Category: Uncategorized

(August 4)

Dear Folks,

Not a very long text tonight.  We should have more time to write tomorrow.

The photos are from Shipyard Park, about a block from the hotel.  People really use that outdoor space.  We try to go a couple of times a day.

We may have remarked on what an ethnically diverse place Yukon is.  There are a lot of people from India, in particular.  We have learned more about this from a couple of the young people who work at the front desk.  Mudra is from India.  She works two jobs and is busy learning French.  Joban is also from India.  He has been here as a student.  He will be getting a two-year degree in  Northland Studies.  He is here now on a student visa.  

Canada allows people to come from other countries and work for three years.  There are more opportunities in rural areas.  All of Yukon is considered a rural area.  

There is an opportunity to stay longer if you can satisfy one of two things.  If you can get someone to sponsor you and assert that you have improved the economy.  That program seems to be getting cut back.  The other way is to become fluent in French and pass a test.  Those options buy more time.  And people can work toward that most desired status of permanent resident.

These folks are incredible.  They come here alone, often knowing no one.  They work two or three jobs to make as much money as they can.  Sometimes they are supporting people back home.  They come because India, for example, is so populous, the opportunities here are more plentiful.  

Both Mudra and Joban would like to get more schooling, as well.

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Yesterday we went to the Yukon Wildlife Preserve, about 20 miles north of Whitehorse.  We had gone in 2022 on our way back from Alaska, and it was one of the highlights of our trip.  So we were eager to go again.  This time, as last, we took the guided bus tour.  We had a different driver this time, so we saw different things.

The property was originally owned by Danny Nolan.  He flew all over until he found a property with different climate zones: prairie, mountains, tundra, etc.  It’s 750 acres.  When Danny owned it, there were no fences.  Danny got to the point of wanting to sell the property.  The local people asked the government to buy it and open it to the public.  That’s when the fences came in: to protect the animals from the people.  The animals could easily jump the fences.  Danny’s house is now the office building for the staff.

Most of the animals came across the land bridge from EurAsia during the Ice Age (well, their ancestors did).  

First we saw bison, the largest animal in North America.  They are hierarchical.  But they don’t like to fight.  The leader, a big bull, shows his dominance by lying on the ground and making a big hole.  He makes the biggest, deepest hole.  

Then we saw mule deer.  They are not sociable well adapted to the climate: they have short, slender legs.  They are not really migratory.  They are dedicated to following the routes their parents taught them.  In summer they spend their time high up a mountain.  In the winter they come down lower and go for the windy side: so that the wind blows away the snow and it is easier to find grass.

The moose will not surprise anyone from Maine.  They have two boys, both orphans.  Moose are not sociable.  They need lots of solitary space.  As people in Maine know, they love to swim and get lots of their summer food from the bottoms of ponds.  They have these neat flaps on their noses that water pressure closes so that they don’t get water in their noses.

We saw elk.  Our driver had a couple of interesting stories about almost being killed by elk.  Their antlers can be lethal.

The musk oxen are the most dangerous animals that they have.  Historically, they are the oldest.  They have survived a number of prehistoric animals.   They are not that large: only one half to one third the size of bison.  But they are the ultimate team players.  When there is danger, they make a circle with the young in the middle.  Then the adults take turns attacking the threat.  

At the preserve, they don’t put two adult males together.  They will fight to the death.  Their ramming power is equivalent to driving a vehicle into a wall at 40 km/h.   

Ah, and their hair!  They are completely covered in an under coat that is incredibly soft and warm.  Then they have a hairier next coat that makes them look as though have on a skirt.  Then they have additional hair that grows from their shoulders.  

It’s the undercoat (kiviet?) from which musk oxen items are produced–very expensive.  

Musk oxen are not friendly or people tolerant.  Their enclosure is the only one into which the staff will only enter by truck.

More soon!

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Here is some more.  We are at Metro Chrysler in Whitehorse where Miracle is getting some work.  Do we have s bit of time.

At the wildlife preserve, we could not see the lynx: they are really well camouflaged and are good at hiding.

We also did not see the Arctic foxes.  They blend in well now.  They change color to white in the winter.  

We saw mountain sheep–thin horned sheep.  The ones further south have bigger, curled horns.  They used to be white.  Because of climate change and lack of snow, they are now darker–brown or black.  They were pretty peaceful–just hanging out.  

Forgot to mention that the ground squirrels are able to survive the winter because they gather scraps of the musk oxen undercoat when it gets shed and line their nests with it.

We learned the difference between antlers and horns.  Horns are bone and are hollow.  If one gets broken, it may or may not regrow, depending on where the break is.  If it doesn’t regrow and the other horn is big, it can give the animals balance problems.  

Antlers are from the same material as hair and finger/toe nails.  When they come out, they have a soft, mossy covering.  The animals rub that off on a tree, which can get quite bloody.  They are also sharp–just in time for rutting season.  

The preserve has caribou.  They are the only member of the deer family in which both sexes get horns.  The antlers have a section that is like a little spade.  They can use it to clear snow and to scrape lichen from trees.  Caribou are related to reindeer, except they cannot fly.  😇

And we saw mountain goats.  They are aggressively unfriendly.  If people get too close to the fence, they will charge it.  Newborns can climb within hours of birth.  When they are only a few weeks old, they can climb the steepest trails, like their parents.  

Mountain goats have two humps.  The first is over their shoulders and front legs, which are incredibly powerful.  The other hump is over incredibly powerful back legs.  Some people claim that the goats have suction in their hooves, which allows them to climb so well, although there is no scientific proof.  

From birth, the goats have razor sharp horns–which they realize.  So they have few natural enemies.

At one point, some rangers found the remains of a bear.  At first they thought that it was the victim of poachers .  But upon closer examination, they realized that a goat had killed it.   The goats don’t fight in packs, though, or they would be even more lethal.

We will send one more text about this adventure dealing the people in the photo, in a bit.

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Dear Folks,

Here is the last installment of our time at the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.  We wanted to tell you a little bit about the people in the photo. (Located at the bottom).

The big man on the left is Andrew.  He is one of two full/time employees.  He and his wife lived in Ontario until 2021.  They wanted to buy a house, but couldn’t gather the resources to do so.  Andrew’s mother and stepfather had moved to Yukon some years before and had some property.  So Andrew and his wife built a cabin on it.  He talked about Yukon’s population boom.  In the four years he has lived here, it has gone from 44,000 to 48,000.  He doesn’t think that the territory is prepared.  We had a nice chat about his step-father’s service dog for PTSD due to his time in Afghanistan.  Andrew says that they will stay here–he loves his job–best one he has ever had, he says.

Rebecca is in the middle.  We knew her from our last trip through in 2022.  Back then, whenever we called (which was several times for information about accessibility) she answered the phone.  We joked that she must be the only person who worked there.  The day that we went, she drove the bus for our tour.   We had a tour all to ourselves!  She lived in Ontario, as we recall.  She wanted someplace more wild and rural.  We think that she remembered us, although this time we have a different black lab.  

Daniel is on the right.  His primary job is at the Ice Age museum.  He has tremendous knowledge about the backgrounds of the different species.  He made sure that we had binoculars to use, since the Lowmans could not get off the bus: the dogs could arouse the animals.  

Daniel is from Iran.  He grew up reading about Canada and seeing photos.  We don’t know when he first came to Canada.  First he went to British Columbia.  That wasn’t the Canada he was seeking.  Then he went to Banff, in Alberta–a resort town.  That wasn’t it, either.  Then he came to the Yukon and found his bliss.  

Daniel is quite talented: he is a guide and also a good skier.  He got sponsored, so he could stay and work beyond three years.  He got an offer to teach skiing in Australia.  After weighing it, he decided to stay in Yukon.  He said that the wildlife preserve is one of his favorite places.  That contributed to his decision to stay in the Yukon.  He is going through the process of applying for permanent resident status.

There was a group on the bus who seemed to be speaking German.  It was grandparents, the dad, and a little boy.  At the end of the tour, the dad gave Daniel a tip and wished him good luck on his application.  The dad said that he had just gotten his permanent resident status.  It was a long saga, but definitely worth it.  The family spoke German among themselves, but excellent English with Daniel.  We wondered whether the grandparents were visiting from Germany.

So…that’s a great deal about the Yukon Wildlife Preserve.  We hope that you found at least part of it enjoyable.  It is truly a splendid place.

We’re trying to extensive texts when we can do that we can remember and base more writing on them later.

Wags and Hugs.

The Lowman Family.

(August 3)

Dear Folks 

We are safely back in Whitehorse.  It was hard to leave Tombstone: we would happily return.  We send along a few more photos from the park–including one of Miracle at our campsite.  

There is a LOT of road construction.  One photo is our surroundings as we wait for the pilot car.  

And as we got near Whitehorse, there were wonderful views of lakes. 

We close with a little story from last night.  The park offers educational talks in the evenings and guided hikes during the day.  Last night’s talk was on bear myths and facts.  It was supposed to be in the amphitheater.  We asked if that was accessible.  The answer was, we think so.

When we went to attend the talk, they had moved it into the kitchen shelter, since it had rained.  That shelter is not accessible.  People at the talk offered to help us get in.  We thanked them but explained that Karma is too heavy.  We didn’t want anyone (including Karma) to get hurt.   We don’t think that we could have gotten to the amphitheater, either..  

Olivia was the one giving the talk and apologized profusely.  We said that we hoped that they would work on these issues.  We had given her a BEYOND LIMITS  card.  She said that she would be in touch.  We hope so.  We would be happy to give advice.

(August 2)

Dear Folks, 

We doubt that this will go through.  But we wanted to write while the memories were fresh. 

Those who know us well know that we LOVE mountains.  Those within the park, which is quite large and varied, are among the prettiest that we have seen.  That’s why there are so many photos of them. 

Today was a beautiful day.  We went up to the interpretive center to charge Karma, as we had planned.  We got a warm greeting from the two women at the information counter.  They said, “You made it!”  This surprised us, since we had not met them before, yet they seemed to know about us.  We said, yes, we made it to Tuk and showed them a photo of us at the Arctic Ocean.  They thought that was amazing.  Someone else on staff must have passed the word about us.

They made a space for us by a window so that we could charge Karma.  We also got a cup of Labrador tea.  The Girls were quite excited about that.  They pick the leaves fresh every morning.  The upper side is green and the bottom is red.  The plant grows wild in northern zones. 

We were there charging Karma for about five hours.  So we got to hear a lot of people’s concerns about hiking and driving the Dempster.  Tombstone is at mile 45.  Several of the questioners decided that they had had enough of the Dempster. 

The photo of the ladies is of Olivia and Miriam.  Olivia is the supervisor of the campground staff.  We gave her some feedback on accessibility: not just that the containers for trash and recycling are up on platforms, but to be able to lock the accessible outhouse door from a wheelchair, you have to back down the ramp.  Olivia said that that was great feedback.  She meets with her maintenance team once a week and will see what they can do. 

Olivia worked for Yukon Parks for two years in Whitehorse.  When she saw the posting for the job in Tombstone, she applied and got it.  She has been here 15 years.  She works February-November.  Some of that is in the office in Whitehorse when the campground is closed.

Miriam works seasonally: this her fourth summer.  So she works May-October.  She lives in Dawson City and has an art business.

We send you hugs and wags.

The Lowman Family

(July 30)

Dear Folks, 

We started a text a while ago, but since we did not finish it, it vanished.

This will be our last text for a few days.  Tomorrow we go to Tombstone, our last stop before we return to Whitehorse.  We will be there for two nights.  When we tried to send a text from there before, it would not go through.  

We are currently in the lobby at the hotel at Eagle Plains.  We are charging Karma after getting gas.  We got help with the gas–the pumps along the Dempster are too barricaded off for us to access them.  We will camp here for the night.

We thought that you would enjoy the picture of the sun over the lake at Ft. McPherson this morning.  From the park where we stayed, you also could see the tree with the antlers on it.  

We crossed back into the Yukon Territory today.  We crossed out of the Arctic Circle.  We will miss that.  

We do prefer the mountainous terrain.  The views are breathtaking.  We keep pinching ourselves over having the privilege to be here and see all this.  We hope that you can get a little sense of the terrain from our photos.

Having to sit in a lobby to charge Karma can be very beneficial.  That’s how we met Patricia and Calvin, pictured here.  Patricia is a law student who has been doing work for the last three months for the Canadian Human Rights Commission.  Canada has a good service dog law, in general.  Each province and territory has variations on it.  Yukon does not differentiate between service dogs and emotional support animals.

Calvin’s father, who lives in Toronto, has a service dog.  His father is both visually and hearing impaired.  There are not many service dog training programs in Canada.  The dog is 9 and has made Calvin’s father much more independent.  They are starting to think about successor dogs. 

Calvin is finishing his master’s.  He and Patricia are getting married next summer.  

We talked about relationships between Canada and the US.  They said that they think that Canadians still like folks from the US.  They don’t agree with the U.S. administration.  

We have met so many nice people on our trip.  It’s a delight.  We keep handing out cards, hoping that people will follow BEYOND LIMITS.

Oh, cultural note about Eagle Plains.  We told them when we would return.  They had said that they had a ramp.  No.  They were going to make one, but thought that we were coming a day later.  Also, they are dealing with some small crises.  Two people who ordinarily work here went south to pick someone up from the hospital.  The person who is in the hospital is leaving here after 26 years.  The water truck is broken and they are trying to fix it.  There are some other calamities.  The man in charge (whose family owns the complex) said that at Eagle Plains they always live on the edge.

(July 29)

Dear Folks,

We are back at Ft. McPherson.  We were going to check out the territorial park outside of town, which we did.  We didn’t get very far.  The office is up a flight of stairs.  There is no phone number to call.  I would have approached the building in Karma and tried to get  the attention of whoever was in there.  But a truck blocked the path.  So we came back to the town park.  The last time we were here, we were the only ones.  This time, there are at least three tents pitched.  On our way to the park, we stopped at the police station to check in.  There is a ramp.  What we did not see was that there is a drop right before the door.  We rang the buzzer.  A lady came to the door.  We said that we had planned to come in, but now we were stuck.  She called one of the guys: an officer who was as big as Karma and me put together.  He basically picked up Karma with me in her and got us back on the flat.

We are going in reverse chronology.  We have learned to get gas whenever you can.  So when we got to town, we found a convenience store with a gas pump.  When I tried to exit Miracle, I was dragging something: the free dustpan that we had gotten with our free broom.  She got very tangled in our wheels and caused Karma to briefly shut down.  But Karma came back.  A nice man getting gas helped me.  He said that the pump was tricky and that he would happily pump for us.  

He asked where we are from.  I told him Maine and started to explain.  He said that he knew Maine and acclaimed, “You came all that way by yourself!”  I said that I had service dogs.  He said, ‘You are very brave.”  I replied, ‘Or very stupid.”  He said that sometimes it’s the same thing.

In yesterday’s post, we commented on all the snowmobiles scattered along the highway.  We asked Zoey, the young lady at the campground, about that.  All the snowmobiles here are called skidoos.  She said that people have cabins at Husky Lake.  To get there in the winter, people pull off the road in their trucks and then take to their skidoos.  Everyone knows which belongs to whom and there is never any trouble.  

The photo of people in native dress is from the hospital.  We had seen a variety of vehicles come to the hospital with numbers on their sides.  That is the tribal transportation system: no bus, but people can call and get rides to where they need to go.  A few of the vehicles are wheelchair accessible.

The photo of the two men is of Yunis (the older man) and Jamie (I hope that I’m spelling their names right).  When we went up to the hospital last night, Jamie was working security (different from the weekend guy).  He said that I couldn’t bring pets into the hospital.  I explained that they were service dogs and protected by law.  I suggested that he call his supervisor.  He did: that’s who Yunis is.  These men were polite and interested.  We had a little service dog 101 class.  They said that they had never encountered this before: they knew only about guide dogs.  They thanked us for educating them.  They made copies of Dusty and Mari’s IDs.  They said that they will educate the rest of the staff and that the Girls will be the poster children.  So they are famous and modeling in the far corners of the world.  

I asked Yunis if he was from the area.  He said no, he was from a little African country called Eritrea.  I got points for knowing where that is.  He came to Canada in 2002.  He had decided to live in every big city for a year.  He lived in Winnipeg and Calgary, among others.  He came to Inuvik in 2007.  He said he cannot escape.

Jamie is from a little hamlet within 100 km of Inuvik.  He left home and was in the military stationed in Yellowknife and Ottawa.  His sister, who had come to Inuvik, asked him to come there–which he did in 2013.  

We really had a nice visit.  Yunis paid us the compliment of saying how easy it is to talk to us.

Tomorrow we head down to Eagle Plains and the next adventures.

Hugs and wags.

The Lowman Family. 

PS: Sorry for the typos–Vicky, our phone, won’t let us correct right now.

(July 28)

Dear Folks,

Today was a day to get ready for our trip back down the Dempster Highway.  

We went into town and started with a stop at the hospital.  We got some juice (free again), used the restroom, and ran around the parking lot.  There is some interesting architecture in town.  You see a photo of a church (the igloo church) and the structure that houses the weekly market.  

Google works in town, so we input groceries and wound up at Stanton Distribution.  They offer wholesale and to individuals and also ship food: important in such an isolated area.  They had an excellent ramp made of metal mesh (typical for these parts).  The Girls are getting more used to them.  Someone helped us with the door.

The aisles are tall and narrow: too narrow for a wheelchair to pass a shopping cart.  One of the ladies at the front asked what we wanted.  We said crackers and baby carrots–crackers like Triscuits.  She was off immediately and returned quickly.  She rang up and bagged our food.  It wasn’t until we went to put it in Miracle that we saw that the crackers were smoked gouda–a no for a vegan.  I went back in.  They only had that flavor.  So we got another type.  

While we were waiting, we saw at another counter two men and a woman getting a huge order.  They were putting their items into very large coolers and boxes.  We thought that they must live remotely.  But when we went outside and saw a logo on their pickup, we realized that they are an outfitter.  It’s big business this time of year taking tourists around the area and to Tuk.  In fact, our contact at Whitehorse had asked us which outfitter we were going with.  We explained we were doing it on our own.  As I was getting back into Miracle, one of the people from that group asked if we had made out OK.

Then we went to Bob’s Gas Bar.  It seems a little tucked away, by itself, but does  a booming business.  It is surrounded by huge tanks of gasoline and diesel since deliveries are infrequent.  Again, there was mesh around the pump, so I could not reach it.  There were lights on in the office, so I honked.  A man came out and pumped for us. 

When we checked in, we explained that we would not be able to reach the trash receptacles.  The young woman said that whoever was at the office could help with that.  She also said that perhaps they could help us get a shower.  So we had been hopeful.

When we got back today, we saw no sign of life.  We called the office and someone answered.  We explained our situation and she said absolutely she would help.  We got our trash ready and went out to meet Zoey, who just graduated from high school–a class of 35, the largest ever.  She is working here for the summer — a LOT of hours.  After the campground closes in September, she does not know what she will do.  

We talked about life here.  They have a big sunrise festival here in January when the sun comes back.  They have it down by their twin lakes.  They have fireworks and lots of activities.  

Zoey helped us get into the shower building.  They have a great roll-in shower, whose cost is included in the campground fee.  Teri, it felt as amazing as the one in the Shenandoah.  We had brought a clean top and now feel a little human again.  We had also brought a microfiber towel for the Girls called a PackTowl.  We haven’t used it for the Girls, so Mummy borrowed it.  It packs down smaller and dries way faster than Terry cloth.  We will buy more such items before another camping trip.  We are learning so much about car camping.  And we could give tips for ways to adapt for paraplegia.

Couple more things.  We have seen several small landing strips along the highway.  In fact, we even went on one by mistake.  And we see lots of snowmobiles covered and all along the road–not near any habitation..  

We mentioned that the office here is inaccessible.  We mentioned that to Zoey.  She said that they were trying to get a grant from the IRC: Inuvialuit Regional Corporation.  They have been putting ramps on the houses of local residents who use wheelchairs and walkers.  We have been impressed by the number of ramps.

Tomorrow we head down to Ft. McPherson.

Hugs and wags.

The Lowman Family

(July 27)

Dear Folks,

Today was quite a day..  

We started out going to the hospital.  We were prepared to explain, but we did not have to–the word must have been passed.  They have a large paved parking lot where we can run.  The campground is gravel, which is tough on Karma.  They also have an accessible flush toilet, which is a luxury.  We bought a juice and headed out.

 Today we went up Canada’s Arctic Highway.  It’s an amazing feat.  It had been a dream and vision for a long time.  Up until they built this, you could only reach Tuk by motor vehicle in the winter by the ice road.  In the warmer months, they would have to be supplied primarily by ship.  A hope was that having an all-seasons road would help to promote tourism and development.  

The road is less than a decade old and constantly being worked on.  Both the Dempster and the road to Tuk have yards of gravel beneath the surface to protect the permafrost.  They are very busy right now putting down more gravel.  

They work long days, seven days a week.  A couple of people we talked with who are from Inuvik said that the road to Tuk is rough–soft, with potholes and LOTS of gravel.  They weren’t wrong.  Miracle, our van, may never speak to us again

With these roads, there is either mud or dust.  Today it was dust.  Whenever you met anyone the dust would obscure everything: like a whiteout with dust.  

When we got close to Tuk, we came to the Pingo observation area.  You may be able to read an explanation on the signs we photographed.  Or look it up.  Pingoes look like regular hills.   They have ice cores–very cool (with no sense of irony).  The area is very flat and then you see these pingoes.

In a little while, we got into Tuk.  You follow the road until it ends in the Arctic Ocean.  There is some camping right there, but we had decided to stay in Inuvik for our three nights in these parts.  

The insects are voracious.  We had heard and read that.  The summers are short and intense and the bugs make the most of it.  Just in the short time we were outside there, we all got covered with bug bites.  

We felt pure joy to be at the Arctic Ocean and its sign.  All those years of planning came to fruition.  It took 5,523 miles, but well worth it.

The man in the photo is Mickle.  He and a friend rode their motorcycles up from Prince George BC to the Arctic.  They hit rain a couple of days and had to go to a laundromat in Whitehorse to dry all their clothes.  They plan to go home by the Alaska Highway, down through Watson Lake and Ft. Nelson.  We shared our experiences with those places and also cautioned about the wildfires.  Mickle’s wife has an interior design business.  So he put a few stickers from the business on the back of the Arctic Ocean sign.  It is covered with stickers.  We never thought about stickers for BEYOND LIMITS.  We should probably get some.  

The ocean is reclaiming Tuk.  Every summer, they have to pump out the town.  But the ocean is winning.  The structures are up on stilts but are settling and sliding.  At some point, everyone will have to relocate.  

The photo of Our Lady of Lourdes: she was the ship that they used for ministry until they built an actual church.

Tuk has a nice welcome center with a restroom and information .  It has a wonderful ramp .  Unfortunately, there is such a lip at the bottom of the ramp that a wheelchair would have a hard time accessing it.  I could not get on it.

We needed gas before we headed back to Inuvik.  We had underestimated how much gas it would take to fight our way up there.  The one gas station, run by Arctic Petroleum, is what people here call a “card lock.”  That means that no one is there: you are on your own.  We have used those before.  But this time the pump was surrounded by a wide mesh barrier.  I could not get close enough to use the pump.  There was an 800 number on the pump to call, which we did.  But it is Sunday and the company is not local.  What to do?

Then Derek appeared.  We don’t know how he noticed us.  He asked if he could help and we excitedly said yes.  Derek is indigenous and has lived in Tuk his whole life.  He likes to help tourist visitors.  We can’t tell how old he is–certainly mature.  

He said that already the days are starting to get a little shorter.  The 24 hours of daylight there are in June and the first week in July.  As they ease from September into October, the darkness grows.  They have about five weeks of total darkness.  In January, when the sun reappears, they have a festival.  Derek said that next month, all the grass will turn color.  We asked him about the sea reclaiming the land.  He agreed that it’s coming.

And someone asked about charging Karma, our wheelchair.  The device that plugs into 12 volt and converts to 110 does work now.  We plugged in the 24 volt battery charger.  It did indicate that it had power.  But it would not charge–must not have been able to draw enough power.  We are at the campground now, plugged into the power force.  We will try to keep plugged in overnight.  And we can plug in at Eagle Plains and the Tombstone interpretive center.  Then we will be back to hotels.

Hugs and wags.  Thanks for all your love and support.  It has made a huge difference on this Journey.

The Lowman Family

(July 26)

Dear Folks,

Here are some images from today.  But first, a bit more about our stay at Ft. McPherson.  We were apparently an object of interest.  We had drawn our curtains on the side facing the houses.  At one point, we could hear children.  Then a little boy popped round to our side without curtains, peered in, giggled, and ran.  Shades of Boo Radley.    Later, two ladies in a pickup stopped to see if we were all right.

We hadn’t gone far this morning when we came to another ferry.  The river was wider here and the ferry a bit more elaborate, with a little tower.  This one runs from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 p.m.  These pilots know their stuff.  They have to angle upstream to let the current help them.  Everything goes on these ferries: from motorcycles to RVs, to big rigs.  There was an oil tanker in front of us.  The driver–a young woman with a French accent–jumped out of her truck and asked where we were going.  She said to go ahead of her.

After the ferry, we drove for a few hours.  The gravel road was mostly good.  At times, we actually got up to the 90 kph speed limit.  We had a reservation at Jak campground ( pronounced “Jack.”). We missed the turn initially, perhaps because we were in shock.  This small stretch of the Dempster is actually paved!  What we noticed first was the striping on the road.  Then realized how smooth it was.  We retraced our route and found the Jak.  

We had reserved our space back in March.  At that time, we didn’t think that we would need electricity.  But now….  so we needed to stop at the office and explain.  But the office is in a building accessed by a flight of stairs.  We asked a man who was camping if he could ask someone in the office to come out.  A young g woman came out and we had quite a visit.  There were a few spaces with electricity available for when we are here.  So we chose one and paid the difference: electricity costs more.  And the space is a pull through–no need to back up.  I said to the young woman that she must have seen me drive.  😇

There is nothing fancy about the space with electricity: just a post with outlets.  We were able to plug in Karma and she started gulping power.

While in Ft. McPherson, we had called around for auto repair in Inuvik.  The guy at CMS Auto was rude.  Although his website said he had Saturday hours 10 am to 10 pm, he said that he didn’t know if he would be around.  If he was, MAYBE he could take a look.  That didn’t inspire confidence.  So we looked and called some more.  We found Donovan Archie.  He looks like a young man to you, but to us he looked like an angel.  He said that we should get settled at the campground and then call and he would come to us.  He did very promptly.  

The 12 volt extension that we had bought had burned.  When it did, it blew a fuse in Miracle.  Donovan said that we were lucky that we didn’t have a fire.  He replaced the fuse.  Then we tried our converter of 12 volt to 110 amps.  Fine.  We also tried our coffee maker–fine.  

He also torqued our wheels and checked Miracle’s fluids.  Everything looks good.  

We had a nice little visit.  Small-town NT is a lot like northern Maine.  Donovan has been here his whole life.  He says that the population grows when people come here for work, fall in love with the place, and stay.

The young woman in the office here said that we could access free WiFi and a cafeteria at the hospital.  The hospital has a teepee on its grounds.  It is also small and brightly painted.  I thought, “Ah, an accessible flush toilet.”  The kitchen at the hospital closes at 6:05 for dinner.  We didn’t know if we would make it, but we wanted to try.  There was lots of accessible parking near the door: no room for our ramp, but we parked on the end and hurried out.  They had automatic openers: that’s Dusty’s strong suit.  But we were stopped at the door.  The security guard said that we could not bring dogs into the hospital.  I explained that they are service dogs and can go anywhere.  I said to look up the law: Canada has an excellent service dog law.  People called supervisors: they did not know.  The people were very nice and polite, saying that this had never happened before.  Finally, someone did check the law: and we were in.  They apologized profusely.  I explained that I am a teacher and that this was a teachable moment.  

We got to the cafeteria with two minutes to go.  What they had vegan was salad.  No vegan dressing, so we will have it with humus and cheese.  And the restroom was very accessible.  The hospital grounds were also a good place to run the Girls.

When we were checking in here, I said, “You don’t get many wheelchair users?”  She said a few, but they always have Someone with them to help.  That kind of hurt the Girls’ feelings.

Tomorrow we hope to make it to Tuk.  Stay tuned.

Hugs and wags.

The Lowman Family.

(July 25)

Dear Folks,

Here we are in Ft. McPherson.

We are at a small recreation area overlooking a lake.  We are on Indigenous land.  The entire highway goes through indigenous land.  We stopped for gas at a coop.  We asked if we could buy a broom.  They gave us a broom!  Very generous.

At the coop, we asked where the campground is and how we would pay.  There is no charge.  It is free to anyone who wants to use it.

There are outhouses (not accessible), water, picnic tables, metal containers for recyclables and trash.  The surface here is gravel.  We do pretty well with it on the flat.  The metal containers are in little hollows.  Karma got down, fine. Trying to come out, we got stuck. Fortunately, there is cell service here.  So we called 911 and were rescued by the RCMP.  That’s Miranda McKinnon by her cruiser.

We won’t try to put anything else in the containers before we leave.  

Yes, we will definitely not try to reach the bins again before we leave.  

We actually came to the “wrong” campsite.  There is a bigger one right before you get into town among trees overlooking the Peel River, which we crossed by ferry.  This one is on the edge of town, next to houses.  But we like it here, so will stay put for this night.  We can hear the ravens (which sound like the screaming sheep meme), loons, gulls. Huge dragonflies are zipping about.  We may check out the other site on our way back.  

Officer McKinnon is from Prince Edward Island.  Her family has a cabin in Maine.  They go every summer.  She loves Maine.

ALWAYS an adventure!

Wags and hugs.

The Lowman Family.

Despite Several Roadblocks, the Lowmans Press On

(July 24)

Dear Folks, we are sitting in the lobby of the hotel at Eagle Plains.  This is where we will camp for the night.  Since our 12 volt charger in Miracle fried, we are charging Karma.  We are using our good, powerful charger.  When we tried charging yesterday at Tombstone, we used a smaller car  charger that is not powerful enough.

As we pulled into the hotel parking lot, a pack of dogs surrounded Miracle.  They knew that Dusty and Mari were inside.  I couldn’t get the Girls out.  I wasn’t sure if they would let me out.  They did.  

But I could not enter the building.  There was a step and a gap.  A young girl asked if I needed help.  I asked if she could get someone who works here to come.  I explained the situation.  They said (two young men) that they would lift it.  I said that they could not–the chair  alone weighs 350 pounds.  They found a few flimsy pieces of wood.  I said that they would not work.  Many guests got involved.  Finally, we used a table–which the chair broke.  I explained the situation–that I needed to charge my chair but that I also needed to get my dogs and didn’t want them to be attacked.  The desk clerk said that I could charge Karma in the lobby.  He would try to find the dogs, which belong to the owner, and lock them up.  But he could not find them.

They put some boards to support the table, so that I could go out and get the Girls, which were frantic.  By the time we came back to the door, they had an old door for the ramp.  We will be here until the chair is fully charged.  Then we will ask where to camp and get gas.

We are very lucky: people along the Dempster are like a family: everyone is very helpful.

Dad is in heaven laughing and saying ALWAYS AN ADVENTURE!

We don’t know when we will be able to get a text through again.  But we are doing fine and problem-solving.

Wags and hugs.

The Lowman Family