I am badly in need of an internet sabbatical, so I am only bringing my iPod Touch with me to Inuvik. I’ll Tweet updates whenever I have wi-fi access and do a full write up with pictures when I get back. I’ve added my Twitter feed to my blog at the top of the right hand column, so check there to see where I’m at and what I’m up to. I’ll be back August 23rd!
Month: August 2010
Ships in the Night
Today was brightened considerably when one of my blog readers walked in the door at the office. This person posts comments under a pseudonym and likes privacy, so I will not reveal who it was, but I was not surprised when the person was matched to a commenter name.
We went out for a beer at Bombay Peggy’s and had a capital time talking about the state of full-time RVing in Canada. It was a good reminder that I’m not alone and do not live in a bubble. I found it interesting to see how small and close-knit the RVing community is, how we know the same people, or of the same people, and how all our paths cross and intersect at some point.
Many of the pre-conceptions I had about RVing were blown out of the water in my two years on the road, but one was bang on: becoming a nomad does not mean having to give up on having a sense of community.
Thanks for a fun night! 🙂
Vacation Countdown
It seems that, once again, the weather has turned favourably just days shy of my embarking on another bucket-list journey. Unless something unpredictable happens, I will be en route to Inuvik on Monday, right on schedule.
Driving the Dempster, visiting Inuvik, and taking a charter plane to Tuktoyaktuk to dip my toe in the Arctic Ocean is my last major North America bucket list item. Oh, there’s so much more I’d like to do and see, but nothing so pressing.
I went to the Dempster information centre today to get updated road information and literature, then I schlepped over to the General Store for some food items and the Trading Post for a small propane cylinder. I will be camping and making most of my meals to keep costs low.
It is difficult to put into words what this journey means to me. I tried for so long, the better part of a decade, in fact, to find a job north of the Arctic Circle or some other circumstance that would bring me there. And now I’m going, under my own steam, having found my own northwest passage. Life just doesn’t get any better than this.
The Klondike Valley Nursery & Market Garden
This afternoon, I was finally able to follow the manager, Sarah, to her homestead, known as the Klondike Valley Nursery & Market Garden.
To get there, we had to drive twenty minutes south of Dawson, park, walk two minutes, get in a canoe, paddle across half the Klondike River, walk across an island, get into another canoe, paddle across the other half of the Klondike to a stream, and then paddle up the stream to the house. She does this morning and night!
Sarah’s husband, John, carved his little empire out of the bush and the result is a little piece of Yukon paradise where he grows things one would never imagine could survive up here. He’s a scientist and an artist, creating new stock from grafts in an attempt to create plants that can thrive in the Yukon. Do check out their website for more details about his apple tree and dwarf conifer projects!
It’s quite a spread they have on their 44 acres, only 4 of which have been cleared, with several green houses in addition to an off-grid home. I had a fun time exploring and playing with the four dogs. Oz is much smaller than are his siblings!
John on the shore of the island coming to the mainland
a cozy two bedroom house with a root cellar and a summer porch
Sarah and John found the washing machine in the bush and turned it into a planter
pretty flowers
more pretty flowers
all sorts of leafy greens
apparently this cabbage is still quite small!
apparently this cabbage is still quite small!
tiny tomatoes (YUM!)
green beans (notice the one with a bit taken out of it *g* YUM!!!)
internet set up
Oz at home (check out the KVN&M website for pictures of his three siblings!)
high bush cranberries
pear trees
apple trees
just a small portion of the spread
valley…
cantaloupe
grapes!!!
corn
looking down the length of the greenhouse
summer squash
drawf conifers (mutated trees are grafted onto healthy root stock in an attempt to create a hardy Yukon-appropriate landscaping tree)
close up of the drawf conifer
the pear and apple habitat rather looks like a spaceship 🙂
stunning fungus
another rooster
rooster
In order to get all the work done on the property, they welcome WWOOFers–Willing Workers of (or World Wide Opportunities on) Organic Farms–every summer. I am going to explore WWOOFing as an alternative to camphosting.
I had a wonderful time exploring ‘the farm’ today, after having heard about it for so long!
Tuckered Out
It was a trying weekend seeing as I had the night phone 3 nights out of 4. I’m constantly amazed by the people who think that’s an easy job ‘because the phone just about never rings.’ To me, the very possibility that it could ring is enough to keep me from getting any sort of deep sleep.
Moreover, I learned yesterday that it’s not the bears we need to be worried about up here but rather creatures less than an inch long. I was stung on the arm by a wasp and chided myself for being such a woose, but then discovered just how powerful wasp venom is, even for those who are not allergic. My arm swelled up for a time, then went numb, then tingly. Now, it is insufferably itchy and I fill achy all over like my body is fighting something.
I will be ‘on vacation’ in a week and I hope the change of pace will recharge my batteries. I still don’t know where I’m going! If the Dempster has dried out, it’ll be plan A, Inuvik, of course. I don’t mind doing it sloooooooowly if the road is rutty, but I am not insane enough to do it in my car if it is muddy. Plan B will be Fairbanks if the Taylor highway is open. Plan C will entail having both the Dempster and Taylor highways closed and will probably take me to Anchorage, but the insane amount of driving that this detour would entail makes Plan C unappealing.
This summer has gone by so fast! I’ve been back in Dawson three months to the day and will be pulling out in exactly a month!