North 'til the Wheels Get Wet.

A trip taken for it's own sake. San Jose, California, USA to Inuvik, Northwest Territories, Canada and back in less than a week!

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First, A Little Background

by The Flame Boy
Expedition Photographer (I brought the cameras)

One evening, I was surfing the web in a relatively random manner, and came across the definition of the Arctic Circle. It is actually defined by that point at which the sun does not set on the summer solstice. I decided that watching the sun not set would be something worth seeing one day.

Secret, Flame Boy, and Monkey Boy

I mentioned this to Secret, and he thought it would be a great idea. He was the one who actually picked up the ball and started running with it. My plan was to take my lovely wife's car (a bright red Mitsubishi 3000) as it would be fun to drive. After reviewing maps of the possible routes, it became clear that this was not a viable idea. The final section of the route would be the Dempster Highway, a gravel road. We determined that borrowing a minivan from our Uncle H would be the best choice. Searching the web turned up a bit of interesting information. At the far end of the Dempster is Inuvik. This is about as far north as you can get on the North American continent on a public highway. They also had a festival scheduled called Midnight Madness. We had found our objective! The problem became how many miles covered in how many days. We needed a third person. Enter the Monkey Boy.

Just a quick FYI for anyone who may not be familiar with the story here or the cast of characters (and I mean characters in only the kindest sense). Monkey Boy is a long standing nickname for the well dressed bonobo with the crewcut. Not quite sure where it came from, but it does seem to fit. Flame Boy was bestowed upon me for my current selection of hair color. It happened to be a rather bright shade of yellow (banana is the actual name of the color). Secret was graced with his nickname as Java the Cup was too complicated for common use, and Secret was just too funny to pass up. It's short for Secret Squirrel.

The Trip FAQ

How far and how long did it take?
Approximately 6700 miles (or almost 11,000km) including 920 miles on a gravel highway. We left on a Wednesday morning, arrived in Inuvik on Friday evening, left Inuvik late Sunday morning and arrived home on Tuesday night.

Why not just fly?
Anybody can fly someplace. This was the road less traveled. We did it our way. Because sometimes stupid ideas are the most fun. To see that blank stare when we tell someone where we drove. If none of these make sense to you, there is nothing further that I could do to explain. It's kind of like a Far Side cartoon. Some people understand, and some don't.

Why didn't you stop to see __ (fill in the blank)?
The mission objectives were clear. Drive north until the wheels get wet. Watch the sun not set. Return home. Anything else would have distracted from the Tao of the trip.

Why just the three guys?

Moose! (we think)

Does ANYONE actually think we could have talked the ladies into a drive that long just to not see a sunset, and then drive home? Besides, three was the optimum crew size (driver, navigator, and sleeper/door-gunner) for driving 24 hours a day for almost a week.

What exactly does "Moose F**k" mean?
We had already agreed that should any animal big enough to damage the van and/or us step into the road, the driver or navigator would yell "MOOSE" and we would all know that evasive actions would follow immediately. Our warning system. On the way up, we found out that some of the animals (caribou, etc.) actually travel in herds and could block roads entirely. If we were to happen upon one of these herds at 100+ kph, evasive actions would be futile. We would simply yell "Moose F**k."