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Russell Hampton
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October 18, 2018

 

Attendance: 14 (including 1 guest of Emmanuel, Dianne Ojar)

 

Chair: President Donna

Anthem: Emmanuel Nwankwo

Grace: Gerd Wengler

 

Announcements:

President Donna had several announcements including:

- We are invited to the Scarborough Rotary Club’s November 1st meeting to hear the presentation of a BMO Senior Economist.

- Arrangements are being made to induct our three newest members at our November 1st meeting as well as honouring Doug Strype for his years of service to the club.

- Dave Hardy reminded us that the District Conference in Prince Edward County will be well worth attending.

- Director Dhanni announced that the International Service committee will be meeting immediately following the meeting.

- Director Arthur announced that the Community Service committee has not met as of yet, because he does not have enough active members to form a quorum. He will meet with President Donna following the meeting to address this issue.

 

The Marbelous Draw was conducted by Dave Hardy  and was won by David Seemungal, who immediately commenced spending his winnings by buying wine or beer for all present. The rest of this bulletin may suffer as a result. LOL!

 

Sgt-at-Arms Mike Mushet

Mike levied only Happy Bucks to try to put a friendly face on landlords in our community. Happy Bucks were donated as follows:

- $5.00 from SAA Mike to show that landlords are good folks.

- Emmanuel was simply happy.

- Gord Brown chipped in for a successful and well attended  Pub Night.         

- Arthur was happy to be selected as a volunteer at the Zoo, having an ‘in’ with Karen Conway of the Zoo, Rotarian Mike Conway’s’ wife.

- $5.00 from Barry for the announcement that his third grandchild is on the way.

- Peter Masson was happy that we received 8 hockey tickets from Jim Boyko for the auction.

- Dave Hardy was happy that our own James Burchell won a Celebration of Excellence award.

- Kathleen was happy that she had brought in her 1st auction item.

- Emmanuel was happy to announce that there’s an International MensDay on Nov. 18th, 2018.

 

Program:

Jim Boyko introduced our very own member, Dave Hardy, as today’s speaker.

Dave’s presentation involved his trip with his daughter, Christy, up the Dempster Highway in the Yukon to the Arctic Ocean, but also gave the background to the trip. Dave had mistakenly believed that his family reunion in Newfoundland was scheduled for this summer, but it turned out being 2019. Therefore, the Dempster Highway Trip was quickly developed as his backup vacation plan for this summer.

On Day 1, Dave and Christy flew from Calgary to Whitehorse, and Dave remarked on just how big our country is. This flight alone to the starting point of their road trip was a 2.5 hour flight. 

Whitehorse is very close to Alaska, but Dave stayed on the Canadian side of the border for this trip. 

On Day 2, they traveled from Whitehorse to Dawson City via the Klondike Highway through the Stewart River valley. Dawson City has maintained most of the old buildings, so that it is still an authentic gold rush city, right down to the Can-Can dancers at Diamond Tooth Gertie’s.

Day 3 took Dave and daughter through the Tombstone Mountains to Eagle Plains where they took a ferry across the Yukon River. Basically, they traveled 400 km on bad roads averaging just 70 km an hour. The roads are dirt, and sometimes, mud, so it is slow going.

Tombstone Park is part of the continental divide, so that waters travel from there to either the Pacific or Arctic oceans. At the Eagle Plains hotel, they met people from all over the world, who were also exploring the great Yukon territory. 

The Dempster Highway was completed in 1978 to Inuvik, but is it still a dirt road by our standards, and Dave’s rental car was covered with mud and grime as he traveled through this wilderness zone on his way to the Arctic Ocean.

On Day 4, they reached the tundra on their way to the Arctic Circle. Trees struggle to grow in the permafrost, but cannot grow to more than straggling bushes in this harsh environment. 

Taking a ferry across the Mackenzie River, which drains one fifth of the country, Dave noted very few vehicles on the road, but lots of bald eagles and other wildlife, including sightings of a bear, marmots, and various other varmints. Arriving at Inuvik at the Arctic Circle, Dave noted that Scandinavians had invested heavily in this area. He visited the Saturday morning market where Caribou meat was on the menu.

On Day 5, Dave and Christy headed along the newly opened stretch of the Dempster Highway that now reaches all the way to the Arctic Ocean. Along the way, they learned about pingos, which are ice mountains that dot the otherwise flat tundra terrain. It was 3 degrees Celsius on August 4th in this region, so winter coats were standard gear.

Finally, they reached Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean, and Dave and Christy took a dip in the ocean. Of course, taking into account the frigid water, they only dipped in one foot... but it still counts!

They now had the trip back to Whitehorse, and in all their road trip amounted to about 3,200 km.

Recording:

https://www.dropbox.com/s/x82h1w87zfl17pg/Arctic%20voyage.MP3?dl=0

Editors note: Dave's presentation and video were to large to put on here. I found this video to give you an idea of the highway: 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gPw8tmXOIis

 

Peter Masson thanked Dave for a very interesting and informative presentation.  

The meeting was terminated.

 

October 18 in History

  • 1867 US takes formal possession of Alaska from Russia having paid $7.2 million
  • 1898 : The United States takes formal possession of Island of Puerto Rico when the American flag is raised over San Juan.
  • 1929 - The Judicial Committee of England’s Privy Council ruled that women were to be considered as persons in Canada. 
  • 1970 - Quebec's minister of labor was found strangled to death after eight days of being held captive by the Quebec Liberation Front (FLQ). 
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