Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 10

Pancake breakfast in the morning. The race officially ended at noon today, the last team finished about 11:40AM. 24 out of 33 teams finished the race, pretty good.
We had a volunteer meeting at 2:00PM, and they gave us vests, caps, and a book about adventure racing.
They provided supper at the RecPlex at 6:00 for all the volunteers and teams, and we watched the video the video guy made. Headed to Eco-Fest about 10:30.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 9

Rained last night, snowed in mountains (remember Brent and Andre made snow men at their PC). My tent leaks a little. We didn't do too much today. Went to pick up to medics about 6:30 from the bottom of the gondola at Kicking Horse Lodge. Jenn made my supper. Went to the Eco-Fest for a couple of hours, then watched Gears cross finish line. Remember, they walked past the turn off to the finish line, and had to be called back using the bullhorn.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 8

Continuum arrived 2nd at 11:55AM today. Monsanto had interview with CBC Toronto. One of my pictures of Monsanto arriving at the airport was used on the web site and sent to the Regina Leader Post. I'm a published photographer, and am getting credit for the picture. (The Leader Post ended up not running the picture.)
Went to PC16 and walked up to Cedar Lake.
My horn started acting funny on the way up to PC16, so I had to take the fuse out. Ugh!
Running Free arrived 3rd at about 5:30PM. I stayed up until 3:30AM waiting for the Golden team to arrive. They finally arrived at 4:38AM.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 7

Monsanto gave up today. Harold and I picked them up at the airport. Very funny guys. Schick Extreme3 team finised race about 3:45AM (Thursday morning), I stayed up to see them. Went to PC19 to see them pull canoes out of water for the last walking leg to the finish.
Locked my keys in my car, and called Cam's Towing today.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 6

Got to bed about 11:00PM last night. Slept straight through until about 10:15 this morning. Went out to PC8 about 11:00 and saw Adventure Racing Calgary come through and switch from bikes to canoes. Saw a small black bear and three dear on the way to the checkpoint. Got back and hung out with Harld and Hugo from team ATP. Hugo was suffering dehydration, and had to be airlifted out.
Went for supper with Harold to a chinese restaurant, not very good.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 5

Up at 4:00AM. Slept awesome last night. Met at HQ at 5:00 and watched competitors get ready, and help keep things organized. Quite a sight to see.
Watched the start of the race at 6:00AM, which was pretty neat.
Headed up to PC2 about 10:30 to watch the end of the first canoe leg.
Apparently lots of teams capsized at PC1.

Headed to TA1/PC4 about 12:30 to watch the transition from bike to mountaineering. Way cool. Remember the competitors not bashful when changing clothes, they were getting naked in front of everyone. We also started hearing about teams getting penalties because they were trekking on the railroad, when they were specifically told they couldn't do that.. The Golden team also took a different route than all the other teams at this checkpoint.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 4

Up at 6:00 AM for 7:00 AM volunteer meeting. They briefed all volunteers on rules and duties. Had a pasta lunch at the RecPlex. Met Harold, my boss for the event. Went to the race summary at the RecPlex, where competitors get their maps and the course deisgner (Rich) talksa bout the course. Very interesting.
Went up to race HQ and went over the race with Harold and Jenn. 270km over mountains and glaciers, canoeing, and mountain biking. Helped move canoes to the riverside for the start of the race tomorrow morning. Got to bed about 11:00PM.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 3

Rained last night, and my tent didn't leak. Daphne's tent leaked like crazy, she had to sleep in her car.
Did an environmental thing today, we helped sand a new foot bridge in Golden. Other racers and volunteers had to pick garbage. Played Ultimate Frisbee.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 2

Drove up to Kicking Horse Lodge and took gondola to top of the mountain. Very nice views. Lots of mountain bikers too.




Today was an offday for the Eco-Challenge, so not much to do. Got called to help unload canoes and supplies at HQ.

Eco-Challenge Canadian Championship - Day 1

Arrived in Golden about 4:15, found HQ, and got assigned a campsite with a guy named Ben, another volunteer. Erin and Fergus are camping beside us. They had perogies for supper and invited me. How nice!

Sailing, Day 9

Left Gibsons, and sailed back to Vancouver. After getting the boat all cleaned out, Don dropped me off at the airport, and I was gone.

I then realized, I had touched both the Atlantic and Pacific oceans in less than 2 months this year.

Sailing, Day 8

Left Pender Harbour about 9:00 AM.

Sunny day, not a cloud in sight.

Had lunch at the Jolly Roger Pub in Secret Cove.

Landed in Gibsons about 7:30. Had supper at Waterfront Restaurant.

Sailing, Day 7

Don and Ian started out early (7:00 AM) while Andrew and I slept. Cloudy, cool, and rainy day.

Stopped at Lund for lunch...Nancy's Bakery again...Mmmmm!

Motored all day.

Stopepd at Pender Harbour about 7:00 PM for the night.

Sailing, Day 6

Left Grace Harbour, passed through Waddington Channel, and stopped at Toba Wilderness Resort. Beautiful mountain vista's en route, and an incredible waterfall at the resort.

Saw a dolphin/porpoise/whale or something on the way up the resort. It had a small dorsal fin, kinda looked like it was cut off, was "stubby". I'll have to research on the internet and find out what it was.

Had supper on the boat, then saw some Orca's hunting seals. Cool!!!

Built a campfire with Robert (winter caretaker of the resort). Robert is from Germany, and he has a lot of great stories about his time he spends at the resort, and the wildlife he sees.

Perfect day today, weatherwise (well, not enough wind to sail, but perfect other than that).

Sailing, Day 5

Sunny, mild, little wind.

Headed up to Desolation Sound after having breakfast and lunch at Nancy's Bakery in Lund. I stocked up on groceries (and since I was buying, I bought MEAT!!!)

Beautiful scenery, all the way up.

Ended up anchoring in Grace Harbour about 4:00 PM. We're all alone, not another boat in sight. Apparently, in July or August, this place would be packed with boats anchored in the bay.

Ian and I went for a short hike, then Ian, Andrew and me had a wiener roast over an open fire. Ian doesn't eat meat, but he made an exception this time.

Played Trivial Pursuit, and Ian won...again.

Sailing, Day 4

Don and Ian started sailing at 7:00 AM as Andrew and I slept. I rolled onto the floor twice, as the boat keeled over from the wind catching the sail. After the second fall, I got the hint, and got dressed. :-)

Windy, big swells today again.

Stopped in Powell River about 11:30, and ate lunch.

Andrew and Don took a cab to the hospital. They were there about 2 hours, and when they got back, Andrew had a cast. He had a broken foot.

About 3:30, the wind started to die down, so we headed for Lund. Nice sailing wind.

Got to Lund about 8:00 PM, and got the restaurant/bar about 8:15, expecting to get something to eay. The kitchen closed at 8:00, so we were out of luck. Snacked on chips and nuts and watched the Vancouver hockey game. After the game was over (about 10:45), went back to the boat, and Ian made pasta.

Remember: Don pissed off, because we couldn't tie up to the dock, and had to tie off on one of the breakwaters, and use the dingy to get to shore.

Got to bed about midnight.

Sailing, Day 3

Very windy, gale force winds, boating not recommended, but we're brave sailors, and went out anyway. Left about 10:00 AM. Huge swells, crashing waves on the ocean. We all got soaked (especially Don, the skipper).

Pulled into Agamemnon Channel about noon, to get out the crashing waves, and let our weary bodies rest. Motored to Jervis Inlet (which connects up to Agamemnon Channel), and docked at Saltery Bay ferry terminal. We were hoping to find food here, but nothing. Just a vending machine at the ferry terminal with chips and chocolate bars. So, we made omelets for supper, and listened to the forecast on the radio (gale force winds dying down in the middle of the night), so we decided to stay here for the night.

Ian and I walked up to Saltery Bay Provincial Park, one km. away . Nice little park, and they have a 9 foot bronze statue in Mermaid Cove, for divers to go experience. Apparently there's lots of marine life growing on and around the statue. There was a couple of guys there getting their diving stuff on, ready to go down and see it. The one guy said he dove it once before, but doesn't remember what it. He then added that he used to drink a lot more too.

Played Trivial Pursuit (without Don). Ian won.

Sailing, Day 2

Had breakfast at Molly's Reach. Of course, lots of Beachcombers paraphenalia (sp?) in side. Not a great breakfast, but not bad either. On the walk back from Milly's Reach, Andrew "twisted" his foot while walking...dunno how, it just sort of happened.

Sailed out about 10:00 AM.

Great winds for sailing, made lots of progress. Cool and cloudy most of the day, but got sunny later in the afternoon.

Stopped at Secret Cove about 4:00PM. Quaint little place. There's no meat on the boat (I'm a carnivore), so Ian, Don, and Andrew had a "vegetarian" supper, I decided to wait and eat at the Jolly Roger Pub, when Ian and I went to the Jolly Roger pub to watch the Vancouver hockey game. On the say back from the pub, we got lost (missed our turn), and walked for about 10 minutes before realizing we were going the wrong way!

Sailing, Day 1

I flew out to Vancouver, and Don picked me up at the airport. We made a pit stop at Ikea for a mat for the boat, before heading out to Coopers Boating. It's located on Granville Island, a great market area, not unlike the Forks in Winnipeg, or whatsitcalled in downtown Calgary.

Coopers Boating didn't have the boat ready until about 4:00, so we didn't actually get to leave until about 4:30. Motored all the way to Gibsons, because of lack of wind, and also darkness was setting.

ATe supper at Gramma's Pub, and saw the "famous" Molly's Reach restaurant. Molly's Reach, for those non-Canadians is the restaurant in the long-running CBC drama, Beachcombers, which, sadly, CBC cancelled after 20 years. Great show, and very much a surprise to actually see it in real life. And to think, the only reason we saw it was because Coopers Boating didn't have the boat ready for sailing early Saturday.

Weather is cool today.

Testing

This is a test of my Logjam package for the iPAQ.

2002/03/05

First Two Days

Today is Friday, March 1, 2002, our first full day. It's about 9:00PM, we're in downtown Cancun right now.

Well,we arrived in Cancun in one piece, nothing too special about the flight. Once in Cancun, we were "abducted" by a guy who we thought was a tourist helper guy, and he coerced us into going to another hotel to "look at" their features...ended up being a time share offer, which wasted about three hours of our time this morning. We ended up getting a couple of cheap tours of Chichen Itza and Xcaret out of it (half the regular price), so it wasn't all bad.

Lisa's is raging because the airport authorities in Regina confiscated her nail scissors!!! She won't stop talking about it, keeps cussing about it!

The weather was really crappy. Rained and windy all day yesterday. Today was pretty nice though, mostly sunny, with a few cloudy periods. It sure is humid, though, everything is just soaking wet!

Cancun seems like a really rundown place to us. Driving from the airport to the hotel, everything just seemed to be rundown, and not very new.

Pina Colada's are excellent. Lisa still can't believe that we can sit down and eat and drink as much as we want, and walk away without paying.

After our timeshare thing this morning, we sat on the beach, and I did a little bit of snorkeling. Very nice day, not too windy at our resort. At this timeshare resort, the waves and wind were just a blowing, though. Calinda Beach seems to be in a good location for not having a lot of wind.

While were sunbathing, a bird crapped on Lisa's leg! HAHAHAHA!!!! It was a yucky green colour (I got a picture!). A little while later, another bird (seagulls) crapped on some other girl's shirt. (Big Mess!!!!)

Lisa got her hair braided today (sorry Nancy, I'm not gonna get that picture you wanted!) It looks very nice.

For supper,we decided to take the bus to downtown Cancun, and stopped in the flea market district, and shopped for a while. This is THE place to wheel and deal. I got a pair of Oakley sunglasses $30.00. I'm mad, because I know I could've got them a lot cheaper had I bartered better. (HAHA)

As we were getting on the bus at the hotel to come to downtown, firetruck after firetruck came screaming down the road. We could smell and see smoke in the air. Lots of ambulances and police cars too. Don't know what was on fire...maybe it was the timeshare piece of crap we visited earlier! :-)

Anyway, we stopped at a small open-air restaurant called The Fisherman. Lisa had lobster, and I had a filet mignon. Both were excellent. Well worth the trip. For those who have been to Europe, this restaurant reminded me of all the small, open-air restaurants all through Europe. We saw some authentic serenade, by two guys playing guitars, and singing to another couple...both guys. Go figure. They were very good, though.

Lisa took pity on a young girl selling little trinkets. She had a baby slinged across her back, and Lisa's heart broke when she saw the baby. She ended up buying two small purses from her.

Tomorrow we're off to Chichen Itza, gotta get on the bus at 7:00AM.

I've learned that Lisa snores, and she's definately not a morning person! I didn't get much sleep last night!

Buses are fun...they're really rundown, but fun! Only 5 pesos's, you can ride as far as you want! Buses come, like every 30 seconds too...city of Moose Jaw should take note!

Lisa wants to go to City Hall, and see what they have there.

Having a blast, gotta go!!! Don't know when the next update will be, not too many internet places around the hotel.

Later!

Getting ready for a trip to Cancun!

Well, I'm getting ready to go on a trip to Cancun with a co-worker, Lisa Frank, and because everyone loved reading about my trip to Europe last year, I've decided to do it again for this trip! Assuming I can find an internet terminal near our hotel, I should daily updates about what we're up to, what we did, what we saw, and all that jazz. Of course, I can't tell you guys EVERYTHING, we gotta keep some secrets (right Lisa?) :-)

So, our flight is scheduled to leave on Thursday, February 28, 2002, at 8:40 AM. We'll be spending 7 days/nights at the Calinda Beach and Spa. We return on March 7, 2002. Hopefully, if all goes well, I'll update my journal every evening, so y'all can keep tabs on us.