Arctic Adventure

[Joe Flanagan]

Maybe someone should suggest that to the management of the mystery hotel where Chris and Jerry spent the night. What if someone who arrived just before Chris and Jerry offed the entire staff and made off with the receipts? That could be the start of a good thriller. They would be unfairly fingered as "The Roof-Rack Killers."

[Eneto-55]

Re: Driving to the Amazon - I'm pretty sure you'd have to do part of that by ocean barge - I don't think there are any roads from Panama to Venezuela. From some place on south into Brazil (Manaus, Amazonas) there is a highway, though I've never been on it. The road from Manaus south to the Trans Amazon (intersects just west of Humaita, Amazonas) is only open part of the year, and doesn't get reopened every year. Heading on East from Humaita the Trans-Amazon will take you all the way to the Atlantic, like at Forteleza, Ceara, or south along the coast a bit at Recife, Pernambuco. I've only been on the short stretch running from the Porto Velho - Manaus highway to Humaita. I suspect that you would need 4 wheel drive to get through there. But it would certainly be a challenging trip, like for instance shipping the car to Lima Peru, then crossing the continent to the Atlantic. A easier trip would be to ship the car by barge to Port Velho, Rondonia (up the Amazon from Belem, Para), then go south through Brazil to Argentina.

(We ocassionally saw dirt bikes w/ US plates in Porto Velho. A British guy stopped over for a year or so once on his way traveling all over North & South America on a bicycle, and another time a couple stopped in on their way south by kyack. They had started someplace in Northern Canada.)

Neto

[BobT-47P15]

Here's a video from the 1940s Plymouth trip to or thru Panama. Pan American Hwy for some part. Some pretty

rough going.

[bamfordsgarage]

Here's a video from the 1940s Plymouth trip to or thru Panama. Pan American Hwy for some part. Some pretty

rough going.

Great video Bob, thanks for posting.

_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _

Hello All, Day 10, Whitehorse, YT to Skagway, AK to Teslin, YT, 276 miles today, 3.389 total. Car running fine after minor hiccups this morning.

The day started off with two unexpected car problems... the emergency brake wouldn’t release (the handle moved freely) and the headlights wouldn’t come on (park and tail lights were fine). I fixed both problems by letting the car idle in place for 10 minutes — I’m pretty sure I understand why, would anyone else like to hazard a guess?

Then it was off to Canadian Tire for the oil change and lube. Their mechanic Jerry professed a love for old Mopars and has been eyeing an all-original 1948 or ’49 Fargo pickup a little ways out of town, but the old codger won’t sell. Yet. I’m sending him a link to the P15-D24 site and encouraging him to join in the fun. I put the engine together last month with a half-dozen rare earth magnets scattered in the pan and a couple epoxied to the drain plug — the ones on the drain plug were nearly void of furry filings. This was only the second oil change for this engine, the first was break-in oil at about 250 miles.

We had a pleasant drive down to Skagway, Alaska over the White Pass between BC and Alaska. The road has only been in place since the late 70s and features some very difficult-to-build sections, steep grades and lots of snow at the summit.

Photos Batch 1: Our newest forum member?; Respectably clean magnetic drain plug; Log skyscraper in Whitehorse, built in the early ‘40s to house Alaska Highway construction workers; The oldest car we’ve seen on the road so far; Approaching the summit of the White Pass.

[bamfordsgarage]

Skagway has a fascinating history... a gold rush boomtown at the turn of the century, isolated and depressed in the early 20th, booming again as a supply route for the Alaska Highway, slow again after WW2 and, since the 1980s, an increasingly-popular cruise ship port-of-call. The cruise season runs May through September and 25 ships are scheduled to make 355 calls carrying a total of 724,042 passengers to this picturesque town with a permanent population of about 900 souls. Daily passenger counts vary from 2,124 to as many as 10,013 (the daily schedule was published this week in the local paper as a planning aid to local businesses). The passengers are expected to part with significant coin during shore time — there are, for example, something like 35 jewellery stores in town.

Many of the original gold-rush era buildings survive, some have been restored, with varying degrees of modernization, some are in original decaying condition and most everything else that has been built downtown since is made to look boomtown.

In contrast to the heavy crush of tourists in summer, Skagway in March is a quiet and sleepy little town — most shops are closed for the winter, the streets could double as bowling alleys, and the locals have plenty of time to visit with the likes of us.

Photos Batch 2: Two delicate flowers of Skagway welcome visitors; The Red Onion bar is an original saloon building that was moved to this location from a few blocks north around 1900. It originally housed a brothel upstairs, now a popular brothel museum; The guys who moved the building plunked it down back-to-front on the new site by mistake. Rather than turn it around they sawed off the front and back walls and switched them around — note the cut line on the original floor by the front door; An actual red light from the gold rush days; Front yard bottle tree.

[bamfordsgarage]

The barn-like building in the first two photos housed the first YMCA in Alaska in 1900 and was later used as a meat market and cold storage. It was listed in the 1914 town records as “abandoned”, and sold in 1921 for $60 in gold. It likely remained vacant until being donated to the National Parks Service in 2008, and is now undergoing stabilization and a complete restoration.

The 3’ narrow gauge White Pass & Yukon Railway runs from Skagway to Whitehorse, and was completed in 1900 after being built through some of the most challenging geography in North America. Railway fortunes ebbed following mine closures in the Yukon and completion of the Skagway—Whitehorse road link in 1979. It is now a very popular summer-only tourist operation. The White Pass was a pioneer with containerized cargo in the shipping industry: from the docks in Vancouver, loaded on the ship Clifford J. Rogers for the journey to Skagway, then onto trains bound for its destination in Whitehorse.

Photos Batch 3: YMCA building today (literally); And in the 1930s; An early WP&YR steamer and freight cars; Steam-driven rotary plow was pushed by two steam engines, served from 1899 to 1964, made 2,580 trips over the line and travelled 181,000 miles; Modern snow plow beside WP&YR freight container.

[Andydodge]

O/k guys.........was it one or two cartons of Fosters?..........lol.........believe me not only you guys but anyone from this forum has a bed, feed & a couple of cold sherberts if ever you get down here..........I'd be honored...........btw did you notice that old blue car dumped in the main street outside the Red Onion? amazing that they left it there.........lol.........great pics & story..........regards, andyd

[1940plymouth]

need to see the photo that was being taken with the old building as a back drop, Please.

Again, thanks for sharing, have a safe trip today, will be looking forward to reading the next post along with the next batch of photos

[Chester Brzostowski]

Chris,

You and Jerry have all the makings for “The Modern Explorer’s Guide to Vintage Car Travel”

Great stories and pictures…, I can’t wait for the movie to come out.

Chet…

[TodFitch]

The day started off with two unexpected car problems... the emergency brake wouldn’t release (the handle moved freely) and the headlights wouldn’t come on (park and tail lights were fine). I fixed both problems by letting the car idle in place for 10 minutes — I’m pretty sure I understand why, would anyone else like to hazard a guess?

Haven't got a clue about the headlights working after idling in place for 10 minutes, but I know on the daily driver cars I've owned since the 1980s that the parking brake cables have a tendency to freeze after the car gets to be a few years old. So when I'm parking in the mountains in winter I make it a point to not set the parking brake. Just leave it in gear and, if necessary, block the wheels.

[greg g]

I would suspect that the hibeam switch might be the culprit in the headlamp situation.

Seems any little bit of krap, corruption or corrosion, can be enough to cause resistance enough to hinder lamp operation. Would guess the extreme cold might also engender some extra resistance till the switch warms up a bit. If you have installed under hood relays for the lamp same theory applies.

[bamfordsgarage]

need to see the photo that was being taken with the old building as a back drop' date=' Please.[/quote']

Hi Bob, I thought that might get your attention. Here is the original photo.

[1940plymouth]

Thanks:):)

[PatS....]

I would suspect that the hibeam switch might be the culprit in the headlamp situation.

Seems any little bit of krap, corruption or corrosion, can be enough to cause resistance enough to hinder lamp operation. Would guess the extreme cold might also engender some extra resistance till the switch warms up a bit. If you have installed under hood relays for the lamp same theory applies.

I agree, in my experience, especially in winter with snowy then wet boots the dimmer switch gets wet and screws up...cover it with a plastic bag under the carpet or rubber mat.

[Jerry De Jong]

delicate flowers, i really doubt that unless you are talking about the sign and not the two guys posing as sunflower centers. have a safe journey today. grannydarlene

[meadowbrook]

Curious, why does every picture say 'lores' in the end?

[Joe Flanagan]

I think it means "low resolution."

[Harold M]

I have been up the Cassier Hwy. in the summer. All day long bear and pretty lakes, services were far between,Good luke Love your story

[bamfordsgarage]

Hello All, Day 11, Teslin YT to Dease Lake BC, 314 miles today, 3,703 total. Car running just fine. Passed two more vehicles today (three actually, but the last one was a semi just getting rolling and he passed us right back a couple miles later) for a trip total of five — three semis and two graders.

About yesterday’s handbrake and headlamp troubles — we had driven a ways in heavy slush just before stopping for the night. The overnight low dipped to 10°F and I figure frozen slush must have bound up the hand brake actuator and, somehow, discombobulated the terminals on the dimmer switch. Idling the car a few minutes created enough warmth to melt the slush and free things up. It wasn’t just the cold — we saw much much colder temperatures this trip. The dimmer switch connections will get a good cleaning next week. I’ve never touched it in my 20 years of ownership, although someone must have monkeyed with it earlier since the high-beam indicator only lights up on low-beam.

MeadowB, Joe is correct about the "lores" — my photos run 2-5 Mb and I crop then shrink the files to less than 200 Kb for posting.

It sure is nice to be back in moderate weather after all that cold up north. We backtracked southbound on the Alaska Highway to near Watson Lake, then cut south on the #37 Cassiar Highway... very pretty country and new territory for us both.

We use three paper maps (and no GPS maps because we are real men) and often find things on one map that are absent from the others. What we found in our large-scale map book was an apparently abandoned road, or town, a few miles off to the west of the highway. We figured it had to be worth a look, and as long as the road was passable would check it out.

Turns out the road is still in use and plowed, and leads to the recently ghosted mining town of Cassiar. Once the site of a thriving asbestos mine, the company housing and many buildings were bull-dozed in the ‘90s and only a few souls still live in the surrounding area. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassiar,_British_Columbia Although asbestos mining is over for good, another firm is mining the tailings piles for BC jade, said to be some of the finest jade in the world.

Photos Batch 1: In Teslin this morning and the answer to Post #59; Highway #37 over the hood; We are drawn to this sort of thing like flies to an outhouse; The Cassiar side road and tailings pile beyond; Sorry, no gas today.

[bamfordsgarage]

At the end of the road were some larger mine buildings and another view of the tailings pile. A few hundred yards back and across the road there was an obviously-occupied yard full of potentially-interesting junk and a fellow at the far end working on a loader. Never one to shy away from strangers, I suggested we drive into the yard and, if the guy was friendly and unarmed, maybe we could find out a little more about the area.

When I walked up to say hello and he turned and said “Hi — I need a hand here, do you want to spray ether or turn the key?” So there I was, 30 seconds after our first words, up inside the loader punching the starter button while he worked under the hood. The loader was running in a couple minutes then we all had coffee, a visit and a bit of a look around the place. While his appearance, and environment, absolutely scream "Bachelor", it turns out he is married and his wife was out of town for a few weeks in Cranbrook BC, helping out with their grandchildren.

Photos Batch 2: Remaining mine buildings and tailings pile; Larry’s yard looked interesting; The ’64 Mercury pickup he and the wife and kids drove to Disneyland years ago; Speaking of the wife...; Larry gets cheeky with the visitors.

[40plyrod]

If you want to add some days to your adventure turn right when you hit highway 16 and take the prince rupert ferry to Vancouver Island and tour the island I'm just south of Chemainus. I'd love a picture with that famous mopar:D

[bamfordsgarage]

If you want to add some days to your adventure ... I'd love a picture with that famous mopar:D

Thanks for the invite Plyrod, but my homing instinct locked in a couple days ago and our local car club meeting is on Wednesday, so it'll be left on 16 and pedal to the rusty metal.

We may take a run out to the west coast this summer — maybe a few forumites could get together on the Island (Harold M likes it up in BC...)

[1941Rick]

Any time on the island...name the time and place..

[1941Rick]

I worked in Cassiar in the late 70's...The jade up there is of the highest quality...there is lots of it up there if you know where to look...I have photos of a D9 Cat pushing a large rock over the waste dump up in the mine...it was all it could do to push it..At that time the company had no interest in jade until they found out that some employees were selling the jade and getting $32 a pound from the Koreans....

[40plyrod]

Any time on the island...name the time and place..

What he said^