RV Adventure, Day 6: Regina to Calgary East

Originally published at Information Echo. Please leave any comments there.

Day 6: Regina to Calgary area.

Our relaxing evening at the campground in Regina was a brief reprieve from what would be yet another long driving day.

We packed up after a quick breakfast, and after a stop to empty our holding tanks and refill our fresh water supply, we were back on the road again.

One thing that I’ve noticed in both Manitoba and Saskatchewan is that once you get off the Trans-Canada highway, almost all of the roads are dirt - either immediately, or within a kilometer or two of the highway. Although our campsite was only about a kilometer off the highway, half of it was dirt roads, a bit frustrating since not only does it dirty up the truck and trailer, but the stones being flung into the front of the trailer can cause damage. Being from Ontario, we’ve grown used to almost every road being paved, but out here it’s not unusual to see cars and trucks on the dirt service roads actually traveling faster then we were on the Trans-Canada highway at times. The dust is horrendous, and I can only imagine that the stone chips and wear and tear on the vehicles must be terrible, not to mention the absolute fruitlessness of actually trying to keep your vehicle clean and shiny.

We cruised into downtown Regina for a few hour stop to checkout the local Science Center. The family pass that we had purchased at Science North in Sudbury gave us free access to any “Association of Science Centers” member center, and we fully intended to take advantage of this here at Regina, Calgary, Vancouver, and perhaps on our way back home in the USA as well.

The science center was fairly small but held the kids interest and had some interesting spots for us adults as well. Unfortunately several busloads of school children had arrived and it was crowded and very noisy in some areas, but it was fun regardless.

Less then two hours after we arrived were were underway again. We weren’t on the highway very long when I noticed the beginnings of a steering vibration that was getting worse. I knew that both of our front tires were in (*cough cough*) “Less then new” condition, but I was sure that they would be fine until we entered the USA (after our time in Vancouver) and I was planning on replacing both of them there are considerably reduced cost versus the Canadian side.

Our stomachs told us that it was lunch time earlier then it actually should have been - even being only two hours behind our own time-zone has started to play havoc with our rhythms already. We stopped at a roadside bird sanctuary interpretive center that actually turned out to be a very interesting excursion. After a visit to the center itself (free, donations accepted) we fixed lunch, and afterwards we paid a visit to the nearby ice-cream stand and got some frozen treats for the road.

I looked at both front tires and didn’t see anything of any major concern (no tread separation or cords showing) so I decided to head out again - even if we had wanted to replace tires here, we were almost in the middle of nowhere on the western side of Saskatchewan, and the nearest place where there was any chance of getting a replacement set was Medicine Hat Alberta, at least another hour or two down the road yet.

A few hours down the road (and yet another fuel stop later) we passed into Alberta, and shortly thereafter, Medicine Hat. We stopped in town for groceries, and I once again looked at the front tires - sure enough, one had developed a lump which indicated that there was a shifted/damaged steel belt.

Unfortunately, to keep a very long story short, with the time nearing 6PM at this point there was no shops left open that would be able to change the tires for us. The one and only workable option was an after-hours Kal-Tire service call that would have done the job, but at a quoted $600 price tag made me run away screaming.

Our goal for day 6 was to get to Calgary, and if we stopped at Medicine Hat we would awake the next morning 300 kilometers short of our goal, and it would play havoc with something we had planned for the morning of day 7. I made a judgement call to head down the road and see what happened. With the front tires on my truck being heavy duty truck tires I was confident that despite having a broken belt, they wouldn’t catastrophically blow-up on us despite the issue, so off we went about two hours after arriving in Medicine Hat. We had stocked up on groceries, fixed and ate dinner, and watched a bit of television while doing it all, and now it was time to run.

The steering vibration was annoying, but we made it almost all of the way - about 20 kilometers east of Calgary (and now nearing midnight) we came upon a Walmart. I was sure I’d be able to get two new tires at WalMart in the morning, so we pulled in and crashed in the parking lot for the night. The weather was clear, but it was only a few degrees above zero with a stiff wind, so for what little time we were awake after arriving we conserved battery power so that the furnace would have lots of reserve for the chilly night ahead.

It was quiet, dark, and we were exhausted, so it wasn’t long and we were all out for the night. Day 7 awaited.