“Do you have my chocolate?” the half naked man queries me.
I’ve stopped my Mini on the Dempster Highway, alarmed by the site of this bedraggled bicyclist in the arctic wilderness.
“Your what? Are you okay?”
He slumps down on his bike, “Oh, I thought you were my chocolate. I gave $10 to a passing car, asking them [...]
I made it to the Arctic Ocean!
Since there is no road access to the ocean in the summer, I had to fly the last 60 miles to Tuktoyaktuk, Northwest Territories, a tiny Inuvialuit community right on the ocean.
Rain delayed my flight, so I camped in the parking lot of the tour operator that was booking [...]
I’ve finished the Dempster! I’ve got a busted tail pipe, broken exterior steps, and maybe one slow leak in a rear tire, but I finished it!
I am exhausted.
I will head to the airport tomorrow to find out about flights. I’m only 60 miles from the Arctic Ocean!
Here are some pictures and videos of today’s drive. [...]
What a drive today. That was tough.
I had no idea what six and a half hours of washboard, potholed, slick, muddy road driving was like.
And, now, I do.
I get to do that three more times and I think I’m done for life!
.
.
After the first 100 miles, I didn’t think I was going to make it. [...]
“Did you just come off the Dempster?”
“Yes!” the man washing his mud caked RV angrily barks back at me.
More tentatively, “uh, how was it?”
“Dreadful! Awful! It rained all the way up and all the way back! We almost went right off the road! It was awful!”
I didn’t know a road could make a person so [...]
Driving to Whitehorse, I am all alone in the middle of the Yukon when, to my horror, the engine oil pressure warning indicator on my dash lights up.
Now, I have only ever bought and driven cheap, base model economy cars, so I am not used to a lot of fancy lights, warnings, and gentle reminders.
So [...]
I’ve done A to B, now just have to get to C!
***
While Googling for info on driving The Dempster Highway, I wasn’t too happy to read this one. I know it is rough, but he is just trying to be melodramatic, isn’t he?
Daring to drive the Dempster
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/life/article411154.ece
I knew that I would have to be flexible while on my drive up the Alaska Highway, but didn’t realize how flexible.
Places that you expect to be open, aren’t. And when you are running out of fuel, that gets stressful.
I spent a few hours this morning hanging out with a group of travelers, who, like [...]
It was during my drive from Fort Nelson to Liard Hot Springs that I first had the frightening sensation of being alone in a vast wilderness.
I’ve been in the forests of Upper Michigan, in natural places far from any city, but I’ve never had such a sense of being alone in a place that seemed [...]
I’ve been secretly watching her outside my window for a few minutes. She is taking photos of her RV and of the campsite.
With short spiky grey hair, and brightly colored designer eyeglasses, she looks more like a woman you’d find wandering around an urban art gallery than in a gravelly RV park.
I haven’t seen any [...]
I made it to Mile Zero of the Alaska Highway! I had no idea that I would feel this excited when I got here, but getting to this point already feels like a huge accomplishment.
I can hardly believe that I have arrived at the starting line and am starting on this journey.
I will spend a [...]
I’m breaking my promise not to publish another “All by Myself” meltdown. But, sticking to the themes of It’s my blog and I’ll cry if I want to, as well as my desire to create a faithful record of the journey I am actually taking (and not a fictionalized one that makes me sound stronger [...]
I have Internet! I’ve missed you guys.
Here are some pictures of the Icefields, um, Parkway? I don’t have time to look up the name. Anyway, it is the drive from Banff to Jasper and is the most jaw-dropping, spectacular scenery of my trip so far.
My camera cannot capture the majesty of this place. There are [...]
