The Northwest Territories
Here is Cowboy Jake at the welcome center for the Northwest Territories. This is the first time that I had been "above 60."
I really had to use the WTF [the "winky-tink factory" cf. "Paper Moon" with Tatum O'Neill (_great_ flick)], and when I came out, there was this Inuit woman staring at the Tempo. I thought, Great, what happened--did a wheel fall off, did somebody break in? But all she was doing was staring @ the license plate. Apparently, visitors from Pennsylvania are a bit of an occurrence around those parts--and ones that can speak passable Inuktitut [the language of the Inuit--literally, "the language of 'the people'"], a PHENOMENON. I was invited to go meet other people in their "tribe," for lack of a better word to call it. I would've gone if I'd've had the time. I also got to meet this tiny dog-dude called "Shaky." He ruled.
I'm sorry Patricia, you are going to find this really bad news--I saw a "Target" store in the Northwest Territories. :P
There is no road across the Mackenzie River to Yellowknife. Here is the ferry that I took over. This is the first close look that I got at a NWT license plate. It is in the shape of a polar bear (no joke), and says, "Explore Canada's Arctic."
-And of course I had been listening to "The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" the whole way up here. :)
And here are some buffalo dudes on the Mackenzie Highway, route 3 into Yellowknife.
And here is Cowboy Jake at the town limits to Yellowknife. It was a ghastly experience to drive here; the final 75 km of the road are unpaved, heavily potholed, and positively abysmal.
This was a very big moment for me--I had wanted to go to Yellowknife very badly for over 15 years.
Yellowknife is a fantastically cool place. It is the site of the June 21 Midnight Tournament. -Can you imagine a golf tournament played at _midnight_??!! Some modified rules have been adopted by this Far North golf course, among them: "No penalty assessed when ball carried off by raven." (I'm not joking.)
After having a Big Mac :P , I stayed overnight at "The Igloo Inn." Unfortunately, it was too cloudy to see the aurora. Just before I konked out, I heard someone watching "Are You Being Served?" upstairs. I don't remember which episode it was--I'm not sure if I ever knew. When I got up in the morning, it was 30 degrees Farenheit. (!) Apparently, I missed the snow flurries that fell during the night. I don't know how this will ever be of use to anyone, but vid tapes in Yellowknife are AMAZINGLY inexpensive. I got "Nell," "Johnny Mnemonic," and "The Terminator" (all new)--for about 21 dollars Canadian!! So, if you are ever in Yellowknife. . . . :)
Here is Cowboy Jake against the low Yellowknife skyline. I was really sorry to go. I would have lived here if I could.
Shortly after this, a guy stopped, said some fairly incomprehensible things, and then left.
Further, on the way out, I was accompanied by a really rather quite discrete police escort, until I passed the corporate limits.
On the return route, I saw a buffalo bull. There is this passage from "Papillion" (sadly cut from the movie) where he makes friends with a 4,000 pound domesticated [buffalo] bull--by peeing on his nose, as he [the bull!] liked anything salty. (What do you expect? -The guy was _French_!) Until I saw that bull, I didn't really believe the 4,000 pound bit. Now I can't _help_ but believe it. (!)
I stopped on the "Northern Arm" of Mackenzie Highway route 3, north of Great Slave (pronounced Slah-vay) Lake. I stood there, feeling the cold, rainy, sub-freezing wind. When you are in the Far North, you can actually _feel_ the short artic summer coming to a close. It was a bit daunting. I couldn't help but think about what would happen if for some reason I couldn't drive out of there.
All this was before the engine light came on, and stayed on, for the rest of the 220 mile trip to the next town--Fort Providence--and what happened next. . . .