Unsurprisingly we get a lot of the same questions asked about this trip, both before we left and while we travelled across Canada.
The Vehicles
- What ARE those things?
They are Mini Mokes! They are the sibling vehicle to the classic Austin Mini (“Mr. Bean’s Car”). They have all the same mechanical parts, just a different body shell. They were primarily sold in the UK, Australia, and Portugal, and were very popular in the Caribbean islands. - Are they street legal?
Yup. Being a factory built vehicle, they are almost definitely street legal. They stay street-legal these days by falling under ‘classic vehicle’ classifications, as they definitely do not have all the modern safety standards of today. - How fast do they go?
They keep up! We don’t have trouble keeping up with the flow of traffic. They can get up to 130 km/h (80 mph). Their engines are very comfortable cruising at 105-115 km/h (65-70 mph). - Are they electric? / What kind of engine is in them?
They are not electric! They have a 1.3L, 4 cylinder engine with a 4 speed manual transmission.
The Adventure
- Where are you going?
The destination is Tuktoyaktuk! We want to drive these Mini Mokes to the Arctic Ocean. The Dempster Highway finally had an extension built from Inuvik all the way up to the Tuktoyaktuk in 2017. The original adventure was to get to the Arctic Circle and see the the midnight sun. With the opening of the final stretch of road, we also stretched our goal! - Why are you going?
Seeing the midnight sun was on Dad’s “bucket list”, so he and we started planning on how to do it in style. Naturally, taking Minis or Mokes were the first choice. As the Dempster got extended to Tuktoyaktuk the goal changed. - Who is going?
Dad, Phil (son), Tim (son), Jeff (son-in-law). Dad and Tim are the chief mechanics. Phil is leading photography & social media. Jeff is chief snack eater. All are contributing to the driving efforts to share the load.
Miscellaneous
- Are you crazy?
Just a little!
We are pretty confident in the vehicles, and know how to manage repairs ourselves. The route is well understood and is taken by 1000s of people every year. We’re pretty sure we can manage this, and have taken 6-7 years to plan it.
We also have CAA/AAA memberships! - Have you done something like this before?
We’ve done trips to Edmonton, Alberta; Olympia, Washington; Spearfish, South Dakota all in classic Minis or Mini Mokes. This is not our first rodeo, but it’s certainly our most ambitious! - Are you camping along the way?
We thought at first we should camp to keep costs under control. But instead we opted for the sane option of having a GOOD night’s sleep each night and give ourselves the opportunity to have a clean bathroom and shower, and comfy bed to use each night.