What did I do right?
Travel time: 8
hours
Distance covered: 331.7 miles (533.8
kilometres - yeah, they're metric up
here)
Current location: 113º 55' N
53º 31' W (Spruce Grove, Alberta!)
Current
time and temperature: 11:36pm • 7ºF (-14ºC - yep, that's metric
too)
Today was the day - we felt pretty confident that
we'd make it to Spruce Grove even though it was a pretty long drive. Actually
it wasn't the length of the drive so much as the way Canadians drive. They
follow speed limits like they actually mean something. Weird, eh? ... and the
speed limits up here are far lower than U.S. highways. The standard speed limit
for a highway is 110 (kph, of course, not mph - I still get a little rush of
excitement every time I see "110" on a sign, though)... and 110 is about 68 mph.
We'd been making fantastic time in the U.S. going about 85
mph.
After a quick shower, I started
getting ready to load the van - locating a luggage cart, stacking the bags by
the door, etc. Just as I was about to start, the phone rang. It was Carol, the
senior manager from Long Beach Acceptance that I'd been dealing
with.
"What are you doing in the office,
Carol? It's Saturday."
"I'm trying to resolve
your problem for you." I was honestly touched and didn't know what to say other
than, "wow, thanks!" Lame.
She told me
that she had something she needed to fax to me, have me sign, and fax back to
her immediately - a document basically saying that I would keep the car fully
insured in Canada, that if anything happened to it, I'd continue to pay for it,
that I wouldn't use it for anything illegal between the U.S./Canada border
(freeing me, I assume, to do illegal things with the van WITHIN the U.S. or
Canada), and a fourth thing that completely escapes me. Still, I couldn't
believe my luck. Could we really be this close to working everything out? The
other thing I'd noticed in the document was absolutely no reference to a
buy-out. Could this mean that we wouldn't have to do that? It certainly
sounded that way. Carol told me that she'd be leaving the office in about ten
minutes, so I had to drop what I was doing, go down to the desk for the fax
number, wait for the document to come through, sign it, and fax it
back.
Sorry folks, but I think this is
the point where the story starts getting dull... but after all of the excitement
of the previous few days, what do you want? A guy's got to catch his
breath...
... so I got the fax, signed
the thing, and faxed it back. Carol left the office, and I haven't heard from
her - don't expect to 'til Monday or Tuesday. We had breakfast at a Canadian
Denny's-like chain called Smitty's, and hit the road. We were all really tired,
and the drive up the 2 from Lethbridge through Calgary to Edmonton is about five
hours of absolutely mind-numbing boredom. The weather was good, though, and the
roads were clear. You can't ask for much more than that. We stopped for dinner
at a restaurant called Glenn's in a place called Red Deer. The food was okay,
but they specialise in tea... any kind of tea from all over the world. I had a
pot of Earl Grey, and it really was terrific. Perhaps that'll start my road to
recovery - I'm really getting sick of this cold, and it just isn't improving at
all. (My theory is that it's a combination of the cold and the illness made
worse by jumping in and out of the van without a jacket to attend to a child or
something, working up a sweat packing and unpacking the van, and then sitting
there cold. Not healthy.)
We made Spruce
Grove at a little after 8. My brother-in-law, Ian, was here and he immediately
started hauling the bags I was unloading from the van. I could've kissed him
for that - I was feeling ready to collapse. We sat and talked for a little
while, I called my dad to tell him we were here okay, Heather hit the back of
her head on the table ending my call abruptly, and now, I'm lying in bed ready
to go to sleep. Life is good...
... but
don't change the channel just yet. Remember, our van is still in Shelby and
nothing's actually resolved with the finance company. Don't forget that most of
our stuff is in storage in Edmonton in a bonded warehouse that's costing us
quite a bit of money daily and that there's some question as to whether or not
Vega Line is going to honour our agreement and pick-up our stuff for delivery
into storage in Spruce Grove... and definitely don't forget that we're in a
rental van... 'cause that's something I can't forget, either. I need to return
it by Monday at 4pm... in Butt Crack, Montana! So, Wendy and I will have to
leave the kids here with their grandparents and hit the road in the morning with
me in the rental van and Wendy following behind in her mum's car. We hope to
hit Lethbridge by nighttime, get up early on Monday and get across the border
and to Butt Crack (about 2 1/2 hours), drop off the van, head over to Ed's
Speedy Lube to check on the van and drop off a present for Ed and Sheila, and
try to get back over the border and maybe even north of Lethbridge before
finding another room and then finishing the trip on Tuesday. Total distance
round trip: about 900 miles (1,450 kilometres for those of you scoring
along).
Damn, I'm tired. Just thinking
about another 900 mile drive starting tomorrow completely wipes me
out.
More to come. Check back
soon!
Posted: Sat
- December
17, 2005 at 11:59 PM