travel – Page 6 – Lois and Clark Explorers

The Dempster Hwy is 737.5 km hwy in Canada that connects the Klondike Hwy in Yukon to the NW Territories in Inuvik. After the Dempster is the Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk Hwy that is 138 km that takes you all the way to the Arctic Ocean. It opened in 1917 and until that time residents of Tuktoyaktuk relied on planes in the summer and ice roads in the winter.

They really should call it the Dirty Dempster. Imagine driving a dirt and gravel road for approximately 461 miles one way and then 461 miles back. There are also 2 ferry crossings along the route. Gas stations are limited and internet service is just as limited.

We set out initially wanting to get to Eagle Plains which is where the first gas station is–229 miles in before we could fill up. Pulling a camper uses more gas so we were sure to carry some extra–just in case. While driving and realizing we were going to get to Eagle Plains mid afternoon, John and I discussed going a little farther and thought maybe we could get passed those ferries before settling in. The first one was only another 115 miles–or close to that and the second one was about 40 miles farther. We just thought since the ferries didn’t start until 9:00 in the morning (and we seem to be early risers) it might be good to get that far. We ended up going all the way to Inuvik and camping there. I think it was about 11:00 pm when we arrived. We lost an hour because we went from Pacific to Mountain time so I am not sure what time it was. John was up again around 6:30 (naturally). Sometimes I wish he would slow down a little. We didn’t pay when we arrived because the office was closed until 7:00 am. Finally someone arrived about 7:30 and she just told John to not worry about it because she wasn’t ready. Score–especially for John. He loves a good deal–we even had electric which is great because here we were in the Arctic Circle and it was hotter than any place we had been. And mosquitos were horrible.

I decided to divide this post into two posts because it was going to be so long and I am hopelessly trying to edit a video so I can post that. This really might take a while.

Years ago, we bought a 69′ Serro Scotty. It was in really bad shape.

John aka Clark totally renovated it.

Starting from scratch.

Really a rebuild. He used the “skin” as a pattern

We took several trips over the years, then we bought some property where we planned to build our “forever” home. The land was bare and we started by building a barn with an apartment in it so we could sell our house and proceed to build our home. It took a couple years to build our barn and apartment, then determine what style house we wanted to build. Then it took 2 years to build (because we physically built this house). We didn’t hire many contractors along the way. During that time the Scotty became a contractor’s office/tool storage. We didn’t get to use it much.

After so many years of abuse we finally cleaned old Scotty up and planned our first trip in a long time. We headed to South Dakota and had a great time. John was ready to go to Alaska. AHHHH! I refused to go in a camper that was smaller than most Grizzly bear. And seriously the Scotty is a really small camper to live in for a couple months. We argued–because that is what you do when you don’t agree on something. We started looking at other campers–bigger–but not too much bigger because we both were concerned that if we went too big we would spend too much in fuel and than we wouldn’t use it. Just for the record, as you can see, I won that one.

We chose a 2022, KZ Sportsman Classic that is 20′.

It has a bunk, a full bath and a slide out. A mansion next to the Scotty. I seriously hate putting the Scotty down as it is adorable, just really small. I didn’t want to sell it because I honestly thought we might still use it on some small trips. But, we got spoiled with the new camper. We took a trip to Panama Beach, FL. We took a trip to the Outer Banks. We took our triplet grandchildren to Little Tallapossa Campgrounds, a local park for a weekend. It just met all our requirements and all our expectations.

We planned a trip to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons in the summer of 2023. It was truly amazing and our new camper was everything we could have hoped for. That same year we planned a trip to Maine to see the Fall colors. We did discover a leak in one of the windows. It only seemed to effect us when we were driving in the rain. Regardless, it was not that pleasant. But, sh#@ happens. We had it fixed and tested it out. We took a trip to Indian Springs state parks and everything was great. John even took the camper for a ride in the rain–you just can’t be too careful.

I have to be honest–after Yellowstone, I was so ready to go anywhere and everywhere. We started talking about going to Alaska, because I felt safer in this somewhat larger travel trailer.

And that my friends is how we got started.

Tag: travel

The Dempster and Arctic Ocean

How it All Began