This post is mostly from last Monday. We drove home from Saskatoon after going in to see Steven. He was pretty sick and was just getting ready to go for another Chemo treatment. Poor guy, this is the start of a long road for him and his family. He still had the energy for a smile and a hug for Andrew. It’s just the type of kid he is. Steven is a very considerate guy, even as sick and tired as he was.
We got back to the campsite at about 10:30, as checkout is 11 and after stopping to dump our tanks on the way out, we were on the road at 11:15. We re getting pretty good at this camping dealy. We used to spend a lot of time setting up and packing up, but we have become so efficient it makes it a much more pleasant experience for all of us.
This was going to be a long day. It’s 630km of really REALLY flat roads. 
This is probably up there in the top 5 boring drives in Canada. The funny part is, I don’t mind it. When Traci and Andrew are asleep I listen to sports in the radio, or just contemplate stuff.
I do love watching the sky…
Even on a this boring stretch of road, there are some interesting sights. I find myself looking at skid marks on the highway and wonder how that moment in time turned out for someone. I’ll watch the other drivers as they approach, just to see if they are paying attention to driving or consumed in something else while they drive. I always like the driver that seems to have dropped something and they actually disappear from the windshield as they bend over to reach for whatever it is they lost.
Special interest picture. This is the Cactus Corner truck stop out in the middle of nowhere near Hanna Alberta. About 1200 people live in Hanna and is the hometown of the Band ‘Nickleback’. To me though it is more famous for the fried chicken they serve at this truck stop. If Andrew was awake, we would have stopped for sure. If you only knew what I was sacrificing for you Andrew. LOL
On this particular trip I started thinking about another type of trip. One where we would pull the trailer out of it’s deep winter sleep and drive to Yuma or Scottsdale. It would be about 3 - 8 hour days of driving to get there, but we would stay a month. What a way to get to see Disney, SD Zoo, the Slabs, the desert, and all the other cool stuff near there. We really only have 3 years to make this trip as Andrew will be in school and we are tied to his schedule from then on. I have already mapped out a route (I-15 for 1000miles, yikes), and also by reading all the RV blogs I read, I have a pretty good idea where I would look for parks in the area. Cool thing is, we wouldn’t have to tow the trailer back as my parents would drive down in the car and take over the camper for a couple weeks and we would go back in the car. Seem like a better way to enjoy some sun than spending 5 grand at a Mexican resort for a week.
Anyhoo, Mondays trip was uneventful.
Good gawd this highway goes on forever…
Andrew as always, is an amazing traveller. 2 hours into our drive we stopped in the small town of Kindersley and walked around their mall. It’s really small but was pretty busy for a Monday afternoon. We had Dairy Queen for lunch in the trailer and then it was back to the road. We travelled straight through for 4 hours from there. Andrew had a pretty good long nap, but was restless when he woke up, as were we, so we stopped East of Three Hills and had a hotdog supper in the Red Deer River Valley.
There is a nice campground in the trees off in the distance there…
Traci all geared up in her Husky Sweats… see the coolness she exudes! 
This spot is only about 30 minutes from Drumheller, but we don’t go through as it adds a half hour to the trip. We enjoy this place for about an hour, got some blood flow back into our lower extremities and were fresh for the last hour and a bit home.
We got home about 8pm. 8hrs and 45miuntes in one travel day. A new world record for us as a team. It’s really not a record we want to try to beat again. We were tired. Unfortunately Andrew had a LOT of stored energy and didn’t go to sleep until almost midnight. I got up and went to work at about 8am, Traci and Andrew slept till 10 then had a nice day of decompressing.
It was a very short trip (3days), very yet very long trip (mileage, 1600 kms on the odo), but completely worthwhile. I told Traci when we got home that it felt like we were away for 3 weeks. But now 4 days later, it doesn’t even feel like we were there. A trip like that can be pretty surreal. It’s kind of like the days I used to fly to Vancouver at 7am for a noon meeting and be back in my Calgary office by 3pm. I’m sitting there thinking ‘was I just in Vancouver?’
We are contemplating another camping trip before we winterize the trailer, but it is kind of nice to be home for a bit too. We have been very busy this summer and have taken advantage of our trailer, that’s for certain. I cancelled our rip to Kelowna for the Half Marathon, as I don’t have the time to dedicate to training. It’s a shame, but work needs me more now than running does. There will always be another race.
That’s all for now, Goodnight now…
Pic of the day, screen door cheeky…
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