Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 11)
May 14th and 15th “Man, girls really love that Matthew Mcconaughey. He kicked ass in that movie.” – Tyson referring to Brad Pitt’s role in “Fight Club.” Hey there again, friends! We’ve made it safe and sound to Dease Lake! Now you might be wondering what’s up here, or if you’ve ever been here before. It’s easy to miss, kind of a pit-stop on your way further north, but if you have, you may have stayed at the “Arctic Divide Lodge” (sounds Game of Thrones-ish, doesn’t it?), experienced some intense snowfall in the middle of May, a friendly drifter on a bicycle named Ryan who has a card that grants him free residence in any parcel of land owned by BC Parks, “Rumours Cafe” which serves up some of the
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 10)
May 10th, 11th, 12th Jeff: “When do you think the last time they were open was?” Tyson: “Well, let’s just say, I was pizza delivery boy with an El Camino and the internet was still 20 years in the making.” Jeff: “Doom.” Hello again, friends! For the past few days we’ve been staying in the district of Iskut, in the Iskut Motor Inn, an old fixer-upper which is made up of converted trailers with single rooms and a communal kitchen with a common room in a diner where we’ve been slowly developing cabin fever, struggling to stay connected with everyone via the dwindling wifi floating through the air, enjoying some quiet time and taking in the mountainside view. And since none of us here have any cell-reception, nor any access
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 9)
May 8th and 9th Dan Ball: “Dude, wanna go for a walk? I think I sourced out some slices up the street.” Jeff: “How do you know that? We just got here.” Dan Ball: “I just know.” The towns grow smaller as Jobfest 2012 rages on like a party that can’t be stopped! And this is by no means a bad thing! We have met so many incredible and thoughtful people in all the tiny towns and villages on our way up North to Kitwanga, one of the many historic sites that make up the Gitxsan Nation. It is cold enough to snow up here, and as our the road continues through the mountains and alongside the Kitwanga river, we can feel our cell-service weaken and our hopes for easily
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 8)
May 6th and 7th “I’ve been eating only chips this entire tour. I’m actually developing acne for the first time in my life.” – Dan Ball, digging deep into his giant bag of Szechwan flavored Dutch Gourmet, thick cut, potato chips The Jobfest 2012 adventure continues up the Nisga’a highway, friends! We have finally arrived in the beautiful village of Gitlakdamix (New Aiyansh), in the heart of the Nass River Valley, where it seems the scenic drives never end. It is truly wonderful, to be up here in this part of the province, surrounded by snow-capped mountains, overlooking an ancient lava flow, endless fields of volcanic rock covered in lichen that grows half an inch every 15 years, swift currents and natural hot-springs that you fill up and control the
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 7)
May 3rd, 4th and 5th “I love being on the toilet, man. That’s where I wish everyone on Facebook Happy Birthday.” – Dan Ball Welcome to Terrace, British Columbia! What a beautiful drive! It took us a whole 45 minutes to get to Terrace from Kitimat, so we thought we would take advantage of our free time and spend the day kicking out some jams and tightening up the screws. The local music store, “Sight and Sound,” was able to hook us up with a room above their store, which, in its day to day life, is a local “School of Rock” for kids who want to take music lessons and practice their “rock skills” with some drums and amps. Apparently, we were the loudest thing to have ever entered
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 6)
May 1st and 2nd Well hello there, boys and girls of the internet! We are back on the mainland, and after a quick stop for snacks and good clean(?) fun at Johnny B’s in Prince Rupert, we find ourselves in Kitimat, British Columbia, the next stop for Jobfest 2012! And yes, upon arrival, we DID find a traveling carnival in progress on their last night in town, just in case you were wondering: Luckily, the carnival had coupons at the local mall which made it possible for us to afford multiple rides on the Gravitron, the Orbiter, the Ferris Wheel, and a monster that I am now calling, “The Happy Centrifuge.” The goal in mind was to vomit as much as we could, and try hard we did, but it
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 5)
April 29 “Haaaaaaaida Gwaaaaaii!” (Yelled in falsetto sing-song to replace the original saying, which is “Howdy Ho!”, or something) – The first thing our stage-hand/MC, Aaron, says when he gets off the ferry, kissing the ground Our adventure in Haida Gwaii continues! We had the whole day off today so we decided to get up at the crack of dawn (10:00 am) and take a trip up the coast to Masset, making a million stops along the way, to walk through the dense woods of the Golden Spruce Trail, climb the winding trails and fog-covered cliffs of Tow Hill and walk along the miles and miles of beach at low tide around the Hecate Strait. We even drank the water from St. Mary’s Spring, a local legend that warns, if
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 4)
April 26 – 30 Jeff: “If you were a piece of Ikea furniture, what would you be?” Dan: “A coffee table.” Jeff: “I see. And what would be the name of your assembly model?” Dan: “Danikk.” Hey there, pals! First of all, before I get into the details of our time in this enchanted place, everything I describe in reference to the magic and beauty that is Haida Gwaii, all the towns and trails we visited, Skidegate, Queen Charlotte City, Port Clemens, Masset, all the trails and shorelines in between, all the awesome people and wildlife who live here and love it, will be an understatement. We spent the last 4 days feeling like the luckiest 4 dudes in the world, to be able to be here with the amazing
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 3)
April 22-25 Well, it’s been a week, and it’s time for an update from the road as Jobfest 2012 continues through the awe-inspiring landscapes and the never-ending daylight of Northern British Columbia! We made it safely to Prince Rupert on Sunday, a beauty of a day, luckily, to a local Sport’s Bar/Casino called “Chances,” where we joined the locals right on time for a very sad state of affairs involving Vancouver and their hockey team. All of us on the tour vowed never to speak of the event again, but agreed to console each other if there was an inevitable breakdown from emotional trauma, and also, to avoid any involvement in the negative discussions and arguments aroused on Twitter or Facebook. We need to keep our spirits up for the
Jobfest 2012 Blog (Entry 2)
April 19-21, 2012 Dan Ball picks up an AC/DC bass guitar chart-book: “Man, this thing sure is thin.” Hey there, friends! Just checking in with a quick update from our part of the world, which happens to entail Highway 97 North in beautiful British Columbia, a smell only Dan’s foot fungus could make and well-stocked arsenal of inside, not-so colourful jokes. We spent a day in Abbotsford after the first day on-site at Jobfest, exploring the sights of the city and the amenities the Ramada Plaza had to offer, which thankfully included many trips to the gym (Cody’s trying to get ‘sexy pecs’), the hotTUB and Chris and Aaron’s room (a couple of our new Jobfest friends) to watch hockey and jam on some very old acoustic guitars with some
