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| Crossing
the border into Canada we had to pass through customs to
register our gun. Do you think this is necessary? If
not, why? |
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On
the Road to Churchill |
Date:
February 11, 2001
Position: 58o46 N 94o10W
Weather Conditions:
Clear, -20 F / -26 C |
| A
lot has happened since we left Minnesota last Wednesday. The
road to Churchill, Manitoba where we are sitting now, has been
quite exciting...Actually, I should probably add here that
this statement is pretty incorrect since there are NO roads
leading to Churchill!! Think about that. |
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| Envision
living in a place where with 20-30 Kilometers of road, you can
basically drive as far as you can in any direction within the
hour. (That's right we are in Canada now, so we have to
respect the metric system:). I guess you can say we are beyond
the normal terms of civilization. And, we love this place! We
have been here a number of times before beginning and ending
trips. So, we are returning to familiar faces and good
friends.
But first we had to
get here. |
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| We
left as planned shortly after we sent the last report.
Traveling in the big dog truck were Thomas, Eric the 20
"chosen" Polar Huskies and of course Paul and Mille.
As you might remember we had to get to Winnipeg, Manitoba that
night where we were invited to a ceremony for our dogs in the
"Circle of Life Thunderbird House" by our friend Tom
Campell who is an Ojibwe. All of us two-legged have agreed
that this is one of the most powerful experiences we have ever
witnessed. Simply breathtaking. |
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| Cola
thought it was pretty cool too! At first when the drums and
the song began we were afraid of how the dogs would react. Big
ol' Spank was not to sure to begin with. He definetely looked
for the door. Cola on the other hand simply couldn't get close
enough! We were very honored to have Don Cardinal, one of the
most respected elders conduct the ceremony. |
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Thursday
we spent running the last couple of errands in Winnipeg. About
750.000 people live in Winnipeg. This week is the voyager week
there, so lots of neat stuff was being prepared, amongst other
these incredible snow sculptures. This one on the left is
Thomas' favorite...(read his bio
and you might figure out why). |
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Then
the race began. We basically left Winnipeg at the same time as
the "Via Rail" train on which we were suppose to get
on about 28 hours, and 600 miles later. No problem you might
say with a little bit of simple math. Except, nothing is quite
that simple when you are driving with 20 Polar Huskies to the
end of the road, literally.
We have to take the
dogs out of their boxes (see last trail
report) every 8 hours or so, for at least an hour at a
time - so before we are all done, set and ready to go, it
easily takes a couple of hours. About 2/3 of the way (after
Thompson) the paved road turned into a dirt road. We were
lucky though, we had perfect driving weather: sun shinning
from a crisp, clear sky. Only one incident. We did have a flat
tire on the truck! But considering how heavy we were with
equipment and food in the trailer we felt lucky the trailer
tires made it through. |
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| If
you have had a chance to look at all of what is needed to
bring on an expedition like this (last weeks Curriculum
unit (1)) you know HOW MUCH STUFF we had along. We
calculated we needed at least 2 hours to unload it all from
the trailer into the train. The train was to leave at
midnight. We arrived at the Gillam Train Station at 10:20 and
started unloading immediately beginning with the dogs. The
trailer almost empty and half the dog crates (for the train)
assembled, a very friendly train porter told us that we were
in the wrong end of the platform!!!!!!! Aaarhh. A few minutes
later the train pulled up. The next 43 minutes and so many
seconds were pretty hectic...to say the least. Eric and Thomas
sprinted dogs from one end of the platform to the other, Mille
was in the box cart loading the dogs into their boxes, while
helping push the couple of thousand pounds Paul loaded into
the box cart around to make it all fit. It was WILD. But we
got it all onboard and the train took off. 8 hours later we
woke up here in Churchill. |
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| Mille
checks the dogs are all settled in their boxes in the
train.
Churchill
Train Station |
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We
have spent the last couple of days getting everything
organized again, taking care of a few last minute items and
very importantly talking with the locals about our route. The
first obstacle ahead of us, is departing. We will have to
cross over the Churchill River. This has been a route of
travel as long as anybody remembers, but a few years ago a weir
was built, which has changed the flow. This means that the ice
crushes up, making sledding potentially very dangerous. With
help from the people who knows the land and ice as their own
hand palm we have found a good route. We will leave on the
trail Tuesday morning - Less than 36 hours to go! |
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This
is called a Tundra Buggy. Churchill sits on a Peninsula. That
means the ice will freeze here faster than elsewhere. So,
every fall between 80 and 130 polar bears gather around
Churchill waiting to get out on the forming ice so they can go
hunting for food (seals). About 20.000 people travel here
every fall to see the many bears. They drive out in these
"oversize" vehicles made especially for this
purpose, to see and photograph the bears. |
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