Trans Canada Expedition - Day 17

Note: Due to the limitation of Internet access, there will be no pictures upload today. Sorry!

July 30, 2013 – Day 17

Locations: Tombstone Mountain Campground, YT; Dawson City, YT; Whitehorse, YT

This morning was cold! It was only 2^oC when we woke up; many of us wanted to stay inside the comfort of our sleeping bags and not come out, but alas we had a schedule to follow. There was a bit of chaos this morning involving inaction among some of the students. Billy than gave the leaderships a lecture about following on plans and putting them in action properly. We had a warm breakfast, hurried up in cleaning, loaded up our luggage, and off we went.

After a while of driving, we finally left Dempster Highway. Thinking that we could wash the mud off our vehicles, we turned into the gas station right outside the Highway. However, the gas station was closed. The closest distance was Dawson City, which was on the opposite side of our destination. So with nowhere else to go (without breaking the law), we head there. We filled up the vehicles with gas and washed the cars, while the past two days’ blogs are posted up. The Admin team got flooded with emails of the past two days and while Billy dealt with it, everyone else got to go do whatever they want in town for a little while. We had lunch; some shopped a little.

We then left Dawson City and tried to push our way to Watson Lake with Jasper in mind,  stopping every so often for washroom breaks and driver switch. Time passed by quickly, and soon we arrived at Whitehorse. We decided to stop for the night. We rented motel rooms, efficiently followed the leaderships’ new work plan, showered, did our laundries, wrote our blogs, and ate dinner.

  

Jenn Wang

I originally had thought of a more eloquent and slightly melancholic way of saying this on the vehicle. However, I have since forgotten because I had lots of other more important things floating around my head including the job plans and vehicle plans for tomorrow taking into account all of the observations that I’ve made of everybody thus far. However, I have a feeling that it’ll be scrapped in about an hour.

Since I’ve forgotten the nicely composed version of things, I’ll just put it bluntly—I feel like I’ve been given up on, and sometimes I even think that I’ve given up on myself. Right now, I feel that way and I’ve been passing on information and observations and hushed advice to the other leaderships to help them along. I feel like I’ve lost trust and lost respect, and I’m finding it hard still to get myself up and going again, so I might as well help out those that have a better chance than me. It makes me sad though, to know that my advice smoothed things out for others but there’s no recognition, and I can’t feel good about it because of my own personality—keeping busy means that I’m useful, and observing people and putting them in good positions for optimum performance is usually considered idleness and ineffectiveness.

I was forced to sit in the very back corner of the Sprinter today and I was really disgruntled because that meant that I couldn’t see the road and I couldn’t hear the comms and I couldn’t reach the items that I needed including my notebook, meaning that I had to write out the plans in my head on my hand, which I got into trouble for. I was seriously unhappy about it, and I have a feeling that the plan I wrote up will be completely scrapped anyway. And so, I feel useless still and almost like I’ve given up on myself because no one else seems to care. I don’t think they should have to anyway, so it doesn’t really make sense for me to feel this bad about what I’m doing.

I do like it though, so it makes it worse that I’m made to feel bad about observing and giving hushed advice to those who can act on my words. We’ve been told to try and separate people who stick to each other often so that they can interact with others more effectively. Jason  Wong and Alan are an example, but upon closer investigation, I found that Alan is very good at keeping him on task and working hard. I also found that Owen is very thoughtful and often his actions are misinterpreted and misunderstood. I can also sort of understand how Ryan is feeling, and I try and accommodate and ask him to help out whenever I can with tasks that are bigger but not overwhelming to the point where his self esteem would be hurt when he failed. However, it doesn’t really seem to be working. I will try and see if I can do anything else to make this trip smoother for everyone. I enjoy talking to all of the people here, students and leaderships alike because they offer many different perspectives and I get to see how they work and feel and act and it’s enjoyable for me to see them succeed.

Crystal

After a very cold night at Tombstone campground, we packed up and had a quick breakfast before leaving. We sat back into our groups from yesterday on the Sprinters.

We ended up staying in Yukon afterall, in a motel located in Whitehorse to be exact. I don’t really mind the extra night in Yukon though, since both the weather and the scenery is amazing. I really enjoyed all the stays in this awesome province. Tomorrow, hopefully we will be able to drive all the way to Jesper and climb Mount Edith soon. I’ve been saving money for more souvenirs and hopefully will be able to find some interesting items to bring home!

Owen

Today, I have figured out how useless my stuff are. This morning, when I woke up, I was freezing in my sleeping bag. My feet were getting smaller and smaller and my face was turning white. After setting down the tents, Billy told us that the temperature was only 2 degrees Celsius. God! The cover of my sleeping bag wrote that it could keep me warm even in 0 degree Celsius. I swear I will buy a new sleeping bag and never go back that shop again.

Since I had not got enough sleep, I slept all the way in the car.

Not everything is perfect. We only got a few biscuits for lunch. Yes, for lunch, not snack. The good news are: we are going to stay at motel today and we can washing our clothes for free! Yeah!

Jason Wong

Today we had to get up early again. I felt tired but I felt frustrated, and that my tent group was the last to pack up our tent. We could choose to have oatmeal or left overs from yesterday, I chose the left overs but it was cold, we drove to Dawson City for gas and we were allowed to go shipping for half an hour because Billy had to do some work. We had some pit stop for washroom/clean the exterior of the sprinters. We then continue driving to Casa Loma motel to sleep to the night,

Kendra

Nothing to say much, but today was driving all day. We finally got off the Dempster Highway. We got to go back to Dawson City because of some admin problems, so we got some time to shop. Then, we decided to stay at a motel in Whitehorse, so we can push to Jasper. That was it.

Mickey

Today we live in the motel. I feel tired. I sleep many hours. And today we go to wash the car. finish cleaning. It look like a prtty girl! I don’t know why I will think have this think. Maybe I really like the car. I do co-driver today. Yesterday I don’t know co-driver can’t sleep. So sorry calvin! I will try my best. Thank you give me a chance. And miss you mum. Good night

Roman

Today we drove from Tombstone to Whitehorse. I was co-driver for the last couple of hours. The view of Yukon is truly beautiful; I just realized that because I usually sleep in the car, but since I am co-driver I have to stay awake the whole time. I did not have any thing to do so I just looked around. Many people think that sittingin the front is tiring and boring, but I think it is relaxing and really interesting. For some reason some of the leaderships are really grumpy today. Every day I try to stay in the happiest mood possible. We are staying at a motel tonight, and most likely KFC for dinner. I have been thinking a lot about school today, and for some reason I miss school. Gotta go now. Love you guys!

Alan

Today we kept travelling south. We almost reached the boarder of Yukon but we are not quite there yet. We woke up at around 6:00 and packed up our tent. It’s always cold in the morning so I had to wear both my jackets I didn’t know why but Billy told us it was because at night without the sun the ground losses heat therefore it becomes cold. We took of at 8:30. At about 8:00 we arrived at our destination for the day! Whitehorse. We got our stuff into our rooms and did our jobs and were about to have dinner.

Quince

So this is how it is. Today, it was my first time to be a navigator. I did a pretty good job on it. Actually I want to do it again. Well, we stayed in a motel today for some reasons. We are going back to Mount Edith to hike. We are going to have a awesome day tomorrow. So yeah.

Howard Huang

Today, we made our daily trip on the road, this time from Eagle Plains to Whitehorse. However, we didn’t do much today since we had to make a lot of distance on the road. Personally, it has been a sort of uneventful day, so I hope that tomorrow is a more eventful one.

Grace

Today we stayed in the car all day, it was a little boring, most of us slept in the car. We now arrive at a motel. After loading all the bags, we finally can take shower. Today is the 16^th day we in this camp, I miss my ipod and the washroom in my bedroom, but everyday here is fun and interesting.

Justin

Today, for the first time, I read my parents reply to my blog. My mother reminded me that I have not written to her for two weeks. Therefore, my blog today is dedicated to my dear mum and dad.

Dear mama and papa, sorry for not writing to you. I am sure you know that how dearly I miss you. Words cannot contain my love to you. Whenever I feel homesick, thinking of you will care my sickness and leave my pain. So, don’t worry mum and dad, I am very well, you will be seeing me soon. I have bought souvenirs for you two, I am sure you would love it. Time is valuable , sorry I can’t write a lot. I am sure you will understand my message.

Mireille

Today, I’ve to do the dishes. Actually I’m in change of cleaning so I also have to clean the vehicle. For breakfast, we ate oat milk and at lunch we ate crackers with tuna. Fortunately tonight we’ll sleep in a motel that we can wash our cloths and the more important is we can take shower because I think since 2 days we didn’t take shower. Moreover like yesterday we went to hiking and we walked into water, my shoes and pant wasn’t dry. This morning was very cold: 2 degrees Celsius and this afternoon very hot. At 1 am we stayed in Dawson City for 45 minutes à free time to shopping.

Kathy

Today was the seventeenth day in Monticle. Besides lunch time and the time used to washing vehicles, we travelled almost all day by car. My shoes were still wet this morning. That’s so bad, because the temperature was just 2 degrees Celsius and also very wet in the campground last night, but it doesn’t matter, the weather today is very well, so my shoes dry at last. At noon, we stayed at Dawson City again for about 45 minutes to shopping and get some food. Although the time on the car was so long, but I think that’s ok.

Ryan Hoang

Today is the second day at our travels back to Ontario. In this day it seems that al I am feeling is the 1^st day blues and wounded up hatred. The reasoning for this is quite simple actually. This stems from Billy’s philosophy of “ a leader leads by example.” As started before I have witnessed first hand why this is true from the follower and from the leader stand point. I personally believe that I follow this guideline quite strictly myself. But it annoys me and angers me to no end when I see many of the leaderships are not following this philosophy and merely stand there barking orders. Last time I checked we live in a democracy not a dictatorship but some of the leaders still act like dictators.

Once more today by appearance I have my orange shirt on but in appearance they mine as well have dishonorably demoted me and spray painted my shirt yellow because that is now I am being treated. Even now while they are having a “leadership meeting” I being a leadership am not allowed to join them.

This trip is already halfway done and Billy said that “the first time it is a mistake, the second it is on purpose.” So I am just going to have to assume that all the corruption at the top ranks is not a mistake but is in fact something they choose and happily do.

Finding happiness in this trip is getting harder and harder. With myself given the power of a member but still the responsibilities of a leadership makes me have highly limited options, combined with the gnawing hatred building within me from the corruption of the upper ranks leaves me starting to be glad this trip is almost over. Since we already reached our destination, I have decided to spare myself the hate and just be a mindless drone that follows orders with no question. Heck in hindsight maybe that is all they ever wanted from me. The only real reason that I have not begun to do that is because through all this Billy still expects great things for me. I wish I was able to tell Billy when I was sitting right next to him but I did not have the courage and I would rather not ruin his happiness with my hatred.

Mike Lam

You would expect the more south we go, the warmer it would get. This is technically true, except for the fact that we don’t have 24 hours of day light anymore, which means the nights and morning are freezing cold. According to Billy, today’s morning was only 2 degrees Celsius!

Anyways, today was pretty boring, as our main goal was to cover ground. Our “destination” was Jasper, and we will probably take 2 more days to reach there. When we do arrive, we will be hiking one last time, maybe. During the car ride, there were 2 main things that happened, first I was co-driver with Billy, in which he told me a lot about leaderships and we had a long talk about everything, from leadership lectures, to what I should do in the future and to actual navigation. The second exciting that happened (which was also disappointing) today was that I saw my third rainbow! Sadly, it was a single rainbow and got severely disappointed, although I wasn’t expecting much anyways.

Tiffany Ng

Well, today was a surprise. Waking up severely cold, I began the day with a freezing run to the bathroom. I got back, packed up my sleeping bag and began waking my mates up. It’s a brand new day, a brand new beginning, not a place for screw ups. As usual we packed up our tents, got the luggage loaded up, and went for breakfast. But a small hint of disappointment but a truck load of determination got over all of our faces when our conversation about execution, efficiency and resource managements began with Billy.  I completely agree with Billy point of view, how we should pre-organize our needs, our resources before coming up with a conclusion that we are “ready”

He then mentioned about our visit to Inuvik, how everyone efficiently fitted in each other with their diversified professions. About how they could back up and help each other when in need, and increase extreme efficiency when it comes to emergencies. The different positions and jobs occupied in the community is absolutely mandatory for the functioning of the group. This is how we should run our big group, well at least the group we have now.

I deeply reflected on my past behavior and thought of many ways to improve our entire operation. How we should be more firm and reinforced on our plans instead of simply a piece of paper with useless and unrelated words written on it.

At that moment many different ideas, ways to solve things came over my head, then onto my paper. Then suddenly, I heard my name. I wont say what or how, but I was recognized. Instant boost of self confidence, at least what I’m doing is heading a correct direction. Yay!

We went through the day mostly with driving, talking about education, and a lot of random topics. Until we arrived the motel in Whitehorse and decided to stay. Tonight went through very successfully, quiet, smooth, and actually relatively effective! Thanks to the cooperation of the team! Then we had a casual conversation about Billy’s life journey, his story. I’m deeply inspired, and motivated, so lets stand up, stay strong, go on. 

Marco

Today we left the cold places. Now all my jacket is most likely useless. I am now in the Casa Loma Motel. We were supposed to go to Watson Lake but we failed so we end up at this motel. We did not really did anything today. I found something really interesting today, it was when Billy was spraying the hose to the car. The car was brown to white. I hope I could do it but I guess seeing is enough. Now it is 9:00 pm and I am waiting for dinner and I am starving right now. But I can control my stomach so I am calm. I have to take a shower now, bye!

Calvin

We have finally gotten off the Dempster Highway today. Unfortunately we did not reach Watson Lake today and we also had to take a detour to Dawson City today. I spent most at today driving as well so there are not many things to say about today. One interesting thing to rate however is the fact that everyone seemed really grumpy after we got off the vehicle today.

Edwin Chan

Today we left from Tombstone Campsite and tried to head pass Watson Lake but unfortunately we could not make it all the way and stopped at Whitehorse. On our way down we had several pit stops and while we did that we switched Navigators and driver switch. We also went back to Dawson City and Moose Creek Campground. Once we reached to Whitehorse we found a motel called Casa Loma Motel. When we all finish settling down in the motel rooms. HQ team and Billy went to get food for all the students, but after we went to the super market we accidently left Lemuel behind while he was putting the cart back. We only went to the stop sign as he chased after the car while Calvin and I were laughing hard. That’s all for now have fun.

Lemuel

Ben a pretty good day. Woke up and did the usual pack and load up. We then moved out from Tombstone Mountain and made our way to Watson Lake. However, with all the dirt we accumulated, we could be fined. Therefore, we had to make a stop to clean the sprinters. Due to the extra time spent on cleaning, we were unable to reach our destination. In the end, we had to stay in Whitehorse for the night. However, not everything is bad since we finally get to do our laundry and a much needed shower after the events of yesterday. We hope to get to Mount Edeth (don’t know if I spelt that right) within the next two days.

JJ

Today, once againm was mostly spent on the road. We started the day at about 0600 at Tombstone Mountain. With cleaning, packing and loading our gear up. At 0830 we were on the move. We tried to push to Watson Lake today but due to multiple delays such as our hour-long stop back at Dawson, we could not make it to Watson Lake, but we did manage to get to Whitehorse. Tomorrow we will try to get to Fort St. Johns. We will try.

Edwin Cheung

Today, we woke up at Tonestone camp ground. We then have a packup at head to as far as we can reach to Wason Lake. On the way we have a few pit stop through the way. We then reach to Casiloma motel to stay. Tomorrow, we are read to Wason Lake, I feel good. Than know and feel for this trip. I lean today to organize human power, make sure No one is not doing anything.

Matt

We are finally almost out of Yukon and onto Jasper National Park. Today was pretty much a very dry day. Most of the day we were on the sprinters either sleeping, joking around or talking with Billy about leadership stuff. On the way back though I saw things I recognized when we were driving to Inuvik. For example stopping at Moose Creek Campground for a washroom break brought back memories of the time we were there such as pumping up the water from the water pipe and filtering the water from the MSR’s. The reason why I remember these was because it was so tiring to pump up and filter the water. Now I understand how hard it is to get water and it’s not just as easy as turning the tap. We’re staying in a motel near Whitehorse for the night and so far I think this is the best one. But I wish there was AC in the room because most of the rooms are really stuffy. Everyone did well today including the hardworking students. The students listened well and carried out the tasks efficiently and quick. Now everyone deserves a nice sleep in the motel.  

Michael Fung/ Mitch. F

I really wonder if we could skip learning human resources management in the university, provided that we participate this 30-people Arctic Expedition. The reason for such wondering is because, this morning Billy gave us a lecture about maximizing human resources (besides he also reminded us to execute the drawn plan). Billy’s idea gave us a new horizon about time management and handling the whole rundown. For example, we used to believe that we should have all the people gathered together (or in other words have all their jobs done) to queue up for getting the food. However, Billy suggested that people who are free from jobs could just eat first, so that the queuing up will not be long. Blogs should also be done in advance by letting the blog typers eat first.

Today, being one of the Discipline team, I tried to imagine myself as the ‘cop’ of a microcosmic city or society. I needed to make sure everyone doing their jobs, giving them clear and strict instructions, as well as deadlines. Behaviors should also be rectified or corrected when necessary. Even though I am not supposed to ‘arrest’ any criminals, but I will try to manipulate my voice or power to control them (wow, what a challenge for me as I am one of those ‘softies’)

Anyway, we were still able to leave at 08:30 this morning, which was Billy’s proposed time of departure. Yeah! Hope that giving deadlines will make them rush their work, despite sacrificing qualities. After the departure was basically long-distance driving, with a detour to Dawson City for repurchasing souvenirs and getting food stocks. After settling in the Casa Loma Motel and messing up with the laundries, we finally had our Boston pizzas and some story telling time with Billy. Hope Billy will share his inspiring personal story to you guys as well! It is just as compelling as his orders, but this time it is relatively soft and intimate. Good night, hope we have a good time with Billy and other peers in Jasper and Mount Edith. Keep calm :)