Chasing the Sun

Well my DOT physical was passed and I'm on the move.  Before leaving North Dakota I decided to check out the Red River.  These pictures should have been posted then, but no hot spots were present.  There were two informational posts one of which explains what the solitary column parting the river is.  It's an interesting read of over engineering.


A few hours later and I was waiting in line to cross the Canadian border into Manitoba.   Registering my firearm was simple.  One form, $25, and a few questions later I was driving again.  Apparently Manitoba was hit by the same storms that hit the upper east coast of the U.S..  Waters had risen to within a foot of the highway's shoulder.  Everything along the road was a muddy icy mess.  

My first night in below zero temperatures was actually pretty plesant.  Such cold temperatures finally provided me the chance to try out my -30 sleeping bag by The Backside.  It's hard to find this bag, but if you can get your hands on it it's worth it.  Mine was purchased at Gander Mountain for about $60 on sale.  It's a mummy bag with a hood illiminating the cold head issue I was having with my rectangular bag.  I'm a pretty large guy and I fit in it with no problem.  Granted there wasn't much arm space for me so I had to lay in true mummy fashion with my hands on my chest, but this didn't keep me from being comfortable.  So far I can vouche that it withstands up to -1 degree Celcius.  Tonight I'll test it at -4 and let everyone know how that goes.

As my trip progressed Northwest the small patches of snow slowly grew into a solid white blanket.  Even approaching mid April these parts aren't showing many signs of spring.  Flurries were forcasted in some parts of Canada including temperatures as low as -13 Celsius.  At one point earlier today I made the mistake of using my windsheild washer fluid.  It froze in seconds.  Needless to say I now own an ice scrapper again.  Once I got out of the mud and into some snow covered terrain, things began to look a lot nicer.   Too bad nothings started to bloom here yet.  There must be some amazing colors on the rolling hills and distant mountains I've passed later in the season.

Currently I'm in Edmunton, which is the halfway point of traversing Canada for me.  If things go well I should be in the Yukon if not Alaska sometime tomorrow.  It sounds like the roads are still pretty rough there though.   If it's too bad I'll have to hold short.  My poor truck took a beating today and these aren't even large mountains.  Most of the roads in Canada have been two lanes up until about Saskatoon.  Every time a truck drove by in the opposite direction it would shake the crap out of my little car.  At one point a truck with an oversized load knocked my CB antenna off the cab with the turbulence.  Luckily the radio kept the antenna attached.  I held on to the cable until I found a safe part of the emergency lane to pull over.  There was ice on portions of the emergency lane so caution was required.  Once I was able to pull over I saw that the antenna was almost at the end of the camper shell.

Well it's off to bed.  Tomorrow will be the most challenging portion of the entire trip.  My driving schedule is long.  I'm still on EST and the sun stays up long since my direction of travel is east.  There is still one more hour to gain.