CAPTAIN’S LOG - DAY 2
North Star Date: 11/28/2012
Location or Route: Destruction Bay, YT to Whitehorse, YT.
Total Miles: 162 (589 Cumulative)
Weather Conditions: Cold and Clear. No Wind.
Road Conditions: Mostly well-graveled snow and ice pack.
9:11 AM (-27F/-33C)
Just after 5:00 AM I got up to pee. The furnace was blowing lukewarm air; is that a correct term? We had only been in bed for about four hours and it was fitful sleep at best. The block of ice under the sleeping bags, also known as a foam mattress, had throughout the night continuously sucked precious heat from our bodies.
The driver of the semi-truck parked next to us had left his probably-warm motel room about an hour earlier to start his truck not less than 12 feet from our heads and had left it running for about twenty minutes before he went back to his probably-warm room. The motel office was closed when we had arrived last night – not that we would have wussed out and taken a room anyway – especially since it wasn’t minus 33 degrees, and we had a furnace ‘mind you! But now, the furnace was blowing lukewarm and turning colder. I figured the propane tank was empty so I dressed and stepped outside to swap tanks.
Before going to bed, Ruth had used her hair dryer to heat the inside surfaces of the sleeping bags, and it had worked great. You have to picture this thing. It’s a “Tim-the-Tool-Man-Taylor” model with three heat settings: WARM, HOT and BLAST FURNACE. Using the highest heat setting and the higher of the two fan settings: NORMAL and JET-ENGINE, we warmed up those sleeping bags right fine.
Unfortunately, the mattress beneath the sleeping bags didn’t get the memo. During the night, I used the hair dryer several times to try and warm certain areas of the bed, as I was on the outside perimeter - and furthest from the furnace. Also, with a greater amount of body weight, I had more surface area compressing the sleeping bag fabric, putting myself into closer contact with the ice block!
Upon swapping propane tanks, the furnace wouldn’t re-ignite. In MacGyver-like troubleshooting fashion I tried to light the stovetop with a match - and a paper clip - because butane barbeque lighters don’t work at these temperatures, and I guess that’s why we only have three on hand. While trying to light the stovetop, in an attempt to expel the air-bubble from the propane line caused by a tank changeover, the match wouldn’t even flicker!
After trying about 20 matches that wouldn’t flicker, and with mumblings of “come on baby light my fire” coming from Ruth over in the corner in her cold-induced delirium, I stuffed the hair dryer into the outside propane tank compartment and attempted to warm the liquid propane enough to improve gas flow. Setting the controls to the “BLAST FURNACE – JET ENGINE”, I closed the compartment door. It didn’t take too long before we concluded the propane line itself was probably frozen too and we knew our night was over.
Using the hair dryer, we began the initially effective, but eventually fruitless, task of satisfactorily heating the plastic windows in the soft-sides of the camper enough to drop the top without cracking the plastic. I heated the windows and swabbed the now liquid ice with a towel while Ruth made coffee. But with both appliances running, the amperage load was too great and we tripped the breaker on the truck stop outlet.
I got the boots, coat, hat and gloves back on and stepped outside to swap electrical outlets; we tripped another breaker. Now, on the last available outlet, we allowed the coffee maker to finish its important task while we placed the heater (hair dryer) into temporary shut down mode. On one of my outside forays I walked over to the now open convenience store and restaurant to let them know about the breakers and to see if they knew what the temperature was. MINUS 33! – albeit in Centigrade, which is -27F. The woman told me it was -33, so I assumed it was -33C, because we are now in Canada and they speak Canadian here, and that must be what the C stands for.
Like a bad 1960’s sci-fi movie, or Steven King’s “The Landoliers”, the minus 33 degree monster had caught up with us while we slept! It had consumed us in the night, just as we had let down our guard. The Amoeba-like monster had engulfed us and caught us with our top up! Yes – when we dropped the top we heard cracking. I guess we’re just doing our parts to create business at our local canvas shop in Wyoming.
The truck had been plugged in and I had started the vehicles earlier. Now they had been running for quite some time and after packing things up and getting the camper ready to roll we wandered over to the restaurant for breakfast; we had officially wussed out. Sausage and eggs for me and a spinach omelet for Ruth, we took a moment in the warmth of the restaurant to compile pictures and logs, upload photos and send email, brush teeth; then we hit the open road.
8:10 PM (-27F/-33C)
We just returned from the Gold Pan Saloon and Restaurant – at our hotel – where we had a fine meal of a steak sandwich for me and a spinach and Chicken Alfredo pizza for Ruth. Did I mention Ruth likes spinach? Upon entering, we had spied the only available seating, at a table near the opening of the mine shaft-like entrance, and excitedly took a seat, even though there were ample residuals left on the table by the previous occupants - apparently overlooked by the service staff. We soon discovered the why-fores of the table’s vacancy however; whenever somebody came or went an arctic blast would hit us full brunt, and it was a busy night – “Wednesday Night Hot Wings” and apparently the locals know about it.
So now it’s time to get some sleep. We chose the Gold Rush Inn, an historic downtown Whitehorse hotel – the same place we stayed on our way up here three years ago – for a chance to regroup and examine our options now that the minus 33 degree monster had won his battle over we mere mortals. This will be our first night in a real bed in almost a month since we sold our bed back in Fairbanks.
The drive from Talbot Arm to Whitehorse was uneventful and held beautiful clear skies and amazing scenery in bright sunshine. Ruth began to get the impression from all the sunlight that the outside temperatures had warmed, but was rudely reminded at every outhouse stop that we were still in the arctic north.
Roads were mostly clear with patchy hardpack and we were able to keep highway speeds at about 90 – that’s kilometers – which is Canadian for miles and equates to about 55 mph. Interestingly, we discovered ice-road truckers are not bound by any such speed limit laws.
Whitehorse is named after an adventuresome horse some 250,000 years ago that migrated here from southern regions. His coat became frosted over and ever since, all his offspring have had genetic permafrost coats, giving off a peculiar white cast in the dim arctic light.
We’d parked in the “extended-length vehicle” section of the hotel parking lot – which is about three miles away – quickly grabbed our essentials and made a mad dash for the lobby. After we paid for our room the desk clerk told us we couldn’t shower for a little while because maintenance personnel were doing their best to repair a main water line leak. Huh! You couldn’t tell us that before we paid?
We got into our room and began unloading the frigid contents of our bags, watching in a moment of panic as the room air temperature dropped a full 10 degrees before settling out. Our shampoo and conditioner were frozen – guess they get that a lot up here because they had shampoo and conditioner dispensers hanging on the wall of the shower. Our hand lotion – an essential item in anybody’s arctic survival gear – was frozen, but the hotel again came to the rescue. They had these cute little lotion samples in teensy-weensy bottles. You’ve seen these before, they are the same as the ones you put in your luggage whenever you check out of a room and throw away when you get home. Our toothpaste wasn’t frozen as we have taken to carrying it on our bodies in an inside pocket alongside our water bottles.
Eventually the hotel water was restored; we showered and made our way downstairs to the mineshaft for supper.
Day 2 Pics
