Jan. 2017 Trip to Grande Prairie

Long time no post, so this is an update to reviving my blogs!

In Dec. 2016,  my last post, I detailed our trip down south in the Motorhome from Pincher Creek, where I had been working at a new job for TransAlta, as a control room operator in charge of windfarms in Alberta, Ontario, Quebec and New Brunswick.  The schedule there had attracted me to the job as it was 7 Night shifts, followed by 7 days off, followed by 7 Day shifts, followed by 14 Days off!  This basically meant that I had 3 weeks off every 5 weeks, which would allow us to travel extensively if we so desired.  The company had told me vacations were included in the schedule, which was how they were able to do it.

Jan 2018

Hwy 43, heading south, just north of Fox Creek

    Flew back to Calgary, followed by a drive to Pincher Creek. This was an interesting trip as the boss was in Calgary at the time and offered to pick me up at airport and give me a ride back..... Cool, except there was a fair bit of office ideas that he was pitching to me, including my being the new lead, which I declined, as I was still relatively new to the job.
     Once  back in Pincher Creek, I got groceries and settled in to work for my 7 night shifts. Following that, with the winter roads in fairly good condition, it was time for a quick trip up to Grande Prairie to visit with daughter DD and Andrew.

Old Barn Between Devon and Spruce Grove

      While driving, I had a couple of spots where
the scenery was sooooo good, that I obviously had to stop and take a photo or two.

Hoar Frost covered tree just west of Nisku

Forst covered bull rush (Cattails) West of Nisku

DD's first "Couple shoot" in Grande Prairie

Pincher Creek Alberta to Lake Havasu, Arizona Dec 2016

Wed. 28 Dec. 2016

   
  Yesterday I had finished my last dayshift, so the plan was to get the motorhome out of storage, loaded, and ready to go on Thur..... so......  

     We had got our Motorhome out of storage today, while the wind was blowing quite strongly, and the temperature was a mere -6 Celsius outside.  I had been worried about the jacks not coming up as the fluid is cold and they usually take 2 or 3 tries before they will go up all the way.  Today was no different, but they did go up ok.




      The drive to the local Walmart was the plan, where we could have easy access and finish our loading for the trip down south, but the wind was so strong it was blowing snow all over the place so we asked and received permission from the local farmers Coop to park beside their building out of the wind for the night.

Thur. 29 Dec.
     I was up at 6 AM, wanting to be on the road by 7, so I finished loading up the older car and drove down to the motorhome and loaded our stuff into the motorhome after first starting the generator and putting the fireplace and Boiler on to try and warm it up, as the temperature had dropped down to -14 overnight.
     By the time I got back home, Darlene was up and TJ was in the process of getting up.... Darlene had most of the remaining stuff we were going to take all ready by the door so it didn't take long to load it up along with the dogs and we took both vehicles down to the motorhome.
      I started up the motorhome, and, once again, had an engine warning on the dashboard along with the "Low Coolant Level" alarm in big bold letters.  I figured this was due to the cold temperature and made a mental note to keep a watch on the temperature until I had a chance to top up the rad, which I had tried unsuccessfully yesterday.   (Cap was stuck).
       It was 8:30 by the time we were all loaded up and ready to roll. It was cramped inside as anything that could freeze had been packed inside for the trip.  I took the air brakes off, put it in gear, and .... nothing.... hmmmm. ?? .... Gave it a bit of gas, and it lurched forward with a loud bang! 

 I promptly stopped and got out to check everything... all looked good but I think the tires had frozen to the ice on the ground and it just broke free.  So once again, I put it in gear and took off, only this time it kept jerking every once in awhile, so Darlene drove it while I got out and watched..... The tag axle was not turning, and when it ran on pavement in between the ice on the road is when it would jerk, as there was still no air in the shocks from when I backed up yesterday.  I had Darlene back it up on some bare pavement and that broke it free, so we were finally set to go.  It was now 9 AM, but we were On the Road Again!

      We ran with the generator running so that we could have the fireplace going, as the front pump on the Aqua Hot boiler system had faulted on us.  The wind had died down, which was a blessing, and we made good time thru Lethbridge and then down to the border, where there was a 20 minute wait at the border.  No problem at the border and once again we were on the road, heading south.
      We stopped at Great Falls, Montana to top up our fuel, which came to $128.28  (52 Gal. @ 2.45/gal.)
      Butte, Montana is where we stopped for the night, at the local Walmart for the night.  It was an early night, and we watched a movie before turning in.  We left the generator running until 10 pm with the fireplace going and then left the aqua hot on at 58 degrees for the night. The next stop was a long way away and we had no real idea how the roads would be, so it was best to be rested for the roads ahead of us.

Fri. 30 Dec.
      Our second day of travel saw us getting up at 6:30 and on the road just before 8 AM.  I was more tired than I was willing to admit, and even tho the alarm was set for 4 AM, getting up at that time did not happen!
      During the night a fifth wheel came and parked beside us, but outside of that we pretty well had the parking lot to ourselves.  It was only about -8 when we left, but as we progressed south along I-15, we saw the temperature continue to drop, until at Idaho Falls we saw that it was -27 F, which was pretty cold!  Along the way we saw hoar frost and lots of sage brush and trees covered in it, which was quite pretty.  The day also turned out to be sunny (cold) with very little wind after 10 AM.
      We stopped at Idaho Falls to fuel up at a Flying J and also to get some coffee. The bill came to $154.60 (56 Gal. @ 2.76/gal).
      Continuing along we made good time and it started to get warmer, the further south we went. Driving thru Salt Lake City, as always, was interesting, what with 5 or 6 lanes all going pretty fast. lol.
       We decided to stop at Cedar City in Utah as it was getting dark, I was getting tired, and it was a long way before there was another good spot to stop, and, there was a Walmart here...... Unfortunately, it was full.... New Years tomorrow, Friday payday, so go figure!

       Next door there was a Home Depot with a big empty parking lot so I went in there and asked the manager, who said no problem, since we were asking, as they usually had to kick people out who did not bother to ask.  It was nice because they turned out the parking lot lights also, whereas Walmart leaves them on all night.  It was not so cold tonight (2 degrees above 0), so we left the aqua hot on and put a movie on before crashing fairly early.

Sat. 31 Dec.
       I was up early, chomping at the bit to go, at 4 AM.   After driving around and finding some coffee, I came back, hooked up the car, and headed out in the dark.  Darlene was up when I returned with the coffee and mentioned that she was kinda hoping to see the snow disappear as we drove south, but it was warm, snow (what little there was there) was melting, and I was anxious to drive as I was still getting the Low Coolant Level alarm but the engine was staying cool all the time.
       There was a little wind as we continued south and it got worse around 9 am, but then calmed down the further South we went.  Some roads are more memorable than others, and this last stretch, perhaps because it is the LAST stretch, is more memorable than other roads.  There is a canyon we drive thru that goes down for quite awhile, and then opens up to the wide open desert.  It is beautiful to drive thru, and when we do, we know there should be no more snow! lol.
      Las Vegas was our first stop, as I wanted to address that Low Coolant Level alarm that I was still getting, so we pulled off into the Freightliner Service Repair shop only to discover that it was still closed.  Oh yeah, Nevada is an hour time difference so it was still only 7 am there while my watch was reading 8 am.
      We drove a bit further and set the GPS for the closest Flying J, thinking we could get something to eat, fill up the water tank and flush the toilets finally.  Well, the Flying J is no longer there, replaced by a "Morton's" which has lots of truck parking, big pull thru pumps, a restaurant and even a mobile repair shop!  The only fuel station that had the water turned off was the one closest to the store, which was of course the one I pulled up to, lol, so we figured we could wait awhile and grabbed some coffee, subway breakfast sandwiches for TJ and I, and a cinammon bun for Darlene.  We pulled off into the back next to the mobile repair shop, ate breakfast and I asked in the repair shop about the rad cap.... Fellow by the name of Juan came out, managed to get the rad cap off, and even took my antifreeze and topped it up for me.... for free!!  Wow, very nice guy for sure!
      We left Las Vegas and made our way to Lake Havasu with a stop to do our final fuel stop s we were down to 1/4 tank left by the time we got to Topcock.

       278.85 (97.5 Gal. @ 2.85/Gal) was the bill, which was a bit less than I thought it would be.

      Our final fuel bill, Pincher Creek to Lake Havasu, came to:  $562.25 US or 731.00 CAN at 1.3 % exchange rate.

       If we had purchased the fuel in Canada, it would have been: 205.8 Gal. or 780 Litres at $1.10/litre would be $858 CAN., which, all things considered, is pretty good….. oh, yeah, we also have to add in 40 dollars of DEF (Diesel Exhaust Fuel) to the bill.