Day Two - 1133 days 9 hrs 5 min

That represents our time spent in the North! We arrived safe and sound in Edmonton.....for the most part. That’s if you don’t count Ev spilling his clamato juice all over his tray, himself and me. Reminds me of my mother on a flight to Hawaii in 1980. She dumped her rum and coke, I think it was her 5th, in my lap and I was wearing these yellowy-orange pants (don’t ask?) which then had a large brown stain in the nether region. If she tries to deny she was drunk, I only have to remind her that she decided to take up smoking on that flight. I had never seen her smoke before or since that day!

There was a fair amount of cloud coming into Edmonton so it was somewhat turbulent. I ended up having an episode with my damn ear. For those of you who have dealt with that before, you know how painful it is. I have had it happen several times, always the same side and I end up not being able to hear much for hours to days. The good news is that it’s the side Ev sits on. I had tears streaming down my face on the plane and when I’d try to plug my nose to pop my ears, the tears would blow up and out of my tear ducts.

When we arrived in Edmonton, Ev took a cab to our storage facility to pick up our vehicle and the boys and I waited outside for him to return. We threw everything in, including the pups, and stopped a short distance ahead to reorganize. I think I might have to make a retraction about being duped. Once he pulled out the stuff we already had stored in there, combined that with the 3 suitcases, action packer, 2 camera bags, 2 briefcases and two dog crates, we are nearing full capacity.

Getting out of Ulukhaktok was a bit of a gong show yesterday. The movers showed up at 9:30 to start loading everything out. We had done a fair amount of cleaning the night before but still had a bit to do. The movers only had their truck until noon and I guess when they showed up at the airport with their first load the CARS operator flipped out on them and wouldn’t let them out on the tarmac because they didn’t have their AVOP which is a certification required to go on the runway. Really? A dinky little town with a dirt runway? And you’re gonna make an issue out of it? Eventually the pilots were kind enough to drive the truck out to the plane for them.
They ended up making 3 trips but we were also trying to get out the door as we needed to be there by just after noon. We ended up basically leaving at the exact same time. Then when we got the airport, the same dolt that yelled at the movers, yelled at me! He told me to get out of the airport with the dogs because it was a public building. And that people had serious allergies. Really? With every second person in the airport wearing fur and you are going to take issue with me while I’m trying to get on the plane with my dogs? Perhaps he should stop them at the door and ask them to remove their coats before entering the building. It was one of those times that I wish I was a little quicker with a reply because I just looked around and was really embarrassed and went out and got Ev & Jason. Both of them said the guy has no authority to say anything about it. He’s not the airport manager. There actually isn’t one. Ev also said there was no policy posted so the guy had no right. So we all went back in and he walks past us again INCLUDING THE DOGS and say,”Hi Jason, Hi, Everett.”, as if nothing had happened and then smiles at me? It was just a great way to end us leaving. Pissed off and annoyed.

When we were in Yellowknife last night, we were supposed to hook up with Jarett, who was posted in Deline with us and Paul, the pilot but we weren’t able to get a hold of them so we did a bit of running around and then went for dinner at our favourite little Chinese food restaurant, Jade Garden. When we got back, Ev was outside smoking and the phone rang. It was Jarett and when I told him Ev was outside smoking, he said he’d be right there. Well seconds later there was a knock at the door and I thought it was him coming back so I quickly opened it to tell him to get go back outside but it was actually our friend Becky. Her and her husband lived in Ulukhaktok and had moved back home to Nova Scotia and then reconsidered their decision and decided to come back. Well I guess Ev ran into them in the parking lot and sent Becky to our room. Once she was gone, we headed to the Black Knight which is an infamous pub in Yellowknife.

By the time we went to bed it was nearing midnight and we were up at 4:30am to catch the early bird flight out. We got smart this time though and it really paid off. Normally it costs us $65 to take Ernie on the plane from Ulukhaktok to Edmonton but Rookie is another matter. Because he and his cage exceed 100 pounds we actually pay cargo rate for him and he actually has to be dropped off at a separate hangar. It generally cost about $900 one way for him to fly from Ulukhaktok to YK. Well Ev was able to make a deal with the agent in Ulu. To charge us only the $65 fee for Rookie. But, he said we would have to check him in at cargo and pay the full fee from YK to Edmonton. But when Ev spoke to the ticket agent on the phone to book our flights she told him to keep his receipts for the dogs that their fares would stand because it wasn’t our fault we had to overnight in YK. So instead of paying the full fare twice for Rookie, we paid $65 for him to get the whole way with only one little white lie – actually black because Ev told it – they only asked us how much he weighed at check in in YK and he told them 95 pounds. Scot free I tell ya! It was like a seat sale for Golden Retrievers today.

Distance Travelled Today: 1,440 km

Travel Time: 13 hrs.