Feb 27th, 2008 by admin
I don’t have time right now to do a proper post. I’ll catch up tonight. But we made it, all of us. NO serious crashes. NO car failures (well, we had one but that was worked around). NO nights in jail with the RCMP. (Now that is a miracle.)
More later today,
C8-)
Feb 27th, 2008 by admin
Today’s leg is all about the Alcan road. Over the years the Alcan has been completely paved and widened to accommodate more and more traffic. A lot of people have mixed feelings about this. I guess the widening is good for the local economy, it helps facilitate the truck traffic. But it’s hell for touring, especially in the summer and it’s definitely not an adventure ride any longer. (Bad weather in winter and it rapidly becomes an adventure ride again.)
The last remaining narrow twisty bit is east of Watson Lake going through Summit Lake. It’s what the Alcan was like for the many years between the initial paving and the general widening of the road. And if you want wildlife, this is the place.
We left Liard and immediately found a group of buffalo in the road. Farther down, a couple of moose. Then a herd of elk. Near Summit Lake, a pack of wolves.
I gotta go right now but I’ll be back with more details.
C8-)
Feb 26th, 2008 by admin
The day started with a TSD and an ice race. I ran the first 2 runs and then Yvoon ran the next 2 runs. He did really well - not terribly fast but very smooth.
The ride down the Alcan to Liard isn’t much of a ride even in the summer. Just a long grind through Watson Lake to Liard Hot Springs. Liard, on the other hand, is quite interesting.
Barbara and I had been here in 2005. These are volcanic hot springs in the middle of the Yukon. We arrived in Liard after dark and had dinner. There’s not beer, liquor or a bar in Liard but there are the hot springs.
To get to the springs you park in a small parking lot in the park and hike a few hundred yards into the dark over a raised wooden walkway. When we got to the springs and the only light was a few small flashlights. Off with the clothes and into the water before the air freezes you. Very hot water and a strong sulfur smell (it’s volcanic).
We stayed about 30 minutes and then tried to get dressed before the cold freezes you again. Dressed, back to the car and then back to the lodge.
C8-)
Feb 26th, 2008 by admin
Another day with no TSD. Up early to make the run back to Whitehorse. It’s cold and very clear. They had expected snow overnight but nothing happened.There’s a bunch of us in convoy but the going is a little slower today. Everyone is close to the range limit so nobody is pushing too hard - nobody wants to have to use their reserve fuel in the cold and wind.
We stop along the wayt to look at the carcass of a car that crashed in the 2004 Alcan Winter Rally. THe car went off the road on a turn and then rolled after it left the road. It was so badly balled up that the car was never recovered. It still had its Alberta license plate on it. A sobering sight.
Its a bit windy and the temperatue is around zero. We drop down into a valley and the temperature plunges to -12 deg F. Fortunately, as soon as we leave the valley, the temps go back to zero.
finally we make it to the gas station at the end of the Dempster. We fuel and it’s off to Whitehorse for the night.
C8-)
Feb 24th, 2008 by admin
Day 6 - Inuvik to Tuk to Eagle Plains
We’re supposed to be up and out by 7:00 AM. I set an alarm for 5:30 and when I get up I realize the my cell phone (my alarm) is still set to Yukon time and we’re in NWT time which is a hour later. We’re late. Scramble. Pack. Jump in the car and head for the entrance to the ice road to Tuk.
Feb 24th, 2008 by admin
We’re up early and have breakfast at the hotel. Today is just a drive up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik which is the end of the road north. Inuvik is the largest town north of the Arctic Circle and the start of the ice road to Tuktoyaktuk which is the end of the road, literally, on our way north.
Feb 21st, 2008 by admin
The day is supposed to be easy after yesterday’s grind to Whitehorse. How hard can 2 very short TSDs and an ice race be? Hard enough.
The first TSD starts in a parking lot off a roundabout on the edge of downtown Whitehorse. We’ve already learned that starting a TSD can be tricky. We’re running on public roads so we have to deal with traffic and if the rally starts at rush hour (even in a small town like Whitehorse) you have to contend with traffic stopping you from keeping the pace that you need to maintain.
Feb 20th, 2008 by admin
Today is a long day - 750 miles. We leave New Hazelton for Whitehorse at 7:00 and head up the road for the Cassiar. Just as the sun is starting to come up we cross onto the Cassiar and head for the only TSD of the day in Dease Lake. We stopping at a restaurant in Dease Lake, Mama Z’s, that supposed to be great. Onward.
Dick is leading and we start picking up speed as we head up the road. The surface is dry and clean so before long we’re doing 80. At the turn off for Hyder/Stewart we stop for a bio break. After we restart, the road is snow covered and a bit icy but the sky is clear and it’s going to be a beautiful day.
Feb 19th, 2008 by admin
The day could not have been prettier. A bright blue, cloudless sky. A brilliant white snow pack. And 450 miles to go.
The first scheduled run of the day, the Quesnel Ice Slalom, has been canceled. There’s too much snow on the Speedway and it can’t be plowed so a substitute TSD (”The 11% Grade”) has been added. We’re still fooling around with our computer and we’re still off and piling up points. We have to get this resolved today. Mabe we’ll look in the computer manual for hints. Or maybe not.
Feb 18th, 2008 by admin
The first car went off at 8:01 from the Baymont and we eventually followed at 8:22 (add the start time to your car number and that’s your start time). Have done everything that we thought we needed: packed, fueled, did the odo check (numerous times). Off we go. It’s a 66 miles transit to the first TSD. It’s good to get going and get some of the nervous tension out. It’s a beautiful day. Clear skies and chilly.
We’ve been having some problems with the fancy, smancy rally computer so we start doing more odo checks on the transit. We keep finding ourselves with a correction factor for the odometer (the number that converts pulses from the Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) to distance) that are too high. That means when the computer says that we are going 40 mph, weare doing something less. That means that we will always be slower than the official rally time for the TSD. Hmmm… Not good. We keep changing the factor until we get to the start of the TSD but we’re still off. This is gonna be ugly.
The Adventures of a Rally Roadie
The story of a retired crazy who seems to be able to find one adventure after another.
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