The Long Road North

Today started off at a reasonable hour from the hotel at Watson Lake. It isn't that cold, relatively speaking, but with all the gravel and dirt on the roads coming into Watson Lake, the truck is brown and the nooks and crannies are dirt covered and filthy, and my weather proof trailer locks are frozen up with grime and ice. I spent a few minutes on each one releasing them, and I get the spares (spare padlocks - I guess I was thinking) from the toolbox, as one of the locks won't re-engage, and finish packing up.

I read somewhere that you can't drive the Alcan highway without rock chips in your windshield. Check.

There were reports of slick conditions and two cars off the road on the next section the day before by the woman at the front desk of the hotel as we checked out. The road conditions were indeed poor and the going has been slow today as we try to be very careful advancing up the highway. I still feel like I'm going slow when the big trucks blast by me like they were driving I-25 back in Colorado on a sunny day. I wonder how they keep the trucks on the road as they seem to defy some inherent laws of physics. I feel better when I overtake a couple other random vehicles also pulling trailers.

The drive continues, consistent, persistent, we drive on,

and on,

and on.

One would almost be inclined to say that the expansive beauty is distractingly monotonous, except you simply cannot be lulled into complacency.

Sometimes they seem to be standing there for the purpose of making sure you're still paying attention to the road. It's seldom an issue though as we're really not able to keep enough speed for the presence of the wildlife to be a major factor.

Once in a while we stop to ask the locals for road conditions.

 

After a long day on the road we pull into Haines Junction where we planned to stay. The road conditions the last hour of the trip were some of the best we've had all day, and we had briefly entertained the thought of trying to reach Beaver Creek in an effort to shorten our drive tomorrow, but as we come into Haines Junction the roads turn very slick and we quickly dispel the idea of going on.

Refueled and looking for a hotel, we check into the Alcan hotel. The mountains surrounding Haines Junction look like an amazing site, but we have a fairly poor view tonight, and I'm hoping the weather has cleared out some for tomorrow.  Although I don't expect the roads to improve overnight, we can predict very little in this environment. We know now that because it's snowing the weather is 'warm', as it doesn't snow if it's cold here. And because it is warm, we don't have to plug in the cars. We also have learned that the road conditions improve as it gets colder, and it's undesirable to have warm temperatures for driving conditions, and we can now attest to this. So I'm now hoping for colder conditions for the morning drive.

If all goes well tomorrow, we'll be in Fairbanks by late evening. This is a somewhat aggressive driving schedule considering the conditions. We have over 500 miles left to drive through the Yukon and Alaska - The home stretch, really. If we can average 50 miles per hour, reasonable only if the conditions improve over today, that'll be ten hours on the road. We're estimating 12 hours to make the drive from Haines Junction to Fairbanks tomorrow, plus some time to cross the border - Long, even by our new standards, but considering the timeline, unless the road in turns worse than it has been, it will be worth pushing a long day to arrive at our new home in Fairbanks. 

K. Chadwick

From Alberta to British Columbia into the Yukon.

Wednesday we left Spruce Grove, just outside of Edmonton, fueled up and were ready to go by 8:00 AM. We ate breakfast in the car, fruit, cheese, crackers from our loving family! Thanks again! We knew that it would be a lengthy day but really had no idea how long it would truly end up before we were to rest horizontally again. The road traveled North West into lonely and cold territory. We were on the road over a dozen hours in total, Ken exhausted from driving, Liam almost voted off – but maintaining on board- Tom and Hanna drugged and sleepy. Me – worried.

The drive from Spruce Grove to Dawson Creek was an easy 380 miles. We stopped for lunch in Debolt at a mom and pop special the Blue Bonnet Café. They served home made soup and grilled cheese and egg sandwiches. We were unable to hear each other properly over the gravel and rock on the road as we continued north. I thought that I heard Ken exclaiming “Damn-it, Goose Poop!” Of course I looked all around in the sky wondering to myself are the geese lost up here now that we are about to cross from Alberta to British Columbia? Then I see the sign on the road pointing out the miles to a nearby towns Demmitt and Pouce Coupe. Goose Poop\Pouce Coupe made for a good laugh for about 15 miles. We saw moose today – big furry ones Jen!

It was a bit shocking to realize that after a full four days of driving that we finally got to the "start" of the Alaskan Highway.  Mile Zero starts at Dawson Creek.

We arrived at Dawson Creek about 3:00 PM. Ken serviced the vehicle, we each had some ice cream and headed up the longest frozen, icy, drive we had seen so far on this trip. It took us six hours to travel the 285 miles to Fort Nelson. Each mile crept by slowly, Ken concentrated to keep the Jeep and trailer on the road while semi trucks blasted by us so fast we choked on the frost the left behind. Apparently they were not worried about sliding off of the road. We got hungry and so did the dogs and were again truly grateful to snack upon turkey and Liam on pumpkin pie! Fort Nelson was full of trucks, semis, trailers and not one tourist to be seen – only working folk and locals enjoying the fancy A&W. We had a bit of trouble finding a place to stay that would allow pets and were truly grateful to call it a night at the Blue Bell Motel. The ground was covered in ice and packed snow, Tom shivered. The room had no Internet connection so we couldn’t post.

 

Thursday we slept in and let all the workers get ahead of us on the roads. By the time we headed out at 9:00 the roads were clear of traffic and we could have a slow steady drive. It isn’t nearly as stressful in the light of day! We were stopped along the road by wildlife a number of times. It was staggering to me how fast a new normal set in. The first few times I wanted photos of the big horn sheep, bison, moose, and caribou – then after about five stops I stopped taking photos and was able to watch them be animals. Hanna had a fit in the car watching. She yelped and yowled – seemed to be saying to us “Hey, cant you see that there is something going on out there!” We stopped for gas at Toad River Lodge. The road was snowy and icy today. There was slush in mid day. There were a few dry spots near Steamboat (a different one from our Colorado home) we snapped a few photos at a rest area. We ate lunch in the car, oranges and pecan pie. The road became snow packed around the Yukon line. The GPS decided to remind us … randomly out of nowhere… “Continue 412 miles on 97…” with no other options we laughed as we drove down the only road available for 500 miles.

We ended up at the Big Horn Hotel tonight. They WELCOME pets - in Watson Lake, Yukon, Canada.  Resting safe and well.

Our goal tomorrow is to head to Haines Junction. 

Shanny / K. Chadwick

Too Much Dramamine?

I think it is Tuesday but it feels like Saturday already. The road out of Lethbridge to Edmonton was long and uneventful. There were a lot of rolling hills, farmland, and tons and tons of RV dealerships. I never knew that Candians liked to RV that much but apparently its a big deal as there are dealers everywhere and RV's parked next to homes in the residential areas that we passed by today. The roads were by far the worst ever we have seen on the journey. They were very torn up due to construction and we encountered a lot of cone zones. The weather was beautiful - no worries. Perfect fall temperatures as compared to Colorado's that we have grown to love.

Tom, Hanna and I took too much dramamine and we slept for HOURS leaving Liam and Ken in the front seat awake. Tom and I are still tired after the day long snuggle session. Nobody has been voted off the vehicle today.

One thing I did discover today was that ... if I ever by chance had another son or daughter I would name him/her Jeep. Just say it over and over again.... Jeep Jeep Jeep Jeep. Nice ring huh. Nobody ever probably had a daughter named Jeep.

We arrived in Edmonton pretty early in the day and decided to check out the Mega-Mall that everyone encouraged us to see. It was pretty darn huge - the World's Largest Mall! Inside it housed a Water Park, Mini Golf Course, Ice Skating Show, Sea Lion Show, IMAX, a full sized Ship that you can eat dinner upon, and my favorite was the course where one could demo a Segway Personal Transporter.

We ended up getting Liam a few books to read on the road and headed out of Edmonton to a small town Motel 6 in Stony Plain. We ate dinner at Boston Pizza. Had dessert at DQ. Walked the dogs are ready to snuggle up again. Hope for more great weather and a safe journey for another day!

Shanny

Oh! Canada

Yep, they let us across the border. A lot of driving today. The weather held out and I was able to put miles behind us.

Many thanks for those who contributed food items as we were able to make good use of them today and it helped us stay on the road.

Montana is bigger than it looks.

We reached the border with little light left. Fortunately the crossing was uneventful, despite a fully loaded trailer of boxed goods, and we were able to continue north to Lethbridge, Alberta in time to get a room and get in bed at a reasonable time.

Tomorrow we continue north, of course - what else?!

The plan is to make tomorrow a shorter drive day, continuing to Edmonton, and spend a little downtime at the mega mall we've heard so much about. We understand it's 5-6 hour drive from here to Edmonton, which will work out pretty good to keep things reasonable tomorrow, yet allow us to fit in some more good miles. The forecast is looking good, and we hope for continued good weather as we continue north of Edmonton.

Thats all for now. The camera is in the car but I hope to get more time tomorrow to post photos, and will include anything memorable from todays trip.

K. Chadwick

Off, Off, and Away We Go

I was able to get a few more pictures. I'm still playing around with the blog tools and posting, pictures specifically, and frankly I don't have time to play right now, so we'll post away and see what happens.

Yesterday was Ken and Dana's birthday party (we'll go ahead and withhold the year to protect the innocent). The party was a blast, and I wanted to thank all of those involved, and a special thanks to Mike and Jen for this and Sunday's brunch/Thanksgiving dinner.

The party was a 50's theme party. Ultimately my favorite pictures has to be ... well, motorcycles, woman, and spirits!

 

Everyone had a blast at the party.

And for those of you who really needed a picture of myself, I suppose we should go ahead and throw one out there to the net.

The fun couldn't last forever, and we had to get some sleep in as we were scheduled to start the big drive up north the next day. We did help clean up the clubhouse and the Royal Enfield needed a bit of coaxing to get started. I hope you made it all the way home Mike! It wasn't brought up at Sunday brunch so I assumed all went well. I was too distracted by the upcoming drive to think to bring it up.

Our place is empty at this point except for a handful of bags and a few boxes of items that we either needed to survive the last couple of days, or otherwise didn't get packed up by the movers.

We also had a borrowed air mattress from Jami and another neighbors mattress from her garage to keep us off the floor. A special thanks to Jami - I can't say enough about how helpful this was to have all your help.

Morning came fast and we had a busy day. The first task was to finish loading up our trailer, clean out the house, and do our last walk through.  Fortunately on schedule, we were able to get to our next, and very important task, of getting over to get the dog's health certificates. I thought this photo summed up their happy demeanor over their second vet visit in as many weeks.

Then it was off to Sunday Brunch and our farewell party.

I was explicit in that I needed the stereotypical picture of the truck pulling away and everyone waving goodbye, but somehow the group snuck away before I could get the shot.  Or perhaps they didn't, and I wasn't outside the truck to get the shot anyway.

Eventually I'll post pictures, and perhaps even tell stories, of the vehicle, and the trailer mentioned, and one would then be able to visualize the event described above. For now, just imagine your best goodbye scene and enjoy the farewell.

We started off our long drive north October 26, 2008, about 2:00 in the afternoon, and arrived in Buffalo, Wyoming later that night after a relatively easy drive time, and checked into the local dog friendly hotel to find some sleep for a big drive day tomorrow. 

And of course one must find time to post blog entries.

Or play games, as the case may be.

And due to some concern voiced about the potential for a tour of insanity, I must also make special mention that no one has been voted off the show - yet.

K. Chadwick

Packing Up

I finally get to update the blog today with a few minutes as the kids enjoy expending energy at Bounce, now named Jumpin'.

I think some pictures will speak volumes in this entry, so I'm likely going to keep the descriptions minimal.

Wednesday the tornado of moving hit our house with the boxers coming in to do their magic. Taking much longer than expected, they finished this task on Thursday, a testament to our ability to cram stuff into every nook and cranny in the house. They also took on the task of moving the Piano to Uncle Mike and Jen's basement.

Then it was the turn of the movers. This was originally scheduled for after we leave to Alaska next Wednesday, and then moved up to Saturday, then up again to Friday. This set the moving truck to arrive the day after the boxers and made for three very busy days.
We wished the truck said 'Alaska'.

Meanwhile I setup my office in the corner and tried my best to both stay out of the way and assist in coordinating the boxer and movers. This was the remainder of my office for the bulk of Friday.

This looked marginally more comfortable, and I should have moved into Liam's office space.

The place is looking empty by now, and the dogs are looking pretty put out by the fact they can't bother the movers.

 

And we all enjoyed watching the car get packed up.

An exhausting few days for sure, and at least now we move into the weekend and after some visits with family and friends, we look forward to starting our drive north. In fact, we still have a busy schedule with parties both tonight and tomorrow.

Of course we're still depending on the dogs getting their health certificates Sunday morning before we start the drive, or else we can't get into Canada with them. Fortunately this has already been scheduled. Pending all goes smooth, we'll be on the 3000 mile journey north come Sunday early afternoon.

K. Chadwick

My First Entry

So I had to get my first post in writing about something and the topic was determined to be the cars. The family is excited to go north. The cars are scared. At least I allow myself the silly thought and perhaps thats only because I'm concerned about the trip after a bit of web research today.

Today I decided to review the temperatures in Fairbanks. I had been somewhat at ease knowing that, although the first stages of winter have set in up north, we'd be arriving before the second phase of winter. Winter phases, a winter theory we only learned about after our scouting visit to Fairbanks a few weeks ago.

So the first phase apparently started just after we left from our scouting trip to Fairbanks back in mid Septemberl so this would have happened around the last couple weeks of Sepember. This first phase is described as the beginning of winter, and apparently it's quite cold. The second phase lasts, from what I can tell, from about October 15 or so, until... I'm not sure exactly, but I'm guessing about the first part of March. This second phase can be described as... oh my God this just isn't natural.

Ok, really though, after checking temps it seems as though this first phase of winter must be when the temperatures drop below freezing, yet are still not significantly or consistantly in the negative. I reserve the right to adjust these descriptions as I experience a cold I can't yet imagine.

So I had been depending on the fact we will get there before the second phase of winter hits. The type of cold that you best have your cars winterized to an arctic standard. But today I notice a -30 degree night in the 10 day forecast. we leave in 8 days, and the drive will take us another 8 days. I use my tiny knowledge of the arctic and calculate my chances of experiencing cold that would cause damage to the vehicles, and come to the conclusion that my appointment for November 4 to get my car winterized is probably a bad idea, and that our chances of making the drive without debilitating car damage is a risk that should not be taken.

Unfortunately it also seem to be understood that the typical car service center in Colorado really does not know how to winterize a car for Arctic conditions. This compels me to call the local Fairbanks dealer and urge some straight talk about my chances of survival driving to Fairbanks at the end of October with a car that is not winterized, and their best advice on winterizing tips. Apparently the professional advice suggests this is a bad gamble as well. Fortunately the dealer service department (Thanks Gene Chrysler-Jeep!) is helpful and understanding about my novice artic experience, and the upcoming expedition.

Now I have to educate myself about winterizing the car at a level I really didn't want to understand, and attempt to pass on what little information I can gather to the local Colorado dealer, and see if they can make the minimum modifications to keep my car from dying on the road.

For the record, for the typical vehicle properly outfitted for artic duty, one should invest in a block heater and coolant at a 60/40 ratio antifreeze to water to bring the temperature to a -60 degree rating. These are the first two critical components. Then one should add a battery heater, oil pan heater, and transmission heater. This gets buttoned up to a 4 way plug and a cord that sticks out the front of the car.

From what I can tell, the block heater and battery heater are make and model specific components that I was able to order from my local Jeep dealership. They had never installed one of these and I now have an appointment to install the components without any estimate of labor cost.

"We just don't do these all the time."

Great.

They have no knowledge of oil pan heater or transmission heater, and cannot assist me on these items. I opt to go for the 'critical' components based on the advice of the arctic professionals. Maybe someone in Canada can install the oil pan and transmission heaters. Apparently these fall into the aftermarket, and are only widely known somewhere north of where I currently live.

Apparently Blizzak tires are also highly recommended, but as my tires are in good shape, I simply can't justify new tread for the Jeep.

One would think this would end the dilemma, but this is only one of 3 vehicles. The bike will have to just make the trip. I won't be relying on it to start on the trip up north, as long as everything goes well. I may write about the motorcycle a bit more as the blog goes on. Shannon's car is another story. We won't be driving it, but it will be shipped to arrive some time after we arive in Fairbanks, and it promises to be the second phase of winter by then. This prompts us to pursue at least minimal winterizing of the block heater and coolant here in the lower 48 as well. Evidently the Kia dealer needs to find a block heater that will fit the Kia, so tomorrow I have my work cut out for me, as this all needs to be done within an 8 day window.

Oh, I might have forgot to mention that the movers haven't returned our calls, and our moving quote is 3 days late, so we still have no idea how much this is going to cost for the moving, which we're still not sure what impact this may have with the agreements between Shannon and her employer. We move in 8 days, and we still don't have a mover scheduled for next week. Fortunately I'm reasonably relaxed over this seemingly impossible situation, simply recalling the words first spoken by Shannon's employer, "Don't worry about the move".

I suppose the worst that can happen is that we have to postpone, add my car to the shipping containers, and fly ourselves out there. I'm just not sure December is a reasonable time to be driving to the arctic circle. Or perhaps next April during the spring thaw.

K. Chadwick

Adventures in Dog, The Beginning

Ok, we decided to take the plunge and move to Alaska. We have this dog - or I have this dog.

We were not sure that he would fair well in the Alaska climate and decided to get some advice from the Colorado Greyhound Association (CGA), where I adopted him about six years ago.

What a help. So many folks offered to help Tom and we have a winter wardrobe for him. He will be the warmest and best dressed dog in Alaska!

Kathy from CGA, communicated via the newsgroup and we found a dozen folks ready to help.

So far Tom has had a serveral donations:

Snoodle - its a big dog dickie sorta. Stop laughing. Greyhounds have long necks and this thing is great.

Dog Jammies - yup dog jammies. Tom has loved to put these on - even in Colorado. He sees me pull them out of the dryer and prances over to try em on.

Thats all.

Shanny