The Dalton Highway

After about 5 hours sleep in our Chevy Chase Van I walked two blocks to a mechanic shop the tow driver told me about. He told me he could take a look at it and after waiting for a couple hours in the tow yard, another driver showed up and dropped us and the van off. The tranny was shot. Ron called around for a rebuilt - no one in Alaska had one. Called Ford for a new one - 15 days to get it. He said there was a parts store in Fairbanks that had the parts and he could do the work. Wow. To find somebody with the experience to do a rebuild is rare. To find someone who will do it right away is a miracle. And I just happened to walk into his shop!

I have to tell you that all of these places don't look professional. The tow truck driver lives next to his impound lot which has about 30 old, most never to run again vehicles. His house is run down but he is in the process of building a new shop - attached to the house in an L shape. He graciously let us use the bathroom in his old house - a 1970s vintage trailer home next door which he has now abandoned for the newer house/shop. The mechanics yard was about the same except he only has 10 dead cars, a couple snomobiles and several air boats. Two bulldogs greeted me as I entered the lot. Always, always make friends with the junkyard dogs first. Turns out they were friendly.

Our first attempt and break down ocurred on Tuesday. Wed we got the word that tranny was dead. Ron said he could probably start working on the tranny on Thurs or Friday since we needed the van back fast. Cool. The wrecker guy who has owned the wrecker company for 12 years suggested not taking the van on the Dalton because he has seen the gravel damage the tanks of RVs. All the research I had done said no one rents vehicles for use on the Dalton. I would have done that to save the RV. Dave said he had heard one company was dong it now. I called around to rental places and found one that rents trucks to go up the Dalton but none available for 10 days. Another place said they did have a Ford Taurus that we could take up there. No thanks. Rent a Wreck had a small SUV coming back the next morning (Thurs) but we would have to have it back by Saturday since it was going out on Sunday. They rent out Ford Escapes, put on the heaviest Load Range E tires you can buy and give you a spare E tires as well as the donut. Sold. So we rented the Escape at 11:00am on Thursday and began the adventure to the Artic Ocean

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The above picture is the midnight sun at Prudhoe Bay. It was taken at 12:08 am local time.