Rovering to Deadhorse

Day 2 / Leg 1

10 September 2010

I’m leaning against the Rover across from Happy Valley along the Dalton Hwy.  It’s a nice site here on the tundra, with a creek flowing nearby.  But the sound of heavy machinery easily travels over the hills.  I’m hoping that it will shut down on a Friday night, but that may not happen.  Peter has already decided to set up his tent down by the creek in an attempt to have the running water drive out the sound of diesel engines.  I’ll just stick it out by the Rig.

We did hit a couple of snags en route:  A u-bolt holding one of the new, front parabolic springs was either   not installed, or not installed correctly.  The driver’s side spring had only one when we looked the truck over at the Yukon River, which twisted the spring and torqued the shock mount.

We did not get much help in Coldfoot yesterday, but after camping at Marion last night, we went back and Brian in the tire shop gave us a piece of all-thread which we bent around the axle & attached to the plate stabilizing the mount.  It has held up fine up to this point, although the road was in great shape up to Atigun Pass.

We also noticed a leak at the river.  The transmission was 1/3 qt low.  It was low the same amount at Coldfoot.  I bought 3 qts of gear lube at Coldfoot, but the fluid level has not dropped since.

Otherwise, the Rover has run and handled beautifully.

The weather has also been perfect.  Temps must be near 60 degs, the skies are perfectly clear and it is past 7pm.  The tundra makes for beautiful country.  We have seen moose, caribou and dall sheep.  There was a very nice bull caribou just a couple of miles back.