2014 Alcan 5000

[TorontoTim]

While I leave you all on a minor cliff-hanger about what happened next (no spoilers from those who know the answer!!!), let me answer John's question by saying that I actually HAVE done the Alcan again. 

I entered the winter version of the rally in 2016 in the same 1980 Audi Quattro that we competed against in 2014. I was navigating that time and we easily won the Historic class. The rally followed the same general route but included a run up to Yellow Knife in North West Territories where it was seriously cold!!  We drove over frozen lakes (including a time trial on one) and crossed a frozen river along the way.

But, as I say, that was in an Audi and a tale for another day (and another forum, probably).

Tim

[TorontoTim]

Day 6 (Whitehorse > Dawson City, Yukon; ~400 miles/645 km):

8:48am the TR started!!!  We were back in the rally!!!  Having lost a day, we had to choose whether to run direct to Fairbanks, Alaska to rejoin the rally and attempt the run to the Arctic Circle the following day, or follow the original rally route (a day behind the field) through Dawson City and over the Top of the World Highway and rejoin the field on their second night in Fairbanks.  We were sorry to lose the Arctic, but Dawson had always been a highlight of the trip for us, so we chose to go that way.

What a great drive!!  We followed the Yukon River for many miles with rainbows ahead of us and arrived at the astonishing and, frankly, slightly bizarre Dawson unscathed.  The TR was back to its best – especially as I had been able to replace the stripped distributor bolt.

Jan’s Day 6:

I had only 6 hours to think today. Half the usual time but without any major catastrophic events to interfere with the pure 6 hours of thinkfulness. (I am also creating my own dictionary) My mind kept going between Lord and Lady Baden-Powell and my mother. The former taught me to "Be Prepared" with the Girl Guides/Scouts motto. My mother taught me "ignorance is bliss". Sadly, I doubt she wanted me to actually practice that.

Today brought bald eagles, more rainbows, the beautiful Yukon River, the fabulous Dawson City, and all kinds of great people in between every stop. Diamond Tooth Gerty and the Sourtoe Cocktail lineup. I could never have imagined such a trip and if someone had lined it up with all of its quirks and stresses there is a 65% chance I may have declined and opted for a much more normal vacation. I had no idea just how good it could be. I was blissfully ignorant and totally unprepared. However, I make a mean cheese, tomato, avocado and pita sandwich with a jackknife, on the move, while navigating.  So I'm not a complete loss. Leaving this one-horse town early morning and heading for Fairbanks, Alaska. 11 hours of driving. But...we will be driving the TOP OF THE WORLD highway...so it will be worth it. That's how I'm feeling. Top of the World!!!

Tim's addendum:  For those of you not familiar with it, the "sour toe" cocktail is, in effect, any cocktail you choose to have but with the somewhat mumified, amputated toe of some wild Canadian frontiersman dropped in it.  The deal is that you drink the cocktail and "kiss the toe" while doing it.  The line up was far too long for us to join, so we improvised...hence the photo!

[TorontoTim]

Day 7 (Dawson > Fairbanks, Alaska; ~380 miles/610 km):

We left Dawson in heavy mist, took the ferry across the Yukon River and climbed up onto the Top of the World Highway through thick cloud, bursting out above it into brilliant sunshine.  It is a stunning, mostly dirt road only open in the summer and through the most northerly Canada/USA border crossing.  Having no competitive sections allowed us the freedom to relax and just enjoy the drive – and to stop in Chicken, Alaska, perhaps the oddest of all the unusual places we visited on the rally.  It was a long drive, although not high mileage, including a stop in Tok, AK to torque the head down.  By early evening, we made it to Fairbanks and pulled into the hotel parking lot to the delight of the other competitors.  It was good to be back!!!  After missing two days’ of competition, we were lying in 15th place but there were one or two who just MIGHT be within reach if we scored really well over the two remaining days…

Jan's Report of an Interesting Day:

We left Dawson and had our sights set on the Top of the World. Made it by ferry and onto a gorgeous road taking us into the clouds. Literally. Couldn't see a darn thing. I'm sure the view would have been gorgeous. Then we went beyond the clouds. It was spectacular. The fluffy bed of white hanging between peaks made you want to dive over the edge. But enough of that. Just too many beautiful places. Can't keep track anymore.

I had a mission. The mission was Chicken, Alaska. In the morning I was very clearly told by an old friend who had lived in Dawson for 10 years "go to Chicken and shoot yer panties through the canon and buy me a gun while you are there" No explanation. So clearly, I had to go to Chicken to find out. Chicken is crazy. It barely exists. There is a touristy decoy on the main road where you can get gas and a bite and some gold etc....but that is NOT Chicken. I knew I needed to find “Crazy Sue” and the real Chicken. So we did. It has a store, a saloon, and a diner all attached. The Saloon is like nothing I've seen before and they really DO fire panties out of a canon! However even Chicken Alaska has standards and 11 o'clock on a Sunday morning is too early to wake people up by shooting off the panty canon - although I tried to persude them. I looked up over the bar and there were pink thongs and all kinds of undies torn to shreds and pinned to the ceiling. Apparently its done in a different kind of spirit....like late on a Friday night I would expect, not early on the day of rest  But it was certainly worth the ask just to hear the stories...and there were plenty. Like the 70 year old woman who sat "right there in that chair and almost fell over trying to get her underwear off" It was a laugh and if you ever go to Chicken make sure you go to the real Chicken.

And no, I did not buy a gun but I expect I could have.

[TorontoTim]

Day 8 (Fairbanks > Valdez, Alaska; ~600 miles/965 km):

After all the excitement, drama and life-affirming happenings over the past couple of days, it was oddly normal to be back rallying with everyone else.  The day started with a shortish TSD just outside of town which took us to Cripple Creek.  We felt we did pretty well and probably only dropped a few seconds here and there.

Then it was off on a 2-hour transit to the Denali Highway – a 135-mile remote, summer-only road.  Over 100 miles of this is gravel/dirt – some of it fast and smooth, other parts pot-holed and rough.  We spent around 3-hours getting across which included a stop for coffee at the Sluice Box Café (these kinds of places are truly the BEST experience!), and a brief stop to help out a ‘bike group who had suffered a puncture on one of their motorcycles.  The TR took the punishment pretty well and delivered us safely to the main highway on the east side of the park although the banging and shaking was slowly loosening all the exhaust joints!  Three and a half hours southwards, over Thompson Pass and through the AMAZING and stunning Keystone Canyon and on into Valdez.

At the end of the day, we had just squeezed into 14th place.  It seemed unlikely we could move up any more but with one day to go, everything was still to play for.

Jan on Day 8:

We woke up thinking we may very well not do the Denali Highway. I am so thankful we did. Next to the Top of the World Highway this was astonishing. If you ever decide to do the trip, try to arrange to do it in the sun....but even the rain was beautiful. This place is vast, vast, vast. The biggest hazard on that road are the tourists in camper vans who just STOP to take pictures. No indicating. No moving to the side of the road. Just all of a sudden STOP as if we should be reading their minds.

The road is lovely and smooth until about almost half way. Then there are many, many potholes. Actually, not really potholes as much as road CAVES. The first few we fly over while I'm having a silent hairy canary (to revert to a primary school saying) inside my head. Finally, I just say "SLOW DOWN PLEASE!" Tim responded by saying "Dahling, it's better if we go quickly so we can just 'nip' ovah them". Oddly, for a moment I was totally ok with this simply because of this gorgeous British accent. Suddenly, purely based on how he sounded all was fine. Swoon.

BUMP. CRASH. Swoon over. Anyhow, he was right. It is better to go quickly although a little scary. They can be big holes for a little car. AND I think that there is money to be made from women rally-ers by constructing very supportive bras. I'm serious. Not just a sports bra, a serious hold-it-all-in-and-close-to-you bra for the gravel roads. A rally bra. Anyhow....

Denali was gorgeous and I recommend it. But then came the Keystone Canyon and Thompson Pass. It was like being in a fairy land. Cascading waterfalls everywhere. Green. Lush. Glaciers. This place is called the "Switzerland of Alaska". But then you arrive in Valdez...and there is NOTHING.

For those of you who have not rallied before it’s kinda like a game of Road Bingo for big kids. Every few miles I get to cross out something I'm supposed to see. Keeps me busy and gives me something to look forward to on the long stretches. Clearly, I'm easily entertained. TSD's (the fast racey bits) on the other hand are more like a yelling game of Eye Spy.

"I spy with my little eye the FIRST RIGHT!"

"That first right?"

"No! Damn! THAT FIRST RIGHT after the STOP"

"Jesus Jan!"

And it goes on like that for about 20 minutes to an hour all while changing speeds, counting seconds and changing the stop watch at every speed change. It's terrifying but I love it!

Note:  Photos to follow...

[TorontoTim]

Day 8 photos from the Denali Highway...

[TorontoTim]

Day 9 (Valdez > Anchorage, Alaska and the FINISH!; ~310 miles/500 km):

We drove the last day top-down in celebration of making our way from Kirkland, Washington through British Columbia, Yukon and to Anchorage, Alaska in an almost 53-year-old sports car.  It was only a few degrees above freezing (in August!) but it was a great way to travel.  There were two TSD sections to cover on route and we dropped less than 20 seconds, but it wasn’t quite enough to move up from 14th.  However, having missed two whole days of competition, we were pretty happy with that result – imagine the possibilities if we hadn’t hit trouble.

Having said that, we had the most amazing experiences; some of which only came BECAUSE we hit trouble, so we felt like we won FAR more than we lost.  The rally was won, for the fourth time, by Gary Webb in his Subaru; he’s an awesome competitor and deserved his success.  Keith Barke and Bill Colisch quite rightly won the Vintage class in their Audi – not as old as the TR, but a really good-looking rally car!

*************************************************************

As we drove the last miles into Anchorage, Jan and I fell quiet as we realised that we were nearly done.  We entered the Alcan 5000 looking for an epic drive and an adventure that we could share together.  Well, we certainly found an epic drive and we had rather more adventure than we had planned for…

The TR4 is a wonderful car to drive.  It’s small, it’s noisy, it’s smelly and it’s primitive.  But it’s just so much FUN.  Also, the Alcan 5000 is a fantastic event.  It is well run, goes to awe-inspiring places across incredible roads and generates a special spirit between the competitors.  Thanks to everyone connected with the event!!  Thanks also to Moss for their support before, and during, the rally.

(Following the completion of the Alcan 5000, Jan flew home to Toronto to rejoin her kids; Tim drove the TR4 a further 4,100 miles across Canada from Anchorage to Toronto…but that’s another story…)

Jan’s thoughts after the Finish:

I thought long and hard about how to wrap up the whole experience and all I could come up with is thank god for ME! I mean honestly, not only was I a kick ass navigator but I pretty much drove the entire way as well. I mean, not technically. I didn’t actually ever sit in the driver’s seat or press any pedals of any kind, BUT…I did things like the following:

“Do you see that Stop sign?”

“There is a hill coming up”

“There is a big curve in the road ahead”

“It’s 40 mph…you’re going 45 mph”

“Aren’t you a little close to that car?

“There is a moose crossing”

“There is a caribou herd crossing…for the next 240 miles”

So….as you can see I was very, very important to the driving bit too. 

 

But more seriously, this was indeed a life event. I LOVED it. I loved the rally community and the very kind people who rallied with us. It felt like a strange little biker/car family. Maybe we were kind of like a gang! Rally Gang!

I loved freezing to near death with the top down just because we could.  I loved every single stranger who approached us at gas stations, and parking lots, and coffee shops and pretty much anywhere we stopped the car and just wanted to talk about their old cars. I loved watching and listening to people walk down memory lane. I loved that they shared their lives with us. I loved that Chicken, Alaska is an actual place and that there is somewhere in the world I can shoot my undies from out of a canon. I loved Dawson City; nothing seems to have changed there since the days of the gold rush. Each of the places we went to deserves a proper trip. We quite literally drove by. There is history that should be learned and beautiful things that should be seen at every single one of those places.  So many incredible experiences from people I have never met before. As Tim said several times to me over this trip “there are no strangers in the TR community”. He was right but I’m so happy to experience that it extends far beyond that as well.

And lastly, I had the best driver in the world! I did. Even though I did most of it, he was really truly an expert at this. I was in awe of his abilities and his apparent endless patience. I would drive anywhere with him.  Well…anywhere that doesn’t say “watch for livestock”…I’m done with the cows...

[stillp]

[Misfit]

Thank you providing us with your write up and excellent photos of your Alcan 5000 trip 

Derek H

[TorontoTim]

Ok, that's pretty much the full story of Jan and my adventure taking our TR4 on the 2014 Alcan 5000.  It really was an adventure and we'll never forget it.  Reposting the story here and re-reading Jan's contributions makes it feel like it was just yesterday rather than almost 10 years ago!  I really did immediately drive the TR back to Toronto which was another 4,000+ miles in 7 days.  Trust me when I say, nowhere's far in a TR!

 

To fully wrap up, I want to share the epilogue that we wrote after completing the rally.

Finally, we want to dedicate our finish in this wonderful rally to our friend Badfrog.  He is a friend who I never met in person, but through the TR Register Forum online community.  He was a wonderful, funny, enthusiastic, smart Frenchman (hence the moniker Badfrog) who adored his red Triumph TR4.  And just a few weeks before we started the Alcan, he died.  From cancer.

Before he died, unknown to me, he had become very enthusiastic about our adventure and was keen to follow every mile with us, through Facebook.  But he knew, unlike most of his TR friends, that his time was short.  During a phone call with a mutual friend just days before he died, Badfrog passed on a few messages.  He said that he had a feeling that we should have a spare fuel pump with us – as it happens we had to replace ours on Day 3.  He also said that we should look out for him making his presence felt as our “wingman” along the way.  He laughed as he said this; but then became serious and said that he really would be there with us.  Just after we had the engine blow-up, on day 4, and we were being towed to the day’s end, when our spirits were truly low, a rainbow appeared – Jan immediately said “this isn’t where our rally is going to end”.  As we started rolling again on the morning of Day 5, another rainbow appeared and stayed with us for perhaps the first half hour of the day.  Thanks, Badfrog, it was good to have you alongside.

He also said that, wherever our rally finished, we should award ourselves with a glass of Champagne and a Havana on his account. 

He said “morituri te salutant”; those who are about to die, salute you.

Cheers, Badfrog, this is for you.

 

[Hamish]

Thanks Tim and Jan

loved that write up………… 

[SuzanneH]

Thanks for sharing and the Badfrog tribute is wonderful. He was such a witty intellectual person and many that were here back then have much to thank him for.

We met his cars at Le Mann’s and him in Malvern a year or so later, his TR4, Lady Anne, was distinctive because of its wrap around and low windscreen.

Thanks again Tim and Jan x

Edited April 24 by SuzanneH

[TorontoTim]

Thanks all for the kind words and thanks, Sue, for the Badfrog memories. 

It was truly our honour to know what he thought about our adventure. There were more than a few tears along the way when we thought of him.