Day 28
Sadly, our Western Adventure has come to an end and we are heading home.
A half hour out of Banff, the majestic mountains with their rugged, rocky faces, faded away to rolling hills of evergreens and farmland with horses and cows (Todd was very disappointed that he did not spot even one cowboy in Alberta).
After driving around 7000 km, Todd thought we should stop at a Toyota dealership with Express Lube and get an oil change. Apparently, Express Lube works different outside of Waterloo Region, where we have experience. Here you need to have an appointment. We were turned away in Calgary. We called Medicine Hat, but they had no availability. Next we called Regina, since we would be spending the night there, but they also had no availability and suggested Moose Jaw. Moose Jaw is 45 minutes west of Regina would be backtracking ..too much wasted time, so Todd says we will hold off until home.
In Cambridge, we have a Tim Hortons every block (or so it seems), in Calgary there are liquor stores every block
or so it seems
.
Between Calgary and Medicine Hat we saw a lot of farmland with cattle and active oil wells.
In Saskatchewan, 80 km west of Moose Jaw, we thought we had reached the Saskatchewan Icefields it was mounds of potash
.
The Prairies are not at all what we expected. We expected extremely flat land with little colour. What we saw were stretches of flat land, but lots of hilly land speckled with colours of greens, yellows, and browns grasses, trees, hay, animals, etc. We also saw lots of ponds and lakes. We were amazed at the amount of ducks and birds that dwelled in the area 100s. We also saw a number of hawks along the route scouting the prey from the tops of hydro poles.
Todd is very itchy from all the mosquito bites (turned into welts) he incurred while in Banff. My blood must not be any good (or maybe too good) because I didnt get any bites.
Got into Regina to the Best Western just before 7 PM, did some laundry, and grabbed a bite at the onsite restaurant (spinach salad and chicken pizza). The rest of the night will be some R&R before we get on the road tomorrow morning (after Todd picks up some Tim Hortons coffee from across the road ).