20030714                   Open new window with today’s pictures.

July 14, 2003
Monday


Start:   Guggieville RV Park, Dawson City YT
End:     Tok RV Village, Tok AK
Miles:   191
Hi Temp: 79.9
Lo Temp: 50.4


We got up at a reasonable hour.  Then we looked at the sky (overcast, low clouds). Dolores really wanted good visibility for our trip over the Top Of The World highway.

So, we went into the head-shed and modem and brought up the weather forecast from Weather Underground. It said cloudy, but bases at 7500' and some sun. It also forecast rain for Tuesday and yuk for Wednesday.  The next decent day would be Thursday.  We decided to go.

We hitched up, dropped shore power and headed downtown.  We got into the RV line for the ferry, George M Black. We had to wait one cycle before we got on, but that's not long.  We drove off on the west side of the Yukon and headed uphill.  We went up and up and up some more. When we finally got to 4,000 feet, we headed west along the ridge.

The Canadian part of this road wasn't too bad, but was worse than last time. Paved, with many potholes, and quite a few sections with gravel spread onto it to smooth it. But it rained; then it would let up a little and rain some more.  Visibility was anywhere from a couple hundred yards to a mile.  Dolores was angry.

About 70km from Dawson, the low clouds went away and left only high clouds with some sun breaks.  Visibility improved.  So did Dolores. We started taking pictures of scenery and flowers.

We checked back into the USofA at customs. The decent road disappeared immediately, leaving a sand and gravel road with potholes and washboard effect. We had been doing 45mph; that dropped to 30mph.  We weaved and zigged around as many of the holes as possible.  About 40 miles into the US, we reached Chicken. There are three tourist/money separators here, but we didn't need fuel or food and kept going.

The road improved. It was now topped with chip-seal.  We could now go faster and hit the potholes harder. It was a slight improvement, though. About 10 miles after that, the road covering went to real macadam, and one could scurry along (until you hit a frost heave). We reached Tetlin Jct, at the Alaska Highway, and turned right.  Twelve miles later, we entered Tok.

Here, the road splits. You can go straight ahead to Delta Jct and Fairbanks.  Or you can turn left and go to Valdez or Anchorage. But everyone entering or leaving Alaska goes through Tok. The only reason for Tok is to serve travelers. The place is full of motels, restaurants, RV parks, grocery store, fuel stations, auto/RV repair places, and that sort of thing.

We checked in at our RV park (we'd been here before).  We immediately turned the rig to the RV wash in the park. We scrubbed and pressure-blasted the truck and the trailer for a half-hour or more. We still didn't get all the mud and dirt off them. The truck is still somewhat yukky, the trailer is almost clean.

While I was scrubbing the truck, I found the front end of the auxiliary transmission cooler tilted downward. This has happened before.  It's held up with four well-nuts, a combination of bolt and vibration isolater/nut.  The problem is that if you travel very far that way, the others could break loose and drop the cooler onto the pavement, with loss of transmission coolant and potential transmission burnout.

Then we took the trailer to our site and set it up.  While putting down the back legs, my jury-rigged wrench for lowering the back legs broke again. I got under the truck to confirm that only the well-nuts were needed. That was all I could see that it needed. Then it started raining, so I couldn't work on the truck anymore.

I knew I had one well-nut but not exactly where it was hiding. We went next door to the hardware store, where I found screws to re-jury-rig the wrench, but no well-nuts.  We went to eat at Fast Eddie's, one door beyond the hardware, and had a good late lunch. Across to an RV fixit place, no well-nuts. Down to the grocery store and got a few items. Then to NAPA; no well-nuts.  Another RV fixit place, no well-nuts. The rain quit.

Back to the little house in the large campground.  Dolores put things away while I tore up the bins in the truck until I found the little bag containing, not one, but three well-nuts!!  Hallelujah!

I got back under the truck with wrench and bottle-jack and well-nuts.  I got the well-nuts lined up, and lifted the front end of the cooler with the 8-ton bottle jack (severe case of overpowering the problem, but I needed *something* to hold up the front end of the cooler). Then I took up on the nuts and they did what they're supposed to do, spread out inside the frame and hold the cooler up. In concept, they're equivalent to a togglebolt in the house.

Then I re-jury-rigged the wrench.  Then I opened a beer, drank it, made reservations for the next two nights in Kenny Lake, took a shower, got out the computer, went to the laundry to connect and get the e-mail, and here I am - doing the notes and about to send these notes (no internet after tonight for a few days).

I think I'll have another beer.