Day 35 – What Kind of a Rig is That?

You might ask, “What kind of vehicle do I need to travel up north? Well, we saw all kinds. Some vehicles we hadn’t seen on the our last trip up north. 

There were some huge 6-wheel customized motorhomes that were shipped over from Europe. We thought they might be designed for travel in the African desert, but they camped in the same campgrounds that we did, and they wouldn’t have fit into some of the boondocks spots that we stayed in. 

We saw lots of regular pickups with campers.
Other campers were either homemade or customized.

 

We also saw some unique combinations like this camper on a trailer and a camper pulling a trailer.

The Fairbanks Walmart was a virtual campground after 6PM with every type of vehicle you can imagine parked there. It was almost like an RV show, but without all the glitz and glamour of sparkly clean RV's.

There were motorcycles laden with saddlebags and gear strapped on top and around the rider.

In our opinion though, some of the craziest people up north were the bicyclists. We thought the 500+ miles of dirt road to Tuktoyaktuk was a long drive and we can’t imagine the grueling hours it took those on bikes. Especially when we were going through some pretty thick mosquito country. The cyclists had full gear and mosquito net hats on, even when the temperature was in the low 80’s.

Whether car, truck, trailer, van, motorcycle, bicycle, or monster size rig, all ended up dirty after much road time. Upon returning from the Dempster highway though, our camper was recognized by many people since it was by far muddier than most. It was rather funny that when we were back in Dawson City, several people came up to Pat and asked him about the Dempster Highway. Also, when we were waiting for the border crossing to open on the Top of the World Highway, a man from Germany came up and started talking to us about the Dempster Highway. He chuckled and noted that there weren’t just three little clean spots on the camper anymore (Pat had done an initial wash to get some of the mud off one afternoon while I uploaded blogs).

Whatever rig you decide to take up north, preparation will help. Have some good tires, grease and oil everything you can think of, and expect that whatever tool or part you don’t have a spare of, that will likely be the thing that you end up needing. However, the hardships of the journey become the stories with which you will regale people upon your return home.