at the nose?

sniv·el (snvl)

intr.v. sniv·eled or sniv·elled, sniv·el·ing or sniv·el·ling, sniv·els

1. To sniffle.

2. To complain or whine tearfully.

3. To run at the nose.

n.

1. The act of sniffling or sniveling.

2. Nasal mucus.

[Young Ed]

Or no complaining about the high price of fuel?

[Plymouthy Adams]

or as a warning to junkies that you are not permitted to huff the fumes without buying gas while in the process..huffing during a refill is permitted as long as gas is flowing from the hose to the tank..

[TodFitch]

Great adventure so far! Keep up the wonderful narrative and photos for those of us who aren't quite as adventuresome.

Regarding your fuse: I had a problem when I got my car where fuses would fail without blowing the fusible link. The first one I thought was a fluke. But after that it simply became a mystery. I found they'd last longer if I pulled them out and examined them periodically. Even more of a mystery why that would make a difference.

Finally figured out what was happening: The fuse holder clips were riveted on to conductors and everything had corroded over the years. The fuse was also held in a vertical position. Because of the corrosion the clips got hot and melt the solder. Because of the vertical position the solder from the top of the fuse would drop to the bottom and eventually there would be no solder on the top and the fuse would cease to conduct. By pulling out the fuse and examining it periodically I was inadvertently flipping the fuse end for end thus swapping the end the solder was being removed from.

The fix was to clean the connection between the clips that held the fuse and the conductors they were attached to and then solder the connection so that they would always have a good connection.

If you have other fuses that act the same as that first, you might want to check the fuse holder area for something generating heat

[bamfordsgarage]

Or no complaining about the high price of fuel?

We did snivel a bit about the gas price at this place, which at $1.68/litre ($6.35/USgal) was by far the highest we've seen. Of course we were pretty happy to have that jerry can when we coasted to a stop 16 miles from the nearest station.

Tod, that is an interesting story and a clever bit of sleuthing on your part. Here is a picture of the auxiliary-electrics fuse panel mounted on the inner fender just aft of the battery. The alligator clips go to the under hood light, and the live clip is attached to the misbehaving fuse — maybe repeated clipping and unclipping disrupted something in the fuse. The metal package of spare fuses is secured by a small rare-earth magnet.

[greg g]

Thanks for the up date, wonder how those studded knobbies handle in the different conditions you have encountered so far. how is the noise on the bare sections??

[1940plymouth]

On this entire trip, is salt used on the roads like here in the states?

I have enjoyed following your trip, sure do envy both of you

[DutchEdwin]

Nice adventure, just wondering how you keep the windshield clean when driving behind an other car (if there is any) with all the road dirt/salt spraying on.

Over here they have reports on people doing stuff like this (travel in an odd way other then hitting the beach in Florida) on National Geographic Channel. Did you ever consider inviting them? Would make a great program.

Ed.

[greg g]

The car has a vintage correct windshield washer system installed.

[Joe Flanagan]

One thing's for sure, that car is acquiring some really good patina.

[Mark Haymond]

I have also seen corroded fuse clips like those in your car cause heat which melted the fuse rather than blowing it. Someone was smart to check the normal looking fuse with a meter. And if you check with a meter from one end of the fuse to the other, don't lay the fuse on a conductive metal surface with the end caps touching the metal. I have done that and the bad fuse checked "good."

[bamfordsgarage]

Hello All, Day 4, Watson Lake, Yukon to Whitehorse, Yukon, 280 miles today, 1,274 total. Car still running great. Passed no vehicles today.

We are amazed how well this car starts even when cold — after plugging in for less than an hour at -4°F and it took barely 2 revolutions to catch and stay running. Granted, we have an oil pan heater, a battery warmer and a block (actually water hose) heater so it darn well should start, but still it is so nice to not have to worry about it. Warm and hot starts are also near instantaneous.

We started the day in Watson Lake getting groceries, fuel, an outside thermometer for the roof rack, and visiting the world famous "Watson Lake Sign Forest". This remarkable collection of signs from all over the world got started during WW2 when a homesick Army sign painter from Dannville, IL, painted one for himself showing the milage to his home town and nailed it to a tree in the centre of town. Other soldiers followed suit for their own home towns and as highway traffic increased post-war, tourists and other travellers joined the fun and the forest has grown steadily since. The 10,000th sign was put up in 1990 and we added two this morning... one a laminated sign noting our trip north to Tuk and another featuring the Edmonton Antique Car Club.

Photos, Batch 1, all Watson Lake (Batch 2 follows): The Sign Forest covers at least half a city block right along the highway; Jerry asked if maybe our sign should have said Edmonton to Tuktoyaktuk and back?; Free condoms in the IGA rest room; Vintage log automotive service building; Frost shields at work first thing in the morning — all the windows cleared within a half hour.

[bamfordsgarage]

Greg, we find these tires fine on all surfaces except metal bridge decks where the car jitters around by what feels like two or three inches with a random-orbital sander motion. Most disconcerting! We've been through 2" of snow no problem including uphill starts from rest, and are looking forward to a tougher test as we head north. There is a definite hum from the studs that would be annoying to some but no problem to us. I don't think we have lost any studs so far, even through the stud holes were drilled straight as opposed to the factory-moulded holes with an enlarged bottom. I imagine never seeing 60 mph or spinning the tires tends to help them stay put.

'40Plymouth, there is not much salt used on the roads in Alberta but we picked up a lot in British Columbia and the Yukon.

Joe, I really like the road-worn look for this car, and in fact have not even washed it since before we left for Hershey eighteen months and 14,000 miles ago but I might have to break down and visit the wand wash after we get home. It sure would be nice to hit a torrential rainstorm as we approach Edmonton.

Photos, Batch 2: Teslin, Yukon, site of the longest bridge on the Alaska Highway and a couple of very tame moose; Driver's delight — decent oil pressure, full batteries, rock-steady water temp, plenty of fuel and a drive-for-days 1,500 rpm (50 mph); Semi driver has a very bad day; Fabulous vistas, near zero traffic; Supersized paddlewheel on the historic Klondike steamboat in Whitehorse.

Edited March 21, 2012 by bamfordsgarage
speling

[greg g]

Chris I used to ride acoss 2X across the Brooklyn Bridge 4 days a week. The deck of that bridge is a metal grid with imbedded concrete. In the travel leanes the concrete concaves within its polished steel borders. You hit the nail on the head with the orbital sander motion. But I was on an Off road Motocycle with knobby tires. That was not fun, especially in the rain surrounded by taxis and trucks.

Again thanks for the pics.