We have been gone from home for over a week now so it is time to blog! Right now I am in a KOA in Chula Vista, California and the weather is perfect. It was not so perfect when we set out but we knew it would get better.

We were up fairly early on December 18. I had packed the night before as best I could and Bernie had hooked the trailer up to the truck and pulled it around to the front of the house. So far so good. It was reasonably mild - not above freezing, but then again it wasn't forty below.

On Dec. 5 we were in Edmonton during the big dump of snow and we shovelled huge amounts of it into the back of our truck for weight while we spun our tires in our son's lovely neighbourhood. We just left the snow there since Bernie thought it would be good for traction.

We left Coronation for points south on the 18th at around 8:30 a.m. We were sure we would get somewhere, probably Great Falls by sundown. Things started off with a spin since we needed a little gravel to get the tires going in the right direction and then we were off!!

We stopped for gas at Cactus Corner and then again in Taber where we also had some lunch. So far so good.

We waited at the U.S. border for about half an hour which wasn't too bad. When it was our turn we produced our passports and waited for the questions. Bernie even had the trailer keys ready because the last time we went down there our trailer was searched. We had phoned ahead of time to make sure we could take frozen meat for our own use so we were fairly confident we were not breaking any recent agricultural laws they seem to change on a daily basis. I can still hear the border crossing guard asking the other guy for our license number. He hollers, "Charlie Two Charlie Two, Zero Zero Two." The guy says, "What??" and he makes him repeat it while he is shaking his head - I think he wanted to ask but he didn't. (We have a personalized plate C2C2002 in recognition of our glorious cross Canada cycling journey.)

When they finally established what our plate number was and that we did not have any citrus fruit with us they asked, "Why do you have the snow in the back?" Bernie told him it was for weight. Then he asked where we got it from and he says he got it in Edmonton. They both did not believe him when he said he used a shovel to get it there because they both said we must have used a "loader". Yeah, right, a loader. I shovelled too, I ought to know. Then the guard asked Bernie if we had drugs under all that snow and I couldn't help but laugh because I knew that was coming. He asked him twice and of course the answer was no both times. I was almost wishing that they would start pawing and shovelling through that truck box full of cold wet snow, without a "loader"!! ha ha Anyhow, they sent us on our way and didn't even ask for the dog's papers.

Finally we continued on our way, knowing that Great Falls would be our destination. We stopped to get some groceries and cheap beer and headed to the KOA. That was our first mistake of the day. We got there in good shape, paid, and were sent to our campsite. For the next two hours we spun, turned, twisted, shovelled and froze as we tried to get truck and trailer up icy hills and around tight curves. It seemed that the campground was the only place in Great Falls that it even snowed and froze. The manager helped us out and we finally got where we needed to get. It is all a blur now and I was just grateful that nothing happened to the vehicle or the trailer. I was ready to pack it in and head for home.

So we got set up, and plugged in, etc. and started the furnace while we went for a bathroom break. When we got back we discovered that the furnace had quit, the trailer was still cold and we didn't have any propane. Great. So Bernie took both tanks off and we trudged through the snow to the office to get our tanks filled. We got that done, put the tanks back on, got the furnace going and even turned on a little electric space heater that we had taken along. Before long we had everything toasty warm. I commenced to cook supper since by now it was eight o'clock.

I put stuff in the microwave and the stupid thing would not work......par for the course. I knew there was a trick because it acted up in the summer time but I couldn't remember what the trick was and I was hungry and losing patience. I finally got supper cooked and we were fed and watered by about 9:30 p.m. Not bad, only four and a half hours after arriving in camp!! Tomorrow would be better.

If we had planned things a bit better we probably could have had a visit with some hockey family friends we had met a long time ago, but we were about at the end of our tether by this point in time. Hopefully on the way home.