Saturday, August 24

Today I boarded the early flight from Richmond VA to Denver for the first leg of my trip to Grand Forks, BC.  I was overpacked, of course, since I plan to do some hiking, biking, and astronomy during my 5 weeks in Grand Forks.  At the last minute, I discovered that my duffle bag was over the size limit for United, so I had to transfer its contents to a smaller duffle. (My son’s camping supplies are now badly stuffed into my big duffle. Thanks, Eric!)  Missing from the new duffle are my telescope tripod and my backpacking tent.

Julie got me to the airport in plenty of time, and I made it through security smoothly.  My flight to Denver was fine except for the cloud cover, making my window seat largely redundant.  In Denver I only had to go across the concourse from where I had just deplaned to reach my departure gate.  Quite handy. My flight to Calgary was very nice. I had a nice chat with the girl sitting next to me, who was headed to the area around Banff for some heavy-duty hiking.  I told her about why I was headed to Grand Forks, and the work done by MDS. She said she was familiar with MDS from some past projects they had done in Colorado.

In Calgary, things got a little crazy.  Landing with only a 45 minute layover was bad enough, but my (Eric’s) duffle bag did not show up at the luggage carousel for customs check.  I waited for ten minutes. One other bag was all that was orbiting, and all the other passengers had left. The security staff suggested I check at the baggage issues area, where they had a cart piled high with duffel bags.  A thorough check was fruitless. Rather than wait in the queue for help, I decided to recheck the carousel, just in time to see it pop out of the lift and roll onto the belt to join the unclaimed bag. I left it to continue its orbit alone.

I hurried through customs, rechecked my bags, and scurried through the Calgary terminal to the end where the little planes hang out.  My flight was just ready for pre-boarding, so I could relax for a few. The flight to Castlegar was on a Dash-8 turboprop, a type which I had enjoyed flying in from Anchorage to Kenai airport a few years ago.  I like the way they really get up and go. I was in row 13, which I had wrongly assumed was at the back of the 13 rows of seats. Instead, it was at the front of the plane facing back at Row 1. I got a really good look at where we had just been the whole way to Castlegar.  My 3 other seat companions were headed to do some organized trekking near Nelson. It sounded quite fun. You hike much of the day, carrying a day pack, and the organizers set up camp at your destination.

Takeoff from Calgary

Arrival in Castlegar, BC

We shortly landed in Castlegar after an interesting approach, which I captured on my phone. (see video)

  I retrieved my bags, and quickly found Mark Rempel, the MDS Grand Forks Project Director. A short drive through the amazing terrain of BC brought me to the Grand Forks headquarters at the River Valley Community Church.

Heading to Grand Forks

Christina Lake

River Valley Community Church

  Mark showed me around and then I had the afternoon to explore the area.  I decided to walk downtown in search of sustenance, and before I had walked a quarter of a mile-oops, sorry-  Before I had walked half a kilometer I saw a white van slowing down at the sight of my MDS shirt. It was Connie Goertzen, the project’s head cook, and one of the wonderful people I had met in Winnipeg back in June at the MDS training.  So the first person I met in Grand Forks was someone I already knew! She picked me up and we headed downtown and she showed me some of the town. We had a nice dinner at The Board Room cafe, which has great sandwiches and also walls lined with thousands of old board games which you can play for $5 Canadian while you eat or just hang out.  We headed back to the MDS unit and I turned in early in order to sleep off my travel excitement.