Day 1 & 2 - December 27/28 2017

Well the disadvantage of having 3 computers not on the same version, it has taken a bit of time to re-acquaint myself with how this works on the laptop & the laptop itself and the way our virus software handles new locations.  I think I have it now!
  So our Boxing Day [Dec 27, 2017] started out with cleaning up and putting things away.  I put the date in because many of our friends live in places where they don't call it Boxing Day.  Marg doing laundry while packing our clothes for the journey while the doing all the other stuff and me winterizing the house and loading the truck.  We had a bit of a head start over the Christmas season, packing everything we could think of or that was on our list when the opportunity arose.  At just around noon Marg said, well if you like I can be ready to go in about 2 hours.  After about 30 seconds of consideration, my reply was now that is spontaneous and we have no other commitments so can do what seems like the best plan, let's do it.  Just about then Haylee & Paige stopped in, how opportune as we wanted to see them one last time and had a nice visit.  Roger had stopped by earlier and dropped off some stuff and had his final farewell.  Even though the truck had not been started for several weeks and it was not plugged in, it fired right up.  Seeing that we had to step it up a notch and just shortly before 2:00 PM we set the alarm system and pulled out of the driveway. 
  It was bitterly cold, about minus 25C with a minus 30 windchill factor. The highway was amazing, dry and bare, so we set the cruise control and made good time, there was hardly any traffic.  First stop was for supper in Leduc and then on to Red Deer for the night.  We had a very nice room at the Western Budget.  One of the only drawbacks was the heat for the room was provided by a gas fireplace and Marg woke up when it came on.  The temperatures in Red Deer were even colder than GP, it was about minus 26, but the windchill was down around minus 39. We made about 600 km's, pretty good for a late start.
  Day 2 we stopped in at Costco for gas and were on the road by 8.  Traffic was light going into Calgary and again the highway dry and bare.  The Stoney Trail bypass in Cowtown was pretty good too and we were through the city in good time.  We stopped for lunch & fuel in Lethbridge to travel ideal winter driving highways with the next stop at Duty Free where 2 bottles of single malt were acquired.  It was pretty fortunate as the line up to get through U.S. border control was the longest we have seen, but when exiting Duty Free you get well ahead of the majority  Even with that we were the better part of an hour in the line so the guy could ask us our names, where are you going, anything to declare then have fun.  Nice young guy.
  The roads in Montana, not so good, no cruise control here.  The driving lane was mostly clear, but the passing lane for much of it was solid ice, with blowing snow over it all the way. Stopped in Helena for fuel and it was snowing quite a bit there, with a forecast of a storm front moving in and up to 6 inches.  We took the I-15 through the mountain passes and again the roads were poor, often neither lane being very good to drive on.  Even though it was light, at one point I was down to about 45 mph following traffic.  The highway between Helena and Butte is very mountainous, so lots of curves and grades.  When we got to Butte, it had stopped snowing, but was getting dark by then.  The roads were again clear, the highway in very good winter driving condition.  We continued on to Dillon where we opted to spend the night.  We got a nice room in the Comfort Inn along the highway and then went for a nice dinner in town.  We made about 1,000 km's today.  We discovered a missing bag when moving in to the new motel, fortunately it was the lunch bag, so more annoying than problematic.  With any luck the storm will move in as forecast tomorrow afternoon and we will be long gone by then.