2024-08-29 Camrose to Cranbrook
Louise and I left home at around 9:30. When I started the van, I realized I only had about a 1/4 tank of gas. Damn. Anyway, I thought that should get us to Drumheller. My DTE said 230km, and Drumheller is only 200km away. No problem.
I should say that Louise is always paranoid about running out of gas, and hates it when I "Push the Limit".
Anyway, we got to Stettler and m DTE said 125, and Drumheller was only 99km, so I didn't bother stopping for gas. No problem.
As we continued South, I kept my eye on the DTE and my Google Maps. I wasn't worried when the little bell rang saying my gas was low - no problem.
Everything was good, until about 50km out of Drum when the DTE just said Low Fuel. Then my bottom fuel bar turned red. It should be no problem right?
The red fuel bar started blinking as we got to Drumheller. When we got to the top of the valley, I knew we were golden, as it was all downhill from there.
I like to fuel up at the Mobile station in order to get my ten cent a litre credit on my PC Card, so I drove past the first Esso Station (where I would only have gotten 7 cents). I was glad that our new van shuts off when we stop, as we had to wait for a single lane construction issue at the bridge.
I drove past the Fas Gas, then past another Esso station (surely I had enough fuel). I decided to go straight to the Drumheller Mobile station and then loop back to the Tim's - just in case.
We made it - no problem. Once I had re-fueled, I casually asked Louise to look in the manual to see what the capacity of our tank was. She asked how much fuel I had put in, and I said 70 Litres. She looked in the manual. Our fuel capacity in the van is 71 Litres. She immediately slapped me on the shoulder with the manual. Then I looked at my receipt, and it was actually 70.4 litres. She slapped me again - but then laughed. Hey - I got away with it, but I now know the limits of the van fuel system.
Louise has a new favourite Stamping/Crafting Shop in Calgary, although she had never been to it. She had bought merchandise from the shop, spoken to the owners, and taken on-line courses from the shop, but never been there. So..... this is her holdiay too - so we stopped at the Paper & Ink Boutique. I left her there for a good hour while I made a quick trip to Princess Auto. She had a wonderful time in the shop. It was probably the highlight of her trip! Apparently there is a big shipment heading to our house in a week, so it should arrive just after Louise gets home!
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| Louise in her Happy Place! |
On the way out of Calgary on the Deerfoot, we crested a hill, and I could see a lot of smoke and flashing lights. Possibly a fire. As we got closer, we could see it was a black truck traveling in the opposite direction from us, with a totally flat front tire, booking it as fast as he could with smoke pouring out from under his hood. In close pursuit were 4 or 5 black unmarked police vehicles, a few other police vehicles, As we continued South we saw four or five more police vehicles giving chase - trying to catch up. We couldn't find anything on the news about it. Maybe it is a common occurrence in Calgary, but we thought it was pretty exciting!
Our next stop was the Lancaster Museum in Nanton. I hadn't stopped there in years! We were wandering around, when a fellow came up to us and offered us a special tour of the back room where they are restoring Mosquito. Wow! We spent an hour talking to the fellow doing all the wood work. The Mosquito was a twin engine WW2 Bomber made of wood. They have been working on it for 10 years, and expect it will take another 10 to complete. He showed us how they are replacing the plywood skin on the wings, and described what they had done with the fuselage. I think even Louise enjoyed it. It was really something special. This particular Mosquito "F for Freddie" had completed a total of 213 operations... & was selected to tour Canada as part of a War Bond Drive and arrived in Calgary on 9 May 1945, the day after the war in Europe ended. But 2 days later, the pilot was showing off - and crashed into a pole near the airport tower, killing the pilot and navigator. It is an amazing project.
The rest of the museum was as impressive as ever. I climbed into the cockpit of a Snowbirds Tutor Jet, and we walked around the Lancaster and other aircraft. They sure have a lot of dedicated people running that facility. It is very much worth the stop.
From Nanton, we crossed over to Highway 22X and headed south to Crows Nest. Virtually the whole way we could see some lenticular clouds over Cowley. The "Mountain Wave" was certainly working today. When the winds come off the mountains in just the right way, they form waves. In a glider if you get into the wave at the right location, it is just like an elevator and can take you up at literally thousands of feet per minute. I have heard of the wave at Cowley, but have never flown it. I did do some wave soaring at Colorado Springs, back in the late 1970's, and "rode a wave" to over 30,000 feet. It was some experience.
The rest of our day was relatively uneventful, although we did see a lot of deer - fortunately, none on the road.
We arrived in Cranbrook around 7:00, walked over to BP to pick up a Pizza and then ate it in our room with a bottle of wine! What a great way to start our trip!
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| Mosquito |
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| Tiger Moth |
