TORONTO - For three young Canadian women desperate to make the pilgrimage south and pay respect to Michael Jackson, it was an arrangement so unique the King of Pop himself might have applauded.

Candice Affleck, Leslie Krygsveld and Rachel Suter had known each other for less than a week before they packed into Krygsveld's car and drove nearly 2,000 kilometres from Langley, B.C. to California.

They drove overnight without stopping for rest, staying awake for roughly 40 hours before sleeping in their car in the street outside Jackson's Neverland Ranch in rural Santa Barbara County.

Yet the dutiful fans of the recently deceased singer say it was the least they could do.

"Right now I feel I needed to be down here to be a part of history and to pay respects," said Affleck, 22, over the phone from a hotel room in Encino, Calif. "Basically, I've never, ever experienced anything like this before in my life.

"When I got to Neverland I was gobsmacked. I'd never seen anything like it. We probably will never see anything like this again."

It seems even more unlikely when one considers the circumstances behind their journey.

The women met on Saturday, June 27 at a Jackson tribute in Vancouver. Of the people there, Krygsveld said that the three of them were the only people who were willing and able to make the trip to California.

Krygsveld offered to drive, the women made plans to split the cost of gas and a hotel room, and the impromptu plans were born -- though not without some opposition.

"My mother was not pleased," Affleck noted.

On Wednesday, after the 27-year-old Krygsveld had completed a full day of work as an RV tech, the women set out at 4:30 p.m., driving all night without a pause for rest.

They arrived at Neverland on Thursday at 2 p.m., and found that the sprawling property that once housed a zoo, bumper cars, a ferris wheel and a roller coaster had, in fact, turned into a circus.

"There were satellite trucks and people everywhere, there were two Michael Jackson impersonators walking around and a Selena impersonator ... it was, when we first got there, utter chaos," Affleck said.

Added Krygsveld: "It was indescribable. It was nuts. We got there, and we were like: `Whoa.' There weren't words for it."

But the throng was gradually whittled down to only the most devoted Jackson fans. And that's when the real fun began.

"Towards midnight, we put on the music, the dance party started, and we all held hands and sang, and Leslie brought candles, which we handed out," Affleck said. "Just to look around and see the difference in atmosphere was brilliant."

Yet so far, the trip hasn't necessarily helped the women accept Jackson's death.

"I totally was in denial at first," said Krygsveld, who says she's been an ardent fan of the singer since she was 12 years old. "I was just like, no, he's fine, he's fine. He just collapsed, he was practising for his concert, he'll be fine. Then when he confirmed that he was dead, I was just totally, completely shocked.

"For me, it hasn't fully sunken in. Even seeing all this, it's just so surreal that it's actually happened."

Krygsveld says she was motivated to travel to California because she wanted to make sure she saw Neverland before "they rip it up and sell the pieces."

Affleck, meanwhile, had already committed to an even more ambitious plan in Jackson's name.

"I had floor seats to his show in London," she said, referring to Jackson's planned comeback tour.

"I had put the tickets on my friend's Visa, I had no idea how I was going to get there, I didn't have a flight.

"Then once I heard the news, I figured if I can go all the way to London to see Michael Jackson, I can go all the way to L.A. to see Michael Jackson."

But they aren't likely to see his memorial on Tuesday.

The women were planning on beginning the long drive home on Sunday night -- Affleck lives in Vancouver, the 24-year-old Suter in Port Coquitlam, B.C., and Krygsveld in Langley -- after visits to the Jackson family home, the rented house in which he died and the Hollywood Walk of Fame, where Jackson has a star.

Krygsveld has to return to work Tuesday, so she can't go to the Staples Center for Jackson's memorial even if the women managed to secure tickets for the event, which promise to be scarce. And while Affleck says she'd "really, really like to go," she also figures the women should stick together.

"If there's anybody we need to be with and support, it's each other," Affleck said. "We came down together and we should leave together."

In the meantime, might they allow themselves to have a bit of fun?

"I've never been to California before, this is actually my first trip down here, so there's a small part of me that's excited to be here," Affleck said.

"But at the same time, under the circumstances, it's tragic."