Taking the road north... again

Almost a year after my original move to Yukon, I find myself preparing for almost the same journey. This trip will be shorter but the route from Edmonton to Whitehorse is the same. I'm packing up all our belongings that I feel like I just unpacked. In addition I'm making a list of emergency supplies to bring in case of any mishaps on the remote northern roads including sleeping bags, candles, a first aid kit, camp saw, shovel and warm clothing.

This time I don't have my very capable husband to take care of most of the driving (he's a professional driver) so I've conscripted my mother to come along and help with moral support, child entertaining and trailer maneuvering. If she wasn't coming, I'd be much more worried about the four-day journey.

The light at the end of the tunnel is the new apartment waiting for us, a new job and hopefully several years in one place. In this last year I've changed provinces three times, this trip will make four. Finally, the plans we made when we decided to leave our business 18 months ago will come to fruition. Rich will be a certified teacher and I even got a job in my field. What's more, we've found the place we want to call home in the Yukon.

Now that the culmination of our plans is fast approaching I feel a bit like an evil villain stroking a black cat and cackling about how at last my happylifenator as almost complete. Except that I'm fairly sure I'm not evil. And I'm more of a dog person.

Flashback - Alaska highway and some old friends

The day we drove from Watson Lake to Whitehorse we passed through the small village of Teslin, home of the longest bridge on the Alaska highway.

The longest bridge on the Alaska highway in Teslin, Yukon.

I have since learned that of the approximately 450 people who live in Teslin, I know two of them. Or I used to. 

About 20 years ago, my parents were friends with Brenda and Richard Oziewicz. Brenda was technically my boss when I worked at the local library as a teenager. We lost touch sometime after the Oziewiczes moved to Whitehorse. Before we left, my parents tried finding their contact information but had no luck. None of us remembered how to spell their name other than my mother's helpful "I think it has two zeds." When you type "I think it has two zeds" under name in an online directory I'm pretty sure it tells you to buzz off.

Last week I was looking though the Yukon publication, North of Ordinary and I was feeling somewhat dismayed at the high quality of photography and writing in the magazine. I was hoping to swoop in with my photojournalism background and take the Yukon by storm. Wouldn't you know there are quite a few great photographers up here. Darn. I flipped to an article about soap making, think maybe that would be the way to go (there are some great soap makers too) when the name Brenda Oziewicz popped out at me. Brenda had owned a soap making business.

Armed with the correct spelling of Oziewicz (yes, there are two zeds mom) I quickly looked up their phone number. After a few bouts of phone tag we connected and learned some more about the Yukon, heard about some great places to canoe and camp out of Teslin and we promised to get together the next time we were all in Whitehorse. They also reconnected with my parents. Now I know a total of two people in the Yukon and the north is not such a lonely place.