Doug Ashbury
Northern News Services

NNSL (Jul 15/98) - For Yellowknifer Nancy Jacobs-Young, it was her first big highway trip.

Jacobs-Young was one of nine motorcycle enthusiasts who rode down the Mackenzie Highway to Kakisa and back over the weekend.

The trip, part of the national Ride for Sight effort, was organized to raise money for retinitis pigmentosa.

"I rode over just about every kind of road condition," Jacobs-Young, whose husband, Art Young, drove one of two support vehicles, said.

She also said it was a confidence-builder.

"It was challenging. But I met the challenge," she said.

Jacobs-Young also said she was extra cautious because she just recently bought a new bike. Her 650-cc Yamaha is just five weeks old.

A motorcycle enthusiast for years, Jacobs-Young drove a Honda 900 bike while she lived in Ottawa. But that was city driving -- a bit different from roads in the NWT.

"I would make the trip to Kakisa again," she said.

And it looks like she will get the chance. Trip organizer Ted Kidston is hoping bikers make the run an annual event.

Bikers have raised money for Ride for Sight in previous years but this is the first time they've travelled the 370 kilometres to Kakisa. Last year a trip out the Ingraham Trail was planned but weather hampered the plan. Riders chose to trek around Yellowknife instead.

On the run to Kakisa, Kidston said: "It was a great trip."

Donations are still being tallied up so a dollar figure on how much was raised was unavailable.

Kidston, who has driven down the Mackenzie Highway several times, said it was great to see a first-timer make the trip.

The group camped at Lady Evelyn Falls. Several kids, big and small, came by their campsite to check out the bikes -- six Harley Davidsons and three Yamahas.

Topping the list of scenery were bison hanging out right along the highway.

There was one glitch, though. Half the bikers had to spend Friday night on the North side of the Mackenzie because they didn't quite make the last ferry across the river.

Kidston said he explained what the group was doing but the ferry operator said the bikers were too late.

No matter, said Kidston. The group joined up Saturday morning.