at Cumberland

We're moving further east each day. Today we started at the EB Campbell dam on the Saskatchewan River, still in Saskatchewan, but not for long. In two days we will enter Manitoba.

For a primer on this river, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saskatchewan_River

This is proving to be a marathon kind of trip. Lots of paddling, more than one usually does in a day, at least at my age. Thanks to more paddlers than seats, we can change up our crew at least partly on most days. We appreciate this. We are up early, mostly at 4:30 am, although today it was 3:30 am. We're on the water by 6 usually, an hour earlier today (no wonder my fingers aren't working so well.)

Yesterday we were off the water by 2, planned so we could avoid winds on the big Lake Tobin. Which we did. It was actually the first day we could have a real happy hour, a time to sit and chat. We had no obligations to sit and listen to speeches or perform for locals. It was lovely. We could even get to know each other better.

Those who are not paddling have to clean up camp, move to the crew change spot, then get in paddling gear for the change. The new road crew then moves to either the next crew change location, or to camp. It's a bit of a crazy way to live. But it's only for a couple of months.

A lot of this is about how our team of paddlers is getting along. Most folks are pitching in and helping where necessary. Most folks paddle, or not, according to the needs of the team. It's the exceptions that are difficult to address, and can make for difficult feelings occasionally. No, we've not had any blow-ups, or even anything close to it. Only a bad flu bug that has laid a couple of the brigade low, including one of my team.

I'm writing from the Cumberland House community school. They are planning quite the program for the day. The children were let out of school early to participate in canoe races--from age 11 and up! With real entrance fees and prize money. Canoeing and canoe races are very much part of the culture here. No wonder the Cumberland House team is always first into camp, even though they often start later.

That's it from the river bank.

I'm off to the North

I'm sitting in Prince Albert, SK's public library, after four? days of paddling on the North Saskatchewan River. I started upstream of Battleford at a rural community called Big Gully. They fed us well, and welcomed us with warm hospitality including live music.

Fort Carlton not only had even better food, they had pagentry galore. Pipers brought us up from the river in a parade, and then seranaded us during dinner. They too had a fiddler, who could catch up to the CD for the Scottish country dancing so well the crowd demanded the music be live only. Native dancing of various sorts rounded out the program. Of course all 100 or more of us voyageurs were in costume to some degree or other. It was rather thrilling! see http://www.youtube.com/user/ThompsonBrigade2008 for some video of us.

the videographer Jay is travelling with us, and will keep adding more photos. My own photos are most disappointing.

You may have noticed that food is important. One day the food was a little thin, and we noticed. We like lots, but then if you're working as hard as we are, food matters. We're paddling about 8-11 hour days, often with a crew change in the middle somewhere. I was worried about how physically prepared I'd be. I'm getting there now.

We're moving out of the parkland part of the prairies into boreal forest. That means, hopefully, less wind but more bugs. The chill has kept the bugs down considerably so far. I'm not eager for a big explosion of them though.

When I arrived, the team was up to 13 paddlers. That meant some creative crew changes. Now we're down to 11, and I think we'll be that for a while now. Interactions can be pretty interesting. We're mostly pretty experienced paddlers, with our own preferences for doing things. While we each try to be accommodating, we also have our bottom lines.

and, the big canoe we're paddling has space limitations. It feels more like packing a kayak!

For the exact route plan see http://2008thompsonbrigade.com/2008DTBpaddlers_schedule08Apr24.pdf
for the best estimate of what's happening. Who knows when I'll be able to post again though.

They're off!

Yesterday, the Brigade took off from Rocky Mountain House, Alberta. Thanks to the GPS live tracking, I could see that they had gone down the river. see http://www.2008thompsonbrigade.com/ and click on the Live Tracking "Click Here" spot to see for yourself. It was slow on my computer.

I could see that some of the canoes were behind the others. Later in the day I could see that one finished well ahead of the others, getting back to camp in good time.

Not all seemed quite right though. Even at dark, there were some "canoes" still on the river. I wondered whether the technology was working properly, as I can't imagine any of them still out there. Or, maybe some of them decided to camp along the river.

It was exciting to remember the spots they are in--I've paddled them many times--and imagine the scene. Six canoes with 6-10 people in each, plus a driver and the canoe trailers. And the tents for that many people. And all the confusion of trying to get that many people going at once.

I can't wait to hear the real story!

Oh, the stuff!

Oh, my the amount of stuff sitting on my office floor!

I can't believe how much stuff I think I'm going to take for a camping trip. My list doesn't include all that much, but when I realize I'm going to have to look decent for the locals, more clothes seem warranted.

And should I take a CD or two? I'm not even sure if our school bus will have a CD player. I'm certainly not counting on a mp3 player system! I know I'm taking a song book, and the lyrics to the voyageur songs we'll be singing. And a journal. And several changes of shoes. Once again, big feet are a liability.

I've been asked to use a new-fangled tiny tent supplied by one of our sponsors, Totem Outfitters, instead of my Cadillac Egyptian cotton one, to save space on our bus... collectively, we have too much stuff too. sigh. But camping trips are always a compromise. How much stuff can I carry? What do I really need?

Now that I'm getting it into the packs, it's looking better. And, I can actually get to my desk and computer without the obstacle course.

oh, the stuff of our lives.

the Sun Run

Today dawned crisp and cool for the Sun Run--but none of the predicted snow or rain! It turned out to be even sunny sometimes. It was a perfect day for running actually. And to think I briefly considered chickening out.

I should remember that it turns out that way often--I enjoy it even if the weather turns dirty--and more than half the time, the weather isn't that much of a problem. This is one to remember.

My training got broken up considerably this year by travel and other ailments, flu mostly, so I wasn't sure just how this 10km run would go. I do have the advantage of having run one of these before--last year--and know that I can indeed rmember how to put one foot in front of the other for a while longer than it feels comfortable. The signposts even tell me how far I've come.

I did keep track of my time, so I had an idea whether I was faster or slower than last year. Things felt a bit slow at first. It was as if my muscles needed to get warmed up; once that happened, I didn't have to walk for 30 seconds to get my calf muscles from feeling so tired. I managed to better last year's time by about 3 minutes.

Dog Lizzie will make sure I don't forget to go running. As if I could forget that I have a big canoe trip coming up.

All the details!

Oh, my, the details!

Getting ready for any big trip means remembering a lot of details. But this one involves being pretty self-reliant for most of the trip, and totally self-reliant for some of it. That means there's no room service, or even a restaurant for the morning coffee. We'll be camping, sometimes with the support of our school bus-turned-RV, sometimes totally canoe camping with what we can carry with us.

And, I am helping us all organize the food. Much of the trip we'll be bus/van supported, and close enough to a grocery store to eat fresh food--except when we will be hosted to supper by a friendly community we're passing through.

So today I am working on the kitchen equipment list, then confirming who can bring what. "Just work" as the Team Leader Ted says, but it is meticulous work. And essential for a smooth running kitchen.

We all know that a good team runs on its stomach! I know I do. Confession time--this is the big reason I volunteered to be the kitchen coordinator--so I could have some say over the food. Not that I plan to cook any more than my share of the time, and I want the others to tell me what to put on the shopping list.

If we eat well, we'll be happy campers.

Perseverance

I'm learning all over again about being outdoors in all kinds of weather. Even though I've trained for the 10 km Vancouver Sun Run, I've managed to almost all of that when it wasn't raining--I HATE running in the rain.

I don't mind so much canoeing in the rain, for some reason. Perhaps because I've done it before. A lot. But I'm having to get used to it again. I've forgotten just what works to keep my feet dry AND warm. I've forgotten the mystical moments when it truly doesn't matter that it's as wet above the canoe as it is under it.

I still don't like paddling in snow--yes, it snowed here a week ago while I was on the water, and I just missed some sleet yesterday.

I'm being reminded as I paddle what it feels like to keep going even though I'd like to quit. And what it feels like the next day when my arms feel like they might drop off. Well, not really, but not like normal either.

I can feel my body getting stronger though, and my paddling rhythm becoming steadier. And dog Lizzie loves coming along for the ride, even if she can't even dog paddle.