I’m better now, I washed some of my frustrations away with some rum and chamomile tea after sucking it up, pushing through and getting out of the gravel mess. The roads did get better like Klaus said, and the cruel joke of the 1km of pavement when exiting Route 7 and connecting with Route 1 was enough to give me motivation and reassurance that there is indeed an end in sight, even though it was the halfway point. Conveniently, the area was called Checkpoint, and I hoped to score at least a can of coke from them. Too bad the driveway had a sign across it saying Private. I went under the rope anyways, found they had a wifi connection, posted some previous days entries and filled my water bladder before the dogs came out running after me barking. It was anti-climactic with them eventually wagging their tails and doing basic tricks for me. I recall there being a funeral on that day, so perhaps the owners closed down the gas station, B&B to attend it.
Highway 1 is a bit more travelled, and has way better roads than seen before, and I was able to get some serious speed – my average was 23km/h, something I haven’t seen in a month, really. Second winds really do exist. After the freakout with the bugs, I continued to push forward, finally joining up at the Junction of 3, but not before stopping to lay a big sloppy one on the pavement. Yup – it was bumpy, it had washboards, but it was real honest to god pavement and the lure of only 35km to a real town, Fort Providence.
Before you get to the town however, you cross a ferry – huge beams lay in the water, apparently a bridge is being put in, rendering the ferry useless. Upon hearing stories about this bridge, it actually sounds very negative. Prices will rise due to tolls on the bridge, crime will rise, allowing 24 hour access to communities that previously had a window of 6 hours of downtime, letting the RCMP catch up to them before they are gone in the night, and gone is some of the historical value. In the winter, the ferries can’t run, so they have an ice road connecting both sides – The turnoff is right before the ferry. Downside to the ferry however, is when the ice melts and breaks, there is a 4-6 week period where you are literally trapped on either side. Supplies can only be flown in via air and this poses big problems for perishables, especially groceries like meat, dairy. They’ve managed for years to figure it out, and they’ll continue to figure it out, as apparently the bridge is 2 million over budget, years late, and work has halted on it. The only things I saw around the construction site were BISON.
Fort Providence has a nice warm feel to it. Even warmer after you stop at one of its two stores, the Northern Store, a chain outlet that services many northern communities across Canada, and the Aurora general store, with a much wider selection, and better prices – and spray yourself down with bug spray! Yup, I caved as I said in my last post. I stink, but the bugs aren’t on me, and I’m able to spare the world from seeing me dance. I’m not out of it yet, as the rest of Canada still awaits me, but this will buy me some time to find alternative solutions rather than putting chemicals on my skin – and likely the bugs won’t be as bad the places I am planning to go and the times.
Buying liquor in the north is very regulated, and expensive. I bought a 6 pack of a beer, for $20! I also had to sign my name, print it, with address and phone number. Apparently there is a quota and you cannot buy over 12 a day and it is a criminal offence if you buy for someone else. Communities are also dry around here, apparently there is some substance abuse problems – Gilbert from a few days back made a comment regarding this it being no wonder if you were forced out of your home at a young age, thrown into a school in an attempt to have your history erased by means of “culturification”. Anyways, I tucked the beer in my bags, bought a few things to tide me over for the next few days like cheese and bread and I was off down the road not before getting some stern warnings from a few people to not even enter the city limits of a few upcoming communities due to hostilities, and recent acts of violence resulting in near death experiences.
Pedalling up the Number 3 offers a few bumps but otherwise it is more of the same, trees on either side, dotted with small lakes this time actually offering some look at duck and geese, new to me. You pass through the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary for 100km, where I fearfully ride past clumps of them on the sides of the road, these ones still running away, but always 2 of them stopping and turning around at me defiantly. Hershey Squirt potential indeed.
I’m very close to Yellowknife, and happy to report that I’m going to meet my altered goal to arrive for Summer Solstice (June 21), but not only that – I’m going to arrive 2 days early! This lets me take in more of the festivities of “Raving Mad Daze”, “Solstice Festival” and “National Aboriginal Day”. I’m quite excited to see this northern city of 18,000 that is built entirely on a rock. I met a couple where I am staying tonight, at Chan Lake – a day use area, but we’ve all gotten cozy who have told me things to check out, stop and see, and to pop by to visit them while I am there. I’m going to have lots of time to relax, fix my aching knees, and chill out. Hopefully I can get in contact with some people I have met in the past few months to line up some backyard tenting action, as the campsites could get expensive, and I’m not interested in leaving my goods outside in the bush while I am in the city.
With 220km to go I’m fully charged on all my components, thanks to the generosity of the three people I met from Fort Simpson a community close to the Alberta Border of 3,000. Not only did they let me charge my Mp3 Players, GPS, Speakers, and laptop, but I was fed dinner and beer! I couldn’t thank them enough, as was running dangerously low on juice even to fire up my GPS, integral to me logging my statistics. Every day I think about generating my own power with my wheel.
Speaking of wheels, I finally had to change my rear tire today – it finally ripping open wide on the side of the road. I changed the old Schwalbe Marathon to a Kendra 26×1.90” tire. It’s performed ok so far, it’s gotten me 100km without issues and no flats, so no complaints. I’m wondering if I should change it out to another Marathon when I get access to better components, or just run with it for now and get my moneys worth out of it. Figuring the latter – unless its a puncture magnet.
Pondering once I get there in getting a haircut and shaving the mop off my face. What do you think?
Hairy:
Not so hairy:
Shave the head, keep the beard! – tim