The Martins' Western Adventures: Life is a Highway

On Saturday, Greg, Amanda and I had the opportunity to do something we had never done before and that made us a little nervous (Amanda and I more so then Greg). We went out for a drive on the WINTER ROAD! For those of you who don't know what the winter road is, it is a road over the lakes. Basically it is a plowed strip going across the lakes, leading all over northern Ontario and down to the connecting highway in Red Lake.

The thought of driving on ice made me alittle nervous, and of course I think about all the things that could happen (like the ice breaking). However, it was pretty solid only a few places looked a little iffy. The winter road actually isn't even officially open yet. The locals are waiting for it to be officially opened any time. For them the winter road means they can get out and go visiting to other communities. The closest community to us is about an hour and half drive away (North Spirit). To get to Sandy Lake (20 minutes by plane) takes approximately 4 hours to drive.

Anyways the road was really neat, it was pretty smooth. Our part of the winter road is really wide but I have been told that other parts in other communities is really small. Also cars drive really really fast on here, I couldn't believe it. In Deer Lake there are two parts to the winter road. The first part is leading from Duck Lake into town (this is the part we travelled). The second part is leading into the wide open north, going to other communities (we didn't go on this part because we were still to nervous and it hasn't been officially opened). Once it is opened things will really start happening in the community. Things will start coming in like gas and oil, trailers (for homes), wood etc. All the bigger things that is difficult to fly in. Also weekends will have a lot of comings and going, people will be travelling from community to community. Needless to say, the winter road creates a lot of excitement in Deer Lake.

On another side note. On Saturday evening we had a knock at our door around 10:00pm, we opened our door and found 3 of our students standing there. The wanted to know if we would go snowmobiling with them. So we did. They drove and we sat in the sled behind the snowmobile. The sled is basically ply wood made into four walls and a bottom. This was a very painful experience and I am still bruised from going over all the bumps. We went a long the trails in the dark and I will not lie the thought of wolves crossed my mind (there have been a lot of sightings lately), on Sunday morning Crystal (grade 7 TA) opened her front door and found a wolf outside her front door. We then went snowmobiling around the school where we met up with other students having fun late at night, they seemed really excited to know we were out bombing around. Anyways it was fun snowmobiling, however it wasn't a great first snowmobiling experience for Greg.
The students were surprised he had never been.

The Winter Road.

Greg and Amanda in front of the vehicle on the Winter Road. Julia is in the background by Amanda's head.

Greg and I, we were both dressed in all our winter gear. The next day Greg was wearing his shorts around town. He definitely got a lot of comments from people.