Trans Canada Expedition - Day 6

July 19, 2013 – Day 6

Locations: Hadashville, Manitoba; Brandon, Manitoba; Regina, Saskatchewan; Edmonton, Alberta?

Last night it rained; quite heavily too. Thunder and lightning can be seen in the distance. The good news was that it was raining while we were already in the comfort of the Riverside Motel rooms. The Leaderships, the HQ team, and the Administration team all worked together in the office (provided by the nice owners of the Riverside Motel) and discussed the plans and strategies for the next few days, how we are getting to the Arctic Circle, what to expect when we are there, what we should and should not do, among many other things. The current budget of how much we spent and how much we have left were announced to the leaderships before everyone went back to their rooms and retired for the night.

Morning came, and it is a beautiful day. The night’s rain had washed away all dark clouds and mosquitoes. Everyone gathered up, breathed in the fresh morning air, and had our first morning PT (physical training). PT started off with a stretches led by Edwin Cheung and Billy; after which we walked. It wasn’t just any simple walk, these walk are part of a teambuilding exercise to practice our teamwork. Breakfast came after, made by our cooks as we packed and cleaned up the rooms. Pretty soon, we washed up, loaded our bags, and left the motel.

The night before, the leaderships and headquarters team wanted to drive all the way to Edmonton. However, at the beginning to the trip Billy took out the GPS (since student interviews starts today and one student would be sitting up in the front with Billy for half a day), our Chief Instructor noticed that the distance from the motel to Edmonton, Alberta will be more than 1400KM! Thinking it would be a strain to the drivers and students, Billy suggested a stop between Regina and Saskatoon. However, everyone else wanted to try to push on forward. This resulted in a slight change of lunch plans as when we made a quick stop for gas. We had A&W for lunch! Everybody was ecstatic. 

Pretty soon, we are on our way on the road again. We reached Saskatchewan, made a quick washroom break, took group pictures and continued on our way… towards a massive storm. The road on Saskatchewan started off with heavy rain and wind, there was even thunder in the distance! All drivers were told to drive with extreme caution, passengers told to keep quiet so the drivers would not get distracted. In the end, we had to stop because the rain was too heavy to see through and the wind was too strong to keep the vehicles stable. When the rain had lessened, we continued on our way. Shortly afterwards, we were out of the storm clouds and amazing scenery appeared before us. Before describing our current scenery let us tell you what the other provinces looked like first… There are a lot of towns in Ontario, but it looked dreary because of all the rain clouds hovering over us. Yet the view of all the lakes, rivers, Lake Huron, and Lake Superior was splendidly beautiful. Manitoba is just one straight road going on and on, flat land all the way; there were a good many towns, and one can see Winnipeg (because of the buildings) from a good distance away. It was fantastic. Especially when we know we were finally out of Ontario. Finally we have Saskatchewan; after the storm, the scenery is really breathtaking. Green, yellow, blue, and white can be seen everywhere. It was the same in Manitoba, but Saskatchewan is just rolling in green grass, some kind of yellow flowers, blue sky and white clouds. Farms, everywhere. It was beautiful. The downside to this beauty is that towns are sparse, and if you missed one exit it is extremely hard to turn around. We can only carry on.

As we are passing provinces, we are also passing time zones. We are going back in time. Right before we left Ontario, we went back one hour. Now we are in Saskatchewan, we went back another hour. Making it two hours behind Toronto. Daylight seems to last a lot longer. Is it not interesting?

We finally hit a snag. It is much too straining to drivers to drive for that long. In the end we finally arrived at a town to look for a motel to stay in, only to find out that there is a baseball tournament, hence the lack of vacancies. Our final solution? A new kind of camping. It is interesting how almost everyone seemed excited about it.

Michael Fung

A bit diarrhea last night, but thanks to my family doctor’s pills. It did make me halt for getting food, but it did not eliminate my passion for having some morning physical training! After the rain had poured throughout the night, the eastering sun just energized me, so as the fresh air (except the tap water of the motel with bizarre taste of rust metals… anyway it might explain the abundant yield of minerals in it, duh). The PT in the morning was not as strenuous as expected, and it did not heighten my appetite significantly. However, it did give me some insights about my behavior in the next twenty something days.  I started to find myself a decently good giver of ideas and plans, but I just hesitated when I was trying to voice out as a sort of encouragement and a showcase of confidence. Perhaps, I just did not have a lustful voice to attract everyone else, but I might compensate it with brilliant ideas (if I could) and demonstrating examples (if you take me as a leader, then lead by examples), Anyway, I will keep on finding my strengths and weaknesses and try to reach a balanced state as soon as possible.

I did not expect that Billy dropped us off at the Riverside Motel as I did plan for another motel that was in Ste. Anne, which has more units, which is decently cheap and is just beside the Trans-Canada Highway along which we are travelling. When I was typing my blog last night, I raised a question in front of him – about the arrangement of the accommodation last night. His answer began like this: the purpose of the trip is to train our adaptability and flexibility. What we, as navigators and leaderships, had omitted the weather conditions… Undoubtedly, rainstorms were rampant outside when we chatted. Actually, the clouds were gradually gathering while we were travelling through Manitoba. Moreover, Billy outshined because of his experience. He had travelled to the Arctic Circle for a few times, and he knew how much each motel is going to cost us. I personally had browsed in the Internet about the motels available along the Trans-Canada Highway, yet their prices made them incompetent with the Riverside. Hence, Billy must have a brief but also substantial and viable plan about this trip. It is perhaps the fact that we leaderships and students are falling into the ‘trap’ of a reality show, in which we really think we are in charge of the planning of the whole trip. If not so, then the Billy who is driving in front of us is not the Billy that we know… Right now, I just spot a cargo train, which has 2 motor trains followed by a long chain of cargos… perhaps the whole chain is almost three kilometers (and I am not exaggerating). What comes into my mind at such instance is that Billy is the header of the chain, which appears small and seemingly incapable of pulling a cargo chain of 2.6 or 2.7 kilometers, but it is exactly pulling it. You could describe it as one of the most miraculous scenes ever seen, but it really happens in the reality.   

Another miraculous phenomenon that encapsulated me is the storm that we encountered right after we had passed the border of Saskatchewan. I guess the storm that we experience is equivalent to a Typhoon Signal No.10 in Hong Kong – I got doubted that the one we met might be a No.11 or higher, and I am serious!

Tiffany

With a great load of responsibility placed on my shoulders, the day began with PT. We did several team building drills that were relatively interesting yet entertaining to watch. We were given the task to walk in one straight line with hands on the person-before-you’s shoulder, with increasing speed. At the beginning, we stumbled upon many disconnections and miscommunications, but “recovered” over several counting drills and under the pressure that the penalty would be push-ups. As the drills of team work were mostly military based, it surprised me greatly. How did they think of that? How did they manage to come up with drills that seemingly are simple, but turns out hard. We then had a drill where we had to carry each other over 200 meters without dropping them or their feet touching the ground, with penalty of 100 pushups. I was the one being carried, I wonder why. With everyone pumping with great excitement and joy, we got onto the vehicles again. Travelling an average of 80 km per hour, I began to converse with my team mates. It was interesting what I found out. Marco likes to smell things that he touches, Roman looks like a Buddha ( he doesn’t mind me saying that) but is Christian, Crystal is a wizard with cards, and Michael well quite frankly, types A LOT. Along the road, we came across a 2.5 kilo meter train. From there I had a thought, In order to take up the responsibility of many, you must have the power and strength that outshines others. Just like Billy, the man has been through good and bad, heavy and light, he has the strength of all of us combined, therefore leading us to a better, farther future. As if Billy was the head of the train, the person who pulls and pushes us until we follow up. Every day we sit in the sprinter, people play cards, socialize, sleep, but I enjoy the occasional look of scenery, constantly thinking of many different things that interest me. Just as I came to a point of sleeping, a large and strong storm stormed against our fate. I guess that’s how storms goo, they come into your face and shows you their might, pretty much like your competitors, but as you step closer, you experience more. You fight them with bravery, with all your strength. Then at last, the storm goes over and the sun light pears in, the battle is over and victory has resulted. I wonder what that will mean.

Back to the beginning of this blog I mentioned the great responsibility, in case you didn’t know, we were lectured about the grave danger of reaching the northern parts of Canada, where simply a misplace of your No.2 can cost life, or simply walking off solo, losing a bug net, etc. As an assistant captain, I’m not just a dealer of hope, but a person responsible of lives.

We carried an original plan of pushing forward to Edmonton and crossing one entire province in one day, but right now we seem to be falling behind the plan. As a leader you are also a dealer of hope, the person who keeps everyone else going, the person who shows everyone that they exist for a reason. I’m currently typing this blog in the moving vehicle I’ve had built a long relationship with, carrying great hope about reaching Edmonton in time. Everyone is panicking, waiting for Billy’s command, as everyone agrees they want to push on.

Previously, we’ve been lectured about typing a large amount of ideas in small amounts of packed words, I guess this doesn’t apply. If you have been caring enough to read this entire piece, thank you! Tonight, countless questions would be answered, fate changing decisions would be made, and we might have to sleep in a parking lot. An experience of my lifetime catches on as I say goodnight, sleep tight, and don’t let the bed bugs bite! Peace. I’m out.

Marco

Another long ride, longer than the ride yesterday. But one thing different, we had PT. Still not much happened today, we are GOING to Edminton! But sadly we might get there around 4:00 am(Ontario time) and we may have to sleep at the parking lot. We also ate burgers today, it is really tasty. Bye, I need to go now, I need to pee. And to be continued…

Mickey

I feel very tired today. But is happy. We stay in car is 12 hours! Tomorrow we will go to the one of the biggest shopping centers in the world! Today the sun was beautiful, you know? Like the team, always has a funny. I can felt our teamwork and confident. Team A is the best team! Hope tomorrow is a good day!

Owen

Today was a exhausting day. After packing our stuff, we were asked to do PT. I thought Billy wants to teach us something since the PT wasn’t normal. We needed to carry one ppl with 3 ppl. I was the chosen one because of the weight. At lunch, each ppl got two cheeseburgers and one small pack of french fries. Oh my… we got root beer for drink!

Roman

I have no idea where we are right now but I know that we will arrive at Edmonton tomorrow at 5:00am. Turned out that Mall of America wasn’t the biggest mall in America, the biggest on is in Edmonton(West Edmonton Mall). I don’t have much to say… to be continued (see tomorrow’s blog)…

Crystal

After a surprisingly comfortable night in the motel we stayed at, we had a very fun morning starting with PT. Through our morning PT, we learnt how the much amount of people in the team can slow the convoy process. Then we had a quick breakfast and left for the next province, Saskatchewan! We drove for many hours and stopped at an A&W in Brandon ,Manitoba for a filling burger lunch. We then drove for a few hours more and finally crossed the border and reached Saskatchewan in the afternoon. The time zone was again changed, to two hours earlier than Toronto. After stopping for a group photo, the convoy started traveling again when suddenly we were “hit” with a powerful storm. Both the wind and the rain were very strong, so we pulled over to the side of the highway while we waited for the storm to calm down. After a while of sitting in the shaking sprinter, the storm settled and we continued driving. We had a couple of washroom breaks and are still deciding on where we are going to sleep for the night. Some people want to push it and see if we can get to Edmonton by early tomorrow. However, according to my observations, I think that the drivers will last for a few more hours before we will have to rest for the night (since we’ve been driving for the past 15 hours). Everyone including me hope that we will be able to reach Edmonton in time to have an entire day of shopping at the West Edmonton Mall. I’ve heard that there’s a waterpark, a skating rink, an aquarium and even an amusement park with the world’s largest rollercoaster in the mall too. Can’t wait for tomorrow! (P.S. still scratching my 40+ mosquito bites)

Jennifer Wang

I’m currently sitting shotgun. We are attempting a 17-hour drive from Manitoba, all the way to Edmonton, Alberta. It’ll take us up until early tomorrow morning and we’ll be sleeping comfortably in a parking lot tonight. Time to bathe myself in bug spray. Since we’ll be going to the West Edmonton Mall tomorrow, I’ll be able to buy myself the bug jacket I need and maybe some lotion to help soothe my cracking scabs. But mostly, I’m looking forward to the water park again!

Today was a much better day. Thank you to all of the people that are supporting me; your comments lift me up in a way that I hope that my words and actions aim to do. It really means a lot to me, and I will tuck those words into my heart and revisit them for strength when I need it.

Bravo Team is an amazing group of people. From late night “ghost” stories to the newly created Bravo team Swear Jar, from the snack buffet and windshield bug splatter body counts, from the card games and card games to the musical talents of my team, I feel like we’re getting closer and more open with each other. Today, I even managed to get Justin to tell me a joke so funny that I had to contribute to the swear jar (I owe $1.25 for shouting “Oh my God! Oh my God!”).

Also, I’d like to mention something very interesting that I’ve noticed, even though this person is not in my amazing Bravo team. Jason Wong has changed a lot since last year. Though he still speaks in that unsure tone of his sometimes, he has begun to take a leadership role. An example of this was yesterday when he was cleaning out the Sprinters with a couple of other students and he began to delegate work, and this morning when he contributed to the efficiency of which the cleaning team washed the dishes because of that same delegation of work. It is rather interesting to see how people have changed since last year and earlier on in the program, and in which ways they’ve remained the same.

All clouds are chicken and now I’m frowning sadly thanks to my brilliant Bravo group. J

Edwin Cheung

Today, we pack our stuff from riverside motel. We ate noodles for Breakfest in Alberta . Later, we had a 4 hour long drive till the board between Saskatoon and Alberta. It was <> burger store. Billy buy us Bacon Beef burgers with fries and drinks. I was delious. Billy, the Captain, HQ and Leadership had a Decidion that we will push all the way to Edmonton. The drive have too push 1435 km for 17 hours. THIS IS CRAZY. The drive Calvin and Edwin Chan agree. This Long ride, we have was less stop. We will reach to Edmonton between 1 2 O’ clock in Moning. We will sleep in Sprinter. Also, Edwin Chan almost hit cheapmene. I also know trat Sasktoon landscape is a flat and mostly farm. The road mostly straight. No stop.

Grace

We woke up at about 6, and had P.T at 7. During P.T, we learned about the importance of team work. We first walked individually, our speed was fast. After a few minutes, Billy asked us to put our hands on the people’s shoulders who walked in front of us, and made sure our hands won’t fall when we walked. The nest exercise, four people as a team, one needed to carry another and the other two helped. Unfortunately, I am the heaviest so I needed to carry Tiffany for about 200m. Luckily, we were not the last group arrives. After P.T, we had breakfast, and then leaved at 9:06. We had lunch at A&W. the hamburgers and fries were nice, but the drink wasn’t, it tasted like toothpaste. Today, we are going to cross three provinces within 17 hours. We might sleep in a parking lot tonight, which might be interesting.

Kendra

Today we are driving from Manitoba all the way to Edmonton, Alberta! We are having breakfast in Manitoba, lunch in Saskatchewan and dinner in Alberta. This morning we had P.T at 7 a.m. We worked on our team building skills. For break-fast we had leftovers and instant noodles. After breakfast, we headed our way. For lunch we stopped at A&W and had 2 burgers, fries and rootbeer. We were near the Saskatchewan  border so practically we had lunch in Saskatchewan. Then we kept driving until we reached Regina. Then we kept driving . Right now we are still driving and we still need to drive 6 more hours. In total, we are going to travel 1400 km and about 17 hours, but it’s all worth it because tomorrow we are going to the world’s biggest mall (West Edmonton Mall). I’m soo excited!

Justin Tang

Today we had our first PT. Perhaps the most memorable event of the day. We learnt the importance of communication and teamwork in leadership. After PT, we started a long drive, where long isn’t sufficient enough to experts the length of the drive. We drive from Manitoba to Alberta, a total of 1400 kilometers, by the time I am writing this blog, we are still hundreds of kilometers from our destination. What can I write other than the appreciation to the drivers who are driving for hours?

Quince

Today was the longest travelling days in camp. We travelled 1400 km. We ate breakfast in Manitoba. We eat lunch at Saskatchewan. And dinner in Edmonton. We travelled three city’s  in Canada. The best record ever. We are going to the water park and amusement park tomorrow. I bet  tomorrow’s going to be fun!!! Very fun!!! J P.S.  WE had our first PT session (Physical training) an we didn’t even have one drip of sweat. Information for meals: Breakfast, istant noodles. Lunch A and W hear shell gas stations. Dinner no information because it didn’t happen yet. Now we are only almost there. We are takeing a 17 hour ride.

Matt

Today we all wake up to a normal routine as usual; packing up our gear onto the sprinter. But today we also had our first “PT” session. I was really looking forward to it because my muscles have been shrinking a bit. Sadly there wasn’t much physical or cardiovascular activities. But the “PT” that Billy led was about teamwork. We walked together in a line, which showed how slow we are as a group compared to walking by yourself and also showed that communication is important so that we wouldn’t walk out of place. After that our crazy adventure began! Our travel plan was from the Ontario, Manitoba border all the way to Edmonton, Alberta. This is about a 1400 km drive. We had breakfast near the border, lunch at A&W in Manitoba and dinner somewhere near Edmonton. We still haven’t reached it yet but the car ride was alright. Most of us didn’t have any water to drink until we reached A&W. For the reason that all our sympathy’s are with the bugs we killed while driving; may they rest in peace. All of us are looking forward to the Edmonton mall. Specially the amusement and water park: Me: I’m just looking forward to “possible” buying a shoe.

Howard

It’s not everyday that one is able to see the different terrain and landscapes of different provinces within the same day. Whether it’s the flat plains of Manitoba or the rolling hills of Saskatchewan, beauty can be found outside the window but I digress.

We woke up today early in the morning at 6:12, despite planning to wake up at exactly 6. When the alarm sounded off at 6, nobody could move due to the sweet embrace of sleep. Troubled that we would all oversleep yet unable to move, I tackled Justin who was sleeping next to me, hoping it would wake him up so he could wake the rest of us up. It didn’t work and we eventually had to be woken up later than planned.

Afterwards, Billy led us on our first PT session. I had expected a few laps around the open field near the motel that we had been staying at but I was wrong. Instead, he had us move in a line or carry each other to exhibit the troubles of teamwork and why communication and co-operation is key when moving as a group. I personally just let the session wake me up.

Finally, we started our journey. Edmonton, here we come!... or so I wish. However, I would like to apologize now for the differences between my blog and everyone in front of me. We have just been told that we would not be able to make it to Edmonton tonight and must give up on the idea. I hope we can reach there tomorrow at the least. :3

Jason Wang

Today passed realitively quietly, At least it felt as if it passed by quicker than normal. I have to sat this trans-Canada expedition team is becoming a very effective and efficient unit that many would like to lead. Most would be satisfied with their work and abilities. Even more would admire them once they learn of their experience on this equipment and on situations such as this. But, once again one must never be satisfied with one’s work as well as their failures. With that said, I must also remember that improvements are only worth it if they do not comprimise the feelings of my team members.

Today, while I conclude this blog, we are in the province of Saskatchewan and moving into Alberta. We, today have travelled through or will travel through all three praire provinces. Accompanied with our first PT drill of this trip, today is almost the “fastest” days yet.

Alan

Today is day 6^th of the summer camp. Today we drove for a long time. We drove through provinces: Manotoba, Saskatchewan and we are going to Alberta. On the way we met a really heavy storm we had to stop for a bit then we keep going. At Regina we saw some snow.

Kathy

Today is the sixth day in monticle. We did some special training about team work this morning. It taught us that we need Communicate with each other. We arrived in Saskatchewan We happened on the heavy fain again and big wind as well. The wind was so strong because of the strong wind and heavy rain that we had to stop moving. But both of them stopped in a short time. We spent much more time then yesterday on the dar. And tomorrow we will go to the mall at 9 o’clock in the morning, maybe we can also live in hotel.

Mike

Our plan for today is rather interesting. We first start in Manitoba, where we had breakfast, then we arrive close to the Saskatchewan border, where we had A and W, which sells burgers (Awesome burgers, my love for bacon in a burger has increased, but HK bacon is bad) Now we are driving to Edmonton, which is in Alberta, which also has the largest shopping mall.

However, we might sleep at a parking lot (?), however. We do it, it seems interesting. Today was also another 1-hour change in time zone, which meant that we gained another extra hour. Last interesting thing was the storm we had right after arriving at Saskatchewan. The storm was about the force of a Typhoon 8 or 9 rainstorm.

Today, in the car, we played a different game, where we each say a word to create a story. Our first story was fine and made a bit of sense, but our second story included crocodiles and cows eating people. Some of us also sang songs together (not the best sounds).

Jason Wong

We slept in a motel but each room had a girl in it. By what I mean is that our rooms are going to be by the sprinter teams. Me and three other guys slept on two double beds. So my room were probably the first ones to had everyone wake up earlier. We had the leftovers from yesterdays dinner for breakfast, so once again I was to help clean the dishes and pots, we left around 9:09am and had a pit stop in Manitoba  for lunch we had A and Ws. Then eventually we had a pit stop in Saskatchewan for a washroom break. not too long after getting back on the road we had heavy rain but got through and as I’m writing this blog it could be raining again.

Mireille

This morning we have PT, it was fast but I enjoy it, then we ate instant noode for breakfast. At 9 am we leave the motel. Today we stayed a lot in the car! For lunch we ate burgers and French fries in A &W, we crossed Regina and I saw some snow in the ground! But it’s not cold. But it’s raining.

Lemuel

Today’s going to be a much longer drive than usual. We decided to push to Edmonton meaning we moving from Winnipeg and crossing Saskatchewan in one day. We also had our first contact PT this morning before we left the motel on our way to Saskatchewan we had a pit stop in at Shell and had lunch at on A & W close by. We are currently moving through Saskatchewan, expecting to arrive at Edmonton by 3-4 am. so far it’s been a good day.

Ryan

Today is the 4^th day of us travelling across Canada. After waking up from the motel we made the bed and packed our things as we prepare to leave. Once all our belongings were packed we started the first P.T of the program. After a brief breakfast of  dinner leftovers and instant noodles. We then went for some teamwork exercises and got on the car.

Our first stop we had a lunch at A and W as well as stopping at the gas station. When we were done with lunch Billy reported that on today’s road trip we would be skipping Saskatchewan and going o Alberta. Due to the very long road trip we will be sleeping at a parking lot at the front of the mall.

In reflection of today I am very appreciative of the support of my parents during this expedition. I am quite overjoyed and glad that they read my blog and understand my thoughts as we continue on as well as support me through out this trip. Also even though the position that I am placed in makes me confused and many times depressed. I have begun to find the happiness in this adventure.