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Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Rally drivers crossCanadadaughter, Gretchen. About 60 people were in
the race, including 24 entrants and six staff
members. It winds through small towns,
open wilderness, across frozen river roads,
and even across a frozen sea.

The father/daughter teamdrove over frozen rivers andsaw stretches of wilderness.

Alkema used to ride in motorbike rallies
before he gave them up for the Alcan 5000.
It was his second time in the race, though
he's helped devise its route three times
before. For Gretchen, a 37-year-old San
Clemente High graduate, it was a first – anddefinitely not a last – experience.

By ANDREW GOOD

"She loved it," Alkema said. "She wants to go
back and do it with friends."

Sun Post News

Dirt bikes used to be San Clemente resident
John Alkema's recreational vehicle ofchoice. But since 2000, he's traded thedirt for ice.
Alkema and his daughter, Gretchen, recently
put 8,300 miles on his Chevy Z71 driving theAlcan 5000 Winter Rally . The race, whichruns from Feb. 17 to 26, starts in Kirkland,
Washington and meanders across western
Canada 5,000 miles to the tiny seaside townof Tuktoyaktuk (population approximately870). Alkema drove from San Clemente to
the race's starting point.
It's an exciting event for Alkema, whowanted to bond over the experience with his

They would spend each day checking maps,
navigating how fast to go, and taking inbreathtaking sights along the way. In the far
north, the sun wouldn't rise until 10 a.
m., and would set at 3 p.m. Their XM Satellite
Radio would stop working, and they'd
rely on Gretchen's iPod. They'dshare their meals with other drivers, swap
stories, and build friendships. Alkema said it
was a fabulous way to bond – they'dtalk about everything,"We had a lot of times to talk about things,
and a lot of time to just live life," Alkema said.
Gretchen added jokingly that neither threw
the other out of the car.
It's a unique way to experience

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Canada's wilderness, she said. BritishColumbia, famed for its forests, was striking,but the farther north they went, the morebarren the landscape became.
"It's beautiful the way the desert isbeautiful," Gretchen said. "There's thisvast nothingness of rolling hills."
For several long stretches, there wereexpanses of trees that looked "liketoothpicks" Gretchen said. A posted sign
read that a fire had reduced the forest to acharred landscape in 1954, and nothing had
grown back since then.
Along the way, they saw a moose, deer, anda pack of wolves. Alkema said on previous
trips along the Dempster Highway, in the far
north, drivers have seen grizzly bears off theside of the road. Another driver on this trip
saw a lynx, he said.
Two of the trips highlights were not forSouthern California drivers. One was when
the rally traveled over the frozen Mackenzie
River, and out on to a frozen stretch of theBeaufort Sea.

the temperature had been minus 40 degrees
Celsius. Fortunately, by the time they got
there, it had warmed to a toasty -18 degrees.
Regardless, the ice was very solid, even when
you see cracks veining across its surface,Alkema said.
The other highlight, Gretchen said, wasracing through a slalom course on a frozen
lake. A course is carved out of snowdrift witha snowplow, and each car gets to drive
through it as fast as they can.
"It's like an ice go-kart track, with aswooping, curvy course, maybe a mile inlength," Gretchen said. "You try to drive as
fast as possible and not spin out and fly into
the snow bank … It's very, veryslippery. When I was watching people,
they'd punch the gas hard thinking
they could peel out. There is no peeling out
on ice. You have to just crawl out the startinggate."
Contact the writer: 949-492-5128 or
agood@ocregister.com"You see the shoreline on one side andnothing on the other side. You're on
frozen ocean. They take big trucks on it,"Alkema said.
The week before they arrived, Alkema said,
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