Winter Wonderland
Greetings, any of you not out doing last-minute Christmas shopping today! Enjoy your Ultimate Fighting Experience in the malls!!
I’ve got a little story to share today, the story of two crazy travelers that decided it might be fun to drive across Canada. In the winter. Did I already mention Canada and winter??
Mrs. That Dan Guy and I decided at the last minute (last week) to drive out to Winnipeg (just south of The North Pole) to visit family over Christmas. Just a few days – a short, whirlwind dose of family for the holidays.
However, due to a lack of advance planning (and any excess of active brain cells), we decided it might be fun to take a little road trip. Across Canada. In the winter…
We left Alberta yesterday morning, bright and early. Even the sun was still sleeping in when we pulled out of our driveway.
Despite worries, once we hit the highway, the roads were clear and dry - not even a skiff of snow. We were able to focus on enjoying our in-dash Karaoke. Nothing beats the boredom of the open road like sing-songs with the legendary Engelbert Humperdinck…
We had breakfast along the way, and eventually entered Saskatchewan (a real name, I’m not making that up), Canada’s side-by-side refrigerator freezer with Manitoba. Again, no snow, not even a skiff. It was dandy.
We stopped for a lunch break in Moose Jaw (again, a real name. You really can’t make this stuff up. Don’t even get me started on Carrying The Kettle First Nations…) From there, MTDG took over the driving, while I kept an ongoing count of the roadside critter carnage. If you’re a deer reading this today – STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM SASKATCHEWAN HIGHWAYS!! Over the course of our travel through that province, we spotted numerous deceased deer, a dead coyote, a dead pheasant, a dead owl, and even what we thought might have been a dead wolf. This may soften my difficulties with PETA, once I report this killer province to them!
Anyhoo, all was going well, until Manitoba. We finally started to see some evidence of snow by that point. And rolling fog. But still, considering we were traversing Canada, in the winter, not too shabby.
Then things started to go awry. By the time we hit Brandon, there was blowing snow that developed into white-out conditions. Sure, you could FEEL the highway under the truck, but where you were ON it was a vague question mark…
We forged on, eager to finally arrive in Winnipeg after hours and hours and hours and hours in a moving tin can. By this time, even Engelbert was starting to grate on our nerves.
I guess family members had been watching weather and road conditions, because we started to get some text messages asking if we were OK, and who would get our big screen TV in case anything HAD happened.
By this time, just past Portage la Prairie (a French term for “carry a field in your pocket), things looked pretty good, and we were pretty determined to just get the hell to Winnipeg. This close, we thought we were out of the woods. Not that we were ever in any actual woods, but we were driving by some forests.
We texted and e-mailed everyone that we were fine, and just 30 kilometres outside of the city. Mere minutes from arrival.
Here’s the irony part of the story. Within two minutes of letting everyone know we were OK, and almost safely in, a semi blew by us, totally whiting out the road. Had to hit the brakes. For future reference, NEVER hit the brakes on an icy highway. The last thing we saw was a striped pole, which I thought was the back of the semi, and MTDG thought was a gas line. Turned out to be the last pole on the roadside, as we plummeted full-steam into the ditch. Into snow that was up to our knees, once we got out of our Jeep. Burgundy, thanks for asking.
Obviously we’re here, as you are reading today’s posting. We had a Good Samaritan stop and offer to help, but the most amazing part was an AAA tow truck that appeared almost right away, as he happened to be in the area. He had us out in just a few minutes, and back on our way in no time. We saw (within seconds) a sign saying we were just 15 kilometres out of town. That close…
Anyhow, we arrived at our hotel hours after we were supposed to. But we arrived. Holy Toledo!!
As a side note, we had a full moon lighting our way for most of our trip. Almost like a northern star. Something was sure with us last night!!
Chow for now!!
Greetings, any of you not out doing last-minute Christmas shopping today! Enjoy your Ultimate Fighting Experience in the malls!!
I’ve got a little story to share today, the story of two crazy travelers that decided it might be fun to drive across Canada. In the winter. Did I already mention Canada and winter??
Mrs. That Dan Guy and I decided at the last minute (last week) to drive out to Winnipeg (just south of The North Pole) to visit family over Christmas. Just a few days – a short, whirlwind dose of family for the holidays.
However, due to a lack of advance planning (and any excess of active brain cells), we decided it might be fun to take a little road trip. Across Canada. In the winter…
We left Alberta yesterday morning, bright and early. Even the sun was still sleeping in when we pulled out of our driveway.
Despite worries, once we hit the highway, the roads were clear and dry - not even a skiff of snow. We were able to focus on enjoying our in-dash Karaoke. Nothing beats the boredom of the open road like sing-songs with the legendary Engelbert Humperdinck…
We had breakfast along the way, and eventually entered Saskatchewan (a real name, I’m not making that up), Canada’s side-by-side refrigerator freezer with Manitoba. Again, no snow, not even a skiff. It was dandy.
We stopped for a lunch break in Moose Jaw (again, a real name. You really can’t make this stuff up. Don’t even get me started on Carrying The Kettle First Nations…) From there, MTDG took over the driving, while I kept an ongoing count of the roadside critter carnage. If you’re a deer reading this today – STAY THE HELL AWAY FROM SASKATCHEWAN HIGHWAYS!! Over the course of our travel through that province, we spotted numerous deceased deer, a dead coyote, a dead pheasant, a dead owl, and even what we thought might have been a dead wolf. This may soften my difficulties with PETA, once I report this killer province to them!
Anyhoo, all was going well, until Manitoba. We finally started to see some evidence of snow by that point. And rolling fog. But still, considering we were traversing Canada, in the winter, not too shabby.
Then things started to go awry. By the time we hit Brandon, there was blowing snow that developed into white-out conditions. Sure, you could FEEL the highway under the truck, but where you were ON it was a vague question mark…
We forged on, eager to finally arrive in Winnipeg after hours and hours and hours and hours in a moving tin can. By this time, even Engelbert was starting to grate on our nerves.
I guess family members had been watching weather and road conditions, because we started to get some text messages asking if we were OK, and who would get our big screen TV in case anything HAD happened.
By this time, just past Portage la Prairie (a French term for “carry a field in your pocket), things looked pretty good, and we were pretty determined to just get the hell to Winnipeg. This close, we thought we were out of the woods. Not that we were ever in any actual woods, but we were driving by some forests.
We texted and e-mailed everyone that we were fine, and just 30 kilometres outside of the city. Mere minutes from arrival.
Here’s the irony part of the story. Within two minutes of letting everyone know we were OK, and almost safely in, a semi blew by us, totally whiting out the road. Had to hit the brakes. For future reference, NEVER hit the brakes on an icy highway. The last thing we saw was a striped pole, which I thought was the back of the semi, and MTDG thought was a gas line. Turned out to be the last pole on the roadside, as we plummeted full-steam into the ditch. Into snow that was up to our knees, once we got out of our Jeep. Burgundy, thanks for asking.
Obviously we’re here, as you are reading today’s posting. We had a Good Samaritan stop and offer to help, but the most amazing part was an AAA tow truck that appeared almost right away, as he happened to be in the area. He had us out in just a few minutes, and back on our way in no time. We saw (within seconds) a sign saying we were just 15 kilometres out of town. That close…
Anyhow, we arrived at our hotel hours after we were supposed to. But we arrived. Holy Toledo!!
As a side note, we had a full moon lighting our way for most of our trip. Almost like a northern star. Something was sure with us last night!!
Chow for now!!
2 comments:
What a heart warming Christmas tale.
Oh yeah tell Charlie he left something here last visit.
buk..awkk!!!
Sssshhhh....
Note to self. Take no road trips with TDG.
I'm thinking "cruise control" and "auto-pilot" are two entirely different things...
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