Update

Jacob and Brittany have a new blog. It is really good.

Joe Bob says, "Check it out."

click the link on the right.

More quad fun from the trip

Here are a few more photos of the quad trip last week.

This is the road that connects the final track to the dunes (next pic) to the main road, called the Fort Chipewan Winter Ice Road. You know of the show Ice Road Truckers from the Discovery Channel? Well this is very similar, but without the celebrity truckers. The Winter Road opens in late December or early January, nad then the loads of equipment, tools supplies, etc travel north to the diamond mines, and the gad fields, and the other industrial facilities in the far north. This road is easily 30 feet wide, where the main Ice Road is about 40 to 50 feet wide. Plenty of room to race and pass, and do donuts just because.

Here is the final quad track into the dunes. It is one quad wide in most places. Occasionally you scrape wheels on tree trunks because it does narrow down. Now, after the fire, that will probably not be an issue any more. One of the guys with us said he expects most, if not all these trees will fall over the winter, and a new track may have to be made to get to the dunes. If he is lucky, he will only have to clear out about 2 to 3 thousand downed tree trunks to open this track.

Pausing for a moment. We had so much fun. It reminded me of dirt bike riding in Carlsbad, CA years and years ago. Joseph and Samuel have never had so much fun.

The crew on this trip: front row: James, Jaydee, Jeryn, and Julie. Back row: Alan, Jay, Samuel, Joseph, Todd, and Shawn.

It was over cast all day, and later we did get rained on, which was not the best weather for towing out a dead machine, but all things considered, It was a great trip, and I would do it again in a heart beat. I really would love to go in for several days, but I have to figure out the dialysis thing before I commit.

Time out for a few minutes.

New life in the forest never takes long to manifest itself. These flowers are all over the place along the road ways. It is a beautiful reminder that out of tradgedy ( the devestating fire) comes hop and renewal. In a few years, the seeds dropped by the millions of pine cones will have sprounted, and the new forest will be short still, but beautiful. In another decade, when we finally get back into the Richardson Back Country, the beauty will rival othe landscpes we all know and love (pick any one of a hundred spots in the Sierra Nevada).

Quad trip of the decade

I hate to brag about all the great things we enjoy here in Fort McMurray, but here goes nothing...

About 200 kilometers north of town is an area officially known as the Richardson Back Country. There was a huge fire up there this year (more on that later in this post) Everyone here calls the area Six Lakes because there are... That's right, about 100 small to medium sized lakes with fish that beg to be caught. Wall Eye and Northern Pike that fight each other to gobble down your hook. These are no ordinary small fish either, they average about 30 inches long. You have to go camping with a small army just to justify filleting one of these beauties. Of course I caught exactly zero fish this trip too. But that is because I did not do any fishing.

We went to ride quads on the sand dunes. Yes, sand dunes, as in Sahara Desert. We have some good friends that put this trip together and invited us (Joseph, Samuel, and I). The ride in starts in town, then a trip up the road to north, past the "bridge to no where," past the end of the pavement, past the newest oil sands plants under construction, to the end of the road. Really, the end of the road. If you want to drive any further north and you have to wait until the winter road is built in late December and by then the temperature is not conducive to riding quads.

You have to pack in everything you need. Everything. And you have to pack out your trash. No one is there to pick up after you. We packed light, taking only what was essential - food, rain gear, and toilet paper.

Joseph with 15 of the 55 gallons of fuel we took in. We brought out about 6 gallons after 2 days.

After riding for over 3 hours, we came to the area we camped in for the night. The forest fire earlier in the year had burned almost everything. Most of the pine trees were either totally burned up, or in some places, the fire moved through so quickly it scorched the needles on part of the tree, but not all. Some areas you could still see the remnants of the fire retardant that the water bombers dropped trying to control the fires. Some areas the ash looked like snow on the ground.

Our camp site was on the east side of a nice lake called Keith Lake, in the middle of a large stand of Birch trees. It was relatively untouched by the fire.

Arrival at Keith Lake.

After dinner, we all crashed and in the morning we played "who could squeeze the last toot out of Joseph." I was not the winner, thankfully.

After another 3 hour ride north, we arrived at the dunes where Joseph and Samuel posed for a portrait.

The dunes are about 100 acres or so of sand with occasionally tufts of prairie grass. No trees, no bushes, rocks, or other things that hinder boys riding with almost total abandon. There were 8 quads and 9 riders. A good time was had by all. We rode up and down hills, some as steep as 60 degrees. the only wreck of the day was when Joseph and Sam were doubled up and they ended up rolling at the top of one hill. No serious injures. Only sore egos.

Smile foe the camera.

On the way out, the quad Samuel was riding had a serious mechanical failure. We ended up towing that quad out. Joseph was escorting the youngest rider (11 years old on a small 80 cc machine without lights) I offered to trade machines with Samuel because being towed out is no fun at all. Samuel was all too happy to trade places with me, and here is why:

After about 50 kilometers, we reached the trucks and trailers. I had received the best micro-derm abrasion treatment you could possibly imagine. Sand kicked up from the tires of the towing quad in front of me mixed with the cold rain that started to fall steadily. I was soaked to the bone, and the sand was caked on about 1/4-inch thick. That is no exaggeration, 1/4-inch. I could not see anything. I only concentrated on keeping the tail ight of the tow vehicle centered in my handle bars so I would not cause him to skid.

We loaded up the quads, and drove home, arriving about midnight. Was it worth it? Absolutely. Would we do it again? Absolutely. Would I trade places with Samuel again? Absolutely not. He is on his own next time.

Hopefully next trip will be for more than one night, and will include a little fishing.

to be continued...

BTW

All three of you that read this blog occasionally already know that Jacob was married to Brittany Bennion of Casper Wyoming, on August 27th because you were at the sealing. We are very happy for Jacob and Brittany. We would show you some really great photos of the happy event, and the other festivities surrounding the wedding, but we don't have any. You see, they are TOP SECRET, and we do not want any trouble with the feds. At least I think they are top secret because no one will send us any of the photos they may or may not have. We did have a camera with us for the trip from Fort Mac to SLC for the wedding, but we did not have the charger for the camera, and the camera uses a special battery (no slipping out to 7-11 for new batteries)

We did get to see almost all our family from all over the States, which was really cool. Of course we ate and ate and ate - kinda like the pioneers and the walking, according to the primary song. We went to the zoo with the grandsons, and shopped for things not readily available in the frozen north. We really enjoyed the visit with friends from all over the US too.

The main reason for the trip, the wedding, was absolutely beautiful with over 70 friends and family in attendance at the sealing. Brittany's grandfather performed the sealing, and his council to the bride and groom was really loving and kind. J&B are now in school at BYUI, and on the home stretch. She will graduate in April, and he in December 2012. They are doing fine - according to reports, and I am happy to say they have not phoned home to ask for cash or a place to crash for the night because of a .... (complete the sentence using complete and proper grammar. spelling will be graded too.)

to be continued...

Mohawk

Before:

After:

The 2011 Calgary Stampede

Welcome to the Calgary Stampede. This is the premier rodeo in Canada. Joseph and Samuel were invited by thier friend Graeme, who just moved from Fort Mac to Calgary after graduation from high school, to go to the Stampede for a week. They went to several events and concets over the week.

The 3 amigos.

The start of one of the Chuck Wagon Races. Four chuck wagons, fully loaded with barrels of brew, and food bags and boxes, etc. race around the barrels, then around the track. The races are quite a betting format and the prizes are quite large also. This year, sadly, one of the horses had to be put down after a race for a broken leg. I'm glad I'm not a horse.

A high light of the chuck wagon races is the kids event. Go to the video post to see this event. place your bets before you press play. It is a great race, with a fabulous ending.

The 3 amigos, part deux. I guess plaid makes you a cowboy, even with hawian shorts.

Here is a local show band. They were great.

One of the nightly spectaculars to ned the evening. There were shows every night, all different, all amazing.

The week finale.

We may upload more videos later, so stay tuned.

Calgary Stampede Videos

Chuck Wagon Races are probably the biggest event at the Stampede, and the event that most people place wagers on. Teams include wagon drivers, and chase riders. The wagons are loaded with stuff too, and if anything falls out of the wagon, the chase riders have to pick it up and put it back in the wagon before the end of the race, or get a penalty. Things do fall out occasionally, usually in the first part of the race, and it is quite funny to see the efforts made to get stuff back into a moving chuck wagon.

One of the othe great parts of the chuck wagon races is the kids division. Each child must propel the boucy horse and wagon across the finish line. It is really fun to watch: