Day 6 – Tuktoyaktuk (Arctic Ocean) to Inuvik – 152km (95 miles) – 5 hours
We departed the beach at the Arctic Ocean (sob, sob…) early in the morning as we knew it could be a long drive back to Inuvik. We weren’t targeting any place further than Inuvk on this day. And, boy, are we glad we did that. We left town and passed the Pingo Day Use area where we saw a few RVs (maybe they spent the night there or just go there early in the morning) and started our long journey south.
The road was extremely rough, we were going very slow, and it was very, very, very bumpy. After a bit we stopped the vehicle to check it out (a typical safety check we do regularly). And that’s when we heard it. The front air suspension compressor was working and never turning off. Uh oh…we have lost our front air suspension! Hence why the road was extremely bumpy. Yes, we were now driving the road from hell. We continued on since we had no other option.
Pretty soon the motorcyclists that camped next to us and borrowed our shade the previous night came whizzing past us, beeping, and waving. We continued at a crawl.
We plugged along. It was slow, it was physically demanding, and it was tiring. Mile after mile going really slow and getting our brains knocked out (our brains may have been gone long before this).
Finally, finally, we could see Inuvik. We were almost there. It took us five hours to drive almost 148 km (92 miles) but we made it in one piece!
We drove directly to the Happy Valley Territorial Park where we had stayed on the way north. We checked in, got a pull thru site, and went to work.
Campground: Happy Valley Territorial Park
Location: Inuvik, Northwest Territories
Site: 22 (pull thru)
Cost: $35 (CAD)
Services: E (30 AMP)
Comments: A fine campground located right in Inuvik with easy access to amenities. We lucked out at having the hardware store close (as most other campers realized too)! Everyone was working on their vehicles or motorcycles.
We made a quick lunch and Norm got to work immediately. He put on his coveralls and crawled under the motorhome and checked the suspension. Air bags were fine, hoses were fine, compressor was fine BUT he found the air from the compressor was going directly outside. A plug in the air tank had been knocked out and it was sending the air to the outside. Norm walked to the hardware store which was less than half a mile away (remember we are not towing a vehicle), bought a part, and came back and fixed it. Yes, we have front air suspension again!! Thank God Norm can fix just about anything. Otherwise we might have been there for weeks and having to have parts ordered from down south with no fix in site. We are now good to go in the morning! We could relax and have a nice evening.
It seems like our problems center around Inuvik which is good due to the hardware stores around and amenities!! Fingers crossed for our journey south!
As usual, I had to peek out the window at 2 or 3am and check out the midnight sun. This would probably be our last night above the Arctic Circle and in the land of the midnight sun so I needed to enjoy it. We were aiming for getting at least to the Arctic Circle the next day.
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