<– Day 9: July 29, At Dawson Creek | Day 11: July 31st, Bison, Bears, and (no) Breakdowns –>

After months of planning, yesterday we finally got our chance to drive the Alaska Highway! Our stop for the evening would be in Fort Nelson, BC.

Yesterday morning was filled by a sense of excitement for the trip to begin. It was the first day of our five day trek to Alaska. We’d planned to leave at 8am, so hustle and bustle was prevalent early.

I drove to the gas station right after waking. Having never filled up Patterson’s custom stainless steel tank, I had no idea how much it would take. But, after having to run into the store to pay for gas several times because I’d misjudged how much would fit into the tank, I returned to the hotel and staged the DJ, ready to lead the group north. Spoiler alert … up to this point, Patterson had started dependably for the past month.

Naturally, when the big moment came and we were ready to take a quick tour of the local roundabout where Ann was positioned to do a Facebook Live event, I turned the key and …. Patterson wouldn’t start. Joe, quickly recognizing that I was having a problem, gave me a quick push. Heck, compression starting was old hat to me and I guess it wouldn’t be an old jeep if you didn’t have to compression start it every so often.

Now that I was rolling and, once Merlin also was pushed started (Mortimer and Patterson were in a groove), we drove a short distance, rounded the roundabout and waved at Ann as she streamed us live for everyone to see! Except, there was another slight hiccup. Facebook wasn’t full cooperating, so our FB live was a bust. No matter, we had fun with our little parade.

Our first stop for the day was at the Kiskatinaw wooden bridge, a part of the original (or early) Alaska Highway.

We stopped just short of the bridge so Ann could ready her camera and Luis, Andreas’ son, could prep his drone. We agreed to wait a few minutes (no cell service) before dramatically entering the bridge.

As we waited, I sat in the front of the line in Patterson when a car appeared, then pulled up beside me. The window rolled down and the nice woman told me very calmly, “you are supposed to hurry, the wind is wearing down the drone’s batteries”.

Off we went!

Energized, we hopped back in our jeeps and headed for our next event, a meeting in Fort St. John with Rainer Grimm so we could drop off Rob’s truck and Ron’s trailer.

As we neared Fort St. John, focused on keeping my wheels in my lane as side winds toyed with me, I barely noticed a built jeep coming from the opposite direction. It turned around, then hopped in front of the Caravan. I didn’t put it together until the jeep led us to the town’s Tim Horton’s that it was Rainer Grimm in a jeep he calls the Monster.

As we pulled into the parking lot, Merlin noticed oil leaking from the underside. We quickly grabbed a spill kit (thanks to the PNW4WDA) and caught most of the oil. After some discussion about the issue, it was decided that to refill the tranny and see if it continued to leak. Not only did it not leak, but the engine, which had been warming up a little high, ran cooler afterwards. It was concluded that someone had put too much oil in the tranny.

As Merlin worked on his jeep, some of us tested out Patterson’s electrical system to see why it wasn’t starting.

Others got massages:

Once Merlin was running again, we followed Rainer to his place to drop off the truck and trailer. We waited for a short time at Rainer’s place for his friend to show up, but we had to get going. So we left, understanding that we’d stop if they chased us down.

Back on the open road, we were cruising between 45-50MPH, no doubt causing some polite Canadians to become little frustrated with us. We didn’t care; the sky was blue and our outlook optimistic. About then, we entered the Bermuda Triangle of Canada.

First to go down was Merlin. He was pushing old Mortimer pretty hard. Though the temperature issues were more under control, he began to have oil pressure issues. Not wanting to sacrifice his engine for the glory of driving his Slat Grill MB the entirety of the highway, he pulled over.

Seeing him pull over, I slowed, but did not stop. I was hoping to find a hill so that if i had to shut off the engine I could compression start it again. That plan was flawed by one issue. I was running on a nearly dead battery. As soon as I slowed, the engine coughed into silence. When I rolled backwards to compression start, it was dead. Even the hazards were dead. So, both Merlin and I hooked up our jeeps to our newer jeeps so we could tow them.

Minutes later, Russ’ Jeepster “Charlene” began to have a clutch problem. It also had an oil pressure issue, later thought to be fixed with a change it oil types.

As we waited, we got a good look at the Kubota engine he has installed in his truck using the Overland Diesel conversion kit. It was running really well.

As we waited, we got a good look at the Kubota engine he has installed in his truck using the Overland Diesel conversion kit. It was running really well.

With Ann and I in the back, we began to catch up to the caravan. At one point we spied Marty and Don parked on a side road, so we stopped to see what was up. I really wasn’t worried they were stuck or having a problem, since Marty has pretty much an entire jeep packed in his trailer, a welder under his hood, and Don “MacGuyver” Brown as his copilot who, could probably fabricate a running jeep out of tooth picks and a pocket knife.

With Ann and I in the back, we began to catch up to the caravan. At one point we spied Marty and Don parked on a side road, so we stopped to see what was up. I really wasn’t worried they were stuck or having a problem, since Marty has pretty much an entire jeep packed in his trailer, a welder under his hood, and Don “MacGuyver” Brown as his copilot who, could probably fabricate a running jeep out of tooth picks and a pocket knife.

Todd very kindly opened his shop for Don to help Russ fix his clutch problem.

Again, a big thanks to Todd and Diana and the locals of Fort Nelson for making us feel so welcomed!

Just when we thought the night was over, I began receiving texts from Bill, who was camping in Fort Nelson, showing a few jeeps from the local Heritage Museum that is next to the campground.

All in all, despite the breakdown of three jeeps, it was an excellent day! We are told that today’s scenery will be amazing!

<– Day 9: July 29, At Dawson Creek | Day 11: July 31st, Bison, Bears, and (no) Breakdowns –>