Land of the midnight sun

I don't know when May 2nd was over and where July 12th began but somewhere in that time, I flew home to Canada and back to the north country that I missed so much while I was away. After finishing Dr. Wilson's Biogeochemistry and Global Ecology exam, I packed my bags and Dr. Fuhlendorf and I were off to the airport via lunch on the way to Oklahoma City. I left OKC around 4pm and it was hot (approximately +25C). I knew what I was about to dive into and it just felt like a natural progression back into the world of range management and fire ecology as the Range Agrologist for what used to be known as the Fort Nelson Forest District.

I arrived in the homeland just as Prime Minister Harper was announced as the successful re-installed PM of Canada. I did get momentarily confused as I thought that Jack Layton had won. I had just had my bagel and steeped tea sitting on the floor under the stuffed killer whale outside of domestic security in Vancouver. Arriving at midnight in Prince George, I was greeted first by ice on the tarmack and about a -5C starry northern night and secondly by my very awesome and great friend Matthew Braun (P.Ag. with the Range Branch in PG as well as a MS student from the U of Saskatchewan and husband to the beautiful and awesome Julie Bergen). There are people in our lives who will never let you down and who will always have your back. These two humans are such people.

After closing my eyes for a few hours, I was heading out the door and off to my first day of the Ignitions Specialist class put on by the Wildfire Management Branch. About 30 of us were in attendance - all from the Forest Service and Parks/Ministry of Environment and all involved with prescribed fire in one way or another. It was an awesome 3 days of class and as always, I feel privileged and honoured to have the opportunity to work with the Wildfire Management Branch. The men and women that work in fire in our province are so knowledgeable and have given so much support and mentorship to me over the past 5 years that I don't really know how I will be able to repay their generosity. This course challenged me in ways that John Weir had set me up to be challenged after taking the Advanced Prescribed Fire class at OSU. It was an excellent course taught by outstanding instructors all from within the Wildfire Management Branch. After we submitted our homework and wrote our final exams, we were sent off on our way home and for me that meant a 10 hour drive back to Fort Nelson the next day ...

I remember Friday, May 6th very well. It was painful. I had no juice left in the tank. I had joked with friends and professors in Oklahoma that it would be a painful trip driving home by myself for a few reasons:
1. I had only driven a very small handful of times over the previous 5 months and none of that included long highway trips
2. I was already exhausted when I left Stillwater after finals and then had the week of the course to get through and try to keep my head above the water in course work that I knew would be more advanced then I had done before with fire
3. I would just want to get back to my home, my bed, my own space and the big country up north with very few people aroud.

And so I got 1 hour outside of PG and already had the urge to pull over and sleep for a while! Of which I was unable to do because every pull out was still piled high with snow and there was not enough room to get my truck in there! So I soldiered on to the Pine Pass and once I hit the mountains, I got my second wind. The Roches/Rockies always take my breath away. They are noblely regal and beyond beautiful. I wound my way through the pine pass and the snow that still lined the sides of the highway. As I rolled through Hudsons Hope I remembered 5 years ago when I made my move up north with my family helping me to do so.

Fort St. John was so close and my eyes were telling me that I they could not remain open for much longer and so I made myself wait one more day to get back to home and back to my north country life as it would have been foolish to drive the Alaska Highway in such a state of exhaustion. Thankfully Conrad Thiessen and Leslie Oliver had a free couch that night and I was able to meet up with them and Craig DeMars (Ph.D Candidate, University of Alberta) for the evening.

4am brought the sun shining brightly and made me think I had overslept till 9! I forced my eyes closed a little longer and by 6am I was on the road, headed north back home! Back to the community I love and the good friends and extended family up north. Back to Fort Nelson - BC's final frontier.

And when I got home, I had many questions but the first thing I did was walk into my house, look all around and remember it all and then I hugged my bed. And then I went to sleep for a long time. It was good to be home. It is where my heart is.