RRNtrips: Flin Flon: Homeward bound

Emily, Erik and I hopped into Chris's van armed with our newly purchased health food ready for the long drive. We wrote our race reports and then very quickly, all fell into a comatose state, but not before arming our driver with a mystery podcast to keep him sharp. As we neared Easterville our car returned to life and we planned our seating for the next long stretch, Erik as I joined the red van crew, swapping seats with Levi and the party began.

Up front we talked and shared stories while behind us, Torin sat quietly eating pixie stick after pixie stick. As we ran out if ways to entertain ourselves we hatched a plan, to hit the other vehicle with a grape (this is where things start to get weird). We successfully did hit them with a singular grape right before Ashurn where we stopped to buy subway, the first real food we had eaten in hours. We timed Erik's sub consumption, as he is a notoriously slow eater; it took him 16 minutes to eat his six inch, which might just be his new record. Our car grew rowdy as the sky grew darker and about an hour away for Winnipeg Torin's sugar high took hold.

All had been quiet in the van, Erik was listening music, we were all feeling weary and ready to get home. As we tried to get comfortable I found myself using Torin's sleeping bag, his feet inside, as a pillow. Suddenly all three boys had their feet in my face. Somehow through a series of events I don't quite remember (the while journey's a blur) Torin's voice jumped two octaves and the story telling began. Torin was a weird animal creature, part dog, part human, he had a jaguar tail complete with chicken feathers on the tip. His diet consisted of knives and gasoline and to our great disgust and amusement he detailed the consequences of such a diet. Just when I thought I could laugh no more Erik, who still listening to music decided the cacophony already going on was not enough and he began to sing along, rather hilariously. As we eventually neared the city limits, I was at my final straw, the boys were entertaining, but I had an ever worsening headache and one can only handle so much falsetto. Torin had finally quieted down, Wakina, however quickly alerted us that his silence was not a passive one. Torin had begun eating the cardboard from his gum container, and then, anything he could get his hands on, subway wrappers, my water bottle all while keeping up his impressively high voice. Given any other circumstance I might of been worried about his health but given the excessive amounts if sugar and total exhaustion his behaviour was somewhat justified.

Laughing as we we pulled in front of Chris's house we said our goodbyes and hopped in our parents cars towards our own beds. Erik and I had split up the remaining 3/4 of our uneaten spearmints and I remembered my water bottle for the first time this year. All told this has got to be one of the greatest and most entertaining ski weekends in Red River History. Although it was nice to wake up in my own bed and pet my own cat, as I walked to school this morning on dry sidewalks I couldn't help but think about how just one days jouney away, in Flin Flon, there lay pristine ski trails, still laden with white snow and I realized, I really need to learn how to drive.

I'd like to extend a huge thank you to the Flin Flon ski club who not only fed and housed us but welcomed us as their own. You made this trip possible, we could never have done it without you, not to mention it wouldn't have been nearly as fun. I look forward to any future activities with the Flin Flon club, you guys sure are a hoot.

Mhari