In recovery mode...

Ok, so I figure I should write on here again to update on the remainder of my vacation. So on Friday, I hit the highway and headed back up north to the remote tundra town of Grande Prairie. Ok, so maybe tundra is a bit of a stretch, but it sure is a long drive to the northwest. I think the most challenging part of the drive is the fact that the road was fairly wet, not snowy, but wet for the last hour. This caused quite a bit of my washer fluid to be used, as there was also a lot of traffic on this highway. It actually surprised me just how busy the highway was. Lots of trucks, especially. Anyway, when I finally got there (about 4.5 hrs later) I noticed that, especially on the side streets, they don't clear the roads very well in G.P. Instead, they just plow all the snow into the middle of the road, leaving about a 4 ft. tall barrier between lanes, and making it tough to find enough room to park safely on the side of the road while leaving enough room for cars to drive by. I survived though.

I got to spend the best part of a day in town, hanging out with my friend and his wife. We played some computer games, had a good chat, caught up on all the news from old friends, and generally had a good night staying up 'till 3am. We had a good venison roast for dinner, and then had some nachos for a midnight snack, and then in the morning he fed me so many pancakes, I thought I was going to turn into Aunt Jemima. Anyway, I got back on the road around 1pm and started the trek back to Edmonton.

Upon arriving in E-town, I caught up with my roommate who was up for a couple days on business, and we went to the Oilers vs. Flames game. The game didn't go so well. Kipper was on his game, and the Oilers, namely the defence, were having a bad night. Flames won 4-0, and that's all we'll say about the actual game. After the game, however, is a different story. We went down under the stadium seats, into the lower concourse, where the Oilers broadcast control room is. It's also right outside the Oilers locker room. After HNIC (Hockey Night In Canada) they have an interview segment called After Hours. When the late game is in Edmonton, they broadcast that segment from that control room. We stood just beside the big glass wall that divides the room from the rest of the concourse. We had a front row view. The hosts, Kelly Hrudey and Scott Oake, had on the Oilers' star forward Ryan Smyth. It was so cool to be that close to three people I've watched for years on tv. At one point, during a break, Kelly Hrudey (who was once an NHL goalie, and a pretty good one at that) looked out at us, and as he looked at me, I pointed to my HNIC T-shirt, which are apparently quite rare, and was a gift from my sister for Christmas '05, and he responded with a thumbs up while saying, "Hey, I like it!" So now I have this incredible claim to fame. While I may no longer be the biggest Oilers fan to never have been to a game, I can now say that Kelly Hrudey liked my T-shirt!!! (Hey, I'll take what I can get.)

Anyway, after heading back to Sis' place for the night, she showed me the taped footage of After Hours, and on four separate occasions you can clearly see me as they panned a camera across the crowd watching them shoot the segment. So, for a grand total of about 15 seconds, I got one sixtieth of my fifteen minutes. (And I'm going to hold out for my remaining 14:45!!!)

Finally, Sunday I drive myself and my roommate back to Lethbridge. This was a bit of an adventure in itself. We left Edmonton with almost a full tank of gas. We drove straight past Red Deer, then Calgary. As we worked our way out of Calgary, I noticed the gas tank was almost empty. I figured I'd have enough to at least get to Nanton. Well, we pull into the station at the south end of Nanton, where the price was 5 cents less than at the north end of Nanton. (And if you've ever been through Nanton, you'll know it only a few blocks away.) As a result, there was a substantial wait to get into the pumps, and it being a full-service station, the cars tend to take even longer to get through the pumps. I decide we'll have enough gas to go the added 40 kms or so to Claresholm. Well, I was right, but barely. As we came up a gradual slope, about 4 km north of Claresholm, the car started to stutter a bit. I eased off the gas a bit, though I was already going below the speed limit to conserve gas, and that seemed to help a bit. As we came over the crest of the slope, the car still stuttering a bit, the few drops of gas that were left in the tank moved back to the front of the tank, and we got our power back, at least temporarily. At this point, with about 3 km to go, we hit a gradual downhill slope. I put the car in neutral on more than one occasion to coast as far as I could. As we rolled into town, I didn't touch the brake to slow down to 50 km/h, but rather just slowly coasted down to speed. Again, if you've driven in to Claresholm from the north, you'll know how easy this is through the long 70 km/h zone before finally getting to the 50 zone. Anyway, the only light in town was green, so I cruised right on through, and right up to the 7-11/Petro-Canada station. I think if I had to go just a couple kms further, I wouldn't have made it. Anyway, a quick fill and off we went.

Overall, it was a good trip. One bad hockey game, but at least the sting was reduced by the whole After Hours incident. The roads were pretty well all clear, maybe a bit wet at the worst, at least on the highways. It's really not that bad of a drive, especially for someone who enjoys being behind the wheel, like myself. I think I may have to do this trip again sometime, though I'll have to plan for a longer stay in G.P. as that was the only thing I would want to change about it, at least that I can control (stupid Flames).