Better Safe Than Sorry

November 7

We woke up to a couple of surprises this morning in Donald, 15km west of Golden, BC.  #1, we pulled in after dark last night and had no idea what surrounded us, except that the sign next to Plan B said 45, our assigned site……….#2, although there was no snow, there was a heavy layer of frost everywhere, covering everything, with the temp at a balmy -2.  Turns out, this is a fairly extensive RV park with numerous sites, and surrounded by great mountain views.  With not unhooking last night, we are road ready in no time, headed to Golden with MacDonalds breakfast on my mind.

 
I remember very well the road out of Golden from “The Ride” with Sid………they call it Ten Mile Hill……why?…..because it’s a hill, and it’s ten miles long.  It’s a bear on a bike! Luckily there was minimal traffic, and we just made our way up the steep twisty grade, but that was only the first of many more to follow.  Although cold, the weather was fantastic…….sunny clear skies, perfect for Jutta’s now well know, shooting from the car pictures……..they really are quite good!  It was a pretty easy push to the top where we crossed into Alberta from Yoho to Banff National Parks.  The drive down towards Calgary was a dream…….that is a nice smooth stretch of highway…….just plugged in the CC and we were driving around the city in no time.

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I planned to stop in Strathmore just east of Calgary, as I knew it for having good services right next to the highway.  It was also time to take a closer look at the weather, as all reports were now warning of a very large storm brewing for the prairies, with travel advisories, blizzard warnings, only essential travel…….you name it, it was out there.  Strathmore was -3, with drizzly stuff falling, and remnants of yesterdays snowfall still evident here and there, but the weather to the southeast towards Medicine Hat, was looking brutal…..the direction we were headed. We called a couple of RV parks in Medicine Hat and they reported deteriorating conditions.  Weather websites, and the 511 road conditions were all super negative.  There was an RV park a short distance away, but we just happened to be sitting 50 metres from the Days Inn…….I checked it out, and they said we could plug in Plan B around back but would have to take a room whether we stayed in the trailer or not.  For a moment I thought about pushing through to Medicine Hat, and then realized I was putting it all at risk for a two hour advance in position.

 
So here we are……I thought our first night in a regular bed after the trip would be back home on Alexandra Way……..not so……..Plan B is plugged in and warm out back, but we are here in Room 111 looking at it through the window.  It is not very pretty out there, and we hope that some time tomorrow  we can hit the road again.  We are bummed out, but better safe than sorry.