This blog is about part 1 of my 20,000+ mile car-camping trip with my dogs from DC to Alaska via Labrador. Part 1, in 2011, was to the end of the road in northeastern North America in Labrador and then on to Quebec and Ontario, 7609 miles. Part 2, which took place in 2012, picked up where Part 1 left off in Ontario and was supposed to extend to Banff and Jasper National Parks in the Canadian Rockies, but Leben, my male German shepherd, became paralyzed on the trip so we cut it short. We will finish the journey in 2013, when we will return to Prudhoe Bay, Alaska.

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I am still waiting to hear about my Defender.  It has been in the shop since Friday morning (I dropped it off a week ago) and they still have not traced the source of the problem.  The computer does not point to any failure of any parts anywhere, and so they are now tracing the wiring.  (I am beginning to think that someone might have cleverly vandalized the vehicle last May when the overheating problem was first noticed as my vehicle was vandalized two other times in my garage after that. But that is not my concern now; my concern is to get the vehicle fixed). Nevertheless, I am still assuming I will have the vehicle back so I can leave on Friday, Saturday at the latest.

Because of the two week interruption, today I scrubbed the Alaska portion of the journey.  I had already moved the date of my ferry trip from Alaska to Seattle by a week to October 2nd, but setting out from Montreal on September 7th would not me enough days to go to the three top places* I had planned to go in or en route to Alaska, and with no contingency days at that. Moreover, once the four-day ferry docked, I would have to make it cross country (2897 miles) in six days to get back by October 13th, which is when I want to be home.  No big deal.  I’ll plan this leg for next year.

Assuming I get on the road on Friday, my plan is to do the Labrador loop, from DC to Blanc Sablon, Quebec, 2892 miles. (Click here for leg 1 map)  After all, it was this loop and the 600 miles of new dirt and gravel roads just completed in 2009 that gave rise to the entire trip.  The weekly cargo ship Nordik Express (Click here for leg 2 photo)leaves Blanc Sablon for the 210-mile journey Natashquan, Quebec, on September 2nd, and I will have only one day contingency to catch it.  In Natashquan, I will make the decision to either return home, spend a few weeks at Prince Edwards Island or travel to a place I learned about on my journey in 2000 from Alaska, Bukemiga Lake, north of Thunder Bay in the wilds of Ontario (Click here for leg 3 map), 1912 miles. There, I can pitch the tent on the beach, sit back and relax in weather that could range from cool, balmy, sunny days to rain and snow. The thought of sitting it out in a snow storm in mid-September while Washington bakes in the 90s is one of the things motivating this trip.  Of course, I’ll also have to think about the 1500-mile ride home (click here for leg 4 map) and my re-entry to civilization.

The fact is that I had originally planned to drive through Thunder Bay on my way to Alaska. Now, if all goes according to plan, at Thunder Bay, I will turn right onto route 527, drive 40 miles of so to Bukemiga Lake and, when I am ready, start my return trip home.

Enter "Bukemiga Lake Ontario" or copy and paste the following coordinates into Google Maps to see the exact location of my hoped-for campsite on Lake Bukemiga (Ontario): 50°04'41.62" N  89°09'52.26" W

Click here for topographical map of Bukemiga Lake

Click here for Google Earth map of revised trip.

We’ll see.

Incidentally, the total miles of this revised trip would be about 6514, versus the 16,772 on the original trip. I would be on the road for about 30 days versus 66 on the original trip.  I would reach as high as the 53rd parallel (in Labrador City) versus the 70th parallel of the original trip (Prudhoe Bay, Alaska).  (Washington is on the 38th parallel.)

Of course, I am well aware that the whole trip could end abruptly once again if the problem really is not resolved or if another serious problem surfaces with my vehicle, my dogs or me.  If that happens, I will make still other plans. No big deal if that happens.  In the meantime, the dogs are anxiously awaiting the command, Let's go for a ride (click here); I am still cutting myself off from my regular routine here at home; using the time to make sure my dogs’ problems are resolved; drawing plans to make the Defender more comfortable for my dogs, who are older and bigger than they were on the last log road trip in 2002; organizing my supplies and equipment better; and rapidly becoming an expert in my new iPad and digital camera, and Google’s unbelievably good tools for planning trips such as this.  In fact, I have “driven” down just about every back road I will take on this trip on Google Earth to see what obstacles lay ahead.  I am leaving little to chance this time.

Click here to see Leben and Erde anxiously awaiting the command, Let's go for a Ride


ED

* My three must-do destinations in Alaska were the 1142-mile road between Kitwanga BC and Whitehorse Yukon; the site of the scene in the National Geographic of Sonntag and me in the snowstorm, 130 miles south of Prudhoe Bay; and the ride partially into Denali National Park after the Park closes September 15th.
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