But not us! Thank goodness.....Wow what a crazy drive today....!!!
We left Swift Current, Saskatchewan this morning around 9am where it was -20C before the windchill kicked in! We were never so glad to get out of a town after having spent 2 nights parked in a snowstorm at Walmart, running our propane furnace, diesel generator and turning the engine block heater on all night.
When we started out on Highway 1 West for Lethbridge, the roads were ok and then....
the drifting and blowing snow started. Richard had to take it fairly easy driving as the winds were gusting 40-50km/hr from the south (left side of the rig) with nothing to stop the wind for miles. We did get some good stretches of road though in Saskatchewan. I even managed to get a picture of a herd of white tailed deer. Luckily we have not encountered any big animals on the road since the beginning of our journey and we’re hoping it stays that way!
We were aiming to get to Lethbridge, Alberta today and we were on track to arrive around 1pm which would have been a nice “short” driving day. Our driving time included a time change to Mountain time at the Saskatchewan/Alberta border.
Despite the blowing wind and drifting snow we were making really good progress until we hit the Alberta border and then BAM! We hit the worst roads we’ve ever driven on!
The roads were not plowed, were rutted and bumpy and we couldn’t even see where the road was. We slowed down to 40km/hr with the hazards flashing and bump, bump, bumped along very slowly until finally the roads improved. Talk about not taking care of your roads! Alberta you should be ashamed of these road conditions!
I was white knuckling gripping my arm rest during this very frightening drive and didn’t dare say a word to Richard who was doing his best to find somewhere to put our wheels so they stayed on the road and the RV with its weight, didn’t bounce us off the road. Everything in our kitchen drawers was rattling so loudly and the decorative bottom grid on the fridge fell off with a bang! If there had been somewhere to pull over I would have told Richard to get off the road, but unfortunately it was either keep going or risk being hit parked on the “side” of the road.
Some people didn’t drive as well as Richard on the treacherous snow covered roads and we ended up seeing 2 tractor trailers jack knifed into the ditches, with tow trucks and police cars working to help get them out.
Richard had been driving for a long time with no break so we decided to stop and top up our diesel and propane in Taber, Alberta, which is known as the “Corn Capital of Canada” . ( Richard kept telling me Taber was famous for potatoes and we should stop and buy a bag of Taber potatoes....thank goodness for GOOGLE to straighten him out)!
Just as we stopped for fuel and had turned off the rig...this happened!
The front of the rig started leaking inside.!!! We weren’t sure where the water was coming from but after a few minutes and a handful of paper towel to mop it up, it stopped. We do have 2 extra tubes of Dicor self levelling roof sealant which Richard never leaves home without. Hopefully the leak stops on its own and he won’t have to get up on the roof once we are parked in Cranbrook, B.C., to re-seal the roof at the front of the rig.
This trip sure has been an adventure! and the adventure continues tomorrow when we meet our first grand baby Owen Benjamin, who was born in August!
We’re safe and sound now and Newman is still in one piece, (Jerry too) in another Walmart parking lot in Lethbridge, Alberta and weather is -2C with wind gusts overnight to 60km/hr. Yikes!