Day 93 - Saturday August 19/17 (Written, formatted with pictures, and posted on Wednesday September 5th at Prince Albert, SK)

A travel day today, from Fort Providence to Yellowknife (map)

It had rained during the night and this morning continued dreary. A tasty breakfast of French toast and sausage seemed to brighten the day a bit. We set out in cloud and strong winds and detoured into the town of Fort Providence to try to find a historic plaque there. Unfortunately we never did locate the plaque we were looking for but we did find a reminder of a sad period in our national life and for the local community. There was a monument to those people who had been buried in an unmarked mass gravesite for the Catholic mission in the area. Many were children from the residential school in the town. The school operated from 1867 to 1953. We stood beside this polished stone memorial wall listing as many of the names of the dead as are known and felt such an incredible sense of sadness. The grey of the day became the grey of our souls.(photos)

We discovered that Fort Providence has a ‘pow-wow circle’ like the one we experienced in Fort Simpson. Perhaps these are part of an effort to reclaim indigenous spirituality and culture? (photo)

We didn’t hang around Fort Providence very long. We headed north on NWT Hwy #3 more commonly known as the Yellowknife Highway. Yellowknife was our destination for the day and for the next several days. Nancy has two cousins there and we were going to pay a family visit. The road was quite good with minimal frost heaves for most of the route. We stopped at the Chan Lake Territorial Day Use Park for lunch of egg salad sandwiches eaten in the trailer. For most of the day we are travelling through the Mackenzie Bison Sanctuary but we only managed to spot one bison lying in the grass at the side of the road. On a rainy day it seems the other bison chose to stay home.

At a ‘pee stop’ our introduction to and education about indigenous peoples continued through a signboard (photo):

The last 100 km of our trip – from Bechenko (also noted on the map as Rae and Edzo) to Yellowknife saw the road quality deteriorate badly. There were potholes and lengthy, gravel washboard sections. Also there is no cell phone coverage between Fort Providence and Yellowknife. About 50 km short of our destination the control panel on the Ram told us that we had a tire going flat quickly. Nancy checked The Milepost and found that there was a turn out 12 km further on. With fingers crossed we drove on as we didn’t want to stop on the narrow shoulder with poor visibility due to rain. Fortunately we made it to the turnout. Michael had had the foresight to check out the jack and tire changing equipment in a dry run earlier in the trip – as recommended in Milepost – so that he proceeded with relative ease to install the almost full-size spare. And he did all that in the rain. Nancy’s role was gopher and encourager.

It was 6 pm when Nancy phoned her cousin Emily Lawson to tell her we had arrived in Yellowknife. Emily has lived in Yellowknife for over twenty years and her brother Nick Lawson has lived there for 32 years. Nancy has never visited. It felt good to rectify that situation. Emily met us at a gas station on the edge of town and led us to her daughter Kari VanGeffen’s house where we were to camp in their yard. Kari and her partner Lance and their kids were away in Edmonton when we arrived, but we were greeted by Lance’s mother Shirley who helped us hook up a water hose and electrical extension. Then, with a clearing in the clouds, we sat outside and had a rum and coke together. Shortly Cousin Nick arrived as well to join in the welcome libation. It felt so good to be safe and cared for by family, especially after the ordeal of the flat tire. Kari and Lance and their children Kaitlin and Tanner arrived later in the evening, and we had a brief time together before heading off to bed. We slept well that night cocooned beside a niece and her family that we were to get to know so much better over the next few days.