July 03, 2008. Day 21 - Edmonton, Ab - waiting for spare wheels for the trailer

Edmonton is the last major city before Inuvik. This is the place to get all the major spare parts we'll need. The most challenging section of the tour is yet to come. The infamous and Challenging Dempster highway. When first contacting the authorities at the NT (Northwest Territories) Marcelo was told that in general people just don't travel on the Dempster highway because the 750km (466 miles) of gravel is detrimental to tires and the vehicle it self causing a lot of damage due to the type of sharp gravel used to build the highway. It is recommended to carry at least two or more spare tires. Ted and DK (our hosts) recommended us to West End Tire Ltd. There we met Garth Hough. After looking at the tires we had made some good recommendations. The van had 4 new tires. However, the 2 hear tires are being replaced with a stronger 8 ply tire to take on the abuse it will face on the Dempster highway, we got another steel wheel for the van and install the tires we had. Finding the proper rims for the trailer wasn't an easy because it is not a very common used rim, it is call the "dully rim". Garth got on the phone and found us the rim but it wouldn't be ready until tomorrow. So, the team took the opportunity to drive the solar car back to WEM and charge the batteries.