Oh The Places We'll Go!

The beginning count on our odometer. Soon to be clicking forward quite comfortably.

So we did it. We finally got out of town. Monday morning was spent running around getting all our last minute stuff packed and dealt with. Not to mention saying good bye to my parents and a few of our friends. We tried to make it a quick good-bye so everyone could stay happy and not get too emotional… okay maybe that was just me. We are both so excited for the trip, but that doesn’t mean that goodbyes are easy.

Last shot with the parents. Don’t worry, we will take care of each other!

After leaving our quaint little town in the mountains that we have both come to know and love as “home”, we headed east towards the big metropolis of Calgary to meet up with my old teammates Anna Goodman, Kelly Vanderbeek and Larisa Yurkiw. It was a fantastic coincidence that we managed to make them our first stop. They were all in town on a joint rehab dryland camp. They have all been working incredibly hard to come back from some serious knee injuries, but they seem to be at the point where they see the skis in the light at the end of the tunnel. It is amazing the friendships that are created from living in such an intense environment like travelling around the world with the White Circus. The bonds that are created are ones that will never be broken and I know I have friends for life in all of them.

From Left: Kelly, Larisa, Shona, Anna

After another good bye we took the road and headed towards Edmonton. Our first night was to be spent at a friends acreage just outside of Edmonton. Mike and Mel Chalmers were on Andrews ski team at Laurier University in Waterloo, Ontario. They recently had an addition to their family with their new son Kalem.  At 3 months old, he was pretty cute and a great baby, but I still didn’t want to hold him in case parenthood was contagious.

We had a great night making incredible home made pizzas and catching up on lost time. There is not much better than having a few drinks with awesome people and just shooting the breeze. It was great to hear stories from their time at University. Andrew was surprised that I still loved him after some of the stories that were told! Actually they weren’t that bad. Mike and Mel took off early to head to North Battleford, Saskatchewan, and we spent a lazy morning getting ready to hit the road.

Us with Mike and Mel (Thanks for everything guys!)

After jumping in the car we officially started the road trip together (Andrew drove the Golf to Mike and Mel’s to store for a few months). In honor of the beginning of our trip we threw in one of the two mix CD’s that our friend Helen made for us as our going away present. The Get Psyched Mixes are incredible and provide us endless hours of  stoke… which just add to the already dangerously high levels that we are experiencing. I am sure they will be useful for the 730 km of dirt road along the Dempster Highway where our natural levels may be dropping.

We are now hanging out in Grande Prairie, Alberta, home of the great chuckwagon driver Kelly Sutherland. If anyone knows the best way to add pictures to a blog with minimal internet time could you leave the info perhaps in a comment after this posting. It is hard when you are trying to find internet and you only have so much time to devote so much of it to uploading each individual picture. Thanks!