Plymouthy Adams Posted March 21, 2012 Report Posted March 21, 2012 I've crossed a few of these steel decked bridges on my motorcycle as they cross the intercoastal waterway..in wet weather it does not give you a warm fuzzy..I can imagine dirt bike tires..shutter to think if you had to hit the brakes.. Quote
TodFitch Posted March 21, 2012 Report Posted March 21, 2012 I've crossed a few of these steel decked bridges on my motorcycle as they cross the intercoastal waterway..in wet weather it does not give you a warm fuzzy..I can imagine dirt bike tires..shutter to think if you had to hit the brakes.. When I was in my early 20s I was riding my bicycle about as fast as I could in the rain when I came onto one of those steel deck bridges. The bicycle was equipped with very narrow 27" "sew-up" tube/tires with essentially no tread. Hairy enough experience that I tried to stop which transformed it into a hairy experience moving sideways down the bridge at about 20 MPH. Somehow I managed to stop and then get onto the sidewalk and walked the bicycle the rest of the way across. Never liked that type of bridge since then. Finally looked on the map to see the northern most destination of this trip. Most impressive. Quote
Plymouthy Adams Posted March 21, 2012 Report Posted March 21, 2012 sounds like in the day you may have had a Raliegh Grand Sport... Quote
TodFitch Posted March 21, 2012 Report Posted March 21, 2012 sounds like in the day you may have had a Raliegh Grand Sport... Gitane Interclub Quote
Frank Elder Posted March 21, 2012 Report Posted March 21, 2012 I thought gitanes were french smokes........ Quote
Jerry De Jong Posted March 21, 2012 Report Posted March 21, 2012 hey can't you guys tell the difference between a moose and a caribou? from grannydarlene Quote
Joe Flanagan Posted March 22, 2012 Report Posted March 22, 2012 Canadians should be able to tell the difference, shouldn't they? Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted March 22, 2012 Author Report Posted March 22, 2012 hey can't you guys tell the difference between a moose and a caribou? from grannydarlene Jerry probably can. What's funny though is everyone looking at that picture can't tell the difference between a statue and a real live critter. Quote
Jerry De Jong Posted March 22, 2012 Report Posted March 22, 2012 well my guess would be the caribou. how was the driving today Quote
Greenbomb Posted March 22, 2012 Report Posted March 22, 2012 What a great adventure!! Alot of people retire and go on cruises- I like this approach waaayyy better! How's your heater working for ya? Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted March 22, 2012 Author Report Posted March 22, 2012 Hello All, Day 5, Whitehourse, YT to Dawson City YT. 336 miles today, 1,612 total. Car running just fine. I'm on the lobby computer after being unable to log in on the laptop. Sorry, no pictures or story tonight. Tomorrow we head north for Fort McPherson or Inuvik on the all-gravel Depmster highway. If there's internet there, I'll be posting. Question of the day... which of those critters is a statue? Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted March 22, 2012 Author Report Posted March 22, 2012 What a great adventure!! Alot of people retire and go on cruises- I like this approach waaayyy better! How's your heater working for ya? Just fine, thanks. We have two heaters, the factory unit in the usual location, now used primarily for defrost, and an identical second unit from the parts car on the transmission hump. With two 3-speed switches, we essentially have up to six settings for heat. So far we have only used 1, 2, or 3 once the car is warmed up, which takes maybe 15-20 minutes. Quote
Don Coatney Posted March 22, 2012 Report Posted March 22, 2012 Does your car radio work? And if it does are there any radio stations way up there that you can listen to? Quote
wallytoo Posted March 22, 2012 Report Posted March 22, 2012 the moose is a statue. i assume that's a plaque/descriptor just to the left of it down in the snow. Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted March 23, 2012 Author Report Posted March 23, 2012 If Wally and Darlene get together with their answers they win. Don, the radio works reasonably well on pre-sets but not so well on tuning. We have to listen to each other. Our road miles are about 10% talking and 90% reflection/observation/dozing. Here is yesterday'a update... We left Whitehorse at 8:30 AM heading north, only to spy the world's ugliest structure not far out of town. There are some people who just shouldn't be allowed to use hammers. At a gas stop a little further up the road we were approached by a young French Canadian fellow asking about a ride up to Dawson and offering to help with gas money. Turns out this Sam Laporte came to the Yukon to look for work in the mines, hoping to save enough to buy a motorcycle and ride down to South America — a kindred spirit of sorts, and good for him. At the next gas stop we met an acquaintance of his, Debbie the Dog Girl, who was hauling 14 dogs and two dogsleds up to Dawson for the annual Percy Tewolfe Memorial Dog Sled Races, featuring a 100 and 200 mile race every year. She generally competes in the 200 mile run, which is 100 miles out and 100 miles back. There are mandatory two hour and eight hour stops and the actual running time is 20-23 hours depending on conditions. Racers must take carry everything needed on the sled... food and drink for the dogs and musher, camping gear, whatever. Photos Batch 1: Ouch!; Sam the hitchhiker; Sam and Debbie and the team; Another racer's dogs, The Yukon river... navigable for almost 2,500 miles, once home to some 250 steamboats, and draining the third largest area in the Americas after the Amazon and Mississippi. Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted March 23, 2012 Author Report Posted March 23, 2012 Photos Batch 2, Dawson City: Dawson City is a quaint town in north-central Yukon with a fascinating history. Now home to 2,000 folks in the winter and double that in the summer, it was the epicentre of the great Klondike Gold Rush of the late 1890s and boasted a population of some 40,000 souls, making it the largest city west of Chicago and north of Seattle. Many of the boomtown ear buildings survive, some restored and re-purposed, and others left in their natural, decaying state. I happen to like dilapidated old buildings (and cars) and really enjoyed the visit. Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted March 23, 2012 Author Report Posted March 23, 2012 Photos Batch 3: The highway going west out of Dawson crosses the Klondike River by ferry in summer and this ice bridge (capacity 36,000kg) in winter; If we'd obeyed this sign we wouldn't have the next picture; The Klondike River and Dawson City to the left; Common road transport in the North; Around here, the missing persons tend to be prospectors, not young people. Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted March 23, 2012 Author Report Posted March 23, 2012 Hello All, Day 6, Dawson City, Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, 494 miles today, 2,106 total. With a big day of gravel driving today we left an hour before sunrise, all jerry cans full and the temperature around -25°F. Turns out the road is as nice a gravel surface as you could ask for — hard packed and frozen with only a few loose stones here and there. In 20 hours of driving we were passed by three vehicles, met 16 coming the other way and passed one road grader hard at work — we are now averaging one pass per 700 miles. Who-Hoo!! Saw some beautiful scenery today as we crossed the Great Divide three times, including stunning views of pure white landscape near the Yukon/NWT border. Observant readers may note I did not the describe the car as running perfectly once again... 65 miles out of Inuvik and in the middle of the prolonged northern twilight we noticed the generator had stopped charging. Dang! It was too cold to do anything more than check the fan belt and poke around for loose wires, so we decided to hightail it for Inuvik ASAP, conserving as much electricity as possible along the way — No wasting of precious watts on luxuries like heater fans and headlights. On went the parkas and heavy gloves and we both watched the road for hazards, turning on the headlights only for oncoming traffic. Ten miles out it was just too dark for no lights so we ran a single fog light until town when we switched on the head and tail lamps to reach the hotel. As we were unloading our gear, who should come along but Amy and Candice, two pleasant young gals with the Inuvik Fire Department/Paramedics — they were walking through the parking lot and saw the car pull in. One is a friend of the local newspaper editor and suggested we stop in to the office tomorrow and offer our story to the paper. When I asked if they had any suggestions for a warm place to work on the car tomorrow, the other said we should swing by the Fire Hall in the morning and talk to their Chief — chances are he would invite us to park it in the hall and get to work. Here's hoping! I've got the battery charger on it now, and we are running two six-volt batteries in parallel, so starting in the morning will be no problem. We are carrying many tools, a workshop manual, a spare generator and a new voltage regulator, so barring anything really unusual, we hope to be on the road again by noon. Photos: Heading out of Dawson for Inuvik; We needed those jerry cans; Seen at the 370 km gas station — a tourist family drove 90 miles on a flat tire (not wanting to get out of their pickup for fear of wild animals) and pulled into the gas station with this on one end of the rear axle. Everything else wore off on the drive; Looking back on the Yukon as we climbed the Great Divide for the third time, nearing the NWT border; The NWT side of the divide, a beautiful study in white. Breathtaking! Quote
1940plymouth Posted March 23, 2012 Report Posted March 23, 2012 That is some beautiful scenery. I hope you get the charging problem fixed. Good luck on the rest of the trip and thanks for sharing your exploits Quote
wallytoo Posted March 23, 2012 Report Posted March 23, 2012 looks like the ugly structure serves as a climbing wall at a minimum. Quote
bamfordsgarage Posted March 23, 2012 Author Report Posted March 23, 2012 Have you used the winterfront? Yes. Our engine temperature dropped a bit yesterday on the road when the ambient was -28°F and it occurred to me that the front was still open. Closing the front brought the engine temp right back to normal, and, for the first time, above normal during long climbs. We had a long climb in 2nd up from the valley on the second Divide crossing — you can sort of see the valley far below and the winter front in this picture: Quote
Harold M Posted March 23, 2012 Report Posted March 23, 2012 I have a sign in there somewhere. The history in White horse is great.Sure injoy your posts Quote
Alshere59 Posted March 23, 2012 Report Posted March 23, 2012 Did you get your generator sorted out? If not you can stay over for the Jamboree I read about while looking for the local paper. I was trying to see if they had your adventure listed. Join us for the 55th Muskrat Jamboree in Inuvik, Northwest Territories on March 30 – April 2, 2012 http://inuvik.ca/special-events/muskrat-jamboree/ Quote
greg g Posted March 23, 2012 Report Posted March 23, 2012 a visit to the inuvik town offices will score you some inuvik swag. Comemerative pins. Quote
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