April 16th, The End of the Journey

We got up at a good hour and made our way down to the breakfast provided in the hotel.  It was excellent, a great variety and everything was fresh and tasty.  The room was very nice as well, but then again it was the most expensive we have stayed in for a while.  Even more than the Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.  We really are spending our children's inheritance, LOL.
  It was cool in the morning, looked like there had been a frost in the night.  We made our way over to Smith's where we filled up on go juice.  The price per gallon was the best we have seen since Arizona, so good deal there. 
The guy at the next pump was from Alberta, so came over to ask where we were from.  He said I probably wouldn't know his place of residence, Fort Assiniboine.  Told him that I sure did as I hunted up there for many years while I lived in St Albert and that our former mayor's wife was from there.  Turned out his wife knew Christine and her family, small world. 
  Left Great Falls shortly after 8AM and traffic was light and the roads bare & dry.  I drove north to Shelby where I always top off the tank as it is only 1/2 hour from the border.  I was having a bit of a problem with vertigo and had taken a gravol, which was making me dozey, so Marg drove from there.  It was Marg's first time going through customs as the driver and the line was pretty long, so she had lots of time to stew about it.  When we pulled up the agent asked if we had any liquor.  Well she told him she had made a list, but couldn't find it at the moment.  She thought she put it with the passports, but later [in GP] she discovered it was not where she thought.  Anyway the guy kept saying that's OK just tell me how many bottles you have.  Marg kept going on about the list, pretty funny actually.  Finally she said it was something like 8 or 10 part bottles, then gave him a story about our daughter coming for my birthday and brining 2 unexpected bottles and friends dropping by.  Then telling him about our concerns of leaving part bottles in our park model and if someone broke in and got into the alcohol our insurance might not be valid.  He looked over at me and asked how much was in the bottles & I said a couple of inches up to a half bottle.  By this time the border agent kept looking at the long line behind us [that was growing rapidly] and finally said are you sure it is no more than 10, to which she replied she was.  His reply -- well you know you are over and are  only entitled to 40 ounces each, but go ahead, have a nice day.  I think we were a long way over what he thought, but we did have a nice day.  Now I think I understand why the border line-ups are so long, LOL!
  Marg continued driving up to Lethbridge where we stopped for fuel and Tim Hortons, now we knew we were on Canadian soil.  Got a couple of sandwiches to go as it was pretty much lunch time and we headed out.  I drove from there up through Calgary, as that can be a difficult place with the traffic.  It was early afternoon, so we never bothered with the bypass, just took the Deerfoot and that proved a good decision with the light traffic.
  Stopped in Red Deer for fuel and Marg took the wheel from there.  We got a coffee, which was a mistake for me as making good time means making fewer not more stops.  She turned off at Leduc to bypass Edm and we stopped in Acheson for fuel and a pit stop.  We debated stopping to see mom, but Marg has been fighting a head cold for several days now and I think she may be passing it on to me, so opted not to.  My intrepid chauffeur took off stopping Whitecourt for Macdonald's and fuel.  We ate on the run and she drove all the way to Grande Prairie.  By this time it was about 10 PM.  It made for a long day, about 14 hours in the truck, covering 1,260 km's or about 785 miles.
  We were pretty tired, in fact I fell asleep sitting in my chair, but we slept well in our own beds.  This was a personal best for us, only 2 nights on the road and 3 travel days, but it was tiring.  I don't think it would have been possible without 2 people driving.  She is a good little driver -- LOL!
  That is all for the blog this year, thanks for following our winter adventure with us.