Lucky or Not, Here We Come! (Post #301 - or is that #013?)

Well, after a sensational time in the Grande Prairie area, we headed south to pick up a few things on our way home: a quilting foot, some sewing material, a bunk bed, a friend, you know, a few things.

We left my parents' place early enough in the morning, but we stopped at Eric & Jana's, and after lunch we went to Bear Lake and saw Jacqui, Derek, Dana & Sylvia, and Dylan. Though brief, we still only got on the road to our next destination around 3 PM. Faith drove while I drew a quilt pattern so we could figure out how much material we would need for our masterpiece. We arrived in Whitecourt for a late supper and fuel, and continued on toward Bowden where we were going to stay at Joy and Brian's place. We tucked the kids in to bed when we arrived there and talked until nearly midnight. By the way, that was about 7 hours in the van.

The following day we left the kids with Joy and went shopping for material in Red Deer which we couldn't buy and bought bunk beds at Jysk. We had to convince the salesperson to sell us two mattresses with race cars on them. She eventually obliged us. We then met Joy in town to pick up the kids and visited with Jocelyn - it was good to see her in her new house. Then we picked up lunch and went back to pick up the beds. The people at the loading dock were very friendly and I was grateful not to have to figure out how to tie down everything to the top of our van. From there we went to the Greyhound bus station to pick up Terry, our friend who would ride back with us to Caronport.

The bus arrived almost an hour late. Then we spent another 20 minutes searching for his luggage, which never arrived, and talking with the desk clerks to get some assurances that something would be done to find them. He told us that the bus driver had made a quick transition in Edmonton and that the bag was likely on the next bus. The clerk's attitude was less than stellar. As Terry knew, his transition was anything but rushed because he sat for 1 1/2 hours in Edmonton waiting for his transfer from Spruce Grove to Red Deer. We gave them a few phone numbers to get a hold of us if they found the bag and to send it on to Caronport if they did.

We left a tad frustrated and less than confident in Greyhound. At least everyone kept their heads about them. So, less than a few moments down the road in our van, someone is directing me to pull over because my load has shifted. I spent the next 20 minutes undoing the botched job the nice people at Jysk had done tying down the bunk beds and redoing it the right way. I was not in the least bit pleased. We stayed the night at Faith's parents place with Terry without his luggage and tried to destress by having a meal and playing a game of Phase 10.

The next day, Faith and I blitzed Fabricland in Calgary while her parents took the kids on a C-Train ride and we left Terry wandering the mall with no cash and no luggage. We had what we needed within an hour, cut and ready, and met everyone back at the food court for lunch and a quick getaway.

At this point the fuel guage still read over half. Apparently it was wrong. Considering that we fueled up in Whitecourt, drove back to and around Red Deer from Bowden, drove around Calgary, I think we were fortunate that we didn't die of thirst in the desert between Medicine Hat and Brooks. The van blinked on the "low fuel" light less than 10 minutes outside of Redcliff - I thought, "Hey, we're fine! When that goes off we have at least 30 minutes of driving time in the tank." It is, after all, a 95 litre tank. And it was showing 1/8th. Well, it sputtered and died just outside of town. A kind soul pulled over and offered us help, which we accepted, and she went off to grab a jerrycan. Meanwhile, Terry and I pushed the van about a kilometre into town and about 30 metres from the nearest gas station. I got a jerrycan from them and limped the van the rest of the way up the hill. The kind lady who went to get us a jerrycan met us there and then lectured me on the basics of fuel consumption and safety on the highway and how to fuel up before the tank says empty and... maybe she wasn't so kind and understanding.

I had refused to cover the mattresses with plastic when we left Calgary - too much work. I didn't want to undo all my hard highway work. Besides, it was tight and I knew that the only way to get anything in there was to cut the twine. So I didn't. We hit rain just outside of Medicine Hat. It rained on and off for the next 3 hours until we arrived in Caronport. The brand new mattresses were soaked and needed to be relieved of some roadside mud. And that was our trip home. I took the matresses from the top of the van, deposited them in the house out of the rain to dry, laid the kids in bed, grabbed what we needed for night, and laid down exhausted. Crazy, I tell you. That's our life, and you know it.

- Mark