Day 12 - The Fallen Four

The day started out sunny and warm but turned cloudy and even rained for 15 seconds. The warmest it got was 74 degrees and the coolest was 59 degrees. It was a short days drive of only 250 miles or 401 kms.

We drove under this amazing train trestle. It was made of wooden posts and didn’t look that old.

We made a stop in Mayerthorpe for diesel and also I wanted to see the Fallen Four Memorial. For those who don’t know, it was an unprecedented and unspeakable tragedy in Canadian history. Early in the morning hours of March 3 2005, four Royal Canadian Mounted Police were shot and killed during an investigation at a farm just north of Mayerthorpe. They were fired upon by a lone gunman who resided at the farm. 

Killed in the line of duty were:
Cst Brock Myrol age 29 had been an RCMP for only 17 days
Cst Anthony Gordon age 28 had been an RCMP for 3 years
Cst Leo Johnston age 32 had been an RCMP for 4 years
Cst Peter Schiemann age 25 had been an RCMP for 5 years

This memorial was established to honour all police officers killed in the line.

Each statue stands on guard in a different direction on the compass points. The centre statue points skyward as the up-rush of doves represent those whose spirits now soar free.

We were all touched by this memorial some more than others. However,we do need to continue down the road to our next destination. We arrived at Popular Ridge RV Park just north of Fox Creek, AB around 1:45. The campground is old but nicely keep. We quickly got everything hooked up then met under the red top for our usual nightly get together. It's definitely not t-shirt and shorts weather.

Bob had enough of his old straw hat so he threw it into the fire as our sacrificial offering to honor our first campfire on the Yukon/Alaska trip.