We were awake at 4:20 AM to Full Daylight.(5/28/14) Have not seen any darkness of night in the past few weeks nor will we for a few weeks more. We were on the road again at 5:45 AM. Engineers Creek is a Provencial Park and only cost $12/night, we would be back here again tonight as it is slow driving up to the Arctic Circle and back to the road junction of the Alaska Highway. (this camp was the only one open at this time on Dempster and was at 120 miles from the jct as well.) The round trip to the Arctic Circle sign post is 500 miles! Not very far up the road I got my moose photo opportunity. A moose came onto the road. Bob stopped. The moose stared us down as I clicked photos. The moose started to move again so Bob let off the brake and began to roll forward. The moose stopped again and stared us down. Bob stopped. The moose moved off into the woods having made the point that this is his turf!
We continued on to 7 Mile Hill. This brought us out of the valley with the surrounding hills and odd formations. We went up to the top of the ridge and spent the rest of the trip north in the higher elevations. We went above the tree line again for a while. The view was fantastic! Then as we crested a hill the road dipped to the left and there was a small series of ripples (washer-board) in the road that Bob didn't see. He was going 40 mph down it. The left rear tire, with extra weight on that side because of the slant of the road began to vibrate against the rough surface. Before he cold brake, IT happened! The rear tire blew. The sidewall apparently blew out completely. What a drag!
Because of the downhill lie and the slope of the road we had to be careful. We had to take the camper off to get to the spare tire. The tools and equipment Bob brought came in handy!
Being careful to get the camper straight with the front as high as the back, Bob was able to drive out from under the camper. After that changing the tire was fairly easy although we had to almost empty the cab of the truck to get to everything we needed.
The whole process took 2 1/2 hours. We were 150 miles down the dirt road with no services for anther 50 miles and the Arctic Circle another 25. At Eagle Plains we could gas up and perhaps they would have a tire our size. (Unfortunately not-and we had to be especially careful all the rest of the way up and all the way back.) That meant 325 miles over dirt road that had already claimed one tire with no spare to spare! Bob needed to go into "damage control". He would only travel at 25/35 mph. We cannot loose another tire. We continued on to the Arctic Circle and spent about 30 minutes getting pictures and reading all the interesting information on the board postings.
After a 5:45 am start, and only 130 miles covered it was now 2:15 pm. We headed out hoping to get back to the campground we had stayed at last night. There were no services, but at only $12 it was a nice quiet setting. There were many rougher spots which slowed us down further on the return as the graders were out doing large stretches today. (we even had to slow to 5 mph!) We stopped around 6 pm for a nice salmon dinner, at a rest area and could put our "stinky" little trash bag in the bear proof container at that rest stop before heading into our campsite for the night. (didn't want to attract the locals!) We had seen only 1 camper heading south as we were going north. On our return south we saw 2 campers going north. No one came up behind us all day. Not much traffic up here this time of year. About 20 miles from our campground we came upon a small camper van pulled over with a flat. We stopped to help but he said he was all set. We told him about our experience, he had been going 45/50 mph. He did have 2 spares though, he said he would re-think his ideas on proper speed! We got back to the campground at 8:15 pm. Making 14 1/2 hours on the road. Two 16 ounce Rainier's hit the spot!
We continued on to 7 Mile Hill. This brought us out of the valley with the surrounding hills and odd formations. We went up to the top of the ridge and spent the rest of the trip north in the higher elevations. We went above the tree line again for a while. The view was fantastic! Then as we crested a hill the road dipped to the left and there was a small series of ripples (washer-board) in the road that Bob didn't see. He was going 40 mph down it. The left rear tire, with extra weight on that side because of the slant of the road began to vibrate against the rough surface. Before he cold brake, IT happened! The rear tire blew. The sidewall apparently blew out completely. What a drag! 
Being careful to get the camper straight with the front as high as the back, Bob was able to drive out from under the camper. After that changing the tire was fairly easy although we had to almost empty the cab of the truck to get to everything we needed.
The whole process took 2 1/2 hours. We were 150 miles down the dirt road with no services for anther 50 miles and the Arctic Circle another 25. At Eagle Plains we could gas up and perhaps they would have a tire our size. (Unfortunately not-and we had to be especially careful all the rest of the way up and all the way back.) That meant 325 miles over dirt road that had already claimed one tire with no spare to spare! Bob needed to go into "damage control". He would only travel at 25/35 mph. We cannot loose another tire. We continued on to the Arctic Circle and spent about 30 minutes getting pictures and reading all the interesting information on the board postings.
After a 5:45 am start, and only 130 miles covered it was now 2:15 pm. We headed out hoping to get back to the campground we had stayed at last night. There were no services, but at only $12 it was a nice quiet setting. There were many rougher spots which slowed us down further on the return as the graders were out doing large stretches today. (we even had to slow to 5 mph!) We stopped around 6 pm for a nice salmon dinner, at a rest area and could put our "stinky" little trash bag in the bear proof container at that rest stop before heading into our campsite for the night. (didn't want to attract the locals!) We had seen only 1 camper heading south as we were going north. On our return south we saw 2 campers going north. No one came up behind us all day. Not much traffic up here this time of year. About 20 miles from our campground we came upon a small camper van pulled over with a flat. We stopped to help but he said he was all set. We told him about our experience, he had been going 45/50 mph. He did have 2 spares though, he said he would re-think his ideas on proper speed! We got back to the campground at 8:15 pm. Making 14 1/2 hours on the road. Two 16 ounce Rainier's hit the spot!
That's the best part of adventure...living on the edge. Seriously, when something like that happens we always feel like...What if? When we went all the way up to Inuvik, NWT we deliberately followed a semi for 150 miles at 25 mph. We didn't blow any tires and at the time only had one spare tire. I now carry two spares when I'am out in the boonies. Did you stop at Tombstone Territorial Park?
ReplyDeleteNo, Where is the Tombstone Territorial Park? Fortunately in Fairbanks we were able to get a little used tire, identical to ours as a spare. And only $86 including two new valves and two mountings. (to get our spare back on or steel rim, our "new spare" is now on the matching rims.)
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