Because plane tickets to Canada were about $1200 or more Caroline and I decided to drive instead. To preserve our dear little Blueberry (a 1997 Toyota Corolla with over 215,000 miles) we decided to rent a Chevy Cobalt. We picked the car up at 8am on Friday the 19th and after loading it up we set out for the frozen north at about 9am. Unfortunately the weather felt like reminding us that it was Christmas time and we were going to the land of the snow.
By the time we had hit Salt Lake it was snowing pretty good and some very timid drivers kept our pace somwhat limited. Me being me, with my countless years of sliding and slipping experience I kept us at the breakneck speed of 45mph. Everyone we passed seem to think that we were either trying to make a getaway from robbing a bank or that we had escaped from a mental insitution.
The snow eventually stopped falling and the roads were okay for awhile, but it got very cold. So cold that all of the windows had ice on the inside, which Caroline even attempted to scrape off with little success. Because it was so cold the next time it snowed it was more like a very fine dust, which would billow about in the very strong winds making visibility sometimes only a few feet. Thankfully, after about an hour we made it through that too. For the rest of the way we had snow off and on, but the roads were okay most of the time.
By around supper time we had only made it to Great Falls Montana, where we experienced another challenge: signage. In a brilliant attempt to increase their population Great Falls has decided to put up "I-15 Business" signs everywhere without any that actually lead you to the freeway. Thus, after eating we merrily followed them until we were suddenly leaving town on a 2-lane country road heading southeast. Fearful that we might get trapped in Montana and be forced to wrangle cattle for the rest of our lives I executed a 180 on the snowy roads by using the e-brake and we backtracked for half an hour in order to return to the real I-15, from whence we resumed our pilgrimage to the motherland.
We finally arrived in Calgary at the very pleasant hour of 1am. Our 16 hour snowy adventure was finally over and we could sleep, except that I couldn't sleep because my body felt weird not moving. Oh well, sleep is for sissys anyway. Besides, driving allowed us to bring our snowboarding gear, so tomorrow we will get to enjoy all that fabulous snow. Hurry for snow!
2 comments:
Didn't we make that I-15 business detour one time. I vaguely remember a similar situation.
Sounds like a lovely Christmas drive. And nice picture.
Wow, it sounds like a treacherous journey! I'm glad you made it through safe and sound.
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