TRAMPER TRAVELS - SEPTEMBER 7 - UNPACKING IT ALL

What is epic? It is defined in www.dictionary.com below:

epic

[ ep-ik ]

adjective

1. heroic; majestic; impressively great:

   the epic events of the war.

2. of unusually great size or extent:

   a crime wave of epic proportions.

3. Slang. very impressive; spectacular; awesome:

   Their burgers and fries are epic!

What is adventure? Wikipedia defines it as:

An adventure is an exciting experience or undertaking that is typically bold, sometimes risky.^[1] Adventures may be activities with danger such as traveling, exploring, skydiving, mountain climbing, scuba diving, river rafting, or other extreme sports.

Combine the two words together, and what do you have? In the words of the late Ed Sullivan, you have “a really big show”.

This little jaunt of ours was every bit of a really big show. We decided that we would call this trip “The BEAUTY and the Beasts Tour”. We saw incredible beauty all along the way, but we also had some very beastly moments.

BEAUTY:

Where does one start to describe all the beauty we witnessed? Everywhere we went, it was present — even on the Dempster Highway.

I brought crafts to work on in the truck, but between rough roads, incredible scenery, and the beasts we encountered along the way, I barely touched any of it.

If we had to choose our favorite experiences of the trip, we would most assuredly choose Glacier National Park, the bear excursion at Katmai National Park, our meal at Captain Patty’s on the Homer Spit, the Arctic Ocean, and visiting Jade and Adem. For me, I would also have to include photographing the eagle right on the beach.

Driving the Going to the Sun Road through Glacier was an experience like no other we have ever encountered. The beauty literally takes one’s breath away. To us, it was akin to having a spiritual experience — it was that beautiful.

The bears. OMG the bears! That excursion to Brooks Falls in Katmai National Park was a spur-of-the-moment choice, and we will forever be happy we chose to spend the money on such an amazing experience.

We chose Bald Mountain Air out of Homer, Alaska. They are located on the Homer Spit. Yep. It was a lot of money, but it was so very worth it to be able to see and photograph so many bears in their natural environment. I highly recommend this excursion if you ever find yourself in Homer, Alaska.

We had quite a few disappointing and even some questionable food experiences. We had two outstanding meals — one in Seward at Fifth Avenue Bar & Bistro and one at Captain Patty’s on the Homer Spit. Of the two, Captain Patty’s was absolutely phenomenal. We will more than likely be unable to enjoy salmon and halibut anywhere as much as we did at Captain Patty’s. It’s the real deal for freshly-caught seafood.

And then we come to the Arctic Ocean. This was huge for us — not so much because it was any more beautiful than any other ocean we have ever seen, but because WE MADE IT! We overcame so much to get to the Arctic Ocean, and it was an event in and of itself when we did. We only personally know two other people who have been to the Arctic Ocean. That’s pretty cool, huh?!

Also amongst the BEAUTY was reconnecting with our granddaughter and spending time with her and her boyfriend on the way home. It was balm for our shaken spirits. It had been way too long coming, and we all so badly needed it.

THE BEASTS:

We had so many “beasts” attacking our trip. I am not one to dwell on the negative, so I won’t bring them all up in this post. Many of the beasts were covered in the blog posts while we were traveling; some of them were not. One by one, we persevered and slayed every single one of them, continuing on with our journey.

Of all the beasts, two by far were the hardest to handle. Being so far away in another country when my son and daughter had to remove life support from their father after an unrecoverable cardiac event was so hard.

Receiving the call that my son-in-law had died tragically two and a half weeks later was beyond any words I have found yet to fully describe it.

The return trip instantly became all about getting home as quickly and as safely as possible so we could begin figuring out how to mend the shattered hearts of our family, including ours. It will not be easy — the work that is before us. We have no answers for much of it, and stress is at an all-time high.

We have experienced so much loss over the past six years. I will be honest in saying that the weight has been a bit much, and the stress has been compounding.

The losses and resulting fall-out while we were so far away on this trip began to make me feel as though I couldn’t fully breathe. My heart has been tight and heavy. The tragic loss of my son-in-law and the circumstances my son is dealing with are situations that make me feel as though I am perilously close to breaking at times. But I am working my way through it as best I can. We all are.

I am also reaching out for the professional help needed in order to better navigate it all. There is no shame in reaching out for help when it is needed.

I have a phenomenal friends-and-family support team who have been helping me stay grounded when the winds blow me around as though I am a torn piece of paper that has been haphazardly ripped out of a notebook and tossed into the air. I am fortunate in that regard, and I am so thankful for my tribe.

Was the trip what we expected? In some ways, it was; in some ways, it was not. If we had it to do again, we would do some things much differently for sure. But overall, we are so glad we did it, and it will forevermore remain our epic road trip — beasts and all!

I don’t know what the immediate future holds for us, but I do know that it is going to entail a lot of unknowns and change. We will meet it all to the best of our abilities, crossing the bridges as we get to them.

I am not sure what will happen with the blog.  At some point, I will more than likely begin posting on it again.  The email notifications you received will stop after this one, because many of you were following along for the trip and may not be interested in whatever I am writing about in its aftermath.  It is no longer password protected, as I only did that while we were on the road.

We extend a huge thank you to our family and friends for indulging us in this crazy pursuit. We know it made many of you very nervous. We tried our very best to keep you all informed so as to eliminate some of your concern.

We thank all of you for “traveling” with us and being interested in our crazy, epic adventure.  It’s been something, hasn’t it?

TRAMPER TRAVELS - AUGUST 12 - FAMILY

I wanted to let everyone know that we arrived home safely late this afternoon. We will now regroup and turn our attention to the family matters that are before us.

We have traveled somewhere around 14,000 miles in 50 days, much of it through some very rough roads and circumstances. At least ten of those days, we weren’t moving for one reason or another.

Mike has driven every single bit of this — even through illness and grief. He deserves a medal for real for that alone, but in addition, he did a great job of taking care of me through some very trying circumstances.

As I mentioned, my adult children had to make the difficult decision to remove life support for their dad on July 18. We were close to 5,000 miles away from them at the time with signal that was unavailable more than available.

Many of you already know what the second family emergency was that brought the blog to a close. For those who don’t, on August 4, my son-in-law unexpectedly passed away. He was 47 years old. We were on our way home at the time we received the news but were still 3,500 miles away and largely unable to communicate regularly due to lack of signal.

I can assure you — it is the most helpless feeling for your “kids” to need you so desperately, and you can’t really do anything for them because you are so far away and mostly unreachable — all while you are navigating your own grief and trying to travel as far as you can each day while staying safe.

So we began the difficult task of getting home as safely and quickly as possible. We were really looking forward to planned visits along the way with friends and a granddaughter, but we cancelled those plans for the most part.

One of our friends, whom Mike has known since way before he knew me, lives around an hour and a half from our overnight stop in Cheyenne, Wyoming — and he drove up from Colorado to share a meal and some special time with us. We will forever be thankful for that time with our friend, Mark. I wish we had taken at least one picture of us together, but my head hasn’t exactly been screwed on right for a few weeks.

We also felt that we absolutely had to stop and see our granddaughter, Jade. Life can be crazy sometimes, and we haven’t seen her in seven or eight years. She was a child the last time we saw her. She is an adult now. She needed us as much as we needed her on this return trip. She lost her grandfather and step-father in a little under three weeks and is reeling as much as we are.

We spent two nights and a day with her and her boyfriend, Adem. It was so good. So many emotions and feelings were shared. We laughed. We cried. We laughed and cried at the same time. We told stories about her grandfather and her step-dad. We reconnected big time and began to heal this part of our family tree.

Did I say how needed this was?!

Jade, Adem, and I went to an art museum in Norman, Oklahoma. It was so refreshing for me to see how absolutely much Jade and Adem enjoyed this. I loved hearing them talk about what aspects of the artwork moved them and why.

It was a day for exotic animal events at the museum. We each got our own animal headbands. It was a fun time that took us away from all the sadness for a while. I will forever treasure it. We even got to hold a large boa constrictor and pet a baby wallaby.

Anyway, now we will begin to figure out what is next on many family fronts, and we will all begin to find our new normals. Not an easy feat, but that is our mission.

Again, thank you for your support. Keep us in your thoughts and hearts. I will still do a post down the road with overall thoughts about the trip.

For now, take care of yourselves.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - AUGUST 4 - DISCONTINUING BLOG

We are about an hour away from crossing the border into Washington as I type this.

I wanted to let everyone know we are okay, but we have had another family emergency. As such, I am discontinuing the blog at this point so we can focus on getting home as quickly and safely as we can.

I am glad you enjoyed “traveling” with us. There are around 100 of you. At some point, I will do a wrap-up post about the trip, but it will likely be a while before I do.

For now, thank you so much for all your support.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - AUGUST 3 - ROLLING TILL WE STOP

Loved ones who are no longer on this planet are never very far away from us. When the all-consuming pain that engulfs us after they pass away eases into a grief that is still always there but shares space with smiles and good memories, they come to us at the least expected times. Sometimes we cry Sometimes we smile. Sometimes we do both.

That is where I found myself at our first stop this morning — in a 7-Eleven parking lot in British Columbia eating a turkey, cranberry, and dressing sandwich with tears in my eyes thinking about my mom.

When I saw the sandwich, I knew it had to be my breakfast. Much better choice than Cheetos and chocolate, right?! 😁 What I didn’t know was that it also had dressing on it — a hallmark of the sandwiches my mother made for us for meals after Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners.

The second I bit into it, I was instantly transformed back to eating turkey, cranberry, and dressing sandwiches with my family. I felt my mother there with me right then.

It was a good feeling. I love when I feel her presence nearby. I feel my father’s at times, too, and I love those moments as well.

My parents aren’t gone. They are still very much with me. We just have different relationships than we did when they lived on earth. For that, I am thankful.

Great start to this travel day!

The remarkable things that occurred today in our travels were: (1) Every portion of road traveled on today was paved; and (2) we had cell signal most of the day!

We stopped in Prince George to pick up a few things and headed down Hwy. 97 to Quesnel.  We booked one night at Robert’s Roost Resort and RV Park on Dragon Lake.

As we went through Quesnel, right in town, we saw wildlife!  A deer ran across the road right in front of our truck. We missed it with both the truck and the camera, but we saw it!

We landed at Robert’s Roost Resort, our campground for the night, got parked, set up, ate a little chicken outside, and then we both walked down to check out the lake.

And then, it was time to do a couple of loads of laundry. Some chores follow you around. Laundry is one of them.

Robert’s Roost Resort is a beautiful campground on Dragon Lake. It is very well maintained; has a nice shower house and laundry room; and very nice, level campsites. They rent boats and other water sport items as well. If you are a water sport person and are in this area, this is your place. Dragon Lake is a popular destination for rainbow trout fishing.

If there is any cleanup in Tramper that needs to be done, it will be a swipe here and there, and I’ll call it done tonight. I didn’t really look very well when we arrived. Perhaps I didn’t really want to know!

TRAMPER TRAVELS - AUGUST 2 - ONWARD TO TELKWA, BC

Today we traveled 381 miles from Dease Lake to Telkwa, BC. We had a beautiful day for traveling again and much better roads. We still ran into dusty gravel roads, and I had a clean-up in Tramper to do when we landed at the campground, but it is getting a little easier each night.

I’m really looking forward to the evening I can say I didn’t have to clean up dirt in Tramper after a travel day. We didn’t have this problem until the Dempster Highway, and we can’t even begin to figure out where the dirt is coming in until we are home more than likely.

We are thinking of getting a campground for a couple of nights somewhere when we are back in the U.S., opening up the back door, and removing everything so we can do a deeper clean in the back.  Maybe that will also yield some answers.

Some of the lakes set against the mountains are so beautiful in British Columbia.  We haven’t been stopping for pictures, but this one from the truck as we drove by didn’t turn out too badly!  I love the reflection.

At one of our earlier stops in the day, Mike pulled a bunch of rocks out of the front tires. We are running 12-ply tires to better handle the bad roads. When you can feel the rocks in the tires as you are driving down the road, it’s a good idea to remove them before the road beats them further into the tire. What we’re trying to do is prevent the rocks from putting holes in the tires.

At one of our later stops (Bell 2 Lodge), we ran up on the greatest little restaurant. We had such a great lunch, a fruit smoothie (that was a big treat), and got some food to eat tonight for dinner as well. Both meals were so good!

The campground has WiFi, but WiFi never works well in Tramper. We do have cell signal at least, so that’s a plus. After days of neither, we’ll take it.

After we ate, I took a little walk. The Buckley River runs right alongside the campground, so I went down to see what I could find.  I forgot to bring bear spray, so I wasn’t entirely comfortable; nor did I go very far.  But it felt good to get out and about for a little while.

We showered the dust off and settled in to get a good night’s sleep. After weeks of midnight sun, we are back to where it actually gets dark at night again.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - AUGUST 1 - MAKING OUR WAY BACK

This morning, we plotted out our plan of attack for heading back into the U.S. Our goal for the return portion of the trip is to travel until we feel we need to stop each day, enjoy the beauty as we go, and connect with some friends and family along the way as we hit the states and head homeward

So I guess the theme for this final leg of the trip is Friends and Family (Homeward Bound).

We had a decent day weather-wise for travel for the most part with perhaps an hour of rain. The roads continue to improve, with the Cassiar Highway being paved for a good portion. There are still many frost heaves and areas of gravel and dust, but overall, there is a lot of improvement.

I have to be honest — I am really over the dirt and dust. Not only do we still have the leftover COVID cough, but we both feel as though our sinuses, eyes, and throats have ingested more than any sinuses, eyes, and throats should. Ugh. I am sure that isn’t helping us very much.

One thing I seriously hope I can always remember — the roads in America are so good. Whenever I forget that, I will try to think of the roads we have traveled in Canada and Alaska!

One of our highlights today was our stop in Jade City! With a granddaughter whose name is Jade, it was a must.

There wasn’t much to do there other than stop and get some pictures, but it was special for us nonetheless. They had a gift shop with lots of items made from jade. I fell in love with a bear that had a fish in its mouth. For $25,000, though, I decided to leave it with them! LOL.

From Wikipedia: Jade City is a settlement in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, near the Yukon, located on Highway 37, west of Good Hope Lake and close to Cassiar, in the Cassiar Highlands. The region around Jade City is rich with serpentinite (a jade precursor),[1] greenstone (jade look-a-likes),[2] and Nephrite jade. Jade City is by road about 19 hours north of Greater Vancouver, and 1 hour south of the Yukon border.[3] As of 2015, it had a population of about 30 people.[3] About 90% of the world’s jade comes from the Cassiar Mountains in Jade City.

We traveled on to Dease Lake, BC. The first campground we tried wasn’t going to work for us, but we went a little further down the road to Brown Bear RV Park. It was perfect for one night, so that’s where we stayed.

They had three beautiful vintage vehicles on display by the office. I love the truck!

We drove 431 miles today. There wasn’t as much dirt to clean up in Tramper, but there was still some. Thankfully, we are still covering the bedding with a plastic sheet, so nothing has to be done

We were more than happy to be piling in the bed tonight.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 31 - KLONDIKE HWY. TO WHITEHORSE

We got an early start this morning, and it wasn’t long before we saw wildlife! It was a fox carrying its catch of the morning across the road. Unfortunately, the camera wasn’t in my lap, and I couldn’t get to it quickly enough to get a picture. Oh well.

This was the view of Dawson City from our hotel room this morning.

And this was where Tramper stayed for the night. We could see her back from our room. The truck and Tramper look much better outside after their little baths yesterday.

As we neared Stewart Crossing, we encountered some road construction, but it didn’t take long to get through it. We took a quick break after getting gas for a pit stop and to eat our “sneakfest” at around 10:30 a.m.

In case you were wondering, that’s a new epic roadtrip word used when one eats snacks for breakfast. Again, it was Cheetos and chocolate. Ugh. It’s bad, people.

There was a travel advisory for wildfire at this point but no road closures. So, on we trekked. It’s the only way to Whitehorse.

I also found some more “wildlife” at this stop. Look — It’s an ostrich! Okay, humor me. I’m getting desperate here. 🤣

We made a stop in Pelly Crossing, and I finally got a cup of coffee. The hotel had a Nespresso machine. I drank a tiny little cup of high-octane caffeine this morning, but it wasn’t like having a real cup of coffee with half & half.

One of the places we wanted to stop was Braeburn Lodge, which is about 45 minutes away from Whitehorse. We had read that they have amazing cinnamon buns, and that they were huge (enough for four people to eat one).

To be honest, I believe one bun could feed more than four! That is a normal-sized pepper shaker. The things are at least 3” tall, too, and they were amazing! We only ate a small wedge out of it.

We arrived at the campground in Whitehorse at around 5:30 and opened up Tramper. There was a definite dusty mess even with all the taping, but it was not nearly as dirty as our trip up the Dempster had been.

It took us about 2-1/2 hours to clean up and get it to where we could sleep in Tramper. It’s still got a lot of dust and dirt, but we can’t get it really cleaned out until we get home. Hey, we’re camping, right? There’s always some dirt when camping.

We have clean bedding, and we have dealt with as much dust and dirt as we can right now.  It’s just going to have to be good enough.

Showers and rest are in order. Tomorrow morning, we will find breakfast somewhere and figure out our route going forward.

I must say — I am so happy to be back in Tramper.

TRAMPER TRAVELS -JULY 30 - SECOND PART OF THE DUMPSTER

Yep. You read that correctly. My sister calls the Dempster the dumpster. After thinking about it, she does have a point. LOL.

We got up this morning, had a breakfast sandwich and a cup of coffee and headed out from the Eagle Plains Hotel heading for Whitehorse. It shows as being 535 miles. Wheeeee!

Breakfast was very good, but I could have used more coffee.

I read somewhere in the Milepost that there are local dogs that will come in and out of the hotel. There are a couple of stairs leading down to the restaurant, and they can frequently be found at the top of those stairs watching over everyone as they eat.

We don’t know if this is one of the local dogs or a family’s dog who is staying here, but it was funny to see either way.

We realized this morning that it has been one day shy of two weeks since we have seen any wildlife other than a couple of birds on the way to the Arctic Ocean. We’re really kind of surprised that the Dempster did not share much in the way of wildlife with us.

We were making pretty good time until about an hour or so in. The weather started out overcast and cool in Eagle Plains, and the road wasn’t too bad.

And then, as the dumpster will do, in a moment’s notice, it changed. The drizzle and fog set in, it went from 47 degrees to 41, the road became wet and laden with frost heaves and pot holes, and we had to slow our speed from around 50 mph to around 15.

In the blink of an eye and one sneeze, Whitehorse seemed to move further away from us! And for the record, some adventures are way more fun than others!

Not long after, the fog lifted a bit so we could see a little better at least.

There is stunning scenery along the Dempster. Today really wasn’t about stopping and taking pictures, though. Today was about getting through to the other side of the Dempster Highway.

We are so glad we did this. Driving this highway to the Arctic Ocean is full of so many different experiences wrapped up into one — some good; some not so good. But we were alone in the true wilderness for hundreds and hundreds of miles. We conquered it together, and nobody can ever take that away from us.

We went through more gas coming back than we did going up somehow, so about 45 miles from Dawson City, we had to add gas from our gas cans.

Yep. Dirty. Dirty. I was really dreading looking inside Tramper.

And then we were there — at the end of the Dempster Highway. It had been quite a travel day. This is us waving goodbye to the Dempster.

We got to Dawson City and booked a hotel for the night. Mike washed down the outside of Tramper and the truck. We briefly peeked inside Tramper. She will definitely need to be cleaned up before we can sleep in there even with all the taping and sealing that was done. But tomorrow is another day.

Paul (in Inuvik) recommended a Greek restaurant in Dawson City, so we headed over there. Score! This guy sure knows how to pick a restaurant. He brought a bright spot to Dawson City.

And then, it was time to shower some of the dust off and relax for the night at our hotel. It’s historic, but the rooms are modern (thank God)!

Here’s to a good night of rest! I know we could sure use one!

TRAMPER TRAVELS -JULY 29 - SOUTHBOUND ON THE DEMPSTER!

We finished taping Tramper and got on the road at 10:45 this morning. We’re hoping this helps keep the dust and dirt level down. I found a hole in the wheel well inside caused by the rocks flying on the gravel roads. There is no telling what other holes we have that we haven’t found yet. Ugh.

Paul and Tucker visited with us for a little while. It was so nice to see them before leaving.

Paul doesn’t know it (well, he will when he sees this), but I have dubbed them “the bright spots of Inuvik”. We cannot thank this dynamic duo enough.

We wish you well. Remember, if you are ever in the Atlanta area, you’ve got a place to stay, and you know how to find us!

Paul talked to us about the many problems the people of Inuvik have but also told us about some of the joys of living here. I can now see some redeeming qualities to Inuvik from listening to him, but overall, I have to be honest — I found it to be pretty desolate and depressing.

The picture of Tucker on the Ski-Doo was taken by Paul and shared with us. It’s one of the joys of life for Paul and Tucker in Inuvik.

Hope you don’t mind me “stealing” your picture, Paul. I’ll remove it if you would prefer.

Paul also told us that there are plans to begin using beet juice on the roads instead of calcium chloride to keep dust levels down as much as possible  He said they have a lot of calcium chloride to use up first, though  I found this fascinating.

I will say that I will forever admire the fortitude and resilience of the people who call Inuvik home.  They really do have a lot they contend with on a daily basis. They are strong in many ways.  Indeed, I have seen hoodies with the words “Inuvik Strong” on them.  I kind of get it.

That being said, we were more than ready to hit the road and head south.

The Dempster was a myriad of experiences today. The highway conditions changed frequently! It went from being dry and dusty to feeling like you were on a bucking bronco (frost heaves) to feeling as though you were driving on an oil slick.

It wasn’t long after the first picture was taken that we saw three bicyclists riding their bikes. Uh, excuse me?! Nope with a capital “N” for me. And then not much further from them, we saw three older motorcyclists stopped on the side of the road, each looking as though they were wondering what they had gotten themselves into.

I didn’t have the presence of mind to get pictures of any of them because I was completely shocked to see the bicycles, and I kind of felt badly for the motorcyclists.

I will say that this is absolutely breathakingly beautiful land out here. Here are a couple of iPhone images.

We stopped at the Arctic Circle for a quick break and to get some pictures of the outside of the truck and Tramper. What an absolute mess! Some of it is like concrete. It reminds me a little bit of the consistency of Rhinoliner. Some of it is a slimey, slurry-type consistency. Fun! We’ll get it all cleaned up on the other side of the Dempster.

We won’t even attempt to look inside until we are on the other side of the Dempster, either!

Here’s a fun little video showing exactly what this stuff is like on the truck.

We got to Eagle Plains, which is the halfway point of the Dempster Highway. After gassing up the truck, we decided to get something to eat besides Cheetos and chocolate. Their food was actually pretty good.

After we filled our bellies, we decided to stop for the day and do the other half of the Dempster tomorrow. There’s a little hotel here, and that’s were we are parked for the night.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 28 - ANOTHER DAY IN INUVIK

It rained on and off this morning. It has gone from 83 degrees to 47 and cold. Mike worked on taping up Tramper, and I worked on doing more laundry. The back of the truck was also rearranged so we can bag clothes and things and put them there for the travel down the Dempster.

We will go to Dawson City and then to Whitehorse, where we will choose our routing through BC to a border crossing back into the US.

We ate a really good fish and chips meal for lunch finally at the MacKenzie Hotel. We really have not been eating well since July 20 the best we can tell and certainly not since arriving in Inuvik. Food options here are not good for the most part. Yes. This meal is all fried (except for the coleslaw), but we needed food for the body and the spirit. This definitely did the trick.

Thanks so much to our Inuvik friend, Paul, for telling us the fish and chips were good, and that they were open on Sunday. You were right!

We had been having a hard time telling when they were actually open, and when I saw $23 for a BLT sandwich, I kinda shut down. Sometimes, it’s about more than just the money, though. And this was one of those times!

The picture below is specifically for Paul. It’s hard to tell that I am smiling all over because I have food in my mouth, but trust me. I’m happy here. I think I even did the food wiggle once or twice.

For those who may not know what the food wiggle is, my son wiggles in his chair when he is happy with the food that is placed before him because he knows it is going to be good. I believe I do the same thing sometimes. I sure did today!

After eating, it was time to fuel up, bag up some things in Tramper, and tape her up outside, including the entry door. There is silicone under the tape there, too, which will hopefully give some added “oomph” where we think most of the dirt entered on the trip up the Dempster Highway. Mike had already added some more sealant in critical spots today as well.

She’s not pretty, but hopefully, this will keep so much dirt from entering on the return down the Dempster. Feel free to do a dust and dirt dance for us and say a prayer or two at this point if you would like! For real.

We are planning to head out of here tomorrow. We will go get Tramper, tape up the doors, and hopefully get to say goodbye to Tucker (oh yeah, Paul too)! LOL. Couldn’t resist, Paul!

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 27 - HOPING TO GET ON THE ROAD TOMORROW

We worked on Tramper a little more this morning. We were just about to get a tarp to cover the mattress and tape up every single door and window when the rain began. So we tried the second action item — laundry.

We found a laundromat and thought we had hit the lottery so I could wash clothes that were covered in dirt. There were three washers and three dryers. I loaded them all up. All the money slots were messed up and wouldn’t accept the quarters or loonies they supposedly accept. Grrrr.

So we took everything out and carted it to our hotel, where there is one washer and dryer. It is by far the smallest washing machine I have ever seen. I fit two pair of pants, a hoodie, one queen size bottom sheet, and a pair of underwear in, and it was pretty maxed out.

Yep. To say it was laundry day was putting it mildly. It took pretty much the entire afternoon to get it done. I am fairly certain I wasn’t the most popular person in the place judging by the amount of times people came in to check on if a machine was available yet. Usually that would concern me. Today it did not.

I thoroughly enjoyed the breaks I got when this guy pictured below visited while dealing with Tramper. His name is Tucker. He belongs to Paul, the super generous owner of the business who has been helping us (where Tramper has been the past few days). Tucker has the most beautiful eyes, and I got him to come into Tramper for a little while this morning. He makes me smile!

We are ready to move on as soon as the rain lets us complete our tasks. Here’s hoping we can do that tomorrow. We just checked the weather The rain has set in, and it’s now looking like it will be another day before we can head out.

It sure will be nice to have my pillow and my sleep hood back tonight. Sometimes the simple things really are the Important things.

We have had very limited options for food here. It has been disappointing at best. Mike found a steak at the grocery store today. Our option at the hotel was to microwave it. If anyone could pull this off to where we could enjoy it, Mike’s the guy!

And he did! It took quite a while and cooking it slowly to keep it tender. He added beef vegetable soup, and it was really quite good! Yay! I could have never done it as well.

TRAMPER TRAVELS -JULY 26 - ARCTIC OCEAN, WE’RE COMING FOR YOU!

LONG POST WARNING! This was a big day!

BEFORE: Today’s the day — we’re going to the Arctic Ocean! We have rested as well as one can in a hotel room with no blackout curtains in an area of the world where it stays daylight all night long (at least this time of year). I was really surprised there weren’t blackout curtains. Until we do laundry tomorrow, my sleeping hood is covered in dirt, so I can’t use it. But it is what it is.

We met another awesome local. His name is Dennis, and he was born and raised here. He works at this store/gas station during the week. He tells awesome stories about life here in Inuvik. He showed us pictures and video of a day out fishing where he speared a whale. It was a beautiful whale. While It is hard to look at the whale that was speared, I understand. They do not kill for sport. They hunt for survival. The bears are not the only ones who have to prepare for long, exceedingly harsh winters here. The people do as well.

Winter temps in Inuvik typically peak below −40 °C (−40 °F), but can sometimes drop as low as −56.7 °C (−70.06 °F). From October to May, temperatures rarely rise above freezing.

They are a proud people, and even though life is hard, many of them wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. You know, if I were able to survive year after year in these harsh conditions, I would be proud as well!

Dennis, you’re a great guy. I am honored to have met you. You are one tough cookie!

Onward we go.  We’re going to the Arctic Ocean!

AFTER: What a fabulous day we have had. The drive on the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway wasn’t too bad. It is still 95 miles of unimproved gravel road. There weren’t as many frost heaves, but the gravel is extremely loose. Concentration is needed. At least we didn’t have Tramper. That would have made it a little more difficult for Mike.

We saw some birds, but that’s really all the wildlife we saw. It is unusually hot here lately. I believe it was 83 today, and these people are not used to this kind of heat. The wildlife must not be, either, because they’re hiding for the most part. If they’re looking for shade, I’m not sure where they are finding it because there are literally no trees to be found in this portion of the world. A local said Tuktoyaktuk is above the tree line. Apparently so. The largest thing we saw were bushes!

Oh yeah. We also saw a lot of snowmobiles — some with sleds. There were more and more snowmobiles dotting the landscape as we traveled further north. The locals leave them so that when it is time to hunt in the winter, they are already up here. We saw quite a few of them throughout the drive.

The brown birds that resemble chickens are ptarmigans. They are found right along the highway edges. The round white “flowers” for lack of a better word are called cotton grass. Local people pick them to use as fire starters. The resourceful people up here find a use for just about everything. They have to in order to survive.

The dog was in the road on the way back to Inuvik after we made it to the Arctic Ocean. He just stared us down! There were a lot of dog houses on the property where we saw him. We wondered if they were sled dogs.

As we neared Tuktoyaktuk, the first thing we came to was the Welcome sign. Of course, we had to stop to get selfies. Hey, we’re getting better at this selfie thing at pivotal places along the way!

Here we are at the Welcome to Tuktoyaktuk sign. Tuktoyaktuk is an Inuvialuit hamlet located near the Mackenzie River delta in the Inuvik Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada at the northern terminus of the Inuvik-Tuktoyaktuk Highway. It is frequently referred to as “Tuk”.

You will notice a hill in the background. That is a pingo. Pingos are intrapermafrost ice-cored hills. They are typically conical in shape and grow and persist only in permafrost environments, such as the Arctic and subarctic. They can exist for 1000 years, and they can also collapse.

The one pictured is at the The Pingo Canadian Landmark. This is a national park in Canada that protects a unique arctic landform: ice-cored hills called pingos. Rising out of the flat tundra, pingos provide a distinctive backdrop to the community of Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories.

The Pingo Canadian Landmark features 8 of the 1350 pingos found in the region, including Ibyuk Pingo. Ibyuk is Canada's tallest and the world's second-tallest pingo. It reaches 49 metres (about 161 feet) in height and stretches 300 metres (about 984 feet) across its base.

For centuries, pingos have acted as navigational aids for Inuvialuit travelling by land and water. They are a convenient height of land for spotting caribou on the tundra or whales offshore.

If you would like to read more about pingos, the link below should be of interest. It discusses the pingos of Tuktoyaktuk.

https://www.amusingplanet.com/2014/01/the-pingos-of-tuktoyaktuk.html

The two ladies pictured — Seigna (left) and Kelsey (right) were so much fun to talk to and also helped me identify some of the things we were seeing. They also explained pingos to us. They could make short work of it here if they were typing this blog post. Thanks, ladies. We really enjoyed our time with you today!

Next up was the MAIN EVENT of the day — the Arctic Ocean! Our plan was to eat at a restaurant that had been highly recommended by locals in Inuvik and in articles we have read — Grandma’s Kitchen. After eating, we were going to go dip our feet into the Arctic Ocean!

When we pulled up to Grandma’s Kitchen, Grandma spoke to us and asked if we were there to eat, and we said yes. She told us that she was closed today because she was sick, but that we could go walk the beach. We told her we hoped she felt better soon and thanked her.

We were reallly looking forward to tasting some local food, but it wasn’t going to be.

It was amazing to think that we were actually at the Arctic Ocean! We had come so far, had overcome so much, and we were here! We DID it!

One month and two days — approximately 9300 miles (give or take a few hundred) driven — leaks — COVID for both of us — a dirt-covered Tramper — and whatever else we’ve been through that I’m not thinking of right now — WE DID IT!

Mike’s daughter, Caryn, said she didn’t know anybody in the entire world that had been to the Arctic Ocean. That was impressive.

Below are some of the pictures I took as we rolled through Tuktoyaktuk. The population is 898 as listed on Wikipedia. There is a grocery store, and when we got there to get something to eat, they were closing at 2 p.m. because there was a community funeral. These people bond together. It’s also how they survive.

Mike and I did a couple of videos as we dipped our feet into the Arctic Ocean. It actually wasn’t as cold as I had expected. I thought about diving in, but I figured it wasn’t the best idea so soon after our COVID recovery, so I didn’t.

Tomorrow we get back to Tramper clean-up. It is our plan to start the trek down the Dempster Highway on Sunday.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 25 - PRELIMINARY CLEAN-OUT

I woke up early this morning. I didn’t sleep well at all. It took too long to wind down, and then I had to much on my mind to stay asleep.

We found a business owner who was incredible enough to let us store Tramper and begin cleaning her out. They even loaned us their compressed air hose to help blow stuff out while they were at lunch.

When they looked inside, they asked how on earth we got that much dirt in there. They’ve done the Dempster. They know what it can do. They’ve seen the dust that can be dumped in an RV from the Dempster. They don’t see this much dirt in people’s RV’s.

At the moment, we weren’t sure, but we quickly found what we believe to be the culprit. We had a small level near the entry door. It apparently slid down during the drive, and the door got closed at one time or another yesterday with the level stuck in the door. It bent the door and entryway frame and dirt was literally being sucked into Tramper where the door got bent for 16 hours.

It’s a lot of dirt. Even the items in zipped bags (clothes) and totes with snapped on lids got dirt in them. This is a just a little of the stuff I dumped out of Tramper in order to begin cleaning out a little bit.

There is still a lot of dirt in Tramper even with everything we did today. We still have more to do before we can sleep in Tramper again. It won’t be spotless for sure, but we will not be breathing bad levels of dirt, dust and calcium chloride at least. The door needs to be repaired as well. Mike can do that thankfully.

We also secured a better hotel room for the next two nights. The one we landed at in the wee hours of the morning wasn’t one we cared to stay at for any longer than we had to, but it allowed us time to shower, sleep, and find somewhere else.

We need time to get through this and have a better situation going back down the Dempster Highway to get back to Whitehorse. We also just need to build up some strength. It was only a week ago tomorrow that we were diagnosed with COVID. We’ve been through a bunch since then.

When we get back to Whitehorse, we will decide then what our next step is in the journey. We may have to re-route due to the wildfires in Jasper. We are keeping a very close watch on that.

For now, we are safely in an Inuvik hotel. We are regrouping and will roll again. Oh yeah, we are only around 94 miles from the Arctic Ocean. We are going to leave Tramper here and do this day trip in the truck. We have come too far and overcome entirely too much to stop now.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 24 - HEADING UP THE DEMPSTER HIGHWAY

Today marks a month since we pulled out of our driveway to begin this unbelievable road trip. In many ways, it feels like a month; yet, at the same time, it doesn’t.

As we head up the Dempster Highway toward the Arctic Ocean on part two of this adventure, I find myself reflecting on all that has occurred and all we have seen and been through during part one - the Alaska leg.

The Dempster Highway, also referred to as Yukon Highway 5 and Northwest Territories Highway 8, is a 453 mile highway in Canada that connects the Klondike Highway in Yukon to Inuvik, Northwest Territories on the Mackenzie River delta. The highway crosses the Peel and the Mackenzie rivers using a combination of seasonal ferry services and ice bridges. Year-round road access from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk opened in November 2017, with the completion of the Inuvik–Tuktoyaktuk Highway,[1] creating the first all-weather road route connecting the Canadian road network with the Arctic Ocean.

We are filled with excitement and a bit of uncertainty as we begin this part of the journey. We have heard and read so many stories about how rough this part of the traveling can be. Many have started with the intention of making it to the Arctic Ocean. Many have made the decision (or had the decision made for them due to damaged vehicles) to turn around at one point or the other.

Below is AFTER the Dempster Highway when we arrived at a hotel at 12:30 a.m. It was really 1:30 a.m., but we had a time change along the way today. From the clock on the truck, it was 16 hours regardless.

We began the day at 7:00 a.m. We lost signal early in the day, got it back briefly at a ferry crossing (one of three), and lost it again until we reached Inuvik

We are as prepared as we can be. Onward!

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This portion was written after we arrived in Inuvik.

It was a very long day. We drove 16 hours through what can only be described as extremely dusty, rough, unimproved roads -  458 miles worth.  There were some spots that weren’t bad, but they were few and far between

John and Mary were ahead of us, and it didn’t matter if we were close to them or further back. The dust that was kicking back to us was relentless. There really aren’t words to describe it. On over 90% of the drive today, we could not see their RV or the road ahead of us at all, and we were eating dust.  It was beyond stressful.

The picture below is actually one of the better times when we actually could see them and the road. 

We had read and heard about the Dempster. We had heard about the inside of RV’s being covered with dust. The dust is even thicker because they use calcium chloride on the roads in an attempt to keep the dust down.

There was some incredibly beautiful areas throughout the drive, and we were able to enjoy those. I will add pictures later, but because we were remote and without signal for so long, I wanted to at least get this posted

We knew long before we got to Inuvik that we would have to get a hotel and stay a couple of nights. Even though Mike put extra seals on the doors of Tramper, the entire inside is covered in dust and calcium chloride. There is no way we could sleep in there. Below are a few pictures of some items in Tramper covered in dust. You can get the idea.

It’s a gritty, dusty mess in there. Thankfully, there was room at an Inn in Inuvik. Not the greatest room, but it’s all they have available. So we will make do.

We told John and Mary to just go on to the Arctic Circle tomorrow. There is no way we can be ready. We know not to do a huge clean up yet knowing we have more of this road to do (like the return trip), but we have to be able to sleep in there

I am beyond sad that we won’t make this part of the trip together — this final destination of the Arctic Ocean. But when you think about it, we haven’t really been traveling together anyway for all but maybe a week — if that — when you add it all up.

Tomorrow is another day. We will regroup and move forward.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 23 - CHICKEN TO DAWSON CITY, YT

We met up with John and Mary again last evening in Dawson City. We got on the road around 8:30 this morning headed for the Canadian border.

A good portion of today’s travel was on the Top of the World Highway. We had heard numerous stories of how this highway made for very difficult traveling, and that it was best not to travel this road pulling a trailer.

We stopped at a point where it was 4000 feet in elevation. The road had not been bad at all to that point. It was mostly paved, and by all counts made for a nice drive.

After this stop, it turned to gravel, and for a little while, we were afraid that we had spoken too soon about the road not being bad! It was gravel at this point, and there were some rough spots. There were also some very soft shoulders in the curves with steep drop-offs, but we had beautifully dry weather, and we really didn’t think it was that bad.

I could see where that may not be the case in bad weather or for those who aren’t used to pulling trailers or driving RV’s. But thankfully, we had the best circumstances all the way.

There is a ferry that brings you across into Dawson City proper. That was kinda fun. I always enjoy a ferry.

Dawson City is a town on the Yukon River in the Yukon in northwest Canada. It was a base during the 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush. The town has several preserved frontier buildings, many of which are found in the Dawson Historical Complex.

When we got set up at the campground, we went into town and got hamburgers, some ice cream, and rode around a little bit.

Then it was time to do laundry. 🧺 Yep. That doesn’t stop on a trip like this.

Tomorrow we begin the trek on the Dempster Highway heading to the Arctic. We have around 575 miles to get there, but they are reportedly rough roads! Let the Arctic Adventure begin!

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 22 - GLENALLEN TO CHICKEN

It was a relatively short travel day when speaking in terms of miles. It was not, however, a short travel day when speaking in terms of frost heaves. Holy Hannah! This day revealed the absolute worst frost heaves for the longest stretch that we have encountered this entire trip.

Most of the day’s travels were on Alaska Hwy. 5 between Glenallen and Chicken, Alaska. Yep! There really is a Chicken, Alaska (population 12). And before today is over, I will have a shirt commemorating it!

At one point (mile 32), we ran up on a scary site. We stopped to make sure nobody needed help. Whatever happened here didn’t happen today. The truck had Alaska plates, the radio had been pulled out of it, nobody was in the truck, and it looked as though it may have been stolen, but who knows?!

We are chilling out and will figure out our plan of attack for entering Canada again and making our way up to the Arctic Ocean!

Oh! I almost forgot to include the main attraction in downtown Chicken. 🐔

This one’s for you, Chicken Butt. You know who you are!

I believe as we head up the Dempster Highway we will have less places where we have any signal, but we shall see.

Let the Arctic Ocean part of this journey begin!

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 21 - ON THE ROAD AGAIN!

We packed up and had breakfast at The Catch Restaurant this morning before getting on the road heading to Glenallen, Alaska.

We had a little over 300 miles to travel today.

A part of us is sad to have missed taking the cruise in Valdez because it would have included glaciers, the possibility of closer views of puffins, and another chance to see a whale. Sometimes these things can’t be helped. We are so thankful for all that we have been able to see in Alaska.

It’s a beautiful day for traveling at least. While stopped briefly in a traffic slow—down, I saw these trumpeter swans and used the iPhone to grab a shot of them.

I quickly grabbed my camera, rolled down the window, and got this shot. They were so far away, and it was an awkward angle to shoot at behind me, but you get the idea.

We rolled on until we got to Glacier View. There was a beautiful pull-out viewing area of the Matanuska Glacier, so we stopped and had a late lunch/early dinner at around 4:00 o’clock.

Yes! We got to see a glacier finally!

We were only about an hour from the campground, so we headed there, got checked in, and hooked up.

Next up was to go to the lodge to have some of their chili because we were told it was really good. Great salespeople at this campground, huh, or are we just pushovers? Anyway, the chili really was super good!

We had a couple of small ice cream desserts and hung out talking to one of the owners for a while. This couple has an interesting story on how they ended up here.

And then it was time for some R&R.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 20 - OUT AND ABOUT IN SOLDOTNA A LITTLE BIT

We got out and about a bit today - a sure sign that we are feeling better. We are following doctor’s orders on being in public and really not getting very close to people.

We stopped at Walmart briefly. Walmarts are known for allowing RV’s to overnight in their parking lots, but in all the years we traveled in our Class A and now in Tramper, I have never seen a nicer set up for RV’s than in Soldotna, Alaska.

In most Walmart parking lots, RV slide-outs aren’t supposed to be extended; nor are generators supposed to be run. And they frown on camp chairs and cooking in the parking lot. People have abused the privilege of parking overnight, and Walmarts have had to make changes as a result.

The parking lot in Soldotna is huge. RV’s are parked in one section of the parking lot like one would normally see (although there are a lot of RV’s out there here).

But there is another section that is set up to allow all the things — generators, slides, chairs. I was pretty amazed. I’m not sure if people have to pay for these spots, but perhaps they do. There are no water, sewer, or electrical hookups, so it is essentially a boondocking site. But it was surprising to see.

We stopped at Big Dawg hot dog stand and tried a reindeer dog. They’re a hot item in this area. It was good and had a little kick to it. The skin was a bit tough, though.

Neither one of us lost our sense of taste with this COVID bout. We did lose our appetites for a few days, but they are coming back.

There just happened to be a quilt store right next to the hot dog store. What are the chances of THAT happening?! LOL. Of course, I had to stop in. The lady who helped me was super helpful. It’s a nice store in Soldotna.

https://bearlythreadedquilting.com

I picked up a little more fabric to go with my National Parks quilt panel. I liked the fabric with the flag and animals so much I got a little in two different colors!

The rest of the day we spent at the inn relaxing. Pretty low key.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 19 - ROOM AT THE INN/A COVID UPDATE

The hotel in Kenai was booked solid for the weekend, so we had to leave this morning. Ugh. Not ideal for us, but this is Alaska on a weekend in the summer — the time when most people travel to the area.

I spent around four hours checking online for hotel availability within 100 miles of Kenai in all directions. There either weren’t any vacancies, or they were charging astronomical prices for the vacancies that were available. I even checked some VRBO’s.

I finally found a fishing inn online in Soldotna that was only 20 minutes away. It’s an older building, and they don’t take credit card info online when you make a reservation. I am not used to that at all. Booking it made me nervous. But it was the only game in town, and we are not well enough yet to travel 300 miles in a day. We need a little more time to recuperate.

So I clicked the “book online” button and chose to believe it was going to be fine. And … it is.

The inn is family owned and operated and comfortable. The rooms have cute, very Alaska-themed carpeting with a fish, bear and moose pattern. I hear the restaurant is fantastic, and the WiFi works!

The lobby is nice. I am sure a zillion fish stories have been recounted here. The area is known for being a fishing destination. We are close to the river here.

So this is where we will be for now. We will head out on Sunday and head to Glenallen, which is a little over 300 miles from here. On the way, we will get to take a peek from the highway at the Matanuska Glacier, which will be nice.

COVID put a stop to a planned cruise in Valdez where we would see some glaciers and more than likely some puffins, whales and other incredible wildlife. Sometimes, that’s just the way it goes

Know that we are feeling much better than we were and are improving every single day. No need to worry. We’ve got this. But we appreciate the love and concern.

Dinner of champions. Probiotic Greek yogurt with blueberries and a smidge of granola. And a blanket from home by my feet for when the temp drops tonight. Ahhhh. Simple comforts.

TRAMPER TRAVELS - JULY 18 - PLEASE TELL THE MONKEYS TO STOP THROWING WRENCHES AT US

Today has been a rough day on numerous levels. Mike and I have not been feeling our greatest for a little while with what we first thought was sinus pressure from altitude changes. Then we thought we possibly had colds, and then we thought sinus infections. Mike was the first one to have trouble, and we were really having trouble figuring out what was happening. We both had different symptoms, so it was making it harder to figure out.

Nowhere in our thoughts did the “C” word even enter our thoughts. The moment I first felt unwell, I thought the pain in my sinus cavity was remarkably similar to the pain in my sinus when I came down with COVID in Montana while at a trial for work a few years back. But I didn’t give it more than a millisecond of attention, thinking it wasn’t even a possibility. Why I thought that I don’t know.

We decided that Mike should be seen at a clinic because he had a very rough night last night. Neither one of us slept hardly at all. We thought a visit to a clinic would be better in Alaska than in Canada, which is where we are heading.

While he went into the clinic, I stayed in the truck and tried to catch up on some pictures and the blog. The next thing I know, I heard a knock on the window. I looked, and this is what I saw.

I knew instantly that Mike had tested positive for COVID, and that she wanted to ram that lovely stick up my nostrils to see if I was positive as well. Off they went back into the clinic after the dirty deed was done. She reappered shortly thereafter with that same look on her face. I didn’t have to roll the window down. I knew. I was positive as well.

I instantly thought of the plane ride to Katmai National Park yesterday, and I felt badly that we were on that plane with eight other people, including the pilot and co-pilot. We truly didn’t realize that we were contagious and especially didn’t know that we had COVID. We really feel badly about that.

It now makes sense why I had such horrendous pain in my ears on landing and why Mike had equally bad pain in his head during the flights. I don’t normally have bad pain in my ears when flying. I still can’t hear properly out of my left ear, but I’m sure that will improve.

At the time I am writing this post, it is night time on July 18. We are currently in a hotel in Kenai. Back home, it is already the wee hours of the 19th. Mike has slept since we got here at lunch time (other than taking showers when he wakes up). Oddly, that is exactly what I did for DAYS when I had COVID in Montana. I am beginning to feel a bit better.

The other thing that happened today is that my children’s father passed away. It has been a rough couple of days since he had a major cardiac event. Even though we divorced years ago, he has remained a part of me, and I have always cared about him and how his life was going. At one time, we loved each other and shared children together. That doesn’t go away.

We had some rough years after the divorce, but we found our way to a peaceful existence and later, even into a bit of a friendship again.

I am thankful that when the hurricane hit Tallahassee earlier this year, my daughter and I were able to go and offer assistance to my son and his father. I smile when I think of the nice conversations we shared on the porch together as adult parent/friends, and even some of his humor about “our kids.” We had come a long way for sure. I am happy we had that little bit of time together not long before he was going to leave this realm.

Life is funny like that at times — giving you snippets of time that you don’t realize at the time are actually as big of a moment as they really are.

My heart is so sad this evening — for the loss of Mike Fields and for the pain my children are experiencing right now. Rest in peace, Mike. It’s really hard right now to believe you are no longer with us on this planet. Whenever I hear a harmonica, I will always think of you. You could sure play one, that’s for sure. Anyone who knew you knew that!

And with that, I am going to call it a day — because it truly has been one of the longest days ever.