June 17th: On the way from Liard Hot Springs to Watson Lake and the Sign Post Forest, the RV overheated and spit oil out all over the front of their tow car. But the two RV Gypsies made it to a repair place near the Sign Post Forest (Eramie Trucking LTD, 824 Adela Trail, Watson Lake) and had to boondock for one night in the lot behind the Sign Post Forest which was also across the street from the repair place.
June 18th: When the Eramie Trucking opened in the morning, Lee Duquette
turned their only home over to the mechanics. A few things were fixed
(including a tire), but Lee had to drive the RV to the nearby Downtown
RV Park and Brian, so mechanic, took a part out of the RV and gave the
part to Lee.
Since it was a week-end, Lee Duquette had to wait until Monday June
20th, then he drove the tow car all the way to Whitehorse and back to
get the part (about 200 miles each way). Karen Duquette stayed in the
RV.
On the way to and from Whitehorse, Lee Duquette saw 4 bears, 6 porcupines
and 17 rabbits but he did not have a camera to photograph them, and
even if he had a camera, he can not photograph wildlife and drive at
the same time.
The mechanic, Brian, returned and put the new part in the RV. However,
he had to weld the hose and said it was a bit stiff and a new hose should
be made in Whitehorse because the stiff hose could possibly crack. NOT
the best news in the world for the two RV Gypsies.
On June 21, the two RV Gypsies left Downtown RV Park in Watson Lake
early in the morning and headed to Whitehorse in their RV. But all gas
stations were closed and they ran too low on diesel. Lee Duquette pulled
the RV over to the side of the road and Karen Duquette stayed in the
RV while Lee drove to Teslin for diesel. It took awhile because Lee
had to wait for the gas station to open that morning. Very little traffic
passed by the RV while Karen waited for Lee's return.
As the two RV Gypsies eventually headed out in their RV again, they
stopped at a gas station to put even more diesel into the RV. It was
a cloudy, dreary day, but no rain or anything. UNTIL Lee pulled into
the gas station. And then guess what! It HAILED on him as he
was putting diesel into the RV. Karen Duquette handed Lee an umbrella
so the hail would not bop Lee in the head. As soon as the RV was full
of diesel and the two RV Gypsies hit the road again, the hail stopped.
Say What !?!
So the two RV Gypsies started on their way in the RV once again, but
a warning light kept saying "Stop Engine" even though
all signals said all fluids were okay. The RV ran very sluggish, but
eventually made it to the Yukon Hotel and Campground in Teslin. And
as bad luck would have it, both tow companies Lee called that were capable
of towing a 40-foot RV, had their own tow trucks broken down.
Two days later, on Thursday, June 23, Capital Towing sent a big tow truck to rescue the two RV Gypsies and towed the RV from Teslin to Whitehorse.
Lee Duquette found a nice ad in the yellow pages so they had their
RV towed to New North Truck and Equipment at 91317C Alaska
Highway in Whitehorse which said they specialize in servicing
all Freightliner equipment and that they are a full-service repair shop,
with fast and reliable repair service and work on motorhomes and more.
But after the tow truck dropped them off, it did not appear that it
was a very professional place. The outside of the building was nice,
but the inside was a very unorganized disaster. But the owner
said "not to worry", he would have the RV fixed in
one day. WRONG! On Friday June 24th, they did an oil change
and that was about it. Then they were closed for the week-end. Lee tried
to pay the overtime charges to get the mechanic to work on the week-end,
but that did not happen.
Anyway, on June 23, Lee and Karen Duquette went to find a hotel for
the night but hotels were FULL. They finally got the last available
room at Days Inn, 2288 Second Avenue in Whitehorse. The hotel was okay,
not great, but better than no hotel. There was no swimming pool, no
nice lobby to hang out in, no nice restaurant only a cafe grill. The
room was adequate, with a bed, couch, small computer desk, TV, dresser,
closet, microwave and refrigerator, and of course a bathroom, shower,
coffee pot. It did NOT have a safe or even a TV guide. It was a clean
room, but not the most comfortable hotel. They had to sit on the bed
to watch TV. Somebody in the room directly above the room that the two
RV Gypsies were in, kept walking back-and-forth in his room a lot, even
late at night, and his footsteps could be heard and the ceiling creaked.
Lee Duquette had to keep extending the amount of nights in the hotel
because New North Truck and Equipment could not get the "Stop
Engine" light to go off and said they did not know what was
wrong.
On June 29, Lee Duquette paid New North Truck Equipment what they
charged, and drove the sluggish RV to another repair place, Inland
at 227 Range Road in Whitehorse. Their ad in the yellow pages was
small, but their place appeared to be much more professional. Lee and
Karen Duquette were starting to get very concerned about how they were
going to get to Fairbanks, Alaska in time to meet their family, Renee,
John and Ilse when they arrive via airplane to spend two weeks with
them in Alaska. However, all this meant was another few thousand dollars
on a repair bill and the RV still was not fixed.
July 6
The two RV Gypsies finally got their RV towed over 600 miles from
Whitehorse, Yukon to Fairbanks, Alaska (at a cost of $10,300). Capital
Towing said they would meet the two RV Gypsies to pick up their RV between
6:30 a.m. and 7:00 a.m. so the two RV Gypsies were dressed and ready
to go, but the tow truck did not arrive until around 8:30 a.m. The two
RV Gypsies watched their RV get loaded onto the tow truck, but then
the tow truck had a hydraulic problem that had to be taken care of,
plus the driver said that he had to go home first to get his passport
and his wife before he could hit the road. (His wife wanted to shop
in Fairbanks because there was not enough shopping in Whitehorse). So
the two RV Gypsies drove off in their car which gave them plenty of
time to stop along the way on the very long drive.
After a short stop at Burwash Landing, the two RV Gypsies saw a mother
bear and two cubs by the side of the road. Several cars and people were
taking photos, so Karen Duquette joined the crowd taking photos, always
keeping other people in-between herself and the bear. Then they got
on their way again.
The two RV Gypsies then stopped at Pickhandle Lake, and Beaver Creek. The roads were mostly decent, but of course there was some construction roads, dirt roads, gravel roads, nasty frost heaves, and at one point the two RV Gypsies had to wait 15 minutes for a pilot car to lead them and other vehicles through a very big road construction area.
Arriving in Alaska, the two RV Gypsies made several other stops, a lunch break at a restaurant, Tok, and more, plus they took some photos under the Alaska Pipeline at the Tanana River. By then it was 9:25 Alaska time (10:25 Yukon time). They arrived in Fairbanks around 11 p.m. Alaska time and parked their car in the front of the RV repair shop, which of course was closed at that hour. Two other RVs were already there for service.
Along the way, the two RV Gypsies had noted three bridges that would
be a problem for the tow truck to fit under with their RV. So they called
the tow truck driver Jason several times to tell him where the problems
would be, but Jason did NOT return their calls. The two RV Gypsies sat
in their car, always thinking the tow truck was maybe two hours behind
them. But 2 a.m. rolled around and NO call from Jason and NO tow truck
and RV. The sun had "set" around 12:30 that night but it was
still very light outside, not even dusk. The sun rose at 3:30 a.m. And
the two RV Gypsies had no sleep while sitting in their small, uncomfortable
car and still had not heard from Jason.
Eventually the two RV Gypsies drove to the northern-most Denny's in the world for some food, which was terrible and the place was dirty. To make this long story shorter, the tow truck and RV arrived at NOON on July 8th.
It took from July 7, 2016 to August 7, 2016 for the RV to finally
be repaired at Cummins, 1921 Sanduri Ave in Fairbanks, Alaska
- that is a full month, not to mention the problem really began on June
17th in Canada. Estimated cost $40,000. So the two RV Gypsies drove
off and headed towards Tok, Alaska. However, 26 miles down the road
(just past North Pole) the RV blew the front passenger side tire. (The
one that was fixed in Watson Lake - ha ha.) They were right by
Eielson Air Force base. Signs all said, "NO parking, NO stopping,
NO photography." Yet it took about 1-1/2 hour before two military
personnel with big rifles came by to ask why the two RV Gypsies parked
their RV there. By then, the tire repair truck was already there putting
a new tire on the RV at a cost around $800 (it was a Sunday).
About 95 miles further down the road, the two RV Gypsies took a break
in Delta Junction and Lee Duquette checked to see if everything was
okay with the RV and toad. And sad to say, the RV had an oil leak, so
Lee had to drive the RV back to Fairbanks. A part had to be ordered,
so that meant another delay leaving town. But on August 9, 2016, the
two RV Gypsies got to leave Fairbanks and head out of Alaska. Unfortunately
all of this delay meant that they did not get to some of the places
they wanted to get to while in Alaska.
August 10, 2016, the two RV Gypsies got 26 miles out of Tok, and the
dreaded "Stop Engine" light came on. Again, work
was not done properly because a hose was against something hot and melted,
which caused the coolant to leak. Lee Duquette had to get under the
RV and drain out the rest of the leak, then take a part of the hose
back into town (good thing they had a car). He bought a hose, coolant
and clamps and drove back to the RV. He did get it fixed, but it was
a rough job and a lot of work, plus a total of five-hours.
So they drove their RV back to Tok and parked at Sourdough Campground
for the night. The RV was fine for awhile, but they still had to get
to Forest City, Iowa because they had 3 slide-outs that would not go
out. They called the Winnebago Factory in April and the best they could
do was to get a September 12th appointment. So the two RV Gypsies headed
on out of Alaska and worked their way to that repair. |
