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Jack Stafford, July 21st
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Journal entries during the "Top of the World Tour" from Vancouver to Inuvik, NWT. This chapter takes me from the Canadian border to Northeast British Columbia.
Sometime in the early hours a car alarm goes off. The infernal noise lasts for 3 minutes or so. Back to sleep. It's real comfortable in the lower bed with flannel sheets and a down conforter. I awake once more to look; the clock says 11. For a moment I suspect it's 11 pm and I was only asleep for less than an hour. Shaking the sleep out of my head I take the stairs out of the parking garage to the lobby to see the midday sun. I would come to envy this darkness in a week or so.
I waited in Tobin & Christa's apartment to mind the phone while he replaced his oil breather gasket. Eddie had phoned yesterday and could not cross the border. He was expected to phone again and I would take a message. Tobin returned from servicing his van to mind the phone. This let me loose on the streets of the West end of Vancouver. I walked over to Davie street for a late lunch, buy some laundry soap and do some girlwatching. The brunettes vastly outnumber the blondes in this city.
Tobin drives to the peace arch border crossing to help Eddie get into Canada. While he's away the rest of the V@L folks enjoy a cocktail party as the sun sets over the bay. We're all here and ready for the first day of driving to Inuvik. I sleep another night in the parking garage cave.
We all lined up and drove to Stanley Park for some photos. A seaplane lifted off behind the row of type2s. We crossed the Lion's Gate bridge then highway 99 north to Squamish and Whistler. This is alpine country with lots of rivers. The mountains are topped with snow on glaciers.
After numerous stops and starts we arrive at Lilooet for lunch. At the highway junction is a small park next to the Fraser R. I take a dip just to cool off. The coastal range gets most of the rainfall so it's dry and warm in the interior. I found free hot showers after freezing my earlobes off in that river.
A dirt road takes us from Pavillion toward Downing Provincial park. One of the water-cooled Vanagons overheated on an uphill section. A green Westy seems to have stalled. I can hear bubbles being blown into the fuel tank. When the fuel cap is removed the vacuum sucks air in and the VW runs again. My starter solenoid hangs up so I bump start. Up ahead on the dirt road I find what looks like a heater duct so I grab it and continue onward in pace with the convoy.
Another stop in Clinton, then we begin to pick up the pace a little. For most of my travels I drive alone, so this convoy thing is new. One of the things that irritates me most is the lack of a constant speed. I'm not expecting a fully laden camper to do steady 60 mph down AND UP hills, that's silly. But when we're on flat, level ground the pace car in front drives anywhere from 45 to 60 mph. You'd think we were breaking in a new motor. A constant speed will improve fuel mileage, determine your ETA more accurately and most important, other drivers can predict what you're going to do as they negotiate across or around you. Just like in a boat or aircraft, pick your course and speed then hold it. Odometer 237,361 miles.
A stop at Williams Lake near the A&W Root Beer restaurant. A couple other VW busses in the parking lot that didn't start with us in Vancouver blend in with the dozen in our convoy. T2 owners have a kind of comradery and this looks like a convention. Wilbur is a local in a brown split window camper who owns some land up the road. He offers us a camp in a field of his. He prefers sleeping in his brown VW to the house in the summer so he joins us for a camp in the field. It's been a long first day so I turn in.
We all breakfast, then Caron makes little flower wreaths for the campers. Even the guys are wearing these halos on their heads. Each camper slogs through a mud hole and back onto the paved road for Prince George.
The VW dealer in Prince George performed an oil change service on many of the vehicles. This was arranged by Coyote and VWoC picked up the tab. I was reluctant about letting the dealer touch my mothership but as I saw the shop and the personnel (using torque wrenches on drain plugs) I decided to go ahead and let VW do it. Since the group was on the way UP to Inuvik VW may have had a stake in our success. I'd have felt wary had this been on our way home. I'm just naturally suspicious of VW dealer service. Some T2s were advised that other service was required after the oil change. My VW needed the alternator belt tightened.
The group splits into two pods. Some are still in the que for dealer service, others are seeking port-o-pottie chemicals, etc. I lead for a while at a rock steady cruise of 55 mph. Some folks following report their best fuel mileage thus far. At Heart Lake we find Bob H. on the CB channel 2. He has reserved some campsites for us. Ivette and Jorge drove all the way from Puerto Rico. We share adjacent sites just as in the concrete parking garage in Vancouver.
My accelerator pedal has been sticky the last couple days so I get underneath to have a looksee. The pushrod from the footpedal to the bellcrank is covered with a beard of hair, dust and old grease. The Z-bend on the end of the cable is removed from the bellcrank, then I clean the linkage, lubricate and reattach the cable. It's silky smooth again.
Ivette, Jorge and I make a single fire to share. Listening to music and a couple beers after dinner. Christa dubbs us the "party animals" of the group. We stay up after dark, though we're not the only ones. Coyote and John come get us to watch the lightening and clouds that are approaching. This is a most impressive display. When the lightening flashes, the outline of the mountains and the pillow of clouds between are backlit for an instant. It rains overnight and the sound calms my sleep.
Woke at 7am to a cool and wet camp under sunshine. Bladder at maximum psi, I search for the bathhouse with the toilet and shower. Shower's closed this early so the outhouse will do for now. The sun is warming up the asphalt and it steams in the early light.
We all are ready to roll by 8 or so. There's a dam at Hudson's Hope that is the largest in Canada. We take the tour of the W.A.C. Bennett dam. Their Sink Hole Investigation Team says they're not in danger of losing the dam due to the sinkhole found. The dam is running 8 of 10 generators and sluicing off some of the lake as "free water". The spillway shoots a roostertail over the river below for the first time in 8 years.
We drive north to Fort St.John and fiddle around. Tobin and Eddie stop at a junkyard to find parts and I head north to rejoin the rest of our party. On the way to Ft.Nelson I break away out front of the group. Alone. That speeding up and slowing down on level ground nonsense is driving me nuts. The only other one in our group I see is Coyote and he's leaving a vapor trail away from me.
I did not refuel in Fort St.John and I worry if this fuel will get me to Ft.Nelson. Can I make it past Pink Mountain on this fuel? Should I stop at Sikanni Chief? I roll onward trying to be as efficient as possible with my remaining gallons. A blue sign says fuel 2 klicks ahead. A red Vanagon kombi pulls in for diesel. It's outfitted with a high roof, canoe, jerry cans, etc. The German drivers had it shipped over the pond for their holiday. They say the road to Inuvik is not bad at all. The German fellow whips out a copy of Coyote's web page itinerary. The rest of the crew files in to the filling station and gas up.
We arrive at Ft.Nelson's West End RV Camp and Mini-Golf. This is really a big trailer park with full hookups. Hot showers, but I'll be much happier "roughing it" in a Provincial park w/o all these services. The front office has a trophy room filled with road kill taxidermies. From Cougars to chipmonks it's all here. At midnight it's still dusky and the moon is waxing up. As we head further up the continent it'll get lighter longer and we'll miss the aurora boralis. I tuck in for the night listening to Art Bell's radio program, broadcast from Seattle. Odometer: 237,688 miles. I'm getting 18-20 mpg depending on how much uphill travel.
Jack (stafford@alloth.hac.com)
