Ruth and the sunset at the island of Dhiffushi, Maldives.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Kuwait City, Kuwait on March 31st.

Sunday, June 10, 2018

We don't really have a schedule to keep

We actually slept in yesterday morning. And again this morning! Partly due to the fact that we were up late the night before, but also due to the fact that it's light out well up to midnight. In fact even after midnight, there is still light in the sky. So it does tend to mess up your system a little bit because even after 11:00pm you don't feel like you should be going to bed yet because it's still light out.

Normally, we go to bed between 10:30pm and 11:00pm, and are up around 6:30am. But lately it's been closer to 11:30pm for bed, and we don't even really notice that we're staying up later than normal.

Oh well. Doesn't matter really, because we have no schedule to keep!

Yesterday, Art and Jean took us in their truck for a general tour around town. As I said yesterday, they've lived here in Whitehorse for 47 years so they know the town and the area really well. It was kind of raining on and off all day so we didn't really stop and take many photos of the town. Ruth and I will go back in on our own time tomorrow (when the sun is supposed to be shining!) and have a closer look at the things that piqued our interest.

They also took us to a couple of shops where I can maybe get this little welding job fixed on Sherman. We have an appointment at one place for 8:30am Monday morning, so hopefully they'll be able to do something for him.

Whitehorse, Yukon.

Miles Canyon. 
Lots of hiking trails in this area, so we will go back to the canyon another day.

Back at Sherman for a late lunch, and then I had a nap. 

Jean made a delicious barbecue chicken dinner for us, and we before we knew it, we had wasted the evening away.

Raining again this morning, but we are promised better weather starting tomorrow that is supposed to last all week. :-)

The goal of this trip is to make it up to the Arctic Ocean at Tuktoyaktuk. The road was only completed last November and they've had to close it for a couple of weeks due to excess mud. It only re-opened last week, and they've put a 5,000 kg weight restriction on it for now. Some RV's have already begun arriving though, and it appears nobody is enforcing the weight restriction.

Also interesting is that the village of Tuktoyaktuk knew that the road was going to be open, yet they didn't put any infrastructure in place to accommodate the tourists. Go figure. Doesn't matter to us, because we are self sufficient. 

This is an interesting recent article about the situation...


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The big 8 qt Instant Pot is at a record low price today...


And in Canada...





23 comments:

  1. It will be interesting too see how you are treated once by the Arctic Circle. I traveled to Kotzebue, Alaska in 1994 as they decided to try and attract tourists to the area. I went on an Alaska Airlines escorted tour. I'd traveled many places but never felt so unwelcome in a place before. We were also told not to leave the motel unescorted. Apparently the native corporation decided they wanted tourist dollars but we're not too keen on having strangers in their hamlet.

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    1. Sorry that you had a bad experience up at the Arctic Circle. We are hoping to have a good experience and be able to learn more about the culture and way of life of the people when we get up there. We haven't heard of any bad experiences from traveler's but I don't expect that they have a high tourist presence up there.

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  2. "No Schedule, No Reservations" is our motto when we travel and we would have it no other way! You have just had many months of having to keep up to (and catch up to) a schedule so it is time to just put your feet up for a few days here and there and relax without feeling bad about it!

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    1. Yes, exactly... thanks for the reminder Croft! Totally enjoying the trip!

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  3. I just read your linked article. Wow! Nothing done to make Tuc a little more RV (or tourist in general) friendly! Maybe just concentrate on the essentials for now, a dump site, water tap and propane sales would be enough to serve 90% of the RVers that make it up there. Pure luxury would be a place to park with 20 amp power. If I lived up there I would quickly clear out a corner of my yard, put in a dump and a 15-20 amp extension cord and cash in!

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    1. Yes, you would think that it wouldn't take too much to make things comfortable for the few RVers that they would get up there but then again, I would expect that the ones going that far up are the adventurous ones and are prepared to boondock, the ones driving up in a car may have a more difficult time though. Maybe a few people up there should get on to AirBnB, they could also do very well.

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  4. We used the black out curtains in our hotel to sleep but it didn't always work. Like you said your body wants to stay up while there is still light outside. I was exhausted when I got home. Beautiful picture of Miles Canyon. OMG I had read and looked at google satellite images of the highway to Tuktoyaktuk. It looked like it was gravel, grated road. I thought of spring thaw and the mud, water that comes with it but didn't comment. I was thinking the images might be old images before the highway was finished. Apparently, the highway is not completely finished but engineers signed off on it as complete for tourist travel. The road pictures show deep ruts, mud, sinkholes where highway was damaged due to over weight vehicles traveled through. The road actually looked worst than Canol Road from pictures. I don't know how they fixed it but the road is not re-opened with weight restriction. An article says they have vehicle inspections periodically for weight compliance. If they find you over weight, you can fined. I see Class B RV that have made it but no Class C that I could see. Maybe they weight more and have lower clearance...I don't know. Good luck getting through the highway. My experience is winter starts early and suddenly. One week we were there and the next week the place was buried in deep snow. Safe travels.

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    1. P.S. the most current article is dated 6/8/18 with pictures of road condition (rutted, mud, potholes) at the time.

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    2. Right, but the article also says they expect the weight restriction to be lifted within three weeks.

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    3. And, the rutted mud photo was from May when they closed the road to all traffic.

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  5. Love following your adventure. I have an uncle that's lived in Whitehorse my entire life but I've never been there :-)

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    1. Looks like it is about time that you make a trip up here to visit him before it is too late. You won't be disappointed, we guarantee it! :-)

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    2. One day :-) I have another friend up there right now from BC, lots of the pictures you posted in the last post she's also posted on Facebook the last 2 days - too funny!

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    3. Yep, there are probably all the main attractions up here. :-)

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  6. Hahaha what do you mean, no schedule to keep? You gotta get above the Arctic Circle (latitude 65.8256°N) by 3:07am on the 21st or you will miss the 24 hours of sunlight! The solstice waits for no one lol.

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    1. As you have already discovered we actually have lots of time to see the never ending daylight up there. :-)

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  7. Oops, make that 66.5608°N---a Google search of "Arctic circle latitude" does not ostensibly yield the correct result. And apparently due to atmospheric refraction you should be able to glimpse the Midnight Sun anywhere above 66°N. Tuk's at 69.4.

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  8. Wait, it gets better, no need to rush after all. Since Tuktoyatuk is several degrees above the Arctic Circle, you could wait til July 24 to get there and still experience 24 hours of daylight. (Must be awesome to see!)

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    1. We can't wait to see this happen, a definite must experience! :-)

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  9. I'm looking forward to your blog towards Tuk as that is on our bucket list for next summer. Safe travels!

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    1. Fingers crossed that the road will be open and in decent shape.

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  10. Perhaps the residents of Tuk don't really want any tourists? I imagine that people who live in isolated villages, especialky Indigenous people, might be leery of the changes tourism can bring to their tiny community. Kathy McGuire

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    1. That is a possibility, I guess we will see if we are able to make the drive there. We do agree that the changes can definitely have an effect on them and it isn't always for the best.

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