The journey home has been long. The Tundra Train left Churchill about 5 hours late, which means we were loading dogs and sleds onto the boxcar around midnight.
We rode the train for the rest of the night and most of the next day. It was fun to look out the window and watch the transition from tundra to Boreal Forest. The trees increased in size as we traveled south. I also noticed that the amount of snow decreased as we traveled south.
We got off the train in Thompson, where we left our cars and dog trailer. While giving the dogs a chance to stretch their legs at the train station in Thompson, Paul drove up with the dog trailer in tow. Bubba (one of the dogs) let out a loud, excited howl the second he saw the trailer. He knew that the trailer meant we were heading home! I think that the dogs, like us, enjoyed the adventure, but were ready to go home.
We drove through most of the night in rain and fog. It seems like we left winter behind us and spring has arrived in southern Manitoba.
After crossing the border between Canada and the United States, we stopped to share a treat with the dogs. A gas station just happened to have a soft-serve ice cream machine, so we made sure that every dog got an ice cream cone. It took some of the dogs a few minutes to figure out that the ice cream was food, but most of the dogs happily wolfed down their treat, cone and all.
We are sad that the expedition is ending. We did not know that dogs could eat ice cream. Thanks so much! newfane kids