Subject: Trip Report: Inuvik & Tuktoyaktuk
Hey now,
It is now 1:15 AM, 2 August. Much has past since the last report.
Obviously, we made it to Inuvik. But just barely... It all started
yesterday, before we left Eagle Plains. It rained. A lot. The
Dempster Highway, which is unpaved, became mud. And we slogged on
through. Slip sliding away...
My problems started with a flat tire. Changed it out, using one of
Bob Hoover's spares instead of mine since his were better tires. So
on the road again, when not too much farther Bob hollers at me to
stop. So I stop, and my left rear shock is dangling from the bottom
bolt-the top bolt MIA. Off comes the shock, and we continue, about
50km to Fort McPherson. The road seemed to improve somewhat, so we
decided to continue to Inuvik-most likely place for parts. So I
continued at about 30-40MPH and we played a game of tortoise and
hare- I was the tortoise... So we finally reached Inuvik, pulled onto
the first paved road in over 
400 miles, and life was good. Until I hit the brake
pedal and it felt like stepping on a plum. And the bus didn't stop.
Not good. Pulled over via emergency brake, and inspected. Wasn't real
hard to see the problem, the left rear wheel was covered in brake
fluid. Blew the wheel cylinder because of all the bumping around
without a shock. So we nursed it on into the campground via emergency
brake, and set to work. Went looking for parts, and spent most of
today running about trying to find them. Most of
the
parts shops laughed at me, the rest gave me blank
stares. The end result was that I was unable to find a wheel
cylinder, so I found a plug at Northern Metallic, who were very
helpful, and regretted not having the parts for me. Aircooled VW's
are not a high ticket item in a town that stays around -20 to -40 for
6-9 months of the year. I wonder why... ;-) Anyway, I plugged the
left rear brake line off, bled the whole system, and had brakes
again. Credit is due to Sir Hoover at this point, for his help in
defining the proper sizes of plugs etc. for the repair... Now for the
other part, the shock. Found a fellow by the name of Mr. Gutti
Gudmundsson, who runs Apollo Communications in Inuvik. Satellite and
Radio supplier for the area, and also a car buff. He has a '74 Safare
bus in his yard, and was gracious in allowing me to purchase his
shock. This is *not* a parts bus, it is his project, so I am quite
grateful that he allowed me to do it, otherwise I'dve had to drive
all 400 miles of the Dempster back with no shock... Gutti is not on
the net yet, but likely will be soon, so we should have a new list
member before long. ;-) That'd make 2 in Inuvik! Anyway, Gutti also
let me take his shock mounting bolt, and I'll mail him one from
Texas-Austin VW has about 60+ busses in their yard, that bolt will be
easy to find. Contrast that with Inuvik, where I spent 3 hours going
in circles to every auto parts store, hardware store, and even the
snowmobile dealers trying to find the right bolt. Never did find one.
Next problem-when the bolt worked its way out, it buggered the
threads. Enter Roland, at Inuvik Auto service, who spent half an hour
helping me tap out the mounting hole, at no charge. He also gave
Jorge some grease for replacing his wheel
bearings yesterday, as all
the parts stores were out of high temp grease for disc brake systems.
Three cheers to Roland!!! So, for the last hour or so I've been
taking pictures of the sunset/sunrise from an observation point here
at the campground. The sky is a brilliant orange/red, with a sort of
a cottage cheese texture, and every 15 minutes it gets even better
than before. I've used up about
8
pictures so far this
evening, and several other members of the caravan are doing the same
thing. In fact, Ron took a shot of me typing this report, so when he
gets back I'll post it on my page with these reports. Should add a
little spice to it all.
Today we flew to
Tuktoy
aktuk, and we dipped our feet and whatnot in the
Arctic Ocean. When I was about 4, my dad & I were on a camping
trip up in northern California, and I had a great time skipping rocks
on the river. I called it throwing "Wocks on Yow". Don't know how I
got "Yow" out of water. Anyway, today we threw wocks on Arctic yow.
Kind of a neat experience, added a
touch of nostalgia to the whole thing. It was neat to
do it next to my dad and our new friends-Jorge and Ivette from Puerto
Rico, and John and Dennis from the bay area. And when we took
off
in the Beech 99 from Tuk to return to Inuvik, we
headed south. For the first time in over a month, I was headed
towards home. We have reached
our objective, like those that came before
us, and like them, we are now on the return journey, to those we left
behind. And to the comforts of home. And for me, to Samantha. It will
be a happy reunion.
Peace,
Eddie
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