We stayed in the Capital motel in Inuvik again last night; and it is amazing just how much stuff we managed to take out of the motor home and into our room in just one night. It felt like repacking was a major project.

We had read about the indoor water park in Inuvik and wanted to see it before leaving, so before finally checking out of the motel we took a short walk up to the big green building that houses it.

Now we only expected to have a quick look around inside, but when we got there the head lifeguard Dave insisted on giving us a guided tour; we were not reluctant so he did not need to do much convincing. The place is an amazing sports and recreation center, much more than a water park. In addition to lap pools, hot tubs, sauna, steam room, water slide, there are three curling lanes, a club room for the curling club, an ice hockey rink, a children's play area with playground equipment, a gymnasium and numerous meeting rooms.

Dave you were a gracious guide, thank you.

As we left Inuvik the sky was grey and we commented how lucky we were to have travelled the ice road yesterday in good weather.

On the way out of town we spotted a pickup truck with a set of kennels in the back for carrying a team of sled dogs, the dogs were out of their kennels and tied around the truck so we stopped to take a photo.

Back on the Dempster heading south it was snowing lightly, and there was a strong wind blowing snow across the road and leaving small piles of snow in the pot holes. On the southern side of the MacKenzie river crossing we stopped for lunch; it was still snowing with a strong wind. Again we noticed a number of large trucks carrying gravel in the 40 km stretch north of the Peel river.

At the Peel River crossing a roadside sign said the road was closed but as we approached the ice bridge we did not see any closed signs, and other vehicles were crossing so we proceeded. South of the Peel the road climbed out of the MacKenzie river valley onto ridge tops. At this higher elevation blowing snow and low cloud made for poor visibility from time to time and there were a number of occasions that we were thankful for the row of snow poles beside the road. About 100kms from Eagle Lodge we passed by a road maintenance depot and another road closed sign with flashing lights. Now we understood. The previous sign was not signaling the closure of the ice bridge at the Peel river but the closure of the road because of weather. However, we had been passing other vehicles from time to time so decided to proceed. The light snow fall and strong wind continued giving rise to periodic poor visibility but did not impede our progress, just increased the caution in our driving. It was comforting to have 4-wheel drive.

At Eagle Lodge another sign signaled the road closed to north bound traffic. This seemed like a good signal that we should end the days travel and spend the night, yet again, in the parking lot of the Eagle Lodge. Again the staff have allowed us to plug into electricity so we should have a comfy night.