So we decided that hanging out in Pahrump with all the health related issues that were going on in the US and Canada didn't make much sense. We were basically self-isolated but we knew the 14 day clock wouldn't start for us until we were parked in Canada.
We left Pahrump on Friday, March 20 and drove as far as Jackpot, NV on the Idaho/Nevada border. We ran into rain, sleet, snow....the whole gamut. Pretty scenery when we could see it though! We stayed in a casino parking lot in Jackpot. All the casinos are closed of course so us and about another dozen rigs staked out our space and enjoyed a quiet night.
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| We never saw any aliens. |
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| Joshua trees with snow on them. |
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| Lots of Joshua Trees north on Beatty. |
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| We need to come back to this cool little town of Goldfield, NV. |
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| Ominous clods ahead. |
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| Is that snow ahead? |
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| Very pretty country. |
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| Rain or snow? |
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| Snow! |
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| Some of the showers were very small.....thankfully. |
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| Nice sundog. |
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| We stayed at this casino. |
Saturday we hit the road early only to realize we headed into a different time zone and lost an hour. Regardless we drove and drove and drove some more. In fact we didn't stop driving until we crossed the border. We finally called it a night in a casino parking lot in Lethbridge, Alberta. A very long day but happy to be in Canada.
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| Snake River |
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| Lots of RV's heading the same direction.....north. |
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| Lots of snow in northern Idaho and southern Montana. |
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| Gorgeous scenery! |
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| We took the Dillon to Boulder, MT cutoff. No snow in the valley. All those horse trailers ahead were from Alberta, heading north. |
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| Northern Montana north of Helena. No snow! |
Sunday we headed further north toward home. The road conditions weren't the best. It had snowed just outside of Lethbridge. The roads were icy. I tow with the exhaust brake engaged and the transmission in Tow/Haul mode. For those of you that pull trailers you know this is a good way to help the rig slow down without using a lot of brakes. So I pull into a small town and begin to decelerate. I touched the brake and the transmission promptly downshifted like it's supposed to. The problem was that I was on bare ice and the resulting engine braking broke the rear tires loose and the truck begins to go sideways!!. Thankfully this happened about 70 km/hr (40 mph) so it didn't take a lot to recover the skid.....but it sure woke me up!
My sons had shoveled out the spot for the trailer and by about 2 pm we were set up and hooked up to the utilities. Now we just sit out the next fourteen days. We have a couple of bags of mail to go through, taxes to do, some clean up around the trailer and lot, and make some phone calls to friends and family. My neighbor across the street filled a propane tank for me so we shouldn't freeze although the overnight lows are in the -15C (mid-teens F) range. We have plenty of our own anti-freeze, oh, and lots of food too!
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| Our spot in the Lethbridge Casino lot. |
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| See the glare of the ice on the highway! Not what you want to be towing through. |
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| Our favorite barn south of Calgary. |
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| City of Calgary |
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| Bow River |
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| The lighthouse greeting us at Gull Lake. |
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| Lots of folks ice fishing |
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| Our street. |
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| Our spot all shoveled out! |
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| Home sweet home!! |
We're happy to be home but of course wish it was under different circumstances. We really need a Grandkid hug but we've talked to them and they understand.
I hope everyone is well and staying safe.
.........and that was Our View From Here!
So glad you two made it home safely! I love the smiling barn too! Nice your place was ready for you to come home. I know what you mean about wanting those grandkids hugs :) Beautiful pictures of your drive on the way home! Enjoy your time and before you know it grandkids!! Are they out of school too? Ours are possibly for the rest of the semester. Hugs to you both :)
ReplyDeleteWELCOME HOME! Okay, another sigh of relief "the kids are home" kind of relief. We've been concerned about you fellow Canadians as well. Waiting for word for Gayle - soon. Glad you got into your 'home' spot too, could have been worse for both of us.
ReplyDeleteHug each other, often, as we do, to make up for missing the little ones.
Your route home is certainly a lot more scenic than ours along I-5. Looks like you did all seasons as well. I bet you puckered up a bit when you lost traction on that ice. Glad you made it back safely. Stay warm, safe, and healthy!
ReplyDeleteGlad you are Safely Home. Know what it's like towing on Black Ice. Stay Warm.
ReplyDeleteEnjoy your self isolation.
It's about time.
So glad you are home safely. I know it's cold but with this huge pandemic it is the safest place to be. Virtual hugs to you both.
ReplyDeleteGlad you decided to come home things are pretty rough out there and supposed to get worse before getting better, stay healthy
ReplyDeleteWelcome home!
ReplyDeleteGood to be home!!
ReplyDeleteWow you didn't waste any time on that run did you? Glad to see you are home safe and sound. Looks like lots of snow and cold yet in Alberta. We'll wait here in Osoyoos until that melts, cheers.
ReplyDeleteWelcome Home
ReplyDeleteYou sure don't want that icy scare again, I'm glad it didn't take a turn for the worse. I feel for you having to come back and sit in all that snow but I think it was the right thing to do. I always want to thank you both for doing your part and self isolating as soon as you arrived back in Canada.
ReplyDeleteI am also missing those grandkid hugs but we did get to see big smiles from three of them out the window of their truck and the window of our RV while our daughter dropped off our groceries ... we will take what we can get right now :-)
Glad you made it safe and sound, the roads looked pretty good for you except that little stretch in Alberta. Glad we missed out on that, we had a short stretch of ice fog in southern Idaho but only about 20 miles so we counted ourselves lucky. Other than that is was bare and dry the whole way. It as a video on Youtube by Mark Denney that clued me into the whole focus stacking thing. Now I just need to go back to some places that I would like to reshoot.
ReplyDelete