TeamD Adventures

Dan and I were heading west out of Whitehorse last evening when a message popped up on our Kenwood radio that said “Welcome Back!” It was from Eric and Steve miles away in Haines Junction. They had seen APRS* packets from Car 11 showing that we were once again underway….
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What a great morning! We rolled out of Dawson City, topped off fuel at “The Corner” then pulled out in convoy of Cars 6, 7, and 11 up the Dempster Highway to Inuvik. At just about Mile 12, I noticed the “Check Engine” light for which Subarus are sometimes famous and said “Dan, did you forget to put the gas cap back on?”. Then I saw the red battery icon. Oops.

A quick “We got trouble!” call on the business band radio brought our 3-car convoy to a halt….
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Eric, Dan and Steve do a much more effective job of posting updates from the road than Jim … thinks Jim. It would help if Jim knew how to type. You should see Dan banging away on the keyboard as we cruise down the Alaska Highway at 130kph. It is a sight to behold. My two-finger typing technique whilst in the passenger seat is nowhere near as effective and trying to type while underway can give me *just* a touch of motion sickness, something to which I am usually quite immune. Ooh, I am getting a bit woozy!
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As the February 18 jump off approached, we started to get a *little* nervous about the number of electron-consuming doodads that we were stuffing into the WRX. The stock battery was only about two years old, but it never inspired confidence never mind awe. The stock alternator? Rated at 75 amps, so even with a conservative rating, we were skeptical of it keeping up with the the demands of dual Ham radios, stereo, rally computer, laptop, driving lights, and more.
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I peered out the small starboard-side port on the Herc and it hit me: “Whoa! Are those Viggens? Or MIGs???? Did Willey forget to file the paperwork? And just how far off course *are* we???? And in what direction?” Järvi 17 sits inside an inactive artillery range, but very close to the border east of Lammasjärvi. The people at the Ministry are a bit touchy and you *gotta* do your paperwork!
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