After camping on the ice covering the Arctic Ocean.
It was go time, I got up and tried to boil water.
Nope. My stove was not working, it was the cold. Despite keeping the canister of gas in my sleeping bag so its warm the flame just died completely after few minutes.
I knocked on Sister Fay's door, I'll need to figure out how I will melt snow.
Using a THIS manual I made a stove out of a pop can which can use any liquid fuel.
Tuktoyaktuk, meaning "It looks like Caribou" sits on the shore of the Beaufort Sea (Arctic Ocean). My first step of being a tourist is to visit the local grocery store to take pictures of the prices. "Northern" is a descendant of The Hudson Bay Company, although I don't know why they did not want to keep such an awesome and historic name.
I love animals and it was exciting to see that every household had a dog. Unfortunately they are often mistreated and malnourished. Sometimes their chains only stretch a foot or two.
This fellow was very excited to see me. He must have been hungry as he tried eating my gloves and my shoes.
What happens when you don't think outside the box
If I had to choose one image to represent Tuk, it would be this.
"You can go to garage at the end of the road just over there," -Bob pointed across the bay
"Is anyone going to be there?"
"Yes, I am going there."
30 minutes later, I find myself in on a deserted road, there is a huge warehouse with lots of trucks. A Grader driver tells me "Yeah, that's Gruben's garage".
I approach three workers and they take me to the office. Bob is there.
"He's biking to Argentina and wants a license plate."
Yup. My idea of a souvenir.
He tried to grab one from the CAT
But I ended up with another. Great addition to my bike.
A mere $250 gets you a night at this luxury hotel. It even has an air conditioner for those 5 days in the summer when its too hot.
The ocean in the background
The main road at Tuk
Sister Fay runs the church here in Tuk, she also runs programs to help out kids and provide students with co-op experience. She picked the Arctic as a place to retire. It was that or Peru, and she didn't like the heat.
While on the subject of Peru, I agreed to bring a letter to a monastery there and a small vial of holy water. Sounds like a great quest!
Left: At the background is the boat: "Out Lady of Lourdes" which was a church mission boat used to transport supplies and people in the area. It's last voyage at sea was in the 1980's and it is now one of the very few tourist attractions of Tuk.