December 26, 2015 Boxing Day

We are back on the road in our quest for fun in the sun.  This is the first blog for the winter of 2015/16 series.  I say series with big expectations.
  It was a late night after having the family over for Christmas dinner and the resulting cleanup, but we were up without alarms in the wee hours.  As most stuff was already packed, it went pretty well getting things together.  When I went outside to put stuff in the truck this morning it was a very chilly minus 26C with a good stiff breeze that brought the windchill factor down to minus 53C.  Got on the road in good time and drove the first hour in the dark, it started getting light about 8:30.  For the most part the roads were bare and in ideal winter condition, so was able to use the cruise control.  Marg had made lunch, so our only stops were for fuel and the washroom.  Traffic was light and we were able to drive about 5 - 10 over the posted limit most of the way. 
  By the time we got to the QEII at Leduc it had warmed up to minus 16 & traffic had become quite heavy and it was bumper to bumper to Calgary.  Was able to make pretty good time considering.  When we got to Airdrie at Cross Iron mall, we were astounded to see the bargain hunters out in numbers.  The parking lot was full, the road sides full of cars and the line-up to get in went down the highway for about a mile or two.  The deals must have been amazing to warrant sitting in that line.
  Going thru cowtown on the new bypass for southbound traffic was a breeze and we rolled along.  When we got close to the end of highway #2 we encountered a ground blizzard, well that's what I call it.  There were very high winds and although the snow was not deep, it was all blowing across the pavement making it difficult to see lines or anything when someone passed.  It stayed like this for about an hour, but if you live in northern Alberta, you have driven in these conditions, although we did back off on the foot feeder [gas].
  Needed fuel in Lethbridge and by that time we were losing the daylight.  The days are short for this kind of travel, but pressed on to the border crossing at Coutts.  As luck would have it the duty free was open and they had a nice 15 yr Dalwhinnie and a Macallan select oak with my name on them, so 2 bottles of scotch are now travelling with us.  Oh yeh, Marg got some smokes at a great price as well.  Made it through the border crossing without any hiccups.  Traffic when we got there was very light, just a couple of other snowbirds.  The border agent was pretty funny.  He asked if we had any fruit or vegetables and I replied no as we had previously learned not to and contributed apples to their staff lunch room.  His response was glad to see we finally got you to quit doing that.
  Went on for another hour and got a hotel in Shelby, Montana.  Took a bit of a gamble, our health insurance does not start until tomorrow as we never usually make it this far on day 1.  The reason for the push is the potential for poor weather further south that could make travel difficult.  You really have to see difficult on this route to believe how bad it can get.  Took Marg out for supper at a decent restaurant, don't laugh, the food was good.  How many of you can say after your wife cooked and cleaned for the last 2 days that you took her out for supper 1,080 km's away!
  We will try to liven things up with some pics as we go forward.