I know all five of my faithful readers have been waiting patiently for me to sit down and blog out my experience of driving from Picton to Medicine Hat. Well here it is and I hope it lives up to all the hype. Be warned, it's a long one.
Day one: Feb. 28 2006
I arrive at Pearson airport to pick up my faithful companion Lisa for our adventure. Yes, I have a friend who flew to Toronto to promptly leave.
We hit out on the road and begin our adventure. It was pretty uneventful, but I did learn that taking pictures out of the window of a Buick on the 400 north of Sudbury is harder than I thought it would be and damn cold.
North of Sudbury the tax payer dollars of Ontario really are put to good use. No, not because the road is maintained well or anything but there are these very 'useful' road signs spotting the highway. These signs remind drivers 'Small or large, share the road,' and ' fatigue kills, take a break,' some were obvious like don't drink and drive, or the ubiquitous 'speed kills, slow down,' others reminded drivers not to tailgate and other helpful hints. Really, those signs aren't helpful but made for good entertainment. I also entertained Lisa with my screaming 'it's Maarch' everytime I saw Christmas lights, which was far too often for my liking.
We happily arrived in Sault Ste. Marie to a hotel that was recently renovated, and thus smelled like paint and was kind enough to have parking designated as only for snowmobiles. Lisa and I decided to go for a beer and headed to a nearby pub called the 'Twist and Shout,' where all they had was crappy beer and the waitress wasn't even sure what they had. The waitress struck me as odd because never before had I heard someone with a french manicure utter the word 'yous.'
Day 2- March 1 2006
My early morning observations are an odd mix, I noticed several signs in the Soo directing people to the States, I wasn't aware that this could be done, but apparently it can. Tim Hortons makes a mean 12 grain bagel (I spent the rest of the day obsessed with how good that bagel was).
Though there isn't a lot up north, it is a very pretty drive and I recommend seeing Lake Superior at sunrise.
We didn't see a heck of a lot of cars on the stretch of road outside of the Soo, but most of the ones we did were shitty drivers. We passed a lot trucks, most were regular semis or logging trucks but one, I kid you not, was hauling fire hydrants.
The highway was surprisingly empty, we hit several spells where we would see a car or truck on either side of the road for up to 20 minutes, yes we counted.
We finally managed to stop at a nerdy oversized statue of something-we didn't stop at the nickel in Sudbury, and drove by a giant goose in Wawa, but White River, Ont. is the home of Winnie the Pooh, so we stopped and posed by the mildly oversized pooh-bear.
After a crappy lunch in Thunder Bay, I revisited a childhood haunt (though in another province) and got coffee from Robin's Donuts (there was no Tim's around), and remembered that the coffee at Robin's was better.
Signage in Thunder Bay sucks. We missed the turn to stay on the trans-Canada and ended up nearly at the border. We should have been tipped off by the distance signs that read 'bridge to the U.S.' and 'Duluth 300.' We could have changed our planned route and gone through the states, except Lisa doesn't have a passport, and didn't bring her birth certificate, I on the other hand, was prepared for such an event. It took us 45 minutes to get from Thunder Bay to the border, and 30 to get back on track.
Wow, there is NOTHING past Thunder Bay. No gas stations, cell service, random houses, NOTHING, just sad looking trees, logging trucks, us and the Canadian shield.
Stop for a quick gas and dinner in Dryden. A&W makes a great veggie burger.
In a moment of bad judgment, we decide to keep trucking to Winnipeg. I blame the coffee and wine gums. Note to all people driving across the country--stop in Kenora. Sault Ste. Marie to Winnipeg is too long.
Stupid semi truck convoy slows down our progress, but we manage to get through to finally arrive in Manitoba. We were very excited to finally have a twinned highway, just as the happy highway car dance ends, the snow begins. End up behind a semi, which makes visibility even worse and we crawl along the highway as I start to get very cranky from sitting in a car for so long. It's 11 p.m. when we hit Winnipeg city limits, turn onto the perimeter highway that we were to use to get to the place we were crashing. Due to the snow, and likely a big accident, the road was closest--we get an alternate route and drive through the very deep snow lining the streets of Winnipeg. We arrive at our destination, tired, cranky and grateful that there's a bed.
In case you were wondering, total travel time for day 2, including all stops and the detour--17 hours.
Day 3: March 2 2006
The day started on a high note, a good visit with old friends, and then even more importantly a huge coffee from Starbucks. We get the hell out of Winnipeg, and discover there are more turns in the road than we expected.
In Brandon Lisa and I discover that after Starbucks, Tim Horton's coffee sucks and we're incredibly sick of sandwiches.
We get stuck behind a very stupid car that obviously learn that you can pass a school bus when the lights aren't flashing.
We stop in Regina for a real meal and decide that neither of us have the energy to drive to Calgary that day.
The day ends with the sun still up in Swift Current Saskatchewan, only 9 hours in the car, what a relief. The travelodge in Swift had a pool and it felt good too move a little bit--even though there were annoying screaming children. I had no idea what day it was, or where we were or where we were going. I told my brother it was Wednesday (actually Thursday) and I wasn't sure where I was but I'd call him when I got to Toronto (actually, I was going to Calgary)
Nothing felt as good as it did to be out of the car for more than 12 hours for the first time in three days.
Day 4: March 3 2006
Wow, Saskatchewan is as boring to drive through as I remember it being as a kid. But it's flat, and so place my ipod on shuffle and make the home stretch. About eight hours, not too bad.
So all told it was pretty uneventful, so sorry for the epic post, but here's a running tally. Time in car 43 hours, number of Tim Horton's coffees- too many to count, Roll up the Rim to wins won - zero.
I have now started at my new job at the Medicine Hat News, I won't write too much about it, but it's going well and it's great to be back at a daily, where there are young people and actual work to do.
That relays the tale of my trip west, I hope it didn't bore you to death. I will now return to my regular length of blogging.
After having several conversations with some of my faithful, and unfaithful, readers I have come to realize that many people don't know anything about Alberta. So I've posted a map so hopefully I can stop explaining where I live and used to live. Medicine Hat is the smaller yellow area near the Saskatchewan border, Calgary is the big one in the middle (I don't live there anymore, but I used to) and if you look up, loook waaaay up (like in the Friendly Giaant) and you'll find Fort McMurray (where I never want to live again). So please, study this and und.rstand at least a little bit about Alberta. There will be a test.