Trans-Canada - Jul. 30 - Aug. 7, 2005
Manitoba - Saturday, July 30. Weather: Hot and muggy. Terrain: Flat. We arrived in south Winnipeg about 4:00 PM and located a Walmart, which became our host for the night. We then tanked up with diesel at $.91/liter. That calculates out to about $2.85/gallon US. The day before we had paid $2.25/gallon U.S. in Minnesota. At 10-11 miles/gallon our trip across Canada promised to be expensive.
We returned to the trailer and determined that its location was too noisy, and scouted out a new spot behind Walmart. We moved the rig and settled in for the night. About 8:00 PM, a lightning storm moved in. It was northwest of us, but coming our way. Bill was bored with entertainment on TV so he taunted the storm to give us a good show. The storm obliged. By 11:00 PM it was pouring rain accompanied by thumping hail. Thunder and lightening was all around us. That is when we discovered our home had sprung a leak. Water was coming in around the skylight frame at a pretty good flow - out came the towels. Bill, be careful what you ask for!
Funny story: As we watched the lightening approach we realized we hadn't set the front supporting pegs on wood blocks as we usually do. If lightning hit the ground or area near us, would we be safe? We debated if we should correct the situation. How vulnerable would we be? We decided to risk going outside to correct the potential problem. So, by the bright light of lightning strikes and in the rain we fired up the truck, hooked up, raised the pegs, placed the blocks, dropped the pegs, unhooked and ran back into our home in record time. We looked like two very wet Keystone Cops - but we felt safer.
If you have ever been in an RV during a heavy rain and lightening storm you know how loud and frightening it can be. Around 1:00 AM, the storm had abated and we could sleep. The next day's news reports stated that the area we were in received 2 to 3 inches of rain in two hours. The area (not us) experienced widespread power outages and considerable hail damage.
We were up before 6:00 AM, somewhat dazed and in need of coffee. After showering and grabbing a mediocre cup of coffee at a nearby coffee shop we headed off into the fog looking for the Trans Canadian Highway to head west to the town of Regina.
Saskatchewan - Sunday, July 31. Weather: Hot and muggy. Terrain: Flat. Winnipeg to Regina consisted of 375 miles of flat wheat and safflower ag land. After our night of very little sleep, Susan (by her own admission) was beyond grumpy. Beyond grouchy. She made it all the way to intolerable (niece Amanda has another word for it, which is more descriptive). After seven hours of driving we pulled into a campground, plugged into power, turned on the air conditioner and stared at the walls. After that excitement, and watching a bit of Canadian TV, we crashed. Hard.
Canadian TV was interesting. There was a strong expression of Canadian pride in their country and people, and a good deal of humor toward its leaders and policies. Not surprisingly, the Canadian values and outlook was contrasted to that of those of their meddlesome and overbearing neighbor to the south.
Monday, August 1. After a good night sleep we headed for Moose Jaw, about an hour drive. Susan wanted to take pictures of the city's murals and purchase a souvenir T-shirt with the name Moose Jaw, a name she finds very amusing. It was extremely hot as we parked the rig and started wandering the town, snapping pictures of the murals and moose art. The town was weirdly quiet. Listening in on some folks talking we discovered it was Heritage Day, a Civic Holiday. Everything was closed except U.S. based businesses such as Walmart and McDonalds. After several attempts to locate an open shop, we ended up at Walmart purchasing a funky T-shirt with "Moose Jaw" in small print under a very large CANADA.
We continued west for another 400 miles of rolling wheat and grazing land, interspersed with natural gas and oil extraction infrastructure, and a few refineries just to break the monotony. We stopped at the Tilleybrooks campground located between Tilley and Brooks. Hmmm, how clever.
Alberta - Tuesday, August 2. Since we only had about 130 miles to travel to our Calgary destination, we decided to have a slow, relaxing morning. Susan went for a walk and chatted with a local roadway worker, we had an early lunch and hit the road about noon. We were feeling good about the world, when our luck changed. Reality bit us in the rear in the form of a blown rear truck tire. Fortunately it was on the passenger side since the Trans-Canada Highway shoulder was barely wide enough for the rig.
We had never changed a tire on the truck (had lots of experience last year with the trailer tires), so it was a learning experience. As usual, Bill's process-oriented mind clicked in and the procedure went well, and we were back on the road in about an hour. However, we were somewhat less relaxed. We didn't have a lot of trust in the seven-year-old spare or the other rear tire so decided to replace them. Bill wanted to change the type of tire to one that had a higher load factor, so we ended up ordering four new tires from Edmonton and had them installed before leaving Calgary. (For those interested in the details, the tire valve stem failed and stopped holding in the all-important air.)
Calgary is a very pretty city that reminds us of a smaller version of Denver - sans prairie dogs. Like Denver, it is located on the front range of the (Canadian) Rockies and on the western edge of the prairie, has a cowboy and mining heritage but is very much in the 21st Century, has recently experienced considerable growth, has a very young and well educated population. It boasts a modern architecture alongside historic buildings, is the primary financial and commercial center for a large geographic area, and enjoys numerous parks and paths located along rivers.
While in Calgary we biked the Fish Creek Trail along the Bow River. The river flooded twice in June resulting in considerable damage to the trail, so it was very jarring on our posteriors (ouch), but the scenery was great. We also took the light rail into the city center to wander around and attend the "Taste of Calgary" event at Eau Claire Market. The event was very well attended (read: dang it was crowded!), and had lots of great food and free entertainment - our favorite kind.
