Day 4 - Thunder Bay

The motel in Verdin was a little underwhelming, to say the least. I thought all those big rigs parked in the lot meant the place was pretty nice. I guess truckers can be wrong sometimes too. It was next door to a Tim Horton's though. But then again, pretty much everything on this highway is next to a Tim Horton's.

Since we had only planned on getting as far as Regina the night before, we were now officially ahead of schedule, which was a good thing because the eastern Ontario leg is only two lanes, and the weather was starting to get dicey. Thunder Bay was our destination tonight -- a good 12 hours of driving awaited us. Plus a stop at the Royal Canadian Mint in Winnipeg. We found a nice little motel in the country that night, and collapsed into bed.


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Typical road fuel. A cross country drive is not a good place to start a diet...



A very rare giant quarter where the Queen looks kind of like a fluffy dog...



Sunflowers as far as the eye can see.





Our hideaway for the evening. this shot was actually taken the next morning cause we didnt get to the place until very late the night before.

Day 3 Picking up speed

After a detour to the Calgary airport to drop off one wife, one dog and two kids, the three remaining humans, one dog and two birds continued eastward, through the wheat fields and oil wells of Alberta and Saskatchewan. We stopped every few hours to get some exercise and take a few photos. The mosquitoes were waiting for us at every turn. We made it as far as Virden Manitoba that night, a little over 1000 kilometres. I was expecting miles of parking-lot flat vistas and acres of wheat fields, and was surprised at the rolling terrain and beautiful scenery.


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There's a dog in there somewhere...



There he is! Frolicking through the wheat fields...





... As opposed to Swift Current, 'The Standoffish, Snooty, Unfriendly City'.

Road Trip Day 2

After an easy drive to Kamloops the first day we decided to get serious about making some progress. We were determined to make it to Calgary the second night, so Rockies here we come. I was pretty impressed that a U-Haul filled with furniture and towing a minivan made it up and down those mountains with nary a complaint.


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This is the location of the Last Spike on the Canadian Pacific rail line.










Dogs wearing hats. They are everywhere in Lake Louise!






This is our rig: no sharp turns and no backing up - ever.

Road Trip!!! Day 1

For almost 3 weeks it was just me, Sylvie and Dougal with nothing but miles of highway in front of us - destination: Halifax. Why? Because I've never driven across Canada before, and it just seemed like a good idea at the time.
We were travelling as far as Sudbury Ontario with some friends who were moving there, so we started out with 4 adults, 2 kids, 2 dogs, 2 birds, one station wagon and one 26-foot-long U-Haul moving truck towing a minivan. First stop was Kamloops, where our convoy invaded my sister's place for the first night.


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When I see a 30 foot high statue of a duck, I have to take a picture of it. That's just the way I roll.









The Merry Pranksters. Plus my sister.