2011 CHURCHILL OR BUST DAY 12 THE PAS TO PRINCE ALBERT

PERMAFROST ROAD CONSTRUCTION

FLIN FLON'S MASCOT

THE STORY ABOUT THE FLIN FLON GUY

Out of The Pas we headed north to Flin Flon, a mining town, en route to Prince Albert (no not the in the can one!) . This day we will be the farthest north we will go on this trip. Lots of tiaga and lots of terrible roads on permafrost. I don't see how they work on these roads without importing lots of rip rap. Looks like they just throw down some fabric and hope for the best, which isn't the best.

Flin Flon is a mining town, silver, copper, and they have a smelter. As with so many places they had this giant little mascot figure in the picture below. Let see so far: moose, swan, now the guy with backpack.

Stopped at an interesting "resort" for lunch if you can call it that. Had a Kokanee and a hamburger made from scratch by the matriarch of the place. She carried a flask of some kind of booze under her apron and took a swigg every once in a while. Her son's and there buddies were also pretty much drunk, but friendly drunk. They were pretty interested in the bike and where we came from and were generally pretty chatty. I couldn't see being a teenager stuck out here in the middle of no where. It's sad that the first nation's people have lost there home with nothing to replace it. Not unlike at home...sad situation.

The burger was good and we were off. We were going to stay in a cabin at Caribou Creek but didn't. They had a big storm there a week ago and the creek was literally flowing under our cabin and we were surrounded by broken off trees and mosquitoes the size of bats. The cabin and no running water and smelled like leaking propane plus had little or no bedding. I had a fever comming on and we decided to move on to Prince Albert where we found something a bit less rustic for the night.

WE HIT A BIT OF WEATHER BEFOR THE DAY WAS OVER