Trans Canada Expedition - Day 9

July 22, 2013 – Day 9

Locations: Williamson Provincial Park, Alberta; Dawson Creek, British Columbia; Fort Nelson, British Columbia

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, the clouds are white, and the grass and trees are very much green. This scenery can be seen as we look out the vehicle windows. Simply breathtaking. It is hard to imagine that just last night, rain was pouring (again). This might have come as a blessing as nothing happened at all during the night, and the night ended relatively calmly and smoothly. We left Williamson Provincial Park at a relatively decent time after cleaning and packing up our tents and luggage. The travelling distance this time is further because we want to reach Watson Lake, Yukon, no matter what. The driving would take about all day and most night.

We had another map assignment with the same requirements. This time however, everybody has a set time limit to hand in their maps and their stories. The convoy went smoothly while the drivers drove and the students worked on their assignments. As we entered northern British Columbia, the scenery changed again. There are sparsely any towns and a sea of trees took the place of rolling plains. The sky and the clouds even looked to be lower since the elevation increased. We stopped off at Dawson Creek Walmart parking lot and made lunch.

After lunch we continued our way, saw many beautiful sceneries. Pictures taken through glass would not be able to justify it. As we were driving towards Fort Nelson, we saw a car accident. Monticle makes a habit of practicing Good Samaritan, so we stopped our cars and helped out. After helping the gentleman out, we called the RCMP and waited an hour and a half for them to arrive. The gentleman is okay; we gave our testimony, and continued our convoy.

We ended up staying at an inn in Fort Nelson. Plans change.

Note: Since we are travelling up North, it is harder to get a signal. We will try to keep you updated as soon as we can when we have the chance.

Kathy

Today was the ninth day in Monticle. We stayed on the car almost all day today. It must be bored, but in truth we wouldn’t felt boring. We would finish our one thousand and five hundred words articles, and I need to responsible for this articles, it was so sad! In normal middle school, I just need to wrote 60 words in exam, it was so difficult to me, and I must try my best to finish it. I believed that I can do it. And we drew a map on the way. I felt so tired and I couldn’t slept on the car. And we happened on the heavy rain again, it was terrible.

Mickey

Heard about today, we go to the north! It sound beautiful! What we will see? Maybe it is something fantastic? Or surprise? HaHa maybe! I just feel all just OK, nothing special. The same as boring tomorrow. In fact I can’t sleep this days. I don’t know why. Do we need sleep in the street tonight? Good luck! I miss you.

Crystal

Continuing the tasks we didn’t end up finishing yesterday, we were also given the same challenge today, drawing maps and noting down details … except with a much longer distance. Triple to traveling of yesterday to be exact. Since none of us were able to hand in our 1000 word ‘essays’ (related to our new team call names) that we were supposed to finish yesterday, we had to write 500 extra words, which equals 1.5k in total. Today, we plan on going “all out” and will be driving to Yukon (approximately 1400 km) , hopefully arriving before midnight.  After driving for a few hours, we stopped at a Walmart so everyone could buy anything that they lacked and the cooking team made a quick hotdog lunch for everyone to enjoy. Most of us didn’t get sleep on the Sprinters since we had to draw both yesterday’s and today’s maps of our traveling. Even though, we drove through heavy rain for some time, our Sprinters are still filled with laughter and cheer, one reason being the drivers need to stay awake for a long period of time today.

While traveling on the highway in the evening, we experienced a real emergency situation. A car on the opposite lane had somehow ‘swerved’ off the road and the driver was injured. Billy quickly assembled all the black shirted leaderships (who knew how to assist with this situation) and rushed to help the injured driver. After about an hour and a half, the driver was treated with first aid and the ambulance had came. During this situation, everyone else stayed calm on their own Sprinters. Through this ‘experience’, I learnt some things. One, in any emergency situation, it is best to stay calm. Panicking WILL NOT help. Two, learning first aid is super important considering the sudden emergencies that may happen during one’s lifetime. I think that everyone should learn from this situation.

Today, being the ninth day of camp, everyone has got to known each other well and as each day progresses, our teamwork is getting better and better. I know that is happening because everything that we do, building tents, cooking, planning navigation and much more has been becoming easier and smoother without any confusions or issues. I feel very excited to be soon arriving at the Arctic Circle and climbing Mount Edith. Because the instructors have lectured us previously and continuously, I don’t worry about anything and instead am very enthusiastic for our next few days.

Allan

Today is a big day, we are going to push to Yukon! This is probably the most exiting day in the past 8 days. Today we are traveling 1400 km for about 17 hours. In the middle of the day,we went to walmart for lunch we ate hot dogs. After that we continued on our trip.

Quince

Today is a rainy day. While we are going to Yukon, we saw a car going down and it is actualy destroyed. Billy went out and first aid and rescue a guy. A stranger, Sadly JJs hat dissappeared out of nowhere. It is today Bye.

Matthew

Well today was a crazy day. But to start it off we are all fine; the native indians did not come and disturb us, luckily. Surprisingly I slept pretty well and managed to wake up late at the same time. I thought I would be so scared that I couldn’t sleep, Anyways everyone in my tent, Roman, Quince and Howard woke up late and we were worried of not packing up in time. But luckily we had JJ come along to help pack up the tent. Our road trip began pretty late, at about 9:30 AM. Our destination today was to reach Watson City. I know that this is far from the camp but don’t worry mom and dad we have Michael Lo as backup driver to help switch out with drivers that are tired. Today me and tiffany were pretty much helping out everyone who didn’t finish the tasking from yesterday, the map and the 1500 word essay about our 7 days in the camp and our team callsign. Again I had to watch over Quince but this time I had the help of tiffany. But still having one extra person to take care of Quince still didn’t work and Quince just kept talking and talking until he feel asleep. During the road trip, somewhere in B.C, we witnessed a dead dear. Some of us were amazed (at the dear) and some just felt sad for the lifeless dear. Later on from the trip we also witnessed another horrible incident, a car crash. From what I saw the car seemed to have swirfed off the side of the road and must’ve spun, hence the mangled up roof of the car. Of course, the Monticle Convoy stopped and Billy and some of the Black shirts (Calvin, Lemeul, JJ and Edwin Chan) went of to help the injured male. When the man appeared from the wreack it seem like he had a neck injury, hence the cast on his neck. But luckily Billy was there and was able to save him in the gold hour. The emergency response teams came pretty late; they all arrived in 1:15 with the ambulance arriving half an hour earlier. To me that took an extremely long time but luckily Monticle was there to help out. The man left after 2 hours or so when we arrive to help out and unfortuantely JJ lost his hat because he gave it to the injured man to keep him warm from the rain and cold. But at least it was for a good cause.

Tiffany

Today was a relatively long day, it started out a relief as there was no attacks or disruptions caused by the natives. Yes Mom, Dad, I’m safe. We began taking down tents, and finished all the administration work, loading up, packing, and breakfast within one hour. Effcient enough, I suppose. We went on the vehicle and began our expedition, today we are to travel 1200 kilometers! 24 hours non stop driving, were in for quite a treat! As there were several delays last night (from my previous blog), we had the 1000 word essay delayed, and just like the real world, there is “interest”. From 1000 it became a 1500 word essay, well I guess it seemed legit. On the ride, I began recreating the draft map I made yesterday, refining the details and so on. Drawing 12 copies of the map. With the help of my fellow team leader Matt, we were able to finish several maps, three essays, and to control Quince. I typed up 3000 words today, just for the sake of JJ’s team, I helped them type up their essay as nobody in their team was a fast typer nor native english speaker (Excluding JJ as he was on another job).

My essay revolved around the topic of “success”, and JJ’s essay revolved around the topic of  “Goals”. By the time I finished two essays, I had car sick, and to follow that up, I passed out. The maps were drawn, the essays were typed up, Quince was sitting down, with his seat belt on, everything was at its perfect state. Until we reached a car flipped alongside of the road, tipped, with a injured person inside. Everyone but JJ, Calvin, Lemuel, and Edwin headed out to the car crash scenario and began to perform emergency saving. As the man ( or woman I’m not sure) was neatly wrapped and correctly treated, they stood there waiting for the ambulance to arrive.  We had a nice and humourous conversation, as we got to know more about each other. Well, more about Mickey I guess. 

Today I really reflected upon why we were placed into the groups with the assigned names. I understood why JJ’s team was Goals, why mine was Successful, and why others were their keywords. The arrangements were smartly done and everything made sense. There is still much for me to learn about success, but at least I have a brief clue about what we’re learning! That’s it for now. Peace! I’m out.

Michael Fung

Sleeping along with fear, insecurity, doubts and cold… No lights or even standing up during midnight after dealing with the blog typing of almost everyone… Well, this is Arctic Expedition is about adaptability and flexibility. Hence, just try my best to get familiar with JJ’s camping style. I understand the reason why he commanded us to neither switch on our headlights nor any significant movements is because he, as the person-in-charge of our Root tent, knew his responsibility of taking good care of all the people within the tent, especially when we found two drunkards riding their motorbikes around the campsite yesterday. I really appreciate that because I could not act like him, so authoritative, so impelling, but also very confident and charming. He had the almost irreplaceable charisma of a good leader, or more precisely, a military officer. I sometimes also appreciate not only his strictness, but also his skills and ability to deliver instructions with clarity when we set up or dissemble our tents. My dad always reminds me to stick with people who are more intelligent or more capable than me because this allows me to learn from them. It also creates a very competitive environment to stimulate myself for improvements and progresses. Dad (or Didi, an appellation for my father), I am glad to tell you that I am currently doing exactly what you tell me right now. It really works. Additionally, it also allows me to spot their flaws and mistakes as well. I don’t think it will be appropriate to reveal them here, but I guess I will tell you about what I observe once the camp is done.

When we arrived a Shell Gas Station in Grand Prairie, I asked Billy for some advises and feedbacks about my performance since the first day of the camp. He said he is quite disappointed with my performance because even though I am aiming for perfection when I am working individually, I am not having a spot-on performance in teamwork. I found it hard to decode and analyze Billy’s message because I cannot figure out the true definition of teamwork. I have loved working as a team since I was in Monticle. From the very first day of arrival, we enjoyed the moment of distributing the work and having the jobs done as a team. As time progressed and lectures being given, we knew how to utilize our resources while granting them (especially our peers) hope. We also received more and more knowledge (especially me on tents, even though I could not catch up with those talented tent-assembling youth) from different people through diversified interactions. I know that I am not good at handling discipline for a bunch of people (but somehow I am sometimes self-disciplinary because I try my best to maintain exercising for every morning). Anyways, Billy’s message is not clear to me. I will just ask him for clearer directions for the remaining days (I have such feelings probably because the last Monticle course that I participated two years ago is more on individual…) What I need is simply clarity.

Marco

This car ride may be the longest car ride we have for the whole expedition. But I don’t know why but it feels really short. But I found drawing the map hard because first we need to draw it on the car. Second, it was a little messy, no offense. We also had to finish up our essay, because we didn’t hard in the essay so everyone has to change the word limit to 1000 to 1500 exact. It is really hard to do it. And tonight we would also go to Yukon! Hurray!!! I am so happy because the day after tomorrow we would be in the Arctic circle! That is why I’m so happy. Now my team is still working on our essay and we still have 5 minutes till 6:00 pm, that is also our deadline, if we don’t give it in before 6:00 pm. We will have bread for our dinner.

Jason Wong

I felt good from the sleep this morning. We had a fast breakfast which was crackers and bread. The amount given was enough. We were planning to get to Yukon but we were still in Alberta. We had a pit stop at a gas station to refuel and resupply personal snacks. After we drove until we get to Walmart to have some people get laundry bags. We had hotdogs and a cheese slice for lunch. Later we stoped for a final washroom pit stop.

Howard Huang

Today, we’re probably going to spend the most time on a car per day. We’ll be driving from Alberta to Watson Lake, Yukon, travelling 1000-1500 km. The drivers would be constantly switching at each stop in order to preserve their strength, with the exception of Billy who can drive for 39 hours straight.

I’ve been working on drawing the map from of our route during our trip. However, I earlier saw the road atlas and found it much different than mine which truly disheartened me.

Also, we’re currently in the car waiting for an ambulance. Why? Because, while driving, we found a car that had been in an accident. Immediately, Billy and the black shirts ran out to help the injured persons. I hope they’ll be okay.

Justin Tang

Today we continue our journey. We are expecting to arrive Yukon in the next morning. We are very busy on the car as we have to continue on our assignments from yesterday. The 1000 word essay (now 1500) and map drawing. For the sake of efficiency, we decided to work as two teams. We hae made great process with this new plan. Thanks to the impressive typing speed of one of the team members, we are able to hand in our work just in time.

At the moment that I am writing this blog, we are pulling over to help passengers on a crashed car. The instructors and the senior members of the team immediately rushed to assist the injured passengers and they stayed there until the rescue team arrives. Although our we were delayed by the accident and we may not reach the destination as schedualed, I still believe this is the correct action to take.

Roman

Today was a tough day! We had to draw a map of yesterday and today; we need to write a thousand word essay. Tomorrow night we should be able to see northern light. At around 6:30 p.m. we saw a car that rolled off the highway. Luckely we got Billy. We got the man out and waited for the ambulance to come. We waited for 1 hour. We planned to go to Watson Lake, but we only made it to Fort Nelson.

Mireille

Today, we have hot chocolate for breakfast!! with bread and cracker. There are a lot of cloud in the sky! The sky is very beautiful. For lunch we ate hot dog. Indeed Billy bought bun, meat, cheese and ketchup. Then I’ve been co-driver.Ho

Kendra

                This morning, because of the rain we took longer to pack everything up. I learned that we really have to be coordinated to get the job done fast. After breakfast, we set out. Today, we have to draw another map, but the distance today is going to be about 4 times more than yesterday. We had to hand in all our assignments at a designated time or we had to have sentry duty or not have a fancy dinner. After hearing this, the whole team worked together quickly and smoothly to get the job done. Trying to keep awake in the car was harder than I thought. Every time I tried to stay awake I started to close my eyes again. When we were near Fort Nelson, we found someone stuck in a car accident so Billy and a few others went down to help. During this situation, everyone was pressing their head onto the window to try to get a closer look. In my head, I was also wondering the same thing as everyone else was. Was the casualty was okay? What was happening over there? The ambulance finally came and we were allowed to leave. That was all today, currently we are on the road and heading to our destination.

Owen

                Finally, the storm was over, just like batman said,” The sun always comes out after the darkness.” While I woke up everyone was fine and all our stuff were here. They didn’t come.

                Today, we are asked to draw another map again and to write an essay per team for about 1500 words. Hey! Don’t steal my pen….

                We went to a supermarket for lunch.

                Since we were in a extremely serious condition yesterday, we didn’t have time to take a shower or even brush our teeth. My mouth is smelly and my body is sticky now. I hadn’t changed my underwear for 3 days already! WTH….. Everything get  worse if you think worse.

Edwin Cheung

                Today, we are heading to Wason Lake to see Notain light. Through the time, we hit a big storm. It is wet and all my day we had a washroom break over gas station fill up for sprinter. I drink hot chocolate milk, bread and cookie. We sit in the bus for 24h. on the way, we stop a accident happen. Billy, Calvin, J.J and Edwin Chan when out and help. We wait for some time. The man is all right. I am happy the is alright. The hospital truck and police came an cover. We then head to Wason Lake and continue trips. Hopefully. I am happy. I am here. Thank you, mom and dad. I am doing alright. Talk to you when I come back. Leave a message. Love you mom and dad. I learn that to be a leader, to learn, lead, guide and to help the people who is in need.

Grace Pan

                Yesterday we camped in Williamson Provincial Park. We spent about an hour to set up the tents and because no one said hungry when we arrived, we didn’t have dinner. I actually regreted it at night. We were all hungry in the tent. Billy used Owen’s big bag as the example to show us how to pack our bags, but still, I think my sleeping bag and sleeping mat are too big to fit inside my bag. When we were disgussing the plan for tomorrow’s drive, two local motorcyclists came around , because of their aggressive behavior, we were worried that they might come to find troubles. Luckily, they didn’t come because of the heavy rain yesterday. I woke up at about 1 am, while I was pulling out the sleeping bag, Jennifer stopped me, and then we heard some people shouting, like “ come on” or something. We all freak out, the motorcyclists may be around. But after a few minutes, nothing happened and no one came. So we all fell asleep after we went to the washroom. We woke up at about 6. Pull down our tents. Ate the breakfast, and then leave the park. Your plan is to go to Watson Lake in the car, we finished yesterday’s map. Started the map for today and our 1500- words-essay. On highway 97, we saw a truck fell into the ditch on the opposite side of the road. Billy went to help and others just stayed in the cars. Tonight we might continue to drive and might arrive at 3 in the morning. We stayed in the car most of the time.

Ryan Hoang

                Today is the 7^th day of our transcanada trip. In this trip it was many a routine we were trying to establish. In this day I mainly felt sick.

                This is because after watching the road and making the essay I became really carsick. My mom and my dad always told me not to do this and now I see why. It not only really messed with my eyesight but I now feel pukish and have a really bad headache. But in the end I was able to feel a bit better for finishing all my tasking.

                After a sudden event occurred. This event is that we witnessed a car that was being on a ditch beside the highway. When that happened Billy stopped the car and began emergency aid. It might sound pretty interesting but in my opinion it was really boring because I was not there to help or do anything. So I sat there and attempted to take a nap.

Jennifer Wang

                We’re currently sitting on the Alaska Highway, pulled over on the shoulder. Damn I wish I were big and muscly. If I were, maybe I’d be called down like Edwin, Calvin, JJ and Lemuel. Instead, I’m on the sprinter wanting to be in the middle of the action. I feel so useless. I’d be useless out there and yet, I’m feeling pretty useless on here. I’ve got a sound mind, it’s just this cursed little body. I can stay calm in an emergency and I can follow instructions quickly. I sound like I’m trying to sell myself, yet knowing that, it’s futile at the same time. I saw the scene of the accident and the crumpled vehicle in the ditch and I pointed it out immediately. It’s been an excruciating few hours for me because I’m stuck on here and everyone is laughing and I’m trying to laugh with them, but inside I’m so serious and I’m trying not to get worked up because I’m trapped and I can’t do anything. Well nothing ended up happening last night, but I didn’t sleep at all because the rest of the girls were scared and I felt responsible for all of them. I sat sentry all night and reassured them and even instructed some of them when they needed a washroom break in the middle of the night. The Sprinter alarm went off twice by accident, and the rain made every crunch of gravel scarier and any engine sound mad my heart stop. So I sat there the whole night and let them cling to me because maybe I needed the reassurance, too.

 Mike

                We are currently waiting for the police and ambulance, and I can’t handle the suspense any more. I don’t know what’s happening, so I’m excited, nervous and worried about what’s happening. I don’t know what exactly is happening, I just know that we are helping a car in a ditch. Apart from that, we are trying to get to Watson Lake, in Yukon, by going through B.C (British Columbia). We still had to create a map as our maps today were being inspected while we had to had our new maps at today’s destination. Although we were delayed, I really hope we can go to Watson Lake as we can see the NORTHERN LIGHTS!

                PS- Now I know what happened. There was an old man who drove in the ditch, and we had to rescue him. I don’t think there was any serious injuries, though he was sent to the hospital. I feel so relieved that he is safe.

Lemuel
                woke up at 7 and moved out by 10. We made our way up all the way to Fort Nelson which was approximately 700km. The drive took about 8 hours, however we had to stop for awhile because on our way up north, a person drove off the road and into a ditch. Fortunately for that person, the car landed on a marsh and he suffered only minor injuries. This was my first real experience with dealing with a car crash victim so I was able to get some real life experience rather than the simulation I practiced. Our goal today was Watson Lake which is still about 500km, but with all the stops we took, we had to stop at Fort Nelson for the night. Excited to see some northern lights tonight.

Calvin

Today I was back at driving again, it was really beautiful with the BC scenery. We did not reach our destination today since we had to help out a person whose car had crashed along the highway. It was a really good lecture for us drivers. It taught us the importance of safety and rest. I hope we at least pass watsons lake tomorrow.

Edwin Chan

Today we drove from Williamson Provincial Park to somewhere half way to Watsons Lake. While we were heading to Watsons Lake we came across a car accident that flipped from one side if the road to the other side of the grass. Thanks to that we couldn’t make to Watsons Lake but at least we saved the guy in the accident and we also learned a really good lecture for us for emergency road side rescue. Also it taught us about safety and having a co-driver for a long distance driving. Hopefully we can go past Watsons Lake tomorrow to see the Northern Lights . Goodnight

Jason Wang

We’re on the road again! The longest road trip so far, rather the longest day of driving on the longest road trip I have been on so far. We started the day at about 0700, where we woke, packed, cleared and loaded up then began to pack up the tents. By 0820, we were on the move. Today we are trying to push 1400 km into Watson Lake. We will probably reach Watson Lake in the morning but this is a perfect example of how perstverence will lend to success in the very end. Na. I have to cut this blog short as my pen just died on me due to the map drawing assignment. Bye!

Wait!!! With this new found pen, you will learn about the man which Billy rescued along the Highway. We passed a totaled car along the highway in a ditch and we decided to pull over and help instantly, this event taught us about critical th9inking and attention to detail amongst other things. Now it’s really late and I need to hand this in, so ni the end?