Thursday, July 17, 2008 - Day 7

Today was a very long day. We rode for 12 hours and made it to Chetwynd. We got very wet between High Level and Manning, before we put on our rain gear. And of course, it didn't rain again after we put our gear on. (That's not completely true, but almost)

In Fairview, Dan and I had a difference of opinions on when and where to stop for the night. Lets just say tired and cranky Michelle and tired and cranky Dan mix about as well as oil and water. In the end we sort of compromised. We went farther than I would have liked but we're not on the side of the road somewhere as Dan would have liked. And Dan and I talked over the events of the day and things are good again.

Start: 37,868 km - End: 38,781 km - Total Distance: 913 km

Wednesday, July 16, 2008 - Day 6

We had a fairly slow morning today. We got up around nine, and it took us until 12 to eat breakfast and pack up camp.


We then headed into town to do a little more exploring. We checked out the musium and drove through old town. Yellowkinfe is a pretty little town.

We got on the road at about 3:30 pm. It was actually surprisingly hot for being so far north. I actually tink I got a little over heated that morning because I didn't feel very good all day. For the most part the ride was pretty uneventful. However, like most days, there is once experience worth noting.

While we were on the ferry, a bug must have crawled into my helmet. About 5 minutes after getting off the ferry, the bug started crawling on my ear. I VERY quickly pulled over and took off my helmet. That is one sensation I can do without repeating.

Other than that, it was a great day of riding. We go in fairly late so we made some dinner and are now headed to bed.

Start: 37,342 km - End: 37,868 km - Total Distance: 526 km

Sunset/Sunrise

So its only 9:30 in the morning but I have to comment on last night. We had been noticing that the farther north we got, the longer the days got, but last night was something else. We decided at about 11:30 pm that we should go down to the lake and check out the sunset. We were down there until almost 1:00 am and the sun still hadn't completely went down.


I realized later that it never really got dark. There was dusk for a couple of hours but never complete darkness.

Tuesday, July 15, 2008 - Day 5

So today we headed to Yellowknife. The weather started out nice and we got a fairly decent start. It did try and rain on us a few times but it was never enough for us to pull over and gear up. The ferry ride was kind of fun. It seems to me that every ferry is different and therefore a completely new experience.

After the ferry is where we started seeing bison. Neither Dan nor I expected to see bison on this trip. At first we just saw one or two on the side of the road at a time. That was fine and kinda interesting. I didn't realize just how big they were in the wild. Then we had to ride through an entire herd. That was a little terrifying and spectacular all at the same time. There were a couple on the road that wouldn't move. A truck come the other way and cleared one of them for us. But there was another one on the shoulder that decided to run along side Dan. There were many others farther off being fairly aggressive with each other as well. It all turned out fine and we got through them without a problem. Dan then pulled over not very far past them to take pictures. I was a little uncomfortable with that but my desire for pictures outweighed my fear. Unfortunately, the pictures that I took didn't really turn out.

We had to drive in to Rae for gas. (We sort of missed Edzo) and then it was the final stretch to Yellowknife. We found the campsite with out a problem. After unloading we headed into town for dinner and a little exploring. The rest of the night was spent at the campsite: chatting, playing cards and exploring the lake.

Start: 36,816 km - End: 37,342 km - Total Distance: 526 km

Monday, July 14, 2008 - Day 4

Today was an awesome day even if we didn't do any riding. We got up around 7:30 am and Naomi made us omelets (which were great). Then we jumped in the Yukon and Naomi showed us around Hay River. This is a picture of Great Slave lake.

Then it was back to the house for lunch (lasagna). After lunch we headed to the museum in town. That was fantastic. They provided tea and we could touch and feel almost anything we wanted, including all the old books and journals.

I really enjoyed the old maps of the north. I can't even imagine pioneering areas like that.

After the museum we got a quick tour of the new youth church being built and then it was off to the waterfalls. The waterfalls were breath taking. There were two of them and we could walk (climb/scale/shimmy) right up to the edge of both of them.

The view that we saw is beyond words. (Waterfalls always do that for me) I will let the pictures speak for themselves.

Even the pictures don't really capture the experience of being there. We stopped to meet friends of Naomi's. They showed us around the bible camp that they were building. That was an interesting project to see.

And that was pretty much our day. We did a little grocery shopping for tomorrow and cam home for dinner. (burgers this time). Now we're all packed and ready for tomorrow. It's off to Yellowknife for another adventure.

Sunday, July 13, 2008 - Day 3

We got a super late start today. It was partly to do with the fact that we were up so late last night, but that's o.k. We finally got out of Fairview at about 11:30 am. The weather was windy but nice. However that didn't last very long. Just outside of Grimshaw it started to rain. So we pulled over and geared up. Half an out later ... Yes, it took us that long to get all our rain gear on. Well, to be fair, it took ME that long. Dan was done and ready to go far before I was. Actually, it had almost stopped raining by the time I was ready to go. The rain gear was worth it though because it rained on and off on us several times between there and High Level.

We stopped in Manning for lunch. It was actually pretty decent food. When we left Manning I got totally twisted around and thought Dan was heading in the completely wrong direction. I quickly figured out that he was right and I was wrong. (That happens a lot when it comes to directions. That's why I make him lead.) Between Manning and High Level was pretty uneventful. It was cold and a little windy and wet. (I had my electric gloves on) but that's about it. We stopped 3 more times before we got to Hay River: Indian Cabins, the Border Sign, & Enterprise. We quickly realized that the bugs were getting bigger and more abundant the farther north we got.

I had to look through that for over 60 km until we stopped again for gas. (YUCK) We stopped at the border sign to get some pictures. It was actually really great because we could drive our bikes right up in front of it and get some really great shots.

Just one more thing to note about the trip. The road, for the most part was in decent condition. There were, however, at least 3 very large holes. Its a very good thing that they were very well marked. I think that if we would have hit them, they would have swallowed up our bikes and we would have never been seen again. They were that big.

But we are at Naomi's now and we are safe and warm and dry. And we'll see what tomorrow bring us.

Start: 36,158 km - End: 36,816 km - Total Distance: 658 km

Saturday, July 12, 2008 - Day 2

Today was Irene and Michael's wedding.

Irene was beautiful and the cerimony was awesome. We all had a really great time at the reception as well. These are just a few pictures I took. I did take several more but decided it would take up too much room to post them all here.


So Ryan and Kim are headed home tomorrow and Dan and I are headed north.