Week 4 (continued)…Return from the Arctic

It was a beautiful sunny Friday morning when we left Tuk. We were happy and excited about our last two days there. As we drove south, we didn’t have much of a plan, but wanted to be back in Dawson City on Saturday.

As we drove, we started leap frogging with some of the same vehicles. We would pass them, then we would stop and they would pass us, and on and on. That’s just how it goes on this type of road.

It started to rain later in the day and the road got really muddy and gross. Our truck really couldn’t get any muddier at this point but it wasn’t much fun to drive in. We had just crossed over the Wright Pass, which is the border between Yukon and Northwest Territories. The section of road south of the pass is crushed black shale gravel road surface. We came up on a Prius we had been leap frogging with, noting their hazard lights were on and they were out in the rain with their back hatch up. We slowed and they gave us the thumbs up telling us they were okay. Up here, slowing down and making sure people are okay is really important.

We continued ahead, feeling bad for them having to change a tire in the rain. Then about five miles later, we heard it too. The thump thump thump of our back driver tire. Craig pulled to the side of the road and we jumped out. We didn’t just have a flat, we had a completely shredded tire. It was pretty unbelievable. Craig had done his research and we had been pretty confident with our 10 ply tires but the road destroyed it. And at this point, I think it started to rain even harder.

The couple in the Prius eventually passed us and we gave them the thumbs up. Craig got the spare on but we were both soaked to the bone and ready to find a campsite for the night and dry off. We were only about 10 miles north of the Arctic Circle when we came across another truck and truck camper pulled off to the side of the road with a flat as well. They had to remove their entire truck camper to change the tire. The wife, Barb, came to our window and asked us to hang out for a minute. Craig got out to lend a hand. During all this, it was still raining and now the mosquitoes were swarming like crazy. And they aren’t little Michigan mosquitoes, they are huge Arctic mosquitoes the size of a small bird.

The couple got to a point where they felt confident they were set and we went on our way. We thought it was so crazy how three vehicles had flat tires within the same 15 mile stretch. We learned later that the black shale has very sharp edges and your front tires will flip-up pieces, shooting them into your back tires.

We drove about 20 miles to Eagle Plains and got a site at the campground. They had a bar and the clerk told us it was only open for another hour. We were wet and tired and ready to just sit and have a drink. The Prius couple, Vic and Sue, came to the bar as well and we all had a few laughs as we rehashed the day. Turns out when we saw them, that was their second flat of the day. It was fun talking to them. They are from Vancouver and we were excited to hear about it since we plan on going through that area in the fall.

We compared our trips thus far and drank until the bar closed. When we left, we walked through the lobby and saw Barb, from the truck camper flat we had stopped for earlier. I said that I was glad they made it and she stated that they hadn’t. As they were about to take off, they realized they had a second flat. She had hitched a ride to the hotel and was trying to figure out what to do. Thankfully the hotel/campground also had a tire shop and they had a tire for them but weren’t open until the morning. Unfortunately, the rim was 20 miles away. We told her we would take her back to the truck in the morning and help them get back on the road.

We took Barb back to where her husband, Steve, had camped out on the side of the road for the night. Steve and Craig were able to find where the hole was in the tire and Craig used his plug kit to fill it. Thankfully that worked so we didn’t have to run back and forth with tires. We all went back to Eagle Plains to the tire store. Barb and Steve were great. They are from Alaska and we got some good advice and ideas of places to go. It was really awesome meeting them and we hope to touch base with them again somewhere in our travels.

As we continued on our way we were thankful it wasn’t raining anymore. Everything was wet and muddy and we were ready to be back in Dawson. But then the truck started doing some funky things. We’ve had electrical gremlins before and thought we had taken care of it. All the gauges stopped working, the windows wouldn’t go down and then all of a sudden they would work. Craig figured it was a ground issue. We were about 10 miles north of the Tombstone Interpretive Center, which would be the last place on the Dempster with any kind of services, when the entire truck just quit. We had just passed a pull out so we were stuck on the side of the road. Craig started pulling fuses and trying to figure out what was going on. We decided it was probably some problem that couldn’t be fixed on the side of the road and I should get to the Interpretive Center and attempt to get a tow.

A truck with a truck camper happened by and we flagged them down. They had no problem giving me a ride but they had dogs in the back. I said no problem and when they opened the door, I recognized Bailey and Baxter. Up in Tuk, two little local girls were hanging out among all us campers. They had been walking the two dogs constantly and made sure I knew their names and wanted to know if Gus wanted to play with them. The couple was really surprised and then laughed when I told them how I knew their dogs and it made me feel a little better about my first hitchhiking experience.

I got to the Interpretive Center and the awesome staff there let me use the satellite phone. I was on the phone forever with our auto insurance. The call dropped once, and then I had to wait while they called Canada for a towing company. It took a couple of hours and in the end they couldn’t find anyone until Monday to come out and even then they weren’t sure how long it would take and that it would be extremely expensive. I told her to stop searching and that we would figure it out ourselves once we got a ride back into Dawson. At this point, the Interpretive Center was closed. The two gals working there offered to drive me up which was so very nice of them considering they were off the clock.

Once I got back to the truck, a nice older gentleman from Quebec with a truck and truck camper stopped. We asked if he would be willing to tow us back to the Interpretive Center parking lot so we would at least be off the road. He didn’t feel comfortable with that but he knew a thing or two about electrical problems having worked in a Napa. He had a multi-meter and was able to tell us that both batteries were dead. Knowing this, Craig swapped out the dead batteries and put in the camper batteries. Just as he was getting this done, another fellow traveler stopped to see if we were okay. He also had a multi-meter and was able to tell us that the alternator was charging. This made us feel confident that we wouldn’t ruin the camper batteries.

So we were finally back on the road. We got back into Dawson, found a campsite and are going to stay here for a few days. We want to clean things up, get new batteries, figure out our warranty on a tire from Discount Tire when there is no Discount Tire in Canada and hopefully see our cyclist friends on Tuesday.

The trip was amazing and the problems we had, although inconvenient, were nothing when you consider the big picture. It taught us again about patience, the generosity of strangers and to always pay it forward when you can.