Cross Canada Adventure, Day 5 (Brandon, MB to Drumheller,
AB)
Brad crosses another time zone, runs out of gas,
enters
two
Provinces, and encounters dinosaurs!
It was an early morning for me this morning -- my
buddy had to get to work early in the day, so I resumed my journey just before
he had to leave for work.
It was fairly early when I got on the road (0730) -- the earliest I've been on the road all week. The fog had descended over Manitoba and the Trans-Canada Highway, lowering visibility to nearly nothing. I started out the day fairly low on gas, so I was heading to Virden to gas up. Based on my latest calculations from past legs, I should be able to get up to 720km on the odometer before having to worry.
So I'm sailing along, and hit the Virden town limits. A gas station is within sight (or, at least it would have been if it hadn't have been for the fog), perhaps 300m away, when the car sputtered and I started to lose speed.
Now a few things worth knowing about my car. First off, the gas gauge hasn't worked in years, so I go by my trip odometer. Secondly, it has power steering, so when it loses power, steering becomes something more akin to a wrestling match. But I had enough warning I could aim towards the side of the highway and stop the car.
This is where my 20L can of gas in the trunk came in handy. Out at the side of a four lane divided highway, at about 0830 in the morning, I got to stand there and pour gas from the can into the tank, and then make the 30 second drive to the gas station to fill up the rest of the tank, and refill the gas can. The gas can I thought I wouldn't need saved me from having to call CAA (or having to walk to the gas station).
(FYI -- I ran out of gas at the 697km mark since the last fill-up).
A quick fill up, and I'm back on the road heading towards Saskatchewan, the third Province in my trip. Crossing this border wasn't nearly as "dramatic" (if you can call it that) as going from Ontario to Manitoba -- there was just a small sign advertising the fact that I was in a different Provincial jurisdiction:
Thankfully, just as I entered Saskatchewan, the fog lifted completely. It's as if it ended right at the border. You can see some mist in the photo above, but within the next three minutes it was nothing but clear blue sky.
Before leaving on my trip, people continually warned me that once I hit the Saskatchewan border that the drive was going to get dull. This is because Saskatchewan is relatively flat, and the highway is primarily straight.
However, I've rather been enjoying the drive, and haven't found it boring at all. Indeed, the drive is pretty smooth and easy when you aren't going up and down hills all day long (as in the Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay leg of my trip). I just set the cruise control, put on some tunes, and enjoyed the sunny weather.
Plus, the sky here is huge. Well, it's not that the sky is really any bigger, but with the lack of hills and trees it seems so much bigger. Driving in the car, it seemed like more than half my field of view was just blue sky. Makes you feel good to be alive and driving across Canada, especially after this mornings fog in Manitoba.
I've stopped for a while in the capital of Saskatchewan, Regina, for a bit of a walk, and to get a bite to eat. I'm hoping to make it to the Royal Tyrell Museum, although it might be better to save it for tomorrow, if I can.
Okay -- after a lengthy drive, a gas stop, and several personal stops to stretch my legs and such, I finally made it into Alberta:
I swear that the further I go west, the smaller these signs get.
The first major city in Alberta I cross is Moose Jaw, named after former Prime Minister Brian Mulruny (ha ha!). A sign brags that Moose Jaw is home to the worlds biggest teepee. I took a picture as I drove by, so you can judge for yourself:
Now I don't know about you, but I was always under the impression that a teepee was supposed to be covered in deerskins to actually make it a form of tent. This is just a frame. You can't just put up a bunch of sticks and call it a teepee. I mean, if I planted two 40m poles in the ground and went around calling them the world's largest pup-tent, they'd drag me away!
Well, maybe the deer skins (or their synthetic equivalent) were just out to be dry cleaned when I drove by. Yeah, that must be it.
Tomorrow it will have to be for the museum. I have made it into Drumheller, inside the badlands where Dinosaur National Park and the Royal Tyrell Museum are located. I probably won't make it into the park proper, but I'm going to spend tomorrow morning at the museum. Don't worry -- I'll take pictures!
Until tomorrow, here are some pictures to tide you over of the Drumheller area. To get an idea of the geography, take a look at these pictures:
The camera just doesn't do it justice. If I get some time tomorrow, I'll try to take a 360 panoramic shot so you can get an idea of how geographically interesting the area is.
Drumheller and the badlands are known for one thing: dinosaurs! There are many statues of dinosaurs around town, but the biggest one is at the visitors centre. They claim it's the biggest in the world. Whether it is or not (and I have no reason to doubt them), it is damned big:
You can climb up and stand in his mouth, looking over the area:
As I'm on day 5 of my trip, I decided that perhaps I should do some laundry. I do have enough clean clothes packed in my travel bag for tomorrow, but not much beyond that. So I decided to use Google Local to search out a Laundromat and get directions. Apparently it is just down the street, but I can't find it. And this town seems to be completely devoid of visible address numbers. It looks like there has been some renovations in the area as of late, so perhaps Google Local is just out-of-date. So I gave up on the laundry idea, and have instead stopped for the night at a pizza joint. And as the pizza just arrived (pepperoni, in case you're wondering), I'm going to sign off for tonight.
It was fairly early when I got on the road (0730) -- the earliest I've been on the road all week. The fog had descended over Manitoba and the Trans-Canada Highway, lowering visibility to nearly nothing. I started out the day fairly low on gas, so I was heading to Virden to gas up. Based on my latest calculations from past legs, I should be able to get up to 720km on the odometer before having to worry.
So I'm sailing along, and hit the Virden town limits. A gas station is within sight (or, at least it would have been if it hadn't have been for the fog), perhaps 300m away, when the car sputtered and I started to lose speed.
Now a few things worth knowing about my car. First off, the gas gauge hasn't worked in years, so I go by my trip odometer. Secondly, it has power steering, so when it loses power, steering becomes something more akin to a wrestling match. But I had enough warning I could aim towards the side of the highway and stop the car.
This is where my 20L can of gas in the trunk came in handy. Out at the side of a four lane divided highway, at about 0830 in the morning, I got to stand there and pour gas from the can into the tank, and then make the 30 second drive to the gas station to fill up the rest of the tank, and refill the gas can. The gas can I thought I wouldn't need saved me from having to call CAA (or having to walk to the gas station).
(FYI -- I ran out of gas at the 697km mark since the last fill-up).
A quick fill up, and I'm back on the road heading towards Saskatchewan, the third Province in my trip. Crossing this border wasn't nearly as "dramatic" (if you can call it that) as going from Ontario to Manitoba -- there was just a small sign advertising the fact that I was in a different Provincial jurisdiction:
Thankfully, just as I entered Saskatchewan, the fog lifted completely. It's as if it ended right at the border. You can see some mist in the photo above, but within the next three minutes it was nothing but clear blue sky.
Before leaving on my trip, people continually warned me that once I hit the Saskatchewan border that the drive was going to get dull. This is because Saskatchewan is relatively flat, and the highway is primarily straight.
However, I've rather been enjoying the drive, and haven't found it boring at all. Indeed, the drive is pretty smooth and easy when you aren't going up and down hills all day long (as in the Sault Ste. Marie to Thunder Bay leg of my trip). I just set the cruise control, put on some tunes, and enjoyed the sunny weather.
Plus, the sky here is huge. Well, it's not that the sky is really any bigger, but with the lack of hills and trees it seems so much bigger. Driving in the car, it seemed like more than half my field of view was just blue sky. Makes you feel good to be alive and driving across Canada, especially after this mornings fog in Manitoba.
I've stopped for a while in the capital of Saskatchewan, Regina, for a bit of a walk, and to get a bite to eat. I'm hoping to make it to the Royal Tyrell Museum, although it might be better to save it for tomorrow, if I can.
Okay -- after a lengthy drive, a gas stop, and several personal stops to stretch my legs and such, I finally made it into Alberta:
I swear that the further I go west, the smaller these signs get.
The first major city in Alberta I cross is Moose Jaw, named after former Prime Minister Brian Mulruny (ha ha!). A sign brags that Moose Jaw is home to the worlds biggest teepee. I took a picture as I drove by, so you can judge for yourself:
Now I don't know about you, but I was always under the impression that a teepee was supposed to be covered in deerskins to actually make it a form of tent. This is just a frame. You can't just put up a bunch of sticks and call it a teepee. I mean, if I planted two 40m poles in the ground and went around calling them the world's largest pup-tent, they'd drag me away!
Well, maybe the deer skins (or their synthetic equivalent) were just out to be dry cleaned when I drove by. Yeah, that must be it.
Tomorrow it will have to be for the museum. I have made it into Drumheller, inside the badlands where Dinosaur National Park and the Royal Tyrell Museum are located. I probably won't make it into the park proper, but I'm going to spend tomorrow morning at the museum. Don't worry -- I'll take pictures!
Until tomorrow, here are some pictures to tide you over of the Drumheller area. To get an idea of the geography, take a look at these pictures:
The camera just doesn't do it justice. If I get some time tomorrow, I'll try to take a 360 panoramic shot so you can get an idea of how geographically interesting the area is.
Drumheller and the badlands are known for one thing: dinosaurs! There are many statues of dinosaurs around town, but the biggest one is at the visitors centre. They claim it's the biggest in the world. Whether it is or not (and I have no reason to doubt them), it is damned big:
You can climb up and stand in his mouth, looking over the area:
As I'm on day 5 of my trip, I decided that perhaps I should do some laundry. I do have enough clean clothes packed in my travel bag for tomorrow, but not much beyond that. So I decided to use Google Local to search out a Laundromat and get directions. Apparently it is just down the street, but I can't find it. And this town seems to be completely devoid of visible address numbers. It looks like there has been some renovations in the area as of late, so perhaps Google Local is just out-of-date. So I gave up on the laundry idea, and have instead stopped for the night at a pizza joint. And as the pizza just arrived (pepperoni, in case you're wondering), I'm going to sign off for tonight.
Posted: Monday - August 29, 2005 at 10:19 AM
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Published On: Aug 30, 2007 08:14 PM
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Published On: Aug 30, 2007 08:14 PM