Trans Canada Expedition - Day 8

July 21, 2013 – Day 8

Locations: somewhere in Alberta

7^th day of Trans Canada Expedition had come and gone. We had a house to sleep in last night and we left the house later than usual today. This was because it rained heavily. We had to take all our luggages into the house. As a result, everybody’s shoes were covered in mud. Everybody took a shower and all the laundries were done. We had a reshuffle. Groups changed. A new type of leadership training was about to start. Rather than having three groups of 7, we now have 7 groups of three. Every group has a call sign and every group has their own tasks and responsibilities. Every day one in the group will be leader of the day and he or she will lead the group. There was some chaos because of the new formation, as they were not familiar with the new rules and formation.

By the time it was morning, we found that some of the laundry were still not dried yet. So we made breakfast, loaded the luggages, cleaned our muddy shoes, and cleaned the house. After all was completed, Billy gave us our first assignment to test our attention to details. We had a late lunch, in which we stopped at a KFC and had fried chicken. Driving continued soon after. The view of Alberta gradually changed as we entered the mountain range. More and more trees and be seen, our altitude increased bit by bit. This assignment proved useful because we spotted a deer!

We decided to stop at a provincial park and camp for the night. Alberta Provincial Parks are different from some of the other provincial parks; they are self-serve! As we arrived at the quiet campground and observed Mother Nature, there came a peculiar sound. It was a bird call! A very special kind. If we take time to look around, we will see that every province, every campground we stayed in had their own species of creatures. There are types of bugs, birds, and other animals we can never see in cities.

We had a lecture on packing away from our campgrounds near the beach. After which we were given information on the travel will still have until the Arctic Circle and what to expect when we drive back. We are currently a bit behind schedule, so tomorrow we have to wake up early and drive further in order to reach Yukon. We can do it! During the lecture, we met with a few locals who looked like they were looking for trouble. We all proceeded with caution afterwards. Some of us are worried, some of us are scared, some of us are nervous, but we will be all alright.

July 22 Note: We apologize for the delay in uploading because it was raining quite heavily last night (again) some of us failed to finish writing on time before sleeping.

Calvin

I wasn’t doing much today for the driving because I wasn’t feeling very well. I spent most of my time resting in the sprinter while Michael took over for driving. I really want to thank him for that. We left rather late today but it was a good chance for me to see my family before I had to go away. My grandmother, whom I have not seen for 12 years, was very happy to see me. I hope by the end of the transcanada she will still be here in Canada.

Mireille

I got good rest! This house is better than Motel! We ate instant noodles for breakfast. At 2:30pm we ate lunch at KFC. Then in the car I played cards. When we arrived to the camp, Billy teached us how to pack our back pack. Then strange people drive around us. So now we have to be careful. We all take out our head light.

Edwin Cheung

Today, We have a long ride throught Saskatoon to Alberata. Later, Oh in tie we set up our camp at Willam preval park. I am ready for the Adventure throught to. I am happy I am here. Mom, sleep early, Dad Don’t warry. I will be find.

Jennifer

I’m huddled in my corner of the tent listening to the patter of the rain. A lot of the girls in my tent are scared. Not of the thunder that crashes around us, but because of the couple of drunken motorcylists that were giving us trouble during Billy’s lecture this afternoon. I am a bit nervous and I don’t believe I’ll sleep well tonight, but I know that we’ll be safe. We’ve reviewed emergency procedures and I will take care of these girls to the best of my ability. My group’s call sign for this week is Courage. I’ll admit that I am a bit afraid, but I will continue on and reassure everybody else. I found that if I stay calm, they will as well. It’s sort of amazing how much they actually respect me, like when Mike told me that it was good that I was here and how calm and collected I was.

Mike

If yesterday was stressful, then today was really stressful and tiring, as we had new plans and we also had tasks to do, which included creating a map of our road trip and a 1000 words exact essay on our respective callsigns (mine is fearless) This meant no sleeping on the car and how we had to pay attention the whole trip. Although it was stressful, I do feel that I’ve accomplished something by working in a team and taking shifts. Lastly, I’m pretty excited for tomorrow, although map and 1000 words are needed, as we might see the northern lights.

PS Excited / worried about possible biker incident, sure other blogs will mention.

Justin

Today was a busy day. It is the first time that we were given assements, we had to draw a map from our initial starting point today, Edmonton, to our destination, which is approximately 300 kilometres. In addition to that, we had to record all the gas stations, military vehicle and provincial parks along the way. It kept us very busy on the car. We had to keep ourselves awake not even a second of relaxation is allowed. As we arrived the campground, our instructor gave us a lecture on how to pack our backpacks in the most efficient way. It is very important to pack our backpacks neatly as we are going to carry them to climb a mountain in the next few days.

Owen

Today, we got a mission – drawing a map without a map. From Calvin’s cousin home, to our next campsite, Williamson Provincial park. We couldn’t sleep unless we arrive there, Yolo!

We took our lunch in KFC. My teammate kept putting their chicken on my plate. I don’t know why.

On the car, our team combined with the our team in the car so we could help each other out. One of our teammates wore his sunglasses on to pretend he was awake. You cheater!

When we arrived the campsite, Billy dumped all my stuffs out of my backpack and used as a demo to teach us how to pack our things. I just realized that I got an extra cover in my backpack.

While we were having the packing lesson, two natives came to us. One of them starred Billy with horrible eyes. Billy immediately knew that they were trouble makers. In HK, it is known as ‘Dark Society’. For our safety, Billy called the police force.

That two natives had been driven around our tents for about five times already. Although it is peaceful now, but it is always peaceful before a storm begins. Hope verything is fine.

Mickey

Today, I just feel boring, nervous. We change the team. Many friends don’t want to change. Is too quiet in the car Tonight experience dangerous night. I can’t tell you too much. Hope tonight everything is good? In fact I have some scared now. The sky is more and more dark. Hope tomorrow won’t like today. I miss my parents! Love you!

Jason Wang

Today was a very eventful day… we started off approximately two, three hours late as we had to clean the entire house that we stayed in as well as cleaning our shoes of yesterday’s mud and dirt. This is a perfect example of how creating a mess may only take seconds, but cleaning it off may take hundreds of more times.

On the sprinters we were tasked with writing a 1000 word essay based upon both our team call signs and our experiences over the past seven days as well as creating a detailed map of our start to finish for today’s road trip. This was a way for us to improve our critical thinking and our attention to detail.

From the events of today, I have learned that small lessons can always be intergraded into small tasks and that contingency plans will always be a must.

Michael Fung

At the moment when I recovered from a short but effective 4-hour sleep. I found the room I was staying in a bit chaotic. The laundries were not completely done, the luggage were not sent to the group for loading up… I found it hard to get energized so quickly by getting the laundries long after series of non-laundry accommodations. Not because of the mistakes, but because of consecutive days of lacking good sleep. Anyway, not much to talk about today because we were all quasi-busy for paying attention (but not really at times) to the Highways, intersections, gas stations, their prizes, national and provincial parks, military vehicles and their license plate numbers. The point of this task is to encourage us to pay more attention to details. I would like to tell you that this is one of the ‘most-wanted’ leadership traits. It could be very helpful in a multitude of scenarios, from military to daily ones. This morning I just experienced the importance of it as a cook. As a cook designated for cooking the instant noodles, when I just finished pouring the noodles into a bowl and have it ready to serve, Billy just pointed out a tiny and insignificant blue strip in the tiny gap between noodles. This blue strip is actually from the surface of the tuna can. Despite being smaller than a cutting nail, Billy requested me to pay attention to that little strap because in a restaurant, it is huge enough to ruin your reputation very badly.

After experiencing  the drill of how-Billy-deal-with-30-people-breakfast, I started to believe that cooking is no longer about the taste of food, but also the effectiveness and fluency. There are not enough space to talk about it further right here because I am so weary today. I will just guarantee you that if you have any problems on dealing with a party meal for a bunch of people, just ask Billy for some advises (not sure if they are free though). After all was just a short-day driving of three hundred kilometers to Williamson Provincial Park. Alongside with the packing lecture done within the campsite, we met two drunkards who rode their mountain bikes and kept on surrounding us for a couple times. We just felt a bit unsecured so we just stayed alert for the whole night. Otherwise, the map-drawing for intersections and all those stuffs was done better than getting a satisfactory remark (we just made up lots of the intersections and turns by ourselves, but otherwise it is fine). We pretty much enjoyed some leisure chats while paying attentions to the roadside features. Perhaps, we will have more chances to increase our intimate relationship as the time flows…

Good night everybody! I am very tired and perhaps I will just get recovered tomorrow! Let’s head up to Yukon as soon as possible after having my backpack and daypack perfectly packed!

Howard

Today we woke up at a house. Calvin’s relative had lent us abode for the night. In the morning however, we spent a lot of time cleaning our shoes, muddy shoes. It took a long time which showed us that it is easier make a mess than to clean one up. We are now at the Wilumsum provincial park.

Crystal

After being split into our newly-formed groups yesterday, we quickly received our first challenge this morning. Since we were only going to travel a short distance (compared to the other days), Billy wanted each group to mark down the details of anything we passed or that passed us. Gas stations, highway intersections, national/provincial parks and even any military vehicles that we, then a map would have to be drawn accordingly spotted. Even though we only travelled roughly 40 km today, many people fell asleep on the Sprinters! Luckily, some people were still awake writing down the information we needed to remember. We successfully arrived at a campground near the border of Alberta and B.C. after many hours. Tomorrow, we will try to drive to Yukon though arrival will be late. I hope everything will go as planned and as smooth as possible.

Tiffany

Experiencing a somewhat interestingly “scary” incident we encountered several bikemen, who were supposedly looking for trouble. They were natives, very drunk indeed. Many tasks were assigned to us, back up routes, escape routes hoping to keep us from harm. I don’t know what may become of the night, but hopefully something safe. To mom and dad, don’t worry I will be fine we are in good hands. Today we were previously assigned a 1000 word regarding to our team name, successful. This topic really opened our eyes, how we saw things, how the concept of leaderships is. As we prepare for a usual night, I’d have to go early today. So, peace! I’m out.

Kendra

We woke up quite late this morning and set out quite late, too. We were also given many important tasks to complete in our group. These tasks seemed hard to complete in such a small group, but luckily, during our car ride we decided to work another team to get the job done. Working with a group of 6 I thought was more efficient and we got the job done the better. During our task, I realized to how hard it was to pay attention at all times and look for details, but with the help of each other we got the job done. I also got to know more of my team. I feel like I am getting to learn so much more about team and communication everyday. Teamwork is fine most important thing in any situation. Today was a great day. I learned many things and got to know people better. Hope I get to learn more and more each day.

Roman Wang

All went well today! We arrived safely at Willamsum Provincial Park! Billy gave us a lesson about how to pack a bag, a dirt biker came by and asked us if we saw his drunken dirt biker friend. We haven’t. A few minutes later came the drunk guy, he was REALLY DRUNK!! We are expecting him to come and look for trouble tonight, but no need to worrie… we have a plan. Part of me want him to come, but that’s only because that park wants action. But I choose to wish he stay away as far as possible!

Good night…

Quince

Today is a sunny rainy day. We have to evacuate the tent because of two trouble makers. One is a Scottish. One is a drunk native American. The drunk one was crazy – because when he talks, he is like mrmrmrmrmr. We are assuming they are going to steal our stuff. So we made this plan. That is the big news for today. Now other unusal things happen. Done!

Kathy

Today was the eighth day at Monticle, We have a training on our way to the location. Billy told us to recorded the same special dealts on our way. It sounds easy but in truth it was difficult because the car moving quickly, and we should remembered a lot of things. It was so tired. In the afternoon, when we arrived in the park which we went camping Billy taught us how to packed our bigbag perfect. I was happy that it let me learnt a lot.

Matt

Wow last night was probably the best sleep I ever had, just because I had a nice shower last night. Today is day 8 of our trip and it has been pretty crazy. Right now we are at Wilusom provinicial park and we have just encountered some dangerous native inians who might come to us tonight to cause trouble. We are all scared, as am I, and we all preparing for the worst. We are all trying to take care of each other but I am most worried about Quince. It is my responsibility to take care of him but so far he has been joking around about the situation. I hope he can just take it more seriously and understand how much we are trying to protect him. But since it is raining I don’t think they will come to bother us.

Grace

Today, we had two tasks. the first one is to draw a map for the 700km we traveleds. We combined the two group which sit in our vehicle, team MGR + JOK. Because we had six people, we could get more information, and we could swich the people who needed to be awake, so we all got nice rest on the car. Now we all think it is a good idea, no one could write down all the things we need, so each of us had different jobs, after we exchange the information, we could almost finish the map. So we notice the importance of team work, no one can be super man, everyone has his own good and bad traits, if we get into a team, we could do the job we are good at, in order to finish the job perfectly and efficiently. There is also another task, each team needs to write a 1000 – word – essay using their own callsigns, the hard thing is the essay. need to be 1000 words exactly, But because of the bad weather, we are going to finish that tomorrow. Today is an interesting day.

Alan

Today is day 8. today on the road we had to do assignment, we had to keep count of how many cars, gas stations Hwy intersection and parkis past our car. I didn’t really like it ever though it keep me from sleeping on the car.

Jason Wong

After spending the night in Calvin’s ousin’s house we woke up at 7:30am. I feel that I got a good sleep. We got into a chain to get our luggage to the sprinters. we had instant noodles which tasted different from cup noodle but still taste good. Then we cleaned our shoes since it had mud under it We didn’t leave until 12 in the afternoon even though we were supposed to leave earlier. We drove until we had a pit stop but I slept half of the time so I was ok. we had KFC for lunch which tasted good. Then we continued driving until Williamson Provincial Park which is surprisingly self register unlike other parks that you go to the office and pay. Later we had a lecture about packing our hiking bag which was good. we went back to our teams and finished the assignments. P.S. mom tell dad that Billy says I’m a spy because they () copied the same orange and yellow coloured t-shirts.

Marco

A really nice morning today, woke up early in the morning. This morning was also a “fun” one, we had to clean all the shoes with either a screwdriver, a piece of wood and a shovel. It got mud inside my nails, it was really hard to get them out. Our breakfast was really tasty, it’s instant noodles, that bowl of instant noodles filled up my energy bar to full again.

In the car ride we did something pretty challenging for me, we have got to write down all info about all gas stations we past by and we also need to write all the highways we go and all the military viehoal we see, their liceses plate in Canada #####. It was fun in the car ride but also the shortest one. We just went about 300 something KM. I was surprised that it’s that short.

For the night we slept at a camp site, this camp site has more mosquitoes than the other ones. But none of them bit me.

Overall today was a special day for me in Monticle. I think there is more better things in the future.

Ryan

Today is the 6^th day of our travels and I end the day feeling determined but worried.

The main point of my worries come from the fact that some bikers were causing trouble near our campsite. These people are some mena and dangerous bunch and the park warden is here and everything. However it may so8und like I am scared myself. In truth I am not I am mostly worried my tentmates might get hurt or I can’t help them. I know that sometimes as a human being some things are just out of your control but I still hope we will be okay and the bikers will not cause trouble tonight.

I am determined however that we will get out of this and continue our expendition. Strangely enough when Billy split us up into seperate teams I was given the team name Fearless. I hope I can live up to that name as even though I may be scared now when the time comes I know I will be able to shake my fear.

Edwin Chan

Today we drove about 350km from Edmonton to Willisanson Provincial Park. Once we’ve reached Williamson Provincial Park5 of the tents and did a quick clean up for all the sprinters. When we all finished with the clean up and setup we walked over to the lake for a lecture about packing. Tonight we heard that there some pranksters around here, who just takes your shoes and put them in a bush nearby. Tomorrows destination is Watson Lake which is about 1500km well this is going to be a long ride.

Lemuel

Woke up this morning at 8 and started to move our luggage out. Unfortunately, the day before rained and everyone was exposed to the mud. So we ended up having to spend almost 2 hours getting mud off our shoes. Once packed, we drove off for about 7 hors. We also had new seating arrangements inside the vehicles, so I ended up sitting with others. This new group was more talkative and one of them had some manga, so I ended up reading for some time in the vehicle. Currently we are in sturgeon lake camp ground somewhere in Alberta. Hoping we can get to Yukon today so I can do some hiking.