Dempster Diary Update 2

The idea of going all the way to Innuvik by car attracted my attention and engaged my faculties in a way that only a new obsession can. I was like a kid with a new toy. I started with Google and then another map program, charted out the route, stops, towns, sights, and had myself a wonderful armchair-explorer sort of time. I felt like a Victorian explorer reading Burton and Speke while sipping tea in Piccadilly and glorying in my adventure.

And day on and day off, I daydreamed about the long drive and what it would be like to see the most remote parts of Canada accessible to your average Joe Blowski but which takes some effort to get to -- this is similar to my extremely peculiar wish to one day work on/in Antarctica, or the Gobi desert...well, nobody else I know has done it so why not me? Take the road less travelled and have a great beer story, is my way of looking at it. Trust me: my fund of African, West Indian or Central Asian beer stories is practically inexhaustible, and they get better on each go-around. But I digress.

Now it is a strange paradox of my familial situation that those things I say that are serious are always taken for jokes, and those jokes I come up with are always taken more or less seriously. I've given up attempting to figure this out, conceding it may be something in my face or whatever. Be that as it may, I got an indulgent sort of look from my wife and daughter - "Yeah, Lance is off on one of his temporary enthusiasms again" that look clearly said, with a sort of condescending smile saved for humouring congenial lunatics.

But actually, I was serious, and serious enough to get the guidebooks, check up on the websites, and, around Christmas of 2008, to call both my brothers and suggest we do a thing together: after all, the three Surujbally Boys have not been in the same space since, umm, 1998 or so when we all hooked up in Berlin.

Both Ray and Roger made encouraging noises of agreement and I figured well, what the hell, it's December now, the trip is at the end of August, surely eight months' notice is more than sufficient to save up a grand or two for a ticket, make arrangements for work absence and kiddie care. In the interim, I spoke to Kym about it and she seemed to be in agreement (which I took as a highly suspicious event, since I was talking about a full time absence of close on to 3 weeks, and that's quite a bit when you have two kids to look after while holding down a job). Madi took it in stride as always, and I think she was hedging her bets on how to come down on the issue. Either my interest would peter out or I really would do it in which case she would deal with it then.

Still, I forged on. I printed out large scale maps from my software (enough to cover a patch of floor three meters by four), traced out the route, gathered phone numbers and addresses of hotels and B&Bs and motels, and slowly started composing my mental list. I have to admit, my initial surge of enthusiasm did fade, as all such things do...it's hard to maintain a high for more than half a year. But I did source and order my tyres (six of them -- I heard that the Dempster is not for the faint of heart or wheel, and two spares were highly recommended), saved painstakingly, and I think my clever little wife did eventually realize that I wasn't kidding. And to give her full credit, she was right behind me all the way, if a little sad that she could not make it.

Finally I worked out the route: Calgary via the TransCanada to Prince George; then to Watson Lake and Whitehorse; off to cross the border and on to a little junction called Tok; from Tok via Chicken along the Top of the World Highway to Dawson City; from there up the Dempster to Innuvik, and, if I feel like it and can find a lift, take a plane to Tuktoyaktuk to have a look see. After that, back down the Dempster, off to Watson Laker via the #4, and at that point, depending on how sick I am of driving, the money situation and how badly I want to continue, I either turn for home via Edmonton and the usual back roads I love so much, or head on to Yellowknife. Bit of a crap shoot, really.

As the time came close (pretty much within the last month), things started to get tricky

There was the problem with leave, the issue with the brothers, and the perceived matter of egotism. I'll deal with all those matters in my next post.

Right now I have to clean my camera, polish up the lenses, and ensure I have batteries. Assure my son that I'll talk to him every day while I'm gone. And my wife that I won't drop off the face of the earth.

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