Manitoba to Indiana

August 21st

We found Highway 59 south of Winnipeg to be in much better condition than the 75, the main road to Winnipeg from the south that we had taken coming up.

We had seen a small dot on the map near the Manitoba/Minnesota border labeled “Ukranian Museum” and had been watching for signs. We were about to give up when we saw a sign for an historic Orthodox Church and made the turn. The road was sign posted for a town 10 kilometers away but we almost immediately spotted the church, which was obviously not the museum and the road under us had turned to gravel. On the corned there was a dilapidated old building that somehow still had retained some appeal.

Having had our fill of gravel roads we stopped, unhooked the tow car which Gillian drove back to the turnaround front of the church while Art reversed a few hundred meters to the same place where we re-connected the vehicles, took a couple of photos so the stop wouldn't be a complete waste of time and energy and carried on soon reaching the border.

Here we had to give up our recently purchased oranges, lemons and tomatoes. You think we would learn?

The weather had warmed up nicely, hot enough to warm the honey which was beginning to crystallise. We left it on the dash in the car for a few hours, now it's nice and runny again.

The scenery was much similar to what we have seen over past day or two but also reminiscent of the North. By North, we mean the Yukon and Alaska. Here in the lower 48 anywhere close to the 49^th parallel is referred to as “The North”!

By 6 O'clock we had had enough of driving and stopped for our overnight at the Pine Creek RV Resort in Walker, Minnesota so got yet another sticker on the map.

This was a very nice park with wifi, nice level spacious sites and a pond and stream for Trekker—in which he got very muddy before being rinsed off in the pond.

With the wireless we got a bit done on the blog then suddenly recalled that a couple that we had met only once before lived somewhere in Wisconsin. We had met them in Oaxaca when we were on our way to Cuernavaca and then Argentina, 5 years ago. We met on a bus, we on our way back to our hotel and they to their vanagon at a nearby RV park where we visited them the next day. We had maintained occasional e-mail contact over the years so sent them a note before going to bed after midnight—after watching the 10 o'clock CHEK TV news from home. (2 hour time difference)

22nd

We got up quite early as we still had few things to take care of while we had internet and the cell phone rang just as Art poured his morning cup of tea. It was Dave and Linda. They invited us for dinner, assured us that they had room in the driveway, so off we went.

As usual, by the time we got the dogs walked and fed, things sorted out and put away we were on the road at the crack of mid morning—wheels turning at 10:45.

We pushed on for 3 hours, running into detours and road construction in Duluth before crossing the bridge at the bottom end of Lake Superior then stopping for lunch at Boule River where we took an hour long break.

We couldn't get a cell signal here so we stopped again a a little later for fuel and to phone for directions and an address which we plugged into the GPS.

A little further down the road we pulled off the road at the entrance to the City of Ashland for an AbqL photo.

One slight mis-turn—the GPS suddenly jumped from “turn in 1.2 Kilometres” to “turn in 20 meters” and we had missed the turn! About this time they phoned to see how we were doing, gave us new directions and in a few minutes we spotted them standing in the road.

Their driveway proved to be not as narrow or windy as Linda and Paul's in Grande Marais so we pulled straight in, parked and began to catch up on each others adventures.

Dinner was out on the lake on their pontoon boat. Dave being a veterinarian and dog loved the dogs were invited into the house and also along for the cruise. They unfortunately were not invited to eat with us! The long faces were ignored and they soon realised that Dave and Linda could not be persuaded to break the rules so they settled on the bow watching the water, birds and anything else that moved.

Jambalaya, cornbread, home made pickled beets and cucumber, red wine, white wine, beer . . . . . !!!

Back at the house, ice cream with fresh peaches, accompanied by Mexican brandy topped off the evening beautifully and we returned for the rig for the night.

Unfortunately neither of us thought to bring the camera so we will have to leave that wonderful evening to your imaginations.

Aug 23rd

Roughly 8:00AM the cell phone rang—Dave was inviting us for breakfast. Gillian led off with the dogs and Art followed with the dog food and dishes. While we ate our breakfast the dogs were entertained by the chipmunks just outside the screen door.

After breakfast Dave set out in the boat to do some water testing on the lake—his volunteer job. Gillian took Trekker down to the lake for another swim while Art made good use of their secure wireless to get the finances up to date. Art found that while a couple of our investments we up by 20 and even 30 percent from a couple of years ago, most of the others were down, so we are running about even. Could be worse! “Le plus change, le plus le meme chose” or words to that effect!

The time flew by and at noon we sat down for lunch—more of yesterday's wonderful jambalaya, salads, pickles etc. We finally tore ourselves away, took a last minute group photo and were rolling down the road to wherever at 1:30 in the afternoon.

We travelled east then north heading to Northern Michigan—another state sticker! For some reason Art was tired today—good thing we weren't going too far. By 4:00 PM we had arrived at the Summer Breeze RV Park just over the State Line in Iron Mountain, Michigan and called it a day.

This is a nice park; walking trails, wifi at the site, fire pits,. . . very pleasant. Even the Satellite dish was able to find the signal, we had by good luck parked just barely clear of the trees.

So while Gillian and the dogs went for a walk Art had a snooze then plugged in the laptop and caught up on the e-mails and read a bit of some of the online RV sites that we follow.

The evening progressed with a bit of time on the lap top while sipping a 16 year old single malt and watching the news from home and “Midsummer Murders” and cooking and enjoying a halibut dinner; almost the last of the Alaska halibut, one piece left.

Re-reading the previous paragraph we realised that it didn't quite portray the reality; while we were both watching the TV programs, Art was sipping the whisky and Gillian was cooking the halibut. We both enjoyed it and Art did the washing up. There. That's better.

24th

We hit the road again at 1010 in the morning and as we had to retrace our path a few miles , at arriving at highway 95, Art turned right, remembering turning left to enter the road on the way in. Gillian, always the navigator, said “Aren't we going the wrong way?”. Art was sure he remembered correctly, but then remembered an instance many years ago, upon turning onto the Trans Canada Highway in Maple Creek Saskatchewan, enroute to Ottawa, Gillian had said “We're going the wrong way!” to which Art responded “No, I turned left off the highway” and we went on “ No you didn't”, “Yes I did” for a while, then Gillian asked, OK. If we are travelling east, why is the sun behind us at 9 O'clock in the morning?” Oh. Oops. Eventually we turned around and we eventually arrived in Ottawa.

Since then Art has realised that his sense of direction is second (at best) to Gillian's so, deciding that he was as usual mistaken he turned around. Nothing looked familiar and very soon Gillian said, “wait a minute, maybe you're right!” We decided to turn around and were soon in familiar territory, arriving back at highway two and this time we both agreed which way to turn!

An hour later we lost an hour as we crossed into the Eastern Time Zone. We took a lunch break at a rest area overlooking Lake Michigan to the south. We were surprised by the number of small places advertising and selling Pasties. There must have been an influx of Cornish miners or something in the past! At one place with parking available for the rig Art suddenly slowed and pulled in, his curiosity getting the better of him. We bought a couple of pasties and 2 pieces of pie to go for our supper tonight, Art adding a coffee for the road and we carried on.

Crossing the bridge over the Strait of Makcinac we had Lake Michigan to our right and Lake Huron to our left. Not surprisingly, the bridge was under repair. We have come across a lot of highway and bridge repair this trip.

Continuing directly south on highway 75 we made good time, a couple of driver changes and rests later we stopped for the night at a travel info/rest area on highway 127, a short day's drive to Indiana. Here we realised that the battery on the tow car had gone dead! Too much towing and not enough engine running to keep it charged. Art fired up the generator for a few hours and connected the battery charger.

Since the gen set was running anyway we extended the dish and watched some TV! Calls to mind the sign Art spotted on a high end 40' class A a while ago: “Roughing it Smoothly”

This was a beautiful rest area—the gardens are maintained by the local Master Gardener association. There is also an array of wonderful metal sculptures, a monument to DOT workers killed in work related accidents.

Since Gillian had shared the driving Art with a grin volunteered to cook dinner. (the pasties!) However he got involved typing on the lap top so Gillian took care of supper, saying “too bad, tomorrow night's dinner will be a little more work for you. You could have got off easy!

For some reason Art woke up in the dark and lay semi awake for some time. Waking again at 7:30, it was 8:30 before we woke up enough to actually get out of bed! Art decided to not look at his watch until we were actually moving so he wouldn't fret about a late start!

We were out of bread and milk so breakfast depended on a packet of frozen pancakes heated on the toaster, plus of course tea/ coffee and orange juice. At we rolled out towards the highway Art sneaked a peak at his watch—10:20. Not bad and we weren't going far today.

After one stop for fuel at a flying J and another further down the road in a Walmart Parking lot for lunch and a bit of shopping and we were in Indiana, in a grassy, primitive but clean RV Park. Another state, another sticker! Much of the campground is a large grassy field where Gillian thew the ball for Trekker to his delight. We have no water or sewer but there is electricity for the satellite!

I will comment on the Walmart shopping: Though they are not our favourite company for a variety of reasons, we do patronise them on occasion; they are always easy find, you always know what they will have (and will not have!), there is always room for the motorhome and the car without the need to un-hook and unless there is a local ordinance, RV's are welcome to park for the night.

The 5 O'Clock news from home in received here at 8:00 PM of course so Art started the dinner a bit before news time. Pretty easy stuff; bison burgers (from frozen patties) with fried onion, garlic, tomato, lettuce, on ciabatta buns. Turned out OK and Gillian did the dishes while Art pounded out a bit more on the laptop.

He has decided that he better do at least an outline of the day's events and hopefully catch up a bit on missing days—sort of working from both ends to the missing middle. When we get wireless again he will be able to post to the blog with only the photos to be entered. At least that's the plan! If all the posts from Dawson Creek to Ohio get posted all at once you will know he made his goal, at least to that point!

Later note--well he made it to Indiana! Close enough? Now just to get caught up to Ontario!

Montana, North Dakota and Manitoba

16 August

We were off before 10:00 this morning, by ten minutes, heading west in Highway 2 for about 2 hours before we would enter North Dakota.

Montana is an old Indigenous Peoples word for flat. I just made that up, but it could be true for the north-east corner at least. An hour later we stopped for fuel, groceries and took a few pics at Wolf Point.

While Gillian was in the grocery store Art went out to the Wolf Point sign to take the obligatory AbqL photo. The dogs looked so sad about being left behind that when he returned Art took them out for a walk around the small square, which was actually a triangle. Three boys about 12 or 13 years old came by, one quite taken by Trekker who reciprocated, since the young man had a ball which he threw for him to retrieve. They kept it up for a good ten before the went their way. Nice break for Trekker!

In Ray, ND, we stopped at about 2:50 for a 40 minute lunch break and Driver change and were back on the road for only about half an hour when Gillian slowed quickly then stopped in the middle of the 2 lane divided highway for a dog in the traffic lanes. He was quite nervous but when Art called he came right up. He had no collar and was soaking wet—probably having been in one of the ponds along the median of the highway. Art opened the back of the tracker and he jumped right in and lay down, making himself right at home.

Just down the road was a small collections of houses, barely a town, so we pulled in and and began looking for some one who recognised him. One lady thought she knew who he was but after a few phone calls that didn't pan out. Eventually a young man in a pickup truck stopped and we explained what was going on and that we couldn't keep the dog with us as we had two already and were on our way back to Canada. He offered to take him, saying that he had a chocolate lab himself and if he couldn't find the owner would give him a good home. He dropped the tailgate of the truck, slapped it with his hand and in jumped the dog. Art suggested he call the dog “Freeway”. (Anyone remember the old TV show featuring a dog called “Freeway”? Sorry, no prize for remembering!

Carrying on down the road at about 6 O'clock we took a ten minute stop for a pee break and to change drivers again and also this photo of the cairn at the Geographical centre of NA in Rugby, ND

And further down the road: “We're not going to get there by dusk Derek”

It wasn't until 9:15 that we arrived in the City of Langdon and found the City of Langdon RV Park, located in a city park beside the high school. They had a few full sevice sites and several drycamp areas and tent sites.

Shortly after we got settled there was a knock on the door. A young man from Breton in France was looking for some salt for his cooking. He and his friend were tenting, traveling around Canada and the USA by bicycle! Although his English was very good, we conversed in Spanish! The had toured Mexico and Central America by bus before buying their bicycles in Phoenix AZ!

Sorry, for some reason there are no more pics until Grande Marais

Tuesday morning our travel day started at 10:30 under overcast skies and threat of rain, on our way to Manitoba to add another Canadian Province to our map. Oh yes and to visit our friends Paul and Linda Leonard who we first met some 6 or 7 years ago in El Manglar RV Park in Zihuatanejo. We soon became firm friends. They too came south every year and soon became part of our lives. A couple of years age they bought a condo nearby and sold their trailer and now live roughly half time in Mexico. Linda has just published a book called “Living The Dream” and will available in September.

An hour and a half later we stopped minutes from the North Dakota/Manitoba border at Pembina ND to take on a load of diesel fuel at about 25 cents a litre less that it would be across the line. This though turned out to be more expensive than most places in the USA. Canadian shoppers?

Actual border crossing was unremarkable except that there was no line up, we drove straight up to the gate. A few questions and answers and we were back in Canada.

All I can say about the drive up the 75 and around the bypass is CENSORED. Most of the 75 was single lane as most of the south bound lanes had been dug up. Time to do the north bound lanes guys! If south bound was worse than the one we were on they should have been repaired a few years ago! At one point the vibration shook the right hand mirror loose so Art couldn't see the right lane! The remote adjustment switch allowed him to correct it for the time being but it kept moving inwards. Finally he had to pullover while he could still see at least a little and pulled off the narrow single lane across the closed access to a cross street. In Mexico this had been a recurring problem and Art had finally taken to leaving the appropriate allen wrench on the dash. It was still there! Minutes later we were back in traffic, the set screw now secured.

Onto the bypass. We remembered it being bad when we were last here, in 1985! Parts of the road surface were in excellent condition and warranted the 100 Km/H speed limit. BUT the overpasses! At one such place we are sure the front wheels left the ground! We bounced the next several metres! Trekker was not amused! From there on it was 80Km/H or less, no mater what the surface was like. To be fair, there was a lot of construction going on but these were the worst roads we have seen so far this trip.

Eventually we left the bypass and were northbound on the 59 to Grand Marais an hour or so north of Winnipeg. We hadn't eaten since breakfast so not finding any where else to stop we pulled onto the shoulder for a sandwich. Re-energised we pressed on and arrived in front of their house at 35 minutes after 5. Paul and Linda were walking down the drive as we pulled up.

After appropriate hugs and kisses, Art had a look at the drive way and spoke with Paul and Linda. They had backed their large 5^th wheel in, though they admitted it took an hour and a half the first time! Art had a really good look and decided to go for it. He would back in. If it didn't work at least he would be driving our frontwards! Click to enlarge image. Click back arrow (<) above to return to the blog.

Slow and slower, with Gillian watching the back and Paul watching, the front Art inched back. There were two trees that could be a problem—one leaned in at an angle. Wide enough at the base, but 6 feet up (the mirrors) and at 11.5 feet (the awning) was going to be close. We made it in with everything still attached and the trees still having all their bark.

The pictures were taken when leaving, driving forward, but you get the idea.

After getting set up (Paul had rigged a 30 Amp RV outlet for their 5ht wheel which of course they didn't have anymore) we all went for a walk on the sandy Grand Beach on Lake Winnipeg, able to see across the lake some 30 miles to Gimly. Here, as we do in Zihuat, we watched the pelicans searching for food. Brought to Art's mind the old Limerick: (Yeah says Gillian, it would!)

A rare old bird is the pelican,

It's beak holds more than its belican.

It takes in its beak

Enough food for a week.

I'm darned if I know how the helican.

We stayed three wonderful days with Paul and Linda, catching up on old times and having a preview of Linda's book from the proof. We had dinner at their home the first two nights and on the third we had them take us to the local Italian restaurant were we picked up the tab in thanks.

Trekker and Tia were fascinated with the wildlife, in particular the little chipmunk which seemed to love tormenting the dogs.

At one point Art noticed that Tia had stalked to with 18 inches of this little fellow and was just ready to pounce when Art grabbed her leash.

Finally, the time came to say good by. We will meet again in Zihuatanejo in December.

BC/Alberta to Montana

When writing this blog we realised that for some reason we had not taken any photos for the next 4 days! Sorry 'bout that!

10:25 on the 11^th of August, on the road, now in Alberta and well on our way across the prairies. We were on another leg of our journey. Here we reset the computer trip meter to monitor fuel burn (we won't use the term “economy”) and also set up several individual odometers to compare fuel use at various speeds.

It turned out that 50 miles on flat roads at 56 mph (90 Km/H) gave us the best mileage: 11.9 mpg (US gallon). Quite reasonable for a 26,000 pound rig towing a car. Increasing speed to 100 Km/H yielded just under 11, while increasing to 110 Km/H dropped it to 9 to 9.5 Most of this was with little wind or a following wind so probably was the best we will get. Since leaving home we have averaged 9.3 MPG. The Alaska, Yukon and Northern BC section was at 9.5 MPG.

We sailed across the prairie, stopping only for fuel, coffee and a pee break at Whitecourt before stopping for our second night in Alberta which was spent in a Walmart parking lot in Stony Plain, Edmonton. Here we had a short but pleasant visit with Art's niece Mia who is studying Nursing here.

From here we also contacted an old school mate of Gillian's, one she had done her physio training with in England years ago. They had met once briefly since then, at a physio conference in Victoria, again quite a while ago. We asked if there was an RV Park close by and were told that their driveway was available! They have some 30+ acres so parking wouldn't be a problem. Gail was working for the next day so for that night we moved to another mall—near Chapters in Sherwood Park, not far from their home. We used the wifi at the Starbucks in Chapters, did a bit of shopping and next afternoon moved on to visit Gail and Ken.

The GPS proved itself and took us directly to their drive. We found a level place to park between the horse barn and the house and Art was introduced to Gail, we were both introduced to Ken, and all, including Trekker and Tia, were introduced to Harley, their very laid back German Shepherd.

We spent a wonderful evening and next morning, after a wonderful breakfast prepared by Ken, set of to the City.

We were on the search here for several items—a nice single malt to replenish Art's supplies, a method to increase the range of our wifi connections and grain free dog food for Trekker. The first we found after a lot of driving—the place we were looking for had closed but located a 16 year old Lagavulin at a reasonable price elsewhere. The second took a bit of looking but we finally found an antenna and router. The router they had, but the antenna was Special Order and would take 2 to 3 business days. We decided to order it and have it shipped to their Winnipeg store. The last we found at, believe it or not, a pharmacy!

We stayed 2 days here with a couple of new old friends, having a wonderful time. On Saturday we pulled out at the crack of noon, on our continuing run along Highway 16.

Miles of flat punctuated with grain elevators. Highway 16 bypassed most of the small towns we thought we would pass through and was fairly plain, pun intended, with the occasional glimple of water.

At Lloydminster on the Alberta/Saskatchewan border we stopped for lunch then moved on to Saskatoon to the Flying J (truck stop) for fuel and to park for the night.

For dinner we decided to eat at the attached restaurant. Their buffet table looked pretty bleak, the roast beef selection consisting of one very dried out slice. Gillian settled for the soup and salad bar while Art had the soup and linguine. Gillian was happy with her choice, Art enjoyed his soup, but the pasta! The linguine was cooked perfectly, the sauce appeared to consist of not much more than a can of tomatoes and some dried up shredded beef salvaged from the buffet table. He should have known—his first choice had been for the lasagne, but the waitress told him they didn't have it any more and hadn't had it “for about 6 months—people didn't like it”!

In the morning, the 15^th, we decided to carry on almost to Regina, turning south through Moose Jaw and on to Montana. We filled the fresh water tank at the Flying J and were on the road at about 10:40

An hour and a half later, at the town of Davidson we stopped for 15 minutes at a wonderful little rest area, barely room for an RV and a couple of cars. We took the obligatory “rest stop”, dogs included,and then had to take a few photos of the displays of old road building equipment and a wonderful metal sculpture. We later saw several similar pieces of art along the way but enjoyed them in passing, not stopping for pics.

At 2:00 we stopped at another rest area for for a quick lunch, crossed the border at 4:30 and at 6:00 PM stopped for the night at the Shady Rest RV Park in Glasgow, Montana. We took advantage of the laundry to get a wash done, had supper, watched a bit of TV then went to bed.

One little problem that is becoming worse is what appears to be some sort of obstruction in the airline to the rear air bags. We had a leaking valve replaced in Whitehorse during our first time through and since then filling or dumping the air has been accompanied by a whistle, almost a scream. It has slowly gotten louder and bags are becoming slower to fill and deflate. We will look up a Freightliner shop in Ontario, possibly in Ottawa next week. Nothing serious, we hope but annoying. Fortunately we don't leave our overnight areas early enough to irritate the neighbours too much!

Whitehorse to Alberta

August 7^th

A late start today as the air bags were very slow coming up. Being a weekend the Freightliner shop was closed and eventually they filled so we crossed our fingers and set off about 11:30.

Our lunch stop was at the Dawson Peaks Resort in Teslin—this is where the slide motor had failed on the way in. We remembered the the food in the cafe as very good though they had been out of their famous rhubarb pie. This time to Gillian's delight, they had a fresh baked one. After about an hour we set off at again 2:30 with Gillian taking a turn at the wheel for an hour or so while Art had a nap in the co-pilot seat as Trekker kept a sharp eye on the GPS.

The scenery continued to be very much like what we have been seeing—hills, valleys and water—rivers and streams, lakes and ponds. Always beautiful. Especially when the sun is shining!

At 5:30 we stopped at Watson Lake to look at the thousands of directional and personal signs (and take a picture of AbqL). The signs started during the building of the Alaska Highway when one of the homesick soldiers posted a sign pointing to home. At last count there were 65,000 signs. It's gotten a little out of hand over the years! We spent half an hour here before moving on to BC.

We crossed back and forth between BC and the Yukon, most of the border lines not marked. Finally back in BC we stopped for fuel in Contact Creek, where we had been told was where to buy the least expensive fuel between Whitehorse and Fort Nelson. When asked, the station owner suggested we stopped for the night at a place called Allen's Lookout.

From this vantage point bandits would watch for riverboats loaded with furs or supplies passing up and down the river in order to rob them!

Between Contact Creek and Allen's Lookout we spotted this fellow browsing beside the highway.

We had a good sleep last night, starting off today a little later than we thought we would, rolling down the highway at 9:40

Mid morning we came across a small herd of Wood Bison on both sides of the highway. The few cars on the road stopped for a photo op. Love the old man having a snooze!

A bit later we ran into more bridge construction, then the road, carved from the cliff face, followed the lake for several miles. All makes for an interesting drive.

We pulled off for lunch at 12:15, still 657 kilometres from Mile Zero at Dawson Creek, at least a couple of days away. An hour after getting back on the road we were startled by a loud bang and another sunburst appeared on the windshield.

A bit after 3:00 we turned left off the Alaska Highway to Highway 77 to the North West Territories to Ft Liard, a 140 Km each way detour, just so we could say that we had spent a night in the NWT and earned the right to place another sticker on the map.

For the first 80 or so kilometers the road surface was the best we had seen since we left home, although the bridges were interesting. Just as we were getting complacent they deteriorated a bit—not too bad, until we crossed the BC/NWT border. Now we were on wet gravel at best for the next 40 Km

Eventually we came to the Fort Liard turn off. Turning into the campground the road turned to mud! During the night we heard the rain starting to pour down again, we were having concerns about getting out in the morning.

This campground is provided and maintained free of charge by the Hamlet of Fort Liard and was quite pleasant in spite of the rain. In sunny weather it would be gorgeous.

Monday, August 9th

We safely navigated the mud in the morning and proceeded into the Hamlet to check our the Visitor's Centre and spend a few $ on souvenirs.

Retracing our steps, this time getting a better pic of the wooden bridge and the river is spanned, we spotted this beaver lodge along the way.

Back on the Alaska Highway we turned south, arriving in Ft Nelson in time for fuel, do some grocery shopping and take a lunch break then moved on.

By 6:30 we had had enough driving for the day so near Pink Mountain we found an area to pull off the road and settled in for the night. Note the satellite dish deployed--All the comforts of home.

Up bright and early next day we were on the road at 8:00. We drove straight through Fort St John except for a detour on an unsuccessful search for a vehicle wash place to rid the rig of days of mud and grime.

Dawson Creek warranted a stop as the official start of Alaska Highway, where we took photos of the Mile 0 signs. We also visited the nearby Visitor's Centre, the Museum, had lunch and found and made good use of a truck wash that had a credit card machine along side the slots for loonies and toonies. $32.00 on the Mastercard and the vehicles were reasonably clean.

Back on the road shortly after 2:00 we crossed the BC Alberta border half an hour later, now truly beginning the eastward part of our journey. 7,960 Kilometers since we left home.

We continued for another 2 ½ hours before stopping for the night at Shreks RV Park in Valleyview, Alberta. We had of course crossed into the Mountain Time Zone and lost an hour. We doubted we would get on the road very early in the morning.