If you plan it they will come... day two.

Saturday September 28th

Frosty morning in Moose Jaw SK

We woke up on Saturday morning cold and a bit of fog. In fact we had to scrape the frost off the car windows! Funny thing is though, we didn't have a scraper in the car so had to use a credit card!

"Fuelled" up, plugged in and ready to hit the road!

After a quick breakfast at Tim Horton's we headed east and south on highway passing  through Rouleau, Weyburn and Estevan before reaching the border at North Portal.

If you plan it they will come... day one.

Friday September 27th.

The day started out a little chilly with the Calgary weather forecast calling for snow!!!!

Fluids topped off, luggage, tools and parts all packed. Ready to go!!

The roads were familiar as we have done this route a number of times in the past. It was raining on and off for the whole drive to Moose Jaw.

Alberta prairie views

Welcome to Saskatchewan

We made a detour to Gravelbourg SK. This prairie town is renowned for its brick  homes, the Our Lady of Assumption Cathedral and its Francophone heritage.

The final road trip

Well, it happened... the final road trip in our trusty red Festiva. With bike rack mounted on the roof, packed full with bags and bins we left Calgary just after lunch on the afternoon of Sunday August 29th headed for the first stop, Emerald Park SK. Most of this leg of the trip was familiar to us and I forgot to have pictures taken; oops. Other than a lot of bugs and a stiff wind  as we drove across the western half of Saskatchewan it was an uneventful start to this quick trip. We made it to our hotel in Emerald Park by about 8:30pm and settled in to our room for the night.

 

Car loaded up with the bike rack. Picture was actually taken in Dauphin MB.

We got up fairly early for breakfast, checked out of the hotel and hit the road. Rather than head directly east to Winnipeg along the Trans Canada Highway and then up to Arnes  we decided to take the scenic route. Travelling up the  Qu'Appelle valley to Yorkton SK, east across Saskatchewan, through Dauphin MB, across The Narrows and then south into Arnes. It rained for most of the trip as far as Dauphin where we drove out from under the clouds. Living in Calgary and doing most of our travels to the west we are used to more coniferous tress and mountains. This leg of the journey provided us with long views of rolling farm and park lands with lots of water and a much higher proportion of deciduous trees.

Heading into Fort Qu'Appelle

Manitoba welcomes you!

The only construction we ran into.

Out of the rain and under a clear blue sky!

Harvest done

Are those marshmallows?

Pense, Saskatchewan

In all our travels we have determined that every type of terrain, whether it be a mountain pass or a long stretch of dead straight highway across the Nevada desert, has its own beauty. The drive across Saskatchewan and Manitoba adds another perspective to our experiences.

We've been everywhere... an update

I don't want to leave out the Canadian portions of our road trips so here's a map showing the provinces we've been in during the same time frame of our earlier post:

Provinces we've visited in the Festiva marked in yellow

Although over the years we've been in more than what's shown I've only included those provinces that we've been in with the Festiva.We hope to increase the yellow bits on both maps during 2015!

"Festivas where art thou?"

Or... Festiva Madness Day 2

Posting from our hotel just north of Madison Wisconsin. Another 1000km (600 miles) and 10 hours driving today. We've been blessed with great weather and no delays or surprises on the road.

Thanks to the Gerkes for the loan of the DVD player... those riding in the back seat really appreciate it!

A couple of things we are very thankful for on the car are the air conditioning and the sound deadener I installed in the past couple of weeks. I think it was well over 30ºC heading through Saskatchewan yesterday and we didn't really notice it until we stepped out of the car. The sound deadener has taken a lot of the "buzziness" out of the car... yes it still has its rattles but nowhere near as many as before.

 You may be wondering what this post's title is getting at... even if you aren't I'm going to tell you. In over 2400km, two provinces and three states we haven't seen one other Festiva!!! Maybe they're on their way to Raleigh!

Here's a couple of photos from the first couple of days....

Entering Saskatchewan!

Another border to cross!

Chicken Man.... Minnesota visitor center

Beautiful Wisconsin

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 3!

Festiva Madness trip Day 1

Well, we made it safely to Bismarck ND! 1300 km (780 miles) in a total of 14 hours travel time. I don't have the fuel consumption figured out yet but can tell you the the most we paid for gas was $1.26.9 per liter (works out to $4.80 per US gallon) and the cheapest was $3.78 per US gallon just north of Minot ND> That works out to about 99.9cents per liter.

We left Calgary about an hour later than we wanted but still got to our hotel in time for E & I to go for a swim. The car ran great too in spite of discovering the new shock I installed to replace the one that was leaking was itself leaking. Ended up having to "adjust" the lip of the fender to stop the tire from rubbing.

Crossing the border was pretty straightforward but we all felt a little intimidated by the border guards! Funniest thing was the border guard asked me what I did for a living then he asked "Are you not good at your job or are you just saving money?"

Ended up doing all the driving today because Sharon turned her ankle while we were packing the car last night. She's doing much better today and should be fine by the time we get to Petersburg KY and the Creation Museum.

Tomorrow we head from Bismarck through Fargo ND, Minneapolis MN and end the day just north of Madison WI. Not quite as long as today and it will be all Interstate.

CLICK HERE FOR DAY 2!