Halloween!

Back when I was growing up in Toronto, my Dad operated a Dairy Plant. Each Halloween he would fill half pints with Chocolate Milk Shake. He would bring them home and put them in the freezer.

Halloween night he would give out frozen mild shakes.
We would get tons of kids…easily over 100 each Halloween. The next day at school, every kid you knew had a milk shake in the lunch box.

One Halloween, my mother was not around to manage the door. Dad's knee was bothering him. When he ran out of milk shakes at the door, he called my brother to bring up some more from the downstairs fridge. John opened the fridge, filled the crate and brought another 50 half pints of milk shakes up to Dad. About an hour later, we got a call from the neighbour. She had opened the half pint container and discovered chili sauce…not milk shake!

It seems my mother was using half pint containers for her home made chili sauce too! Dad had given out 50 half pints of Mom's chili sauce.

Needless to say…Mother was not happy. Dad's response was…"next year we will have half as many kids and twice as many Mothers"

Dempster Images

There is a cool bike website called http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/ . All sorts of good bike stories and a good place to research a trip. I learned a whole lot about the Dempster from various riders from this site. This summer, a fellow named David Cambon rode an recumbent bike from Vancouver to Inuvik...epic journey for sure. Check out the site and his stellar images.


He did take a couple of shot at pretty well the same place I did so below is the comparsion....nice to see it without the smoke!
David's photo looking up towards the North Fork Pass above and mine below....

...and his looking up towards the Tombstone Mtns....

....and mine below....it is no wonder I got a lung infection.....

Thanksgiving

Saturday afternoon…sun is shining and the leaves are falling. It is one of those rare afternoons when I have the house to myself….so I am cooking. Neil is cranked on the stereo and there is a Sleeman in the glass. The leave will have to wait. (I have teenagers so why am I raking leaves anyway!)

This is my favorite time of year. The colours, the change in temperature and the promise of winter. It is also Thanksgiving time….the time of harvest and bounty and counting blessing.

There are lots of blessing to count. I know I am one of the lucky ones. A great family who all love each others company. True friends who are supportive, lend a laugh and keep us motivated. The Raithby’s all showed for Thanksgiving on Saturday. Sunday was a trip to Porcupine Ridge for the annual HoggieTurkey Trot. Dinner at Bracebridge Grandmas on Sunday with the Kitchener cousins and a Monday run with the MacKinnon’s and the Dawson’s. A stellar weekend all around.

I am also lucky to have my Yukon family…..some still living in the Yukon but others stretched across this country from Libby and Trudel on the left side to Constable and Annabelle Nic on the right....and tons more in between. I do appreciate all the support and kind words this summer after the Dempster dream went a bit south from both my northern and southern pals.

The lake will get rough every now and then. Always keep the good lifejackets close.
I had a friend of mine say…and I am paraphrasing…"I didn't know so and so a year ago and if I don’t know them a year from now…well, life goes on" I guess I am in that category as I haven't heard from her in a while. If you are the only one in a friendship who is making contact….you get to wonder how important that relationship really is… I do have friendship with some people that I don’t see for years but the reconnection is heartfelt and seamless. I sure felt this while reconnecting with some of my Yukon friends this summer.

Dempster revisited

While I have been home for a month or so and had time to think back on this summers adventure on the Dempster. I also have had a few emails from other riders who have tackled this ride.


I last saw Mary England, who I met at Tombstone Territorial Park, was at the North Fork Pass where we shared a cup of coffee in the clouds. She did complete the ride all the way to Inuvik. The smoke cleared with the rain but that was replaced with snow and strong winds on the Eagle Plain. Her last couple of days were spent fighting rain, headwind and mud….she was happy to finally get to Inuvik.




Mark Ooms, from Whitehorse, and two friends attempted the highway in reverse. Two days before they started, one of his friends had a bit of an accident….the result, a sore knee, broken teeth and a bent bike. All got fixed and off they went. They drove to Dawson City and flew to Inuvik and started riding back. Unfortunately, the poor fellow knee flared out early in the trip and they had to abandon the ride at Fort MacPherson. I certainly can relate to their disappointment.



I go a note from Russ Krauss from Illinois. He drove his ’98 Prism all the way to Dawson City from Chicago in mid August to start his ride. He got to Inuvik a couple of weeks later after many sightings of grizzly bears and seeing the front end of the Porcupine Caribou herd migration….some 400-500 caribou.




Prior to the Dempster and back in Carcross, I met Dan Bar-Shay from Israel. He had just ridden up from Skagway Alaska and was riding back to Vancouver down the Cassier Highway. I beleive he told me he was in his 60's. Inspiration!

For me, the Dempster will have to wait. Looks like I picked the worst week to be riding given the smoke. I certainly will be checking out the fire ratings before I try this ride again. I am hoping the there will be another reunion in Carcross in 5 years time. All things being equal, I will continue where I left off…pre-reunion this time.

University Touring

Sam is all set and quite happy with Life at Trent….it is now Ellis’s time to prepare.
It is difficult to make that decision on “what you want to do when you grow up” when you are only 16. I still don’t know and I am 50!

While we want Ellis to pick a program that he will excel in, I also feel that the environment has a big impact…so we are looking at schools that fit those needs too. Ellis’s guidelines are….A little urban but not too big (so that rules out Toronto and York), not Northern (out goes Lakehead, Algoma and Nipissing)….so we are looking at mid-size campuses within a 4 hour drive from home and there are lots to choose from.

Raithby House University of Guelph

We went for a tour last weekend….not to pick the University but as an exposure tour to see what will be ahead and a couple of possibilities. Guelph was the first stop last Friday.
Being a former Guelphite…I do have my bias. This was also the University for my Grandfather (Raithby House) and my Mom and Dad. It is a beautiful campus full of open spaces, old trees and old architecture. Our tour guide was great! We looked at a few residence options, where the school of business take place and a few other buildings. We finished our tour with a cup of coffee at the Daily Grind with 1st year student and daughter of my pals Carol and Bob, Tessa Webb.

Tessa and Ellis at the famous painted Canon

We had a tour of Wilfred Laurier on Saturday. Homecoming weekend. I had never been to Laurier so this was new to me too. In truth, I found it a bit claustrophobic….lots of buildings and little green space. The tour guide didn’t have the strength that the Guelph girl did and half way through, Ellis had lost interest….and so had I.

In order to help Ellis choose (and to help us, help him), we decided to seek assistance through a counselling service called “Launch….Student Career Planning”. Virginia Graham doesn’t tell Ellis where he should go but through numerous test and questions, figures out Ellis’s strengths and interest and then tries to fit the school to those issues. His strength show in business and social sciences, so he is considering a number of options.

More work to do before a final decision but it make me want to go back to school.....don't think Linda will let me.....