More later today,

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

We’re on the road by 7:16 and headed down the McKenzie river to the Beaufort Sea. The ice road is about 8 lanes wide and completely plowed clear. With the rally lights on, we can see all the ripples, cracks, spindrift and galre ice. After the ice race, we start out slow but in a couple of miles we up to 65-70 and cruising along. At about 20 miles we come on a set of brand new spin tracks put down by someone exploring the limits of adhesion. In some places, it really is slippery as ice.

A couple semi’s pass us in the opposite lane (the weight limit for trucks is 64,000 kg – about 130,000 lbs) but other than them there’s almost no traffic. It’s only 109 miles to Tuk so the trip takes less than 2 hours. As we near Tuk, dawn starts to break and the sky brightens.

The last few miles of the trip are on or near the pack ice. The ice gets very rough and we slow down. There are pressure ridges in the pack ice and to the northwest of the river there are piles of ocean ice.

Just as we get to the end of the ice there’s a very sharp right hand turn. The turn has already gotten someone else and now it gets me. It’ll get a few more as the rest of the cars come in. If that’s not bad enough, I see a street the goes over to the general store so I turn right a drive right into a ditch. The street was simple a snow machine track and the Subie is down to the axles. Dick hooks up my tow rope and yanks me out. This is getting embarassing.

Finally, we find the MTC and sign in. Takes some pictures. Joke with the rest of the people there. Off to the general store for some munchies and then back in the car for the return trip down the ice road.

Yvon is driving back. We’re only a couple of miles down the road and the visibility drops to near zero. He does a good job of just slowing down and picking his way through the narrow parts near the town. A mile or so later, the 2 Mitsus pass us and he falls in behind them. Some miles down the road the whiteout abruptly clears and soon the sun is out. It’s beautiful and we’re moving right along.

We pull into Inuvik, get gas, do some shopping and get a snack for lunch. Then back on the road to Eagle Plains. As we head into the mountains, the wind picks up and the visibility starts to collapse. As we pass the NWT/Yukon border, the wind is howling, the visibility is dropping and things are getting a bit grim. But as soon as we head down from the pass, the weather starts to improve dramatically. Someone mentions on the radio that the Dempster is just trying to give a taste of what could be. No thanks.

We head down and as we near Eagle Plains, we start to run out of fuel. We had passed Fort McPherson and not fueld because we thought we have enough fuel to make it. We probably would have if we hadn’t been doing 90 on the way down. We add a couple of gallons and get to Eagle Plains. We won’t pass a fuel stop again.

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The sun doesn’t come up until 9:30 or so up this far north so we’re driving with the rally lights. Back down the Alcan for 20 miles or so and then left onto the Dempster. The Dempster is a narrow 2 lane, mostly gravel road so it’s fairly smooth. Yvon and I are leading Dick and Marie and we start out slowly. The road is going through mostly forest and the lights don’t penetrate very far into the sides of thew road. There’s no traffic so we start to creep the speed up. Soon we’re back at 75-80 mph.

Eventually, we start climbing and we’re in some rolling hills. It’s starting to get light and it looks like the overcast might lift. As we go farther north the trees get shorter and sparse. There’s still only an occasional truck. It’s an enjoyable ride.

As we get higher and farther up the road, the sun finally rises above the hills and the overcast lifts. It’s becoming a beautiful day. And the temperature is going up. About 10 days ago, it was 35 degrees F below zero. This morning it was about 10 degrees above zero in Dawson and now it’s headed to 20. Who-hoo! Summer.

We stop a couple of time to take some pictures and then once to add fuel. We should have stopped for fuel at the start of the Dempster but we didn;’t and I don’t think we’ll make it to Eagle Plains without adding a couple of gallons from the jerry cans on the roof. We make it into Eagle Plains, fill up and stay for lunch. Then it’s off again to Inuvik.

A few miles up the road is the Arctic circle. We pull up just in time to see Karla Rounds running about in a bikini. She’s crazy. It wasn’t THAT warm. We take our pics and head on to Fort McPherson. Another fuel stop and then back on the road again to Inuvik.

We pull into Inuvik, get fuel for the morning and check into the hotel. It’s very nice but very hot. Unpack and by then it’s getting dark. We head over to the McKenzie motel for some drinks and dinner. At the drivers’ meeting, we get certificates attesting that we have crossed the Arctic circle. For most of us this isn’t the first time aboce the circle but it is nice. More bull and war stories and finally back to the hotel and bed.

At about 2:00 AM, I wake up to go to the bathroom. Along the way, I look ouyt the window and see a shimmering wave of green light. It’s clear and cold and there’s the Northern Lights. Wake up Yvon and call Dick and Marie. This is so cool.

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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.

At the start, I kept watching the traffic to see if there would be a break to slip in and get started on time. (If you are concerned you get out early and wait for the rally clock to pass and then start late.) We leave the start behind the last car in a line of traffic. We are turning right and the entire line of traffic except the car in front of us turns left. We pull up to the entrance of the bridge across the river and the car in front of us stops and waits, and waits, and waits. FOR 45 SECONDS!!!! We are so far behind on a 4 mile TSD that we are really screwed unless I really blast some speed and get caught up. We turn left off the bridge. I stand on the throttle. The behind time starts to drop. I keep accelerating.We’re starting to catch up. Yvon screams, “You missed the left! Turn around and take the first right!” Even more behind. I take the right and start pouring on the speed. In the next mile, I get the Behind time to zero and we try to calm down for the rest of the TSD.

Keeping zero time for even the next few miles is very hard after making such a bad start. In the last mile, we can’t find a marker for the last CAS change. An experienced team would have just made the CAS change based on our mileage. But we are just starting to get confident in our equipment and we blow the last CAS change.

We pull into line for the return TSD. We find out that a lot of us missed the first tuen AND the last CAS change. Maybe we didn’t do that badly. We do the return TSD without and drama and head off to the Ice Race.

The ice race is run on a frozen lake just outside of Whitehorse. We drive out on to the lake and the timing people stop us. “Take a recon lap and then get in line on the straight behind us. Remove the geasr from your roof and get back in line here for two laps at speed.” Okay. No problem. We start the lap and I’m mostly interested in how much grip there is. Not much. At the end of the lap, we slide off the exit and stuff the car in a snow bank. A pickup comes up almost immediately and tows us out. His parting words: “I better plow some more room at the exit of that turn.”

I don’t know anything about ice racing but this doesn’t  look that different. The course is a loop that starts with a right 90 followed by a long straight. The straight ends in 2 sets of double esses. Then a right sweeper into a flying finish straight. The first set of esses aren’t too slippery. The next set so what more so. The final sweeper might as well be oiled. It’s so slippery that it’s almost impossible toturn without nearly stopping. And then when you go to the power, the car immediately goes into a tank slapper.

I run the two laps and not too badly. At least I don’t stuff the car and actually finish both laps. We can take two more laps with Yvon driving but he declines. “I want to make sure we get to Inuvik. Me crashing the car in the ice race won’t help.” We take our times and hope for the best. We reload the car and leave for Dawson.

First a stop at a car wash to clean off 3 days of mud. The some lunch. Then we hook up with Dick and Marie and head up the Alcan to the turn off for the Klondik. It’s a 350 mile ride but it’s wide and easy and we’re soon doing 80-85 on the way up the road. Not too many slippery parts and almost no traffic. The road has been widened and it’s a boring but fast drive. We’re in Dawson City by 5:30 PM.

In good rally fashion, the MTC (Main Time Control) is in the bar of the night’ds hotel. We have to sign in every night or get still another penalty. The sign in is also the time when we get any news about the next day’s route and our scoring for the day. Surprise! Our scores in the TSDs areokay with the exception of the first check point on the first TSD. We score 22 for both of the TSDs and that’s with a 12 on the first check point! If we hadn’t blown the start so badly we’d have had a great score in the TSDs. All in all, not too bad.

The ice race times are better Wthan I thought they’d be. The times are in the upper half of the field – 9th in the first race and 7th in the second. I’m surprised and very happy. Not bad for an old road racer who’s never done an ice race.

We spend a couple of hours in the bar with the entire group. Telling war stories, drinking beer and eating dinner. Everyone is up and we’re all having a great time. Off to bed. We’re up early in the morning to make sure that we do as much of the drive to Inuvik in daylight as possible. The road can be very difficult with blowing and drifting snow. And that can be a real epic in the dark. Up early and get going.

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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.

As we move along, Dick still leading, we’re doing 80 on the snow. There’s no traffic at all and the cars in front are calling oncoming traffic for us so we really start moving. Stay on line, DON’T turn in early, hit the apex, think pure thoughts on track out. The road is snow over ice pack and there are snow banks on the sides. Let’s boogey.

Dick’s a great snow driver and I’m getting the car back under me on snow (regular rally driving at the school is helping – no late hands) and at noon we roll into Dease Lake. The lunch is a buffet that’s as good as advertised and at 1:30 PM we start the TSD.

It’s a short 10 miler with a bunch os CAS changes. How difficult can this be? What we failed to notice until we started the TSD was how close some of the CAS changes were. Big number changes in short distances. So short that you can’t get the numbers in quickly enough. Very sneaky. The experienced people would catch that right away. We didn’t. Oh well, we had to do better that the first 2 days.

We wait for Dick at the end of the TSD and start on the remaining 400 mile transit to Whitehorse. Dick takes the lead and soon we are passing the earlier rally cars. The scenery is beautiful and the sky crystal clear. So Dick’s got us up to 85-90 and the miles (and other rally cars)  are clicking by. We run like this for the rest of the run up the Cassiar. I haven’t had this much fun since yesterday running down Punchaw Road.

We join up with the Alcan just west of Watson Lake. It’s a high speed convoy to Whitehorse until a local complains about us and we slow down a bit. It’s been a long day but we finally at the hotel.

A qucik dinners and some beers. Just as we’re leaving, Revere comes by with timing sheets. What?!! This right? We score a total of 8 points. On day one we scored over 200 points in 2 TSD’s. On day, we scored about 150 on 2 TSD’s. Today, 8 on 1 TSD. We may be getting somewhere. Man this is harder than it looks.

C8-)

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.

We run out the first short transit to a staging area in a local school parking lot. The kids there are all out inspecting the cars. It is quite a site, 24 rally cars and additional staff rally cars and the sweep trucks, and the kids seem to love it. But soon the kids are called back into school and we’re off on the first TSD of the day.

The TSD is uneventful though there was one area where it was downhill and off-camber and the only way to do it was to slow down and forget the CAS. Then a burst of speed to get back on time. No problem. Except the rally computer is still of distance. We still don’t have the speed factor correct.

We’ve been nibbling away at the speed factor and we’ve been getting closer but only by small amounts. In a fit of desperation and a look in the manual for some hints, we do a calculation that says that we need a BIG change in the correction factor. Okay here goes.

After the short transit, we’re at the start of the Blackwater Road TSD. We do a big correction on the factor. At the end of the TSD we’re almost dead on the final distance. Woo-Hoo! We may have this. Only a small under error which is great since we’ve been having big over errors. We may get this righ, yet.

We start the transit to the Frasier Lake TSD by heading down BlackwaterRoad and turning left on Punchaw Road. There’s the first casualty: the #10 WRX is high centered on a snow bank. The #18 is towing him off amid a crowb of kibbitzing rally teams. Ah, the brutality of it all.

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.

Did I mention that occasionally the drivers display for the computer go bonkers? The navigators display works right but the driver’s display becomes unusable. I use the display to tell me whether I ahead or behind the official time for the TSD. It’s bad enough that I don’t relly know what speed I’m going, now I have to try to get the info from across the dash from Yvon’s display and it doesn’t do the differential time. This is gonna be really ugly.

We start on time. I’m chasing the speedo – too high, too low. I finally calm down. Then the driver’s display goes  nuts. Try to keep up with the time differences on the navigator’s display is taking all my attention. Then to add insult to injury, the car that starts a minute after us, catches and PASSES us. Our odo setting is truly screwed. Okay. It’s the first TSD. Let’s hope it’s our last.

We stop for fuel and then go through Canadian Customs. We thoroughly irritate the Customs Inspector by not “waiting until the light goes green”. Of course, in the bright sunlight that’s shining on the “lights”, you can’t see whether the light is green or red. We take the tongue lashing for the light transgression, apologize profusely, answer all his questions and leave without delay when he lets us go.

As we pass the impound area just pass the Customs officer, there’s Marie and Dick pulled over and headed in for what’s going to be a 25 minute wait while the Customs people decide whether they’re going to search their car.More inane questions and more waiting. Finally, someone more senior arrives on the scene and asks what the holdup is. After some official shrugs, they let them go without the search. And they didn’t even look at our passports or any other ID. Sheeesh!

A 300 mile transit. We’re kinda loafing along until we get passed by some other rally cars. They’re really moving so we catch up and run with them until a fuel stop. Then more transit to the second and last of the TSD.

We’d been closing in on the factor corrections and when we run the TSD it looks like we’re a lot closer than we were for the first TSD. It’s a night TSD and it’s really dark. Kevin warns us that there’s a really dicey off camber turn about halfway in on the stage. That get’s us nice and nervous.

The TSD runs well. Right at the end of the TSD there’s a car in a snow bank and another car trying to pull him out. We nearly stop and give up a lot of time but we’re a lot closer than we were in the morning.  We might figure this thing ouyt. Plus, we may have fixed our display problems by changing the power connection for the rally computer.

Another 50 mile transit to the hotel. A couple of beers, some dinner, a driver’s meeting at 9:30 PM (the ice slalom for Day 2 has been cancelled) and finally to bed. Yvon is asleep in 60 seconds. Me in about 120 – 125 max.

Yahoo!

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