Note well...




Day 84, waiting for the Kennicot to start boarding.

This is proof that we are the last travelers to head south.

My concern now is to make sure Donner does not escape the Defender on the ship.  In 2001, 5-month old Leben escaped and was wandering around the car deck.  In 2013, both Leben and Erde escaped, but Erde, bless her heart, stayed with her brother, who was paralyzed and couldn't walk anywhere. 



Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 84, West Creek Trail along ChilkootTrail

If ever i needed to regain confidence in the Defender , this rough trail sure did it for me. And what a beautiful eerie drive it was.



Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 84, Monday, October 31, Skayway, Alaska, 6:00 p

Day 84, Monday, October 31, Skayway, Alaska, 6:00 p.m., 9700 miles into journey

What an absolutely fascinating drive from Whitehorse  to Skagway.  Besides concentrating my energy and attention on the Defender, which performed splendidly, the road and views were out of this world.  The last time i made this drive the fog was only thing i remember. To be sure, we had our share of fog, but it only added to the drama. The 100 mile drive took us more than three hours because we took the road - the empty road, except for two trucks and one car - at a leisurely pace and stopped numerous times for walks and photos. I took mote than 100 photos today, the most in a day on this trip.

Coming into Skagway was like entering a ghost town. All the tourists, and i mean all, fled south weeks ago. The streets were literally empty, even on this Halloween. Although Skagway depends on the tourists, this town takes on a special appeal after they have all fled south on the ferries and cruise ships. The town itself is like a throwback to the Klondike days. Just about every building in the small downtown area is in Klondike style.  This is why those who have visited here say it is their favorite town.  Of course, most of the stores, shops, restaurants and cafes have closed for the session, but that is fine with me since I don't patronize them anyway. Nor does Donner.

After exploring the town for a bit, i drove out of town to stop by Dyea Campground, where Leben and Erde   and i camped back in 2001, and then drove farther down the road to the Slide Cemetery to pay our respects, but the road was under construction so we moved on. Instead, we took an hour drive up the rough, empty, dirt road along West Creek and if ever I needed to regain confidence in the Defender , that trail did it for me. The Defender is back.

We left Whitehorse in low-20s, completely overcast  weather, but the temperature  in Skagway was probably in the mid 40s, blue sky, sun. That alone, the road, and the Defender re-energized me for the rest of the journey.

In two hours, we will board the 4-day ferry to the Seattle area. Among other tasks, on the ferry, as Donner sleeps away the time in the Defender on the car deck, i will begin planning my 4000-mike journey from there, armed with the knowledge that the Defender is better than its old self, except for a headlight that needs replacing, and a few other pesky malfunctions, 

As i left Whitehorse today, my feelings were all positive, mainly because of the people (and my new engine).  As i left, I took great comfort knowing that those five weeks there are now permanently impressed upon my mind as one of the great experiences in my life. How lucky i was.

Photo below is of Donner having dinner on empty Broadway in Skagway.





Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 84, Monday, October 31, Skagway, as it is happening

12:45 Alaska time...just pulled into Skagway...here we are first in line for the ferry tonight. One month and 2 days late, but who's counting?

Drive to Skagway was quite interesting, lakes, mountain, empty road (2 other vehicles in 3 hours), snow, cold, fog, clouds, sun, etc. etc. etc. little bit of everything.  Thank goodness for relatively good weather today. I would not want to drive this road in snow.

Skagway is like a ghost town...everything is closed for the winter.

We will probably pay our respects to the avalanche victims in their interesting cemetery. What a terrible way to go, in an avalanche.





Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 84, Monday, October 31, As it is happening

10:37 a.m. The Defender leaving John's Auto Repair after a final checkup about to turn left on YT 2 to Skagway.

I miss Whitehorse already.



Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 83, Sunday, Oct 30, Whitehorse, day 35

Day 83, Sunday, Oct 30, Whitehorse, day 35

It is hard to believe that this ALCAN saga is coming to an end tomorrow after five weeks. That night on the Alaska Highway five weeks ago seems like so long ago. Since then, i worked myself into a routine that took me almost two days to break, probably because part of me does not want to. But getting out of my comfort zone is one of the main purposes of my trips, so i have to accept that that also applies here and move on.  And so we will break camp at 8:30 tomorrow, stop off at John's Auto Repair for a last minute check up and some final goodbyes, and then move on. Skagway is about four hours away, so we have plenty of time to catch the 8:30 p.m. ferry, and the weather looks promising.

I wanted to spend one last time with Defender in the wonderful Whitehorse parks today, but loading the Defender, a lovely lunch at Aileen's, and other such tasks consumed most of the final day here.  I did treat Donner to a huge strawberry-apple pie for his birthday, however. Not purposefully, mind you. You see, i bought the pie for a neighbor and when i ran a fast errand, the pie was gone when i got back to the Defender. Stefanie will scold me for that as she knows that's not the first time he did something like that. I held off scolding him tonight because it really was a special day for the two if us. The joy i felt when i drove out of Carson Animal Shelter one year ago with Thunder revised me today in a way i did not expect. Nevertheless, that's the last pie of any sort he will ever see.

I have not given much serious thought to the trip back east, which we will take one day at a time. Unfortunately, rain is forecast for our first two days in the lower 48,but we will manage.

More tomorrow.





Ed and Donner, from on the road

Dsy 83, Donner's Day. 10/30

Dsy 83, Donner's Day. 10/30

One year ago today, i woke up at 5:00 a.m. in Washington DC with plans to go to NYC that weekend to take in a few shows. But I ended up flying off to Los Angeles at 9:00 to adopt a sheltered German shepherd named Thunder three hours before he was "eligible" to be put down. Click on the below link to read the story about Thunder, now Donner, which means thunder in German

I have no photos of Donner  as a puppy or know little about his first years of life, not even his birthday. But i am certainly trying to give this magnificent  creature a life that he could never have imagined chained up in those several Los Angeles back yards before i came along. The people who had him before me sure gave up one heck of a good dog. All he needed was a little training, some affection, and a trip or two to the vets.

Although i will never know Donner's  birthday, i will never forget his rebirthday, October 30, and that's today, so Happy Birthday, Buddy.

The top photo below is of Thunder in his cell in Los Angeles four days before i rescued him one year ago today. The bottom photo is of Donner sleeping in Denali National Park last month, almost one year  later. Who would have imagined? The joy i get from knowing that i saved this guy's life is with me every day, and that is on top of the joy i get from him as the consummate companion dog and travel partner.










Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 82, Saturday, October 29, Whitehorse, day 34

Day 82, Saturday, October 29, Whitehorse, day 34

It was a sad day for me today.  Certainly because of the news yesterday about Summer, Matt's beloved companion dog, but also because my stay in Whitehorse is drawing to an end soon. I spent the day partially reloading the Defender and getting used to driving it again, which didn't take long. There is  much work that needs to get done on it to get it in shape for the 4000-mile drive from Seattle, which i will get done in Seattle.

I also spent some time just walking the streets of Whitehorse with Donner, especially quaInt Main Street, trying to burn upon my mind a few last fond memories of this wondeful town. I miss it already. The entire stay was nothing less than pleasant, although it was hectic at times attending to the Defender 's issues and sketching and then fleshing out plans A and B. Fortunately. It looks like Plan A will be on and we will be heading for the ferry in Skagway at 8:30 Mondsy morning. Although i reserve the right to edit my comments later, in a large sense, i am thrilled thst this hiatus took place here. At a minimum, i learned something about myself.

The weather here and in Skagway the next few days will be marvelous, dispelling all concerns i had about the drive to Skagway. In fact, it would have been just horrible driving both last week and the week before in snow, so things worked out quite well.

Donner was especially happy to see the Defender  again today, and rebonded with it instantly, as did I. i feel absolutely thrilled with my decision to do all i did to get to where we are today. The outcome could have been much worse.

I learned from Matt that a friend is flying Summer to Calgary Monday (2250 km away) for tests etc., so please keep you hopes up for that beautiful, sweet dog.

More tomorrow. It's a special day. I will explain tomorrow.

Photo..the Defender on Main Street, at last.


Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 82, Saturday, October 29, Whitehorse - Letter to the Editor, Yukon News

Editor
Yukon News
Whitehorse, Yukon

Dear Editor:

On September 24, my vehicle's engine suddenly failed on the Alaska-Canada Highway 60 kilometers north of Destruction Bay at the very start of my long return trip home to Washington, DC, from Alaska and the Yukon, on a road camping journey across North America of more than 20,000 kilometers. Two days later we were towed to Whitehorse and to the justifiably highly regarded John's Auto Repair for a new engine. After the wonderful Robert Service and Wolf Creek campgrounds closed, we settled into the cozy Mountain Ridge Motel.

i just today retrieved my vehicle from John's Auto Repair and will resume my long journey home on Monday after an unplanned but pleasant 33-day stay in your great city.

Five times before on earlier trips, because of my schedules, i had passed through Whitehorse, stopping only long enough for gas, coffee and treats for my dogs. This time, however, over five weeks, i got to know Whitehorse's most valuable resource, its people, their hospitality, generosity, and friendliness.

When those below the 60th parallel talk of the Yukon, they refer to it as some far off, remote place, almost off the map, or even the planet. But let me tell you something:  Whitehorse, and with it the Yukon, from now on will be in the center of my map.  Everything else will be remote.

I would exhaust my word-quota for this letter quickly if i were to even start to list all the people in Whitehorse who made what could have been a problematic stay into a pleasant one, but they all know who they are. My sincere thanks to everyone for your splendid hospitality, and to those who make this city great. Keep up the good work.

 Ed Mulrenin
Washington, D.C.


Ed and Donner, from on the road

SUMMER; Day 81, Friday, October 28, 7:30 p.m., Whitehorse


As you saw from my earlier posting, the Defender is up and running again. The check engine light is still on, but Travis told me that is due to the catalytic converter, which is rattling and in need of replacement.  That's probably why the light came on in the first place and not because the engine was failing.

One of the joys of my frequent visits to John's Auto Repair over the last five weeks was visiting with the two "resident" dogs, Summer (see photo), Matt's dog, and Al, Travis' dog, two absolutely wonderful, beautiful, well behaved dogs.  All of the joy I experienced just moments before i sent my 4:11 message when i heard the Defender turn over for the first time in almost five weeks was completely shattered no more than five minutes later when Matt received a phone call from his vet telling him that the tumor recently removed from  Summer's right shoulder was cancerous. My heart sank. While they have a number of vets here in Whitehorse, the closest oncology treatment center is in Vancouver, more than 900 mikes away. I assured Matt that everything will be okay once he gets all the information he needs to know what his options are, and he will have options.

 I am now dedicating this journey and blog to Summer, too, wishing her a speedy recovery and long life. What an absolutely sweet dog she is.  I had just been telling Matt that minutes before he got that dreaded call. Summer is about Donner's age and was a rescue herself when Matt adopted her when she was two and a half. 

NOTE: Summer died just three weeks after I posted the above about her.  It broke my heart to learn that news. She was the consummate dog. You can read my In Memoriam about Summer by clicking here.




Ed and Donner, from on the road

OTR press release: The Defender rides again, mightier than ever.

Friday, October 28, 2016, 4:11 p.m., Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, Canada

The Defender rides again, mightier than ever.


Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 81, Friday, October 28, Whitehorse (Day 33)

Day 81, Friday, October 28, Whitehorse (Day 33)

8:30 a.m.  29 degrees outside my door. Partly cloudy. Sun one hour away.  Today's the test. Coming down to the wire.  Will the Defender fire up?  Will I be driving the Defender to the ferry on Monday? Only Travis, Olaf, Andre and Matt know the answer.  Time will tell. Stay tuned for the answer.


Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 80, Thursday, October 27, Whitehorse Day 32

Day 80, Thursday, October 27, Whitehorse Day 32

Please click on each of the below five image links before you read the rest of this post.






Yes, that's my new engine going in. I was all set to get out to John's Auto Repair early this morning to watch this milestone, but Matt had already picked up the critical part flown in from Vancouver last night and by the time i got there, the engine was already in.  You simply do not see this dedicated service in the lower 58. When i made the critical decision back on October 3 to order a new engine and have it installed here, i did so counting on this kind of dedicated professionalism based on what little information i had, and i was right. YES!

But we are not out of the woods yet. Olaf spent the rest of the day connecting the myriad of wires, hoses,  pipes, nuts and bolts, gaskets, seals, chewing gum, you name it, and the box load of auxiliary parts ordered just so nothing interferes with their plan to deliver to me a Defender that will be mightier than before with its 4.6 liter capacity instead of the 3.9 it replaces, thanks to Atlantic British's mission to keep the flame running in these old beloved Land Rovers. Tomorrow will be the real test.  Will the Defender fire up? I just hope that the ECU (computer) doesn't reject the 4.6 engine and that Olaf gets a good night sleep.

By the way, to learn what Olaf does in his spare time when he is not transplanting engines, check out his Facebook page here...impressive..i thought i had my hands full with one dog...


Before i set out for John's Auto Repair this morning, i contacted Scott at Rovers North to see if he could help me resolve the puzzling issue of the mount bracket for the compressor and pulley for my new AC, not critical for the engine, but an important challenge i have to resolve. Thanks to Matt's research, he did. I found and then ordered the part to be flown to FedEx in Bellingham where i will pick it up when i arrive there from the ferry. I will then drive to LaMorna garage, the top independent Land Rover specialist in Seattle, to have  it installed there just in case the weather in the deserts of Utah and Nevada demand an AC. (I find it incongruous to be writing about needing my AC when the temperature outside is my door is  29 degrees right now. But remember, i still have 5000 miles to go on this journey.)

Speaking of freezing weather, Donner and i finally took a walk down really cool Main Street today downtown. What a neat street. I stopped to take a photo of a stature of a pioneer with his pack dog and as i did i recalled that i had taken photos of the same statue with Sonntag in 2000 and Leben and Erde both in 2001 and 2013 as i drove through then-strange Whitehorse on our way to Alaska. In that one instant, it was like i was struck by a lightning bolt full of memories from long ago. After our walk, we had a picnic in Shipyard Park in 28,degree weather and, i must add, it was quite pleasant.

As i pen these words tonight, i have no idea when i will be on the road or how. I have no intention of asking John's Auto Repair when they think the Defender  will be on the road because i want them to do the job i am confident they can do. I have my plans ready to react to whatever result shows up. But whenever it is i am finally on the road again, i can honestly say i will miss Whitehorse.i have come to love this city like i have none other except perhaps my beloved New York (for far different reasons), especially because of its greatest resource, its people. What an absolutely wonderful town this is. Without a doubt, this experience has been the most profound of all my road trips. And if you ever have the good fortune to visit here, and i hope you do, let this be the photo you recall that greeted you..


More tomorrow.






Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 79, Wednesday, Oct 26, day 31 of layover

Day 79, Wednesday, Oct 26, day 31 of layover

The extra parts parcel arrived today. I picked it up at the airport and rushed it out to John's Auto Repair. Included was the distributor gear, the part that apparently caused the whole breakdown. Interestingly enough, although it directly attaches to the engine, it was not included with the engine or the many auxillary parts ordered just in case. Probably it was what caused the distributor breakdown in Quebec and triggered the check engine light.  But this couldn't be known until the engine was removed or someone had the Defender computer to check the codes. 

But this didn't hold things up because there was plenty else for Olaf to do.  But what is holding things up now is that this morning Olaf discovered that they were missing or needed a crankshaft seal. It was too late to order it from Atlantic British in NY for delivery by Friday, so they found one at Land Rover Vancouver and it is being flown here tonight for delivery tomorrow morning. Assuming it takes at least two days to put in the new engine and the other 20 or so parts, and tomorrow's Thursday, and my ferry leaves Monday.....

Another possible snag developed today.  Instead of my writing about it here, see my notes at the below link that I sent to various sources today on the subject. Here's hoping.  It used to be that these pulleys were connected to other pulleys, etc. Let's hope this one affects only the AC.

I think you are getting some sense of how i have to spend a good part of my days. I would not be out enjoying myself in Whitehorse anyway because i do not leave Donner alone for any reason except for errands, although i had to do that twice on this trip, but never again.

By the way, when Travis at John's Auto Repair first diagnosed the problem, he suspected that it was that distributor gear. I opted to go ahead with replacing the entire engine, however, since the labor involved was equivalent in both jobs and that i needed a new engine anyway before my next long road trip. As it turns out, after looking at the engine when it was removed, i needed one now.  The engine was very tired. It served me well for 23 years and 210,000 miles.  Very well, indeed.

More tomorrow. And who know's,  maybe some good news for once.


Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 78, Tuesday, October 25, Whitehorse, Day 30 RRR

Day 78, Tuesday, October 25, Whitehorse, Day 30 of layover RRR

Sixteen degrees F when i got up this morning. Eight inches of snow on ground where i am.  Not cold or snow enough, though, to make me wish for those 85 degree temperatures back in DC, yet anyway. But give me time.

As a habit, i always lock the rental car's doors at night and put the keys immediately in my right coat pocket.  Last night, after dark, i discovered i had not locked the car for some reason. so I reached for the keys, but they were not where they were supposed to be. In fact, they were nowhere to be found. I rushed outside and using my vehicle snow brush, swept the snow on the 40 feet or so i had walked thinking they might have fallen from my pocket. No luck. I then tried to reconstruct my entire steps, starting with why i might have forgotten to lock the car doors. Then i recalled. I quickly returned inside and immediately looked under the bed. The keys were there. What was it that i recalled that led to my finding them after an hour? Let's just say it had something to do my discovering that Donner had helped himself to my just-purchased morning breakfast treat when i slipped the rest room at the Visitors Center for 5 minutes earlier in the day. In either fairness or revenge, i ate some of his cottage cheese, even though i never set it. Surely a sign of cabin fever setting in.

Now that there may be light at the end of the tunnel, i turned in the rental car today.  It really was a lifesaver. An expensive one, but a lifesaver nevertheless.  Aileen at the motel will loan me her red pickup if i need it to run errands. Rather complicated exchange of vehicles  that took 2 hours and involved leashing Donner in my cabin twice for maybe 30 minutes each time.  Of course, when i got back, i found evidence that he did not appreciate that. Enough said.  He Is otherwise a good dog.

It was so cold that when i was cleaning the rental car with those moistened Lysol wipes, they turned to ice when they touched the inside door of the car.

Recall that on Friday morning, I received a call at 11:38 from Matt at John's Auto telling me that at least six more critical parts were needed. Twenty-two minutes later, a record, the parts were on the Fedex truck in NY for delivery Monday here, giving John's Auto just enough time to get the engine and the numerous auxiliary parts installed and road tested by Friday for me to make the weekly Monday ferry. When the Fedex customs agent in Vancouver called me Monday morning at 8:30 for the duties payment, i explained the urgency of the shipment to her, but she was unsuccessful in getting them on the 11:30 a.m. Monday flight to Whitehorse. I then called the Fedex agent here and explained the urgency of the shipment to him, and to save me precious time, he suggested that i meet him today at the airport at 2:00 p.m. so i coukd rush the parts to John's, so i planned to do just that.

I arrived at the airport early today so i would be there when the parcel with the parts arrived. They never arrived.  They, and some other Fedex parcels, were bumped from the once-a-day Air North flight. Too many perishables, I was told, live lobsters mainly, which take precedence.    (i will resist writing whst i wish to write.)  The FedEx agent here assured me that today's bumped shipments would get priority tomorrow, but could not guarantee it. So i walked - limped, actually, with my sciatic nerve issue - into the Air North terminal and learned that tomorrow's cargo load was already full, meaning no doubt that items will get bumped again. I was prepared to buy a round-trip passenger ticket for tomorrow for myself to Vancouver and back and check the parts box as luggage. The Air North rep told me there was no need to do that; all i had to do was to assign custody of the shipment to Air North and they would fly it here as priority-guaranteed, which i did, thanks to Vincent at Air North and Shane at FedEx here. Again, the people here.

This delay of two days is crucial and jeopardizes the Monday ferry for me, a very big problem. Whereas i thought i had plenty of time this week to deal with unexpected things, i have exhausted every bit of that, and it is only Tuesday. Olaf can do nothing more until the new parts arrive.

Would someone please tell me how this saga ends?  If i were writing a novel, i would not have had the gumption or imagination to write so many improbable incidents into it, although in all fairness, some of those incidents were quite pleasant, as is my stay in Whitehorse, but for the reason i am here.

By the way, when i was out at John's Auto today, Olaf showed me the source of my problem, a chewed up distributor gear,  the very part that did not come with the new engine and had to be special ordered Friday.  My guess is that it had been going for some time and was probably the cause of the Defender's not starting sometimes after a rain or stalling occasionally,  and then the problem in Quebec and the slow starts after that. Let me tell you something about these guys at John's Auto, they found this right away. These guys are good.  I sure was lucky this saga unfolded here.


Someone asked, How is Donner doing? While he is somewhat miffed by what is going on with all but one of the elements of his life changing rapidly, he is getting resigned to it.  But, believe me, he is being treated rather well and enjoying himself.  Unfortunately, he does not have the freedom of going off leash anymore as there are too many unleashed dogs in town, but he manages to bark at and react to them well enough.

More tomorrow.








Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 77, Monday, October 24, Whitehorse REVISION

Day 77, Monday, October 24, Whitehorse REVISED 6:30 p.m.


6:30 p.m.


Still snowing. At least 8 inches on the ground where I am. In DC, the city would have shut down long ago. Temperature here is minus 7*C, windchill minut 14. (Thevtemperature in my room with the portabke heater working full blast feels like the high 40's.) Better than Dawson, next town up the rosd, minus 25. Since the temperature will rarely go above freezing for long until April, this snow will be here until then.  Even the people in the city are talking about it. Now do you see why i was anxious to get on that ferry that left four hours ago?  I don't mind driving in this stuff in the Defender, but i don't have the Defender yet and don't trust some of the other drivers.  And if you saw all the tow trucks in the town, you'd understand. The guy who uses the motel as his base hss 75 tow trucks, one for every 370 citizens of Whitehorse. Fortunately, from what i can tell, most drivers here drive responsibly.


4:00 p.m.


Still snowing. I drove into downtown about 3 miles away, wishing i hsd not. While the roads were okay, the snow, now 6 inches or more, picked up. I drove very slowly, not caring what the vehicles behind me were thinking.  Fortunately, almost all the drivers up here are careful drivers. I guess they have to xzxbe.  I hsve never seen so many tow trucks, wrecked cars and broken windshields in my life anywhere. One driver speeding in a parking lot jammed on his breaks heading right st me and skidded  five feet, missing me by just as many.  No matter how carefully you drive, it's the other guy you have to watch out for mostly.


Incidentally, they do not use salt on the roads here, just dirt and gravel.  It's enough to break a guy's windshield or budget, or both. 


Speaking of breaking windshields and budgets. I stopped off at Budget Car Rental and explained the cracked windshield to the manager. Unfortunately, it's a risk you take when you rent a rent a car in the Yukon even though the only thing I did was to clear off the snow and ice off the windshield and turn the defroster on. The manager told me that they have 75 cars in their rental fleet rentals and they replace at least 15 windshields a week here in the winter, 20%. If you look closely around town, rarely do you see a vehicle without a cracked windshield, so i believe him. While I hate taking the hit of $1100, the windshield cracked on my watch, so i accept responsibility. I just hope i can make it out of here without cracking the Defender's windshield. 


The above having been said, i am extremely grateful that Budget Rental  Car was precisely where i needed them, when i needed them, when i pulled into Whitehorse two days after the Defender broke down four weeks ago. I could not have managed as well as i did without that car. It provided transportation, heat, battery recharging and most important, a place to keep Donner off the street when i ran errands. And except for the Ford Escape's habit of windshields cracking, it was an east to handle vehicle and quite comfortable for Donner.


I will probably return the rental car tomorrow or so now that there is light at the end of the tunnel. Aileen said i can borrow her red pickup if i need to. In the meantime, i will stock up and stay close to my cabin these final days, i hope final days.


My extra parts parcel never made it to the plane to Whitehorse today. It took four hours to clear customs. Shane assures me it will be here tomorrow at 2:00. i will be waiting at the airport for it to rush it to John's Auto.  If they discover after noon on Wednesday that still more parts are needed, i am out of luck, good luck, that is.


Here is the 11:00 a.m posting.


11:00 a.m 


Fourteen degrees last night, 17 now at 11:00.  Fifty percent chance of snow. Problem is, it is snowing now.  Temperature will go to 23 today, so I feel better akready. The weekly forecast does not show any temperatures going above freezing. The Yukon winter has arrived in full force, one week earlier than usual. Lucky me. Skagway temperature is warmer, Juneau still warmer, Seattle even warmer.  Washington DC, 67. I have not seen that temperature in two months.


The extra needed parts i ordered on Friday did indeed get out the door on Friday after all, with not a minute to spare. Good catch on everyone's part. They might arrive this afternoon or by tomorrow if all goes well in customs. I just hope that thst customs agent who wouldn't let the charger for Donner's radio collar through is off today. Shane at the FedEx office suggested i meet him at the Air North loading dock at the airport close to where i am and he will toss the package to me so i can rush it to John's Auto. This way i will save a few hours. How's that for service? You do not find thst in the lower 58.


I have to brave the snow and ice and head into town to renew my rental car and resupply. I will be optimistic and stock up on things i might need for the return trip home, shop towels, propane, dog food, dog treats, a new engine, etc.


There will be few photos from here. I ran out of storage space on my ipsd and until i delete some of send my photos to the cloud, i cannot upload many more photos.  I was afraid this would happen.







Ed and Donner, from on the road



Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 76, Sunday, October 23, Whitehorse, day 28

Day 76, Sunday, October 23, Whitehorse, day 28

Cold today. 22. The good news is that it warms up one degree each day for the next six days. It'll be in the teens tonight. It's snowing lightly again now.

I took a drive into the gym and then into town today. Not bad driving. The roads were in good shape, but i drive very carefully.

Despite its cosmopolitan atmosphere, Whitehorse is a small town. Today, i ran into Gary Lewis at Tim Horton's and Matt from John's Auto at the Independent Store. Of course, my circle of acquaintances is expanding every day so i am not surprised this is happening.

I finally got around to transcribing and posting my notes from my journal for five days in Denali, the Denali Diary.  You can read it, for all its worth, at the below link.  It is still unproofed and unedited, so please bear with me on that. I may not have a chance to revise it and add more photos until i get home in late November.


I only had the opportunity to award one On the Road patch today, to Jennifer at the Game Center. She earned hers for being one of the nicest, most personable physical trainers i have ever met, not to mention for having a talented, beautiful daughter, 4-year old Sadie.


Ed and Donner, from on the road

The Dalton Diary, days 34-36, Addendum "The meaning of problematic"

The Dalton Diary, days 34-36, Addendum The meaning of the word, problematic.

Earlier during this trip, i posted (click here) an entry for the three days that  Stefanie, Donner and I spent on the Dalton Highway, the 500-mile dirt and gravel "haul road" that runs from 80 miles north of Fairbanks Alaska to the Arctic Ocean at Prudhoe Bay, which some people refer to as  Deadhorse, as if there was something romantic or intriguing about that name.  I had driven the entire length of that road twice in my Defender, four times if you count both ways since many tourists are driven up but fly back and the drive back is quite different than the drive up. In 2000, i drove the return trip after a snow storm, so i was somewhat familiar with navigating the road in snow, albeit a summer snow, especially the treacherous Atigun pass that divides the North Slope from the spectacular Brooks Range. I recall driving down by straddling both the dirt road and the ditch that borders the road to retain traction under under the right tires.

Below in italics is my original posting for 2:30 p.m. of Tuesday of the diary of that three-day trip, which has now been revised. The bolded sentence, referring to the first quarter mile back down the pass as problematic, was purposefully meant to be vague because Stefanie's parents were reading my blog 8000 miles away and worried that their oldest daughter was taking unnecessary risks with a guy she had met for 10 minutes less than two weeks before on a road featured on Ice Road Truckers and still had a week more to go with this guy and his dog in his Defender. Being the consummate gentleman that i am, I did not want to worry them unnecessarily, mainly because there was no need for them to worry, so i obfuscated. Sure, problematic

Now that Stefanie has survived the trip and is comfortably back in medical school in Germany after her great adventure in Alaska, i can now unveil the mystery behind the word problematic and provide the details.  Beneath the below original posting is the revision with the added details.

ORIGINAL POSTING

2:30 reached the very peak of Atigum pass around parallel 68.10, very close to my goal.  But before we started our descent to the North Slope, we got out of the Defender onto the cold, windy, snowy steep bluff and both agreed that the last few miles would be risk, so, despite being just minutes away from my goal, we turned back, agreeing that the mission was an unqualified success because of our decision.  But, I have to admit,  the cold that followed us up to the top of the pass turned the steep road into a sheet of ice and, let's just say the first quarter mile back down the pass was somewhat problematic. However, the Defender came through nicely, although no other vehicle would have.

GO TO PRIOR POSTING FOR REVISION

Photo below: Ed and Stephanie at the turn around point on Atigun Pass on the Dalton Highway, just 50 miles short of our goal. Page from Stephanie's journal of the trip.





Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 75, Saturday, October 22, Whitehorse, day 28

Day 75, Saturday, October 22, Whitehorse, day 28 

In three hours, i will be just be beginning day 28 of the Alcan saga. Although i have come to like Whitehorse, and hope to return to take advantage of what it has to offer, i am anxious to get back on the road, mainly because I have more than 5000 miles to go to complete this trip, one third of the trip. My hope is thst all goes well with the Defender  next week and i am back on the road on Saturday.

I say Saturday not because of the latest snag with the last minute need for additional parts for tge Defender, but because of the weather. The temperature dropped below freezing last night and is expected to stay there until next Saturday,dropping to the mid teens at night. It started to snow last night and is still snowing now at 3:00 p.m., several inches. Snow is also expected on Monday. It is 27 now. I like snow, and love driving in it, but in the Defender, so i think i will stay put today in my room and read, write and think. 

I wrote and posted earlier Part 1 of "Stuff Happens on the Road, too," which you can find below this posting, so that those who are new to my blogs don't think that this is the first situation i encountered on the road. But i sure wish it were. The only advantage of multiple situations is that they all prepare you for the next one, but this one takes the prize.




Ed and Donner, from on the road

Stuff happens on the road, too. Part 1, OTR 1 and 2 R

Stuff happens on the road, too. Part 1, OTR 1 and 2.

Posted October 22.

The predicament - situation, really - in which i now find myself in the Yukon, is not the first time  time stuff happened to me on the road, or or any of my heavy duty backpacking trips, first mainly in the Shenandoah mountains near my home and then in the wildernesses of Alaska and Russia in the '90s. Stuff happens, at home, in the wilderness, and on the road. Wherever it happens, however, it takes more than the old Boy Scout motto, Be Prepared, to manage the situations, a lot more.

A friend of mine wrote to me applauding my handling my present predicament with equanimity. Another wrote that if anyone can work his way to a solution, i can.  Still another wrote that he has never seen anyone with such discipline as i have shown on my journeys, and let me tell you, that man has known quite a few public individuals with discipline, and at least one very public figure with a lack thereof (sorry, i cannot tell you who that is). While i sincerely appreciate all those comments, i would have to disagree with them, at least in part, but admit that they are on to something that is applicable here.. 

I have long believed that everything we do in life informs what we do afterwards, regardless of what spheres of our lives  those after-activaties occur 

I also have long believed that "there is solution for every  problem" and those who know me know thst i do not give up until I find that solution. Carrying out this mantra started to eat up so much of my time thst I hsd to modify it to read, "there is a solution for every problem worth solving and do not give up if the matter is important." 

Finally, I have long believed that it helps to know your priorities. As practice, i carry around in my wallet a laminated card with a list of my priorities on it, which i revise from time to time. I rarely refer to this list because the simple act of thinking about and then writing them down is enough to impress them upon my brain for recall when i need them, whether the situation be an expenditure, an appointment, a job or a crisis.  I can change these priorities any time i wish , but it helps to have a starting point, especially when an unexpected situation is suddenly  thrown at you, like, for instance, en engine failure of your vehicle on a remote stretch of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon more than 5000 miles from home at the very onset of the Yukon winter.

I know that i am not unique with these three  beliefs or practices, and those of you who share them know what i am talking about. 

Enough prologue. Let me get back to stuff happens on the road.

In 2000, for reasons i explained elsewhere and that have been well documented across the planet, i changed my mode of get-away travel  Since then, i have now taken eight long road camping trips with my dogs, all but one more than 40 days and 10,000 miles, to the ends of the roads in the northeast (Labrador) or the northwest (the Arctic in Canada and Alaska). Here are just some of the unpexpected - and needless to say, unwelcome -.situations in which i or my dogs found ourselves and how we dealt with them. Notice, if you will, some of the similarities among certain key aspects of the incidents. 

On the first road trip (August 2000), with Sonntag, we got caught in a sudden snowfall north of Atigun Pass on the Dalton Highway, the haul road to Prudhoe Bay. My Defender, then seven years old, handled that pass just fine, and we continued our journey down the Dalton just fine, although i navigated that treacherous pass by partly driving in the ditch on the non- drop off side of the road. 

Leaving Anchorage heading for the ferry from Haines Alaska, before i mastered the science of securing things properly on my roof rack, i was just feet away from my target campsite at Lake View Camp on the Alaska Highway, which i was hoped to make before i ran out of  gas in the rain, i ran out of gas. No big deal because i had five gallons of gas in a jerry can on my roof rack, which i quickly poured into my tank and then drove into the camp. But what was a big deal was that when i climbed up onto my roof rack, i noticed that something was not right. As it turned out, somewhere along the 350-mike journey to the camp my wardrobe bag had blown off the roof rack without my hearing it. Needless to say, the next day i stocked up on gas and a whole new wardrobe.

A few days later on that trip, when we were hundreds - maybe thousands - of miles from the nearest Land Rover dealer on our route who could read my Defender's computer codes, my red check engine light came on. Concerned that it might be something serious, later, i diverted my return route to Winnipeg Manitoba where i had the Land River dealer check the codes and my engine. Just a reminder to get my emission controls checked, he said. Relieved, we continued on our way to nearby Birds View campground just north of Winnipeg to spend my first worry-free  night in weeks. Or so i hoped.

As we pulled into Birds View camp, very low storm clouds started to gather directly overhead, so i made record time in setting up camp.  Just as i finished, the rain came. Great timing, i boasted. But so did the thunder and lightning, simultaneously for much of the time, meaning for more than an hour we were right beneath the electrical storm in a tent. Often there was no time gap between the lightning and thunder. I could hear the tent poles cracking with an electrical charge seconds before the lightning and thunder. Sonntag's hair was showing the effects of the static electricity. I tossed everything metal outside the tent, including Sonntag's wheelchair, and huddled with him to reduce our footprint for any stray electrical bolts that might ricochet from beneath. I frantically wrote page after page in my journal as this was happening, not to leave some record of my final profound (and profane) thoughts but to divert my attention from the danger since there was nothing more i could do. After more than an hour, the storm abated and i instinctively ran outside to perform some sort of primitive dance routine to thank the gods for sparing us. 

On my second road trip (2001), this time with my new pups, Leben and Erde, the goal of which trip was to scatter Sonntag's and his sister Kessie's ashes just north of Atigun Pass in Alaska, we took an almost 2000-mile side trip up the Dempster Highway before heading up to the Dalton Highway. (We probably were and still may be the only travelers ever to tackle in three weeks the Dalton and Dempster, the only roads in North America that go to the Arctic Circle and then beyond as close to the Arctic Ocean as you can drive. Who else would even want to?) As we neared Inuvik, the northern terminus of the Dempster, at least 800 miles and five days' drive from the closet vet that I knew, four-month old Leben suddenly started limping badly and continued to do so. I pulled out my satellite phone (there is little or no cell phone service in remote regions of Canada) and called Leben's vet. After she had me go through a few rudimentary diagnostic tests, i was assured that we had several months before treatment would be required. Five days later, a vet in North Pole Alaska confirmed the diagnosis. Reassured, we continued our journey. Six weeks later, back home, Leben was diagnosed with an ununited anconeus and successfully treated for it, just in the nick of time.

Crossing over the splendid Top of the World highway from Dawson City Yukon to the Alaska Highway, we stopped at Chicken Alaska. While there, Leben was getting all set to treat himself to a free meal of Foxtail grass, whose long angel-hair strands contain concealed barbed seed heads to protect the plant from would-be predators, including limping four-month old German shepherd puppies. Fortunately, a local resident caught him in time and warned me of the dangers of a dog's eating it - the barbs get caught in the throat and if not purged require surgery. If it happens, he advised, immediately feed the dog peanut butter to drag down the barbs into the stomach followed by bread to coat the barbs as they pass through the system. Whether this was true or not, i did not want to take any chances so I stocked up on peanut butter and bread. Six days later, on returning from the North Slope, i decided to bivouac for the night at a wonderful spot just north of  Finger Mountain, 12 miles below the Arctic Circle. As soon as we arrived there, I cleverly averted a potential showdown between a lone wolf a few hundred feet away and two unleashed  German shepherd puppies, but the next morning, 200 miles away from a vet, i was not clever or fast enough to divert Leben's attention from the numerous foxtail plants in the area. Within minutes he started to gag and show signs of struggle in swallowing. To make a long story short, guess what Leben had for breakfast?  You guessed it - a course of peanut butter followed by a generous  helping of bread, and it worked.

The rest of that trip was relatively uneventful except for one little incident. On the Alaska ferries, dogs are not allowed on the passenger levels and must stay in the vehickes except for the frequent walks permitted during the four-day voyage or at the ports, so that's where i placed now-almost-six-minth old Leben and Erde, barricaded really, since i have an easily-torn soft top on my Defender, remembering what Sonntag did to the soft top on my Jeep a decade before when i was visiting my friend Margie in South Carolina, i.e., destroyed it while i enjoyed a game of tennis with Margie nearby.  Well, at 6:00 a.m., one or two days into the voyage to Bellingham, the steward got on the loud speaker and announced - pleaded, really - "Will the owner of a small German shepherd dog please return immediately to the car deck; your dog is loose on the deck." Thinking that it could not possibly be one of my dogs, i rushed anyway to the car deck and indeed found Leben (aka Houdini) wandering the deck. I also discovered that the door to the nearby bow of the ferry was open, so that was his lucky day, and mine. How it got out of the vehicle remains a mystery to this day.

To be continued...Part 2, starting with OTR-3, to follow tomorrow

















Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 72, Friday, October 21, Whitehorse ...the engine removed

My 3.9 litter engine just after it was removed from the Defender to be soon replaced by a 4.6 liter.

Unfortunately, while the engine was being removed, Olaf (on the left) discovered that six additional parts are needed.  It is hoped that Brad was able to get them off to FedEx in time for delivery on Monday.  If not, another delay will occur. But there is some slack time remaining before the 10/31 ferry leaves.

The good news is that a serious head gasket leak was discovered in the removed engine, meaning i clearly needed a new engine anyway.

P.s. That's Travis, the shop owner, behind the engine.



Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 74, October 21, Update on my layover in Whitehorse

Day 74, October 21, Update on my layover in Whitehorse, Yukon

As you may know, four weeks ago, on the second day of my long teturn trip home from Alaska, day  48 of the trip, my Defender's engine suddenly called it quits 82 miles into the remote, empty, 310-mile  stretch of the Alaska Highway that meanders through Canada's Yukon en route to the Alaska ferry that would take us back to the lower 48 and more temperate weather. Instead of abandoning the Defender like some weak-kneed captain of a ship, since then we have been camped out in Whitehorse, the splendid -albeit cold- capital of the Yukon, resting, thinking, planning, readjng, plotting, writing, hiking, running errands, barking at dogs (Donner, anyway) and enjoying this unplanned respite in what is probably the best place on earth this could have happened near, waiting for a new engine to be found, shipped and installed so we can get back on the road.

The news today inspiring this update is that my new engine arrived from NY yesterday and is being installed as I type these words. Assuming no more snags, the Defender should be back on the road Tuesdsy, mightier than ever, just in time for us to catch the 10/31 ferry to Seattle. This will put us on the long path back to DC, which we exoect to reach by November 20, 103 days after we set out on this rather interesting, event-filled journey on that very hot day in August. 

As many know, one of the many  reasons I take these trips is to step out of my comfort zone for a time. Little did i realize how far i would step out this time, but we were prepared, so far anyway.

Ed


Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 73, the Defender getting ready for its transplant

That's Olaf on the right getting ready to perform the transplant.



Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 73, Thursdsy, October 20, Whitehorse day 26

Day 73, Thursdsy, October 20, Whitehorse day 26

The saga that started 26 days ago on that darkening, cold, remote, empty, grizzly-inhabited stretch of the Alaska Highway in God's private garden in the Yukon has taken another step forward today, in fact, two steps.

First, Pacific Northwest promised delivery of the engine by noon to Travis, the owner with his charming wife Chantel of John's Auto Repair shop, and they delivered it by 10:00.  Despite UPS's padding the required delivery date with an extra five days, i will give them credit for bettering their restated required delivery date by a few hours.

Second, as i wrote earlier, there was no way that i could expect Travis on less than two days' notice to drop everything in his shop and get to the Defender as soon as the engine arrived, but thst is precisely what he did.  That's the way things are done up in this neck of the woods, people first.  Thank God Whitehorse is so remote because that distance provides some kind of protection against the societal ills that affect all of us down south. This is one of those things you have to experience yourself to believe. It truly is a community here.

Incidentally, there are 35,000 people who live in the Yukon Territory, 27,000 of whom live in Whitehorse.  By far the largest employer is the Yukon government. It truly is a cosmopolitan  town with theatres, art centers, museums. What baffles me though is how such a small community can sustain the many diverse, highly spcialized businesses you see as you drive the easy-to-navigate streets downtown.  You don't need Google here to find a business; just drive the streets.  And as you drive the streets, you have the feeling of another time period, the Klondike frontier era.  Even Starbucks goes along with the theme, but not Walmart.

Ialready changed my ferry reservations to October 31.  Even if Travis told me the Defender will be ready Saturday, i would keep the 31st reservation as i need time to break in the engine.  And i do not want them to feel they are up against a deadline. If this were an oil change, maybe, but not an engine change.  The good news is that Aileen offered to rent me one of her trucks for $40 a day instead if Budget Rental's $100, so my marginal daily  costs are now $65 a day instead of the $267 they would have been had i rented a hotel room and the car.  What a saint that woman is!

For the first time in almost four weeks i can sit back,   relax and wait.  There are probably more than a dozen moving parts in play with this layover at this time and i will just think of them as pieces in a well rehearsed 12-piece orchestra and listen.  As Gary Lewis told me today, i have certainly done all i can do to get back on the road in the Defender, and he is right.

Now i have to go convince Budge Car Rental that i did not purposely destroy their windshield, the weather and Ford's engineers did.

Speaking of the  weather, it is absolutely splendid outside today, clear sky, sun, about 34*F.  I understand it was 85 yesterday back in DC. And people wonder why i take these trips north at this time of the year?

More tomorrow.

Photo...The new engine uncrated.




Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 72, Wednesday, October 19, Whitehorse

Day 72, Wednesday, October 19, Whitehorse, day 23 of the Alcan saga, The Deed is Done

The deed is done.  After speaking with the very efficient and equally personable  Keston of Juneau, I changed my reservation from the October 24 ferry to Bellingham (near Seattle) to the 31st.  

The more thought i give to this matter, the more i am convinced that i have made the right decisions so far, based on the information i had available to me at the time.  In fact, if i had all the information and insight that i now have on that cold, dark night in September on that remote, isolated, empty (except for the grizzlies) stretch of the Alaska Highway in the Yukon as i frantically pointed my satellite phone to the sky looking like some possessed holy man seeking divine inspiration or intervention from the heavens (none came), i would probably have made the same decisions that  i now find myself executing given my goals and constraints.

By the way, during my conversation Keston at the Alsska Ferry, i was relieved when he told me that mine is only another of the thousands of other sad stories he has heard manning the reservation desk at the ferry.  Misery loves company, although i would hardly characterize my stay here in Whitehorse as miserable. On the contrary; a blip on the screen, maybe, but certainly not misery, yet anyway.  But that could change as both the temperature and my bank account go south before i do. (The temperature drops to 13*F Sunday night, the same nighttime temperature it was in Denali in 2013 when we camped there.)

The good news about 10/31 ferry is that it leaves Skagway on Monday night at 8:30 vs. the 2:30 p.m.departure of the 10/24 ferry leaves, essentially  giving us an extra day to get the Defender up and running.  But also, it arrives earlier in the morning in Belingham than the 10/24 ferry does, giving me ample time at LaMorna garage in Seattle that day to get the Defender serviced and checked out by the top independent Land Rover experts there before we get back on the road to finish this rather interesting, eventful journey.

Of course, the reason for the ferry change is the Defender's new engine.  All indications still are that it will arrive in Whitehorse early tomorrow morning after its 1900 mile journey from Edmonton in less than 36 hours (53 miles per hour) and be delivered to John's Auto by noon. I will be there to welcome it to Whitehorse. Travis is expected to start work on it Friday or Monday. If all goes well, the Defender will be back on the road by Wednesday or Thursday.  My hope is that if additional parts are needed, they can be ordered by Wednesday, delivered by Friday morning and installed by Friday night or the following Monday morning to get me on that 10/31 ferry.

If the Defender is not moving on its own steam by the morning of 10/31, that's where Plan B takes over, depending upon the situation.

If the Defender is ready by 10/28, i will drive to Skagway and hop on the that day's ferry to Juneau. I have already spent several days in Skagway in 2001 and 2013 and it would be interesting to see more of Juneau than i saw in 1992 during my only visit there. Among the few moments of that visit i recall was that i patronized  my first Starbucks when i was there, but not to buy coffee. 

If, if, if....still too many ifs for me to just sit back,relax and wait.  

I drove into town today to report the cracked windshield on my rental car to the Budget Car Rental manager but he was not there. My guess is that the combination of the ice on the windshield wipers and the defroster created a ping that started the whole chain reaction. But Will he believe that? I read on the Web that the windshields on these Ford Escapes have been problematic. Does anyone have one?

While in town, i also brought a few bath rugs to keep the floor in my room warm during the coming cold spell since i will be here for at least one more week. Not exactly roughing it, but there's nothing wrong with enjoying the comforts of home during this layover.

Back to Britta, whom i mentioned briefly in my blog last night. Avid readers of my blog  will recall that she was the adventurous 28-year old woman from Germany who was coming up  on the finishing miles of her solo cross-Canada bike-journey whom we met at Pukaskwa campground on Lake Superior on day 20.  Well, she reported to me two days ago that she finished her journey safely, but broke, and is now just down the road from me in Kelowna BC planning her next bike ride from Prudhoe Bay to Colombia or beyond. She sure makes what i am doing look like child's play. Go, Britta. But you will go alone because Donner is not going with you to sleep in your tent this time. http://otr8.blogspot.com/2016/08/day-20-pukaskwa_28.html
More tomorrow, when i will send a picture of the engine. Isn't this exciting?



Ed and Donner, from on the road

Day 71, Tuesday, October 18, Whitehorse (22)

Day 71, Tuesday, October 18, Whitehorse (22)

I was awakened at precisely 6:00 a.m. this morning by the gunning of the cold school bus engines in my back yard and immedistely pulled out my iPad to see the fate of the delivery of my own engine to Edmonton. The drivers not only met their 6:00 promised  delivery, but beat it by two hours. That's 57.17 miles per hour for 829 miles. At last, the final obstacle to my engine's arrival in Whitehorse eliminated.

Or so i thought.

Before i closed up the iPad and was getting to get some more shut-eye, i checkec my email to see if Britta had sent me another emai.  (Forget abut who Britta is for now.). She had not. But my barely opened eyes caught sight of the subject of another email  from a Jennifer at UPS that had arrived at 5:32, URGENT, it screamed at me. Action required. What that email said sent me off on  two-hour frenzy of activity that at times made me wonder if i shouldn't  just chuck the new engine and abandon the Defender like a weak-kneed captain abandoning his ship before its time. 

What Jennifer said in her email was that my engine had arrived but was put into bond (or bondage) and could not move anywhere until i personally found a customs broker who could deal with the myriad customs matters associated with the shipment. I had six hours before i missed the truck to Whitehorse today.  

My first reaction and action was to write her back telling her i had no idea what she was talking about, that i just wanted my beloved engine, that i knew no one where i am, let along a customs broker. Heck, I don't even know where to find a laundromat here. 

My second reaction was to send copies of the email to everyone i knew up here, hoping that one of them would have a friend or relative who knew or was a customs broker.

I will omit the details of the flurry of calls and emails that took place over the next two hours except to say that  Jennifer assured me the process was simple and gave me four names to contact. Others gave me a few more names, all of them spread over various time zones in Canada. I sent pleading emails - SOSs really -  or calls to every one if them even though it was only 7:00 a.m. Yukon time. Two minutes after i sent a nessage to seversl names at Jori Internationsl in Ontario, my phone rang. It was Sarah from Jori International calling to respond to my plea for help.

Sixteen minutes later, and $700+ poorer, my engine cleared customs thanks to very capable and equally personable, as well as dog-loving, Sarah. Minutes after that, Jennifer wrote me to tell me that my engine was on its way to Pacific Northwest. And shortly after that, Marika wrote  to tell me that my engine, unshackled from bondage or whatever, had been loaded into Pacific Northwest's truck, for departure to Whitehorse at 5:00. today for delivery to Travis by noon on Thursday.

Armed with these assurances, i set out for John's Auto Repair 11 miles down the Alcan. Earlier, i had asked Matt there if once i knew a certain delivery date they could start to dismantle the old engine the day before and get ready to install the new one upon its arrival. I knew, however, that there were big ifs with that, but you cannot blame a guy in my shoes for asking.  He saw no reason why they could not, but i knew thst this would be risky for them because they could not tie up one of their three always-full  bays for any non-productive job.  Likewise, i  could not see them dropping everythjng else they were doing when the engine arrived for a one-time customer. Moreover, starting my job even on Thursday would only give them 2 days to do a likely 3-day job and give me no time for test-driving the Defender and them no slack for unanticipated problems, although i ordered enough auxiliary parts to launch a new Defender .

I got my answer almost immediately after i walked into the garage. There were no bays open now for them to start my job tomorrow. Moreover, they had two big jobs already scheduled for Thursday, making it unkikeky that they would get to my job until Friday at the earliest, probably Monday. But Matt assured me that they would get to it early next week.  

So much for Monday's ferry.

Frankly, even if they had three full days to work on my Defender this week, that would not have given them the comfort margin i would have liked to give them nor would it have given me my needed margin for road testing the Defender before i got on my way.  So tomorrow i will change my reservations to the October 31 ferry, assuming there is space left.

Had i known about Travis's tight schedule earlier in the day, would i have had the engine diverted to Seattle from Edmonton and then had the Defender towed to and onto the ferry on Monday and then towed off the ferry in Seattle to the LaMorna garage?  No,.  At the most, that would have gained me only two extra days at greater cost compared to what the situation is now, assuming all goes well.

Lets assume Travis does get to the Defender Monday and finishes it by Wednesdsy.  At least i will not have the big expense of a rental car after that until the ferry on the 31st.  And i can still have my $25 a night room here or move down to warmer Skagway or even Juneau. And i will have the Defender back to combat the elements for me.  And If Travis does run into a snag, well, he would have had that same snag this week, thereby upsetting my plan A anyway. 

The bottom line is that i am here to stay for at least another week before On the Road  8 resumes.

What if the Defender is still not ready  by the October 31 ferry?  Right now, i am not even thinking about that except in broad terms. I take one day at a time. However, if that does happen, pieces of the various plans B will move to  front stage. Who knows, maybe they'll even be. Plan C, move to Whitehorse.

As for the delay of a week due to the need for three days, actually this is where i was last Thursday before i tried to move things up a week, so i really haven't lost anything. In fact, i gained a lot, most important, the knowkedge that up here if you ask for help from someone, you will get it, from everyone. I also got onto Travis's scheduling board for sure. So for five days of hectic activity, i gained a lot.

I also gained a week more of meeting some of the most fantastic people on the planet, although the way outsiders view the citizens of Whitehorse Yukon,  it might as well be on another planet.

Most important of all, i gained one more week of living outside my comfort zone, perhaps enough to make me make some hard decisions when i get back home.

More tomorrow from off the road..


Ed and Donner, from on the road

New engine

Day 70, Monday, October 17, Whitehorse, day 21

Day 70, Monday, October 17, Whitehorse, day 21

Good news. The truck with my engine on it got on the road again today at 1:45 p.m. Jennifer at Canada Cartage assures me that it will arrive in Edmonton at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow and be transferred promptly to Pacific Northwest's terminal in time to catch the 17:00 truck to Whitehorse.  Marica at Northwest Pacific's Whitehorse office has assured me that that truck will arrive in Whitehorse early Thursday morning and be delivered right to John's Auto's front door, instead of his having to pick it up in town himself, as was originally planned, saving a whole day.  This gives Travis two days to install the engine, maybe three if I can persuade him to start dismantling the old engine on Wednesdsy, once we know the new engine is on the truck.  Then, if the Defender is up and running Friday evening, better than before its recent hiccup, I will start to load it on Saturday and return the rental car, and on Sunday break camp here and move on down to Skagway, 
where the weather is supposed to be considerably warmer so Donner and I can  sleep in the Defender at the ferry terminal so we do not miss the 2:45 p.m. ferry on Monday. We will arrive in Seattle on Friday morning and stop off at LaMorna garage to get the Defender serviced one last time and then hit the road again from there, the trip I have yet to plan.

When I get back into the Defender, the first thing I am going to do is to check that red check engine light.  I am beginning to think that maybe it said, chuck engine, not check engine. I never was one for attention to detail.

Of course, I am keenly aware that anything can happen in this chain of events to throw a spanner in these plans, e,g., another truck breakdown, road conditions due to bad weather, and, of course, the unforeseen need for additional parts once Travis takes out the old engine. I am prepared for those things to happen. However, I am confident that they will not and that the Defender will be back on the road very soon with me behind the wheel and Donner sleeping in one of his two beds for the 5500-mile trip home.

The bottom line is that for the time being, I can put aside all my plans B and wait for Plan A to either unfold or unravel, whichever comes first.

I have said it before, but I will say it again,  I am extremely impressed by the personal and professional attention that everyone involved with this (and believe me, I have called on a lot of people) has given to this.  They have all raised the bar for what customer relations is supposed to be, everyone of them without exception.

In the meantime, I am sticking pretty much to my camp in this weather.  With the temperatures during the day going just above freezing and after 5:00 p.m.dipping   well below freezing, I do not want to be caught in that in-between zone and either slip and fall on the ice or skid the rental car into something that would ruin my day.

Speaking of car rentals, I noticed today that the combination of the snow and ice on the windshield of my Ford Escape rental and the heat from the defroster is starting to crack the windshield parallel to and just above  the windshield wipers and dashboard defroster vent.  The last thing in the world I need is to be accused of causing this and have to pay for a new windshield. Does anyone know this to be a problem with Ford Escapes or any vehicles? I never experienced it in any of my vehicles, mainly because their heaters were never known for producing much heat, which is one of the reasons I am anxious to get down to that 48th parallel quickly.

That's the report from the 60th parallel for tonight.  Stay tuned tomorrow for the latest. Every day brings with it new surprises. I really do not need any more surprises.