Well, it's a working title. Is "post-pandemic" a black-and-white thing? No. I saw wildly differing approaches to that concept just from a sample of the staff at four different gas stations today. This trip is framed around a fun booking for Badger and I (off-road school), and several waypoints visiting friends and family, so categorizing as a vacation is certainly fair game. |
Ergo, we'll try Post-Pandy Stay Cool-cation, and see where it takes us!
So begins my 2022 moto trip. I've got about 18 days at my disposal. As is typical, Day 1 (today) had a main purpose of eating miles to get south. Final preparations complete, and all the checklists checked, I rolled out of my driveway at 9am, hugely excited that this moment has finally arrived.
At 9:01, I made a U-turn, rode back to my front door, picked up my sunglasses which I'd forgotten on the patio table, put them on my face, and departed again.
At 9:02, a black cat brazenly jogged directly across the street directly in front of me, not 50 meters into my trip. Arggh, cats!
Aside from that, the day also offered three bison (all huge and solo, and one of which was at a full jog which I don't think I've ever seen), and a black bear (foraging in the right-hand shoulder; sorry, no picture). These critters were all close together, between the Tłı̨chǫ Highway turnoff and Chan Lake (so, about 150 to 200 km from Yellowknife). Nothing else.
A strong southwesterly headwind had me chugging gas between Behchoko and Fort Providence. My gas warning light came on about 40 km from Fort Prov, and indicated range was down to 10 km by the time I arrived at the gas station (although there is reserve fuel remaining beyond that). But Badger did take 20.5 L into his 23 L tank, which may be the closest I've ever cut it on that leg. I stood in the shade and ate an ice cream, then carried on.
There was about 25 km of construction gravel between the bridge and Enterprise, but the surface was good and it was dry. I topped my tank in Enterprise, then again at Meander River (north of High Level) so that I could check out the shiny new Esso station there. A late lunch in High Level, more gas in Manning, and finally I pushed through to Fairview to set me up for a shorter day tomorrow.
The last couple of hours, after emerging from the forest into the start of the farmland near Manning, were a nice finish to a long day, taking in the sight of the wheat crops, the smell of the mustard crops, and picturesque scene upon scene featuring hay bales, happy cows, or both.
I'll leave the rest to the captions. Stay cool!
Day total: 1,012 km, 11h20m Trip total: 1,012 km | Start: Yellowknife, NWT. End: Fairview, AB. Soundtrack: Sonic Highways, Hawksley shuffle, plugs, Fear Inoculum, Sia. |