The Move

Friday July 30th we picked up our U-haul and spent the day filling it. (Thank you to Julie, Melissa, Mary Ann and her boys!) Friday night we slept and Grandma's house and were back to clean the apartment Saturday morning. We planned to leave by 2:30 but did not get out of Abbotsford till about 4:40. Rawley played with his new toy the entire day. About 5 hours he played. (Thank you grandma pat)
Good-Bye snow shed.

Considering the late start I was pretty impressed we made it to Golden on the first night. Golden is pretty much in the middle of no where so everyone passing through late a night wants a room. Ryan and another guy went in to the last (and crappiest) hotel at the same time and fought for 2 rooms. Ryan won, but the rooms were nothing to brag about.

Everett slept most of the first day in the car so I was worried about his night. He did okay, 3:30am he woke up and didn't want to sleep much more though. Hello coffee and energy drinks...(for me not him)

Rawley standing beside the Columbia River in Kicking Horse Pass. We made it about 20 minutes out of Golden before Everett wanted to eat.

Bridge over the Columbia River that we could see from the rest area. Won't be seeing thing like this in Manitoba.

Good-Bye mountains.

We stopped for lunch in Calgary where Everett was up for a couple hours. He ate, he pooped, he cooed....then when we got back in the car he fell asleep. He was an excellent traveller.

The second night we didn't travel late into the night. We promised Rawley we would stop around dinner, have a nice meal and go swimming at our hotel. Once we decided where we were going to stop for the night we called ahead and made reservations at a Super 8. Rawley played in the pool for a long time. Everett even dipped his feet in the pool and then sat with me at the hot tub for a while.

We were up early and on our way Monday thinking we would make it to Brandon in time for dinner.

Saskatchewan is not as flat as people joke about. For the first 3 hours it was beautiful rolling hills.

Gassing up in Maple Creek.

Wind turbines in Saskatchewan.

Most towns now have grain terminals instead of the old grain elevators. This is the one in Reed Lake.

Salt Mines.

Old grain elevator in Moose Jaw.

and in Sintaluta.

Uncle Brian and dad were following us in the truck when we lost sight of them. It had happened before when we had sped up and they had dawdled along enjoying the scenery....but this time we got a phone call a few minutes later. The U-Haul blew a tire just west of Wolsley. Once we doubled back and met them we realized they just blew the tread off, but what a process to get someone to come fix it. It starts by calling U-Hauls 1-800 number in the states. Then they try to locate you and find a shop to go help. The could not find Wolsley on their map. Nor could they pronounce Saskatchewan or Regina.

After 3 hours of waiting we sent Uncle Brain, Dad and Rawley on their way in the car and Ryan, Everett & I waited the other 2 hours for Fountain Tire to show up. It was getting late so instead of continuing on we headed back to Regina and stayed at the Ramada (paid for by U-Haul).

This is the storm we drove through on the way back to Regina. There was so much rain you could barely see, plus the sun was shinning so bright from the other side it was almost blinding. That was our 5th storm of the day.

Everett got to eat while travelling in the truck, since he was right between us and we could reach him. This made for fast travel because we only had to stop to burp him.

At the Ramada Everett got his own queen sized bed AND four huge pillows. Spoiled little man.

Tuesday morning we hit the road and made it to Brandon by 1pm. This is the grain Elevator between Alexander and Brandon... We were almost home.

Our truck was packed tight. We even had to leave our couch behind. It was quite a job to try to get the door open without everything falling out.

Over all the trip went well. We saw a bear just before Kamloops and 3 Antelope in Alberta. Other than that is was a lot of dead things on the highway. Everett was a great traveller, Rawley also did very well. We are here and our house looks like a moving truck threw up in it. Sooooo...who wants to come help me unpack and organize everything?