Saturday, April 18, 2009

Back in Canada

Right now, I am in a motel near Everett, Washington.

I left Wisconsin on the 14th of April and drove my heavily loaded HHR (Hertz rental) about 860 miles the first day out. Most of my route was on Interstate 94, through Minneapolis, Fargo, and Bismarck. Some parts of I-94 were under water because of the snow melt in North Dakota. Still, I made excellent time, covering about 860 miles while behind the wheel for about thirteen hours. I spent the first night in Minot, ND, and headed out for the Canadian border early the next morning. I got to the border at Portal about 8 a.m. and I had no problems with the Canadian customs inspectors. I picked up the TransCanada highway near Regina, Saskatchewan. Rain was falling all morning, but as I neared Swift Current, Sask., it changed to snow and visibility was lousy, so I laid up at a truck stop for a couple of hours and had a pepperoni pizza.  And checked my e-mail!

It was still snowing lightly when I got back on the road, but before I got to Swift Current, it was just rain again. Then, by Medicine Hat, the rain stopped and I had dry roads all  the way to the mountains. I drove through Calgary about supper time, but continued on until I got to Canmore, Alberta, where I got a motel room for the night, right in the Rocky Mountains. 760 miles that day.

On Thursday morning, I headed west again, driving through the mountains. The roads were rougher here and of course, they were not flat and straight like the ones I had been driving on for the last two days. I had to adjust my speed and driving habits, but the cruise control still came in handy.The scenery was fantastic and I filmed as I drove. By early afternoon, I was in the Shuswap area and drove up to Eric's place where I met Natalia and Kyle and saw their mother, Deanna, for the first time in fifteen years. 380 miles through the mountains!

I spent two nights in the Shuswap area. Kyle and I bought a canopy for his pickup truck as well as a new Honda generator and a Stihl chainsaw and other supplies. We loaded all of my stuff into Kyle's truck, added the new purchases, and then I headed out with the rental car so that I could return it to Seattle. That's why I'm in Everett, Washington tonight. Spring is well under way here. Thousands of daffodils blooming everywhere, ornamental fruit trees are blooming, and the leaves are coming out on the hardwoods. In the morning, I'll take this car to the downtown Seattle Hertz rental place and catch a bus to Cache Creek, B.C. to meet Kyle so we can begin to head up north to the old homestead.

3 comments:

GPaul said...

Glad to hear you made it that far without trouble. I can't wait to hear and see news of the homestead!

Stihl Fan said...

All you need is that Stihl saw and you can't go wrong!

Anonymous said...

happy new year! what's new?