Travel highlights

Me: [lightly punching The Guy in the leg] That's a love tap. It shows how much I love you.

The Guy: I do the same thing. [Raises his fist in mocking threat] But I love you more.

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The trip to Red Deer was eventful to say the least.

It was +20 Celsius when we left our fair city. About 2 hours later, it started to rain. The rain varied in its intensity - just enough so we could never leave the windshield wipers on the same level. It would pour and then sprinkle. It would dump and then lightly wash the car while the sun shone innocently as though saying "What? I have nothing to do with this. I want to be happy and warm. Rain, it has a mind of it's own."

The Guy and I have decided to hire out our services to farmers. They pick an area that is too dry and we will travel through it. I think we'll make millions.

We drove a way I had never gone before en route to visit the brother and sister-in-law. The Guy prefers the four lane highways (being a bonafide city boy) and would rather travel an hour out of his way for better roads. This trip bit him in the butt for that choice.

We drove quietly down the #1 highway for many hours until a brief jaunt we would take to avoid The City of Cowboys and Pretentiousness in order to get back on The Scariest and Fastest Highway in Canada. I was starting to get really tired from driving, so asked The Guy to drive. That was mistake number one.

We turned onto the #9 highway. Two lane and "under construction". I thought it would not be a big deal. Canada has two seasons - "Winter" and "Construction". What the sign should have read is "Beware. Road suddenly disappears for miles at a time." What we found was 1 km of good highway and then 2 kms of no highway. Not "under construction" highway, but NO HIGHWAY AT ALL. And, since it had been raining for many hours by then, it was 2 kms of mud pit. Thus was our first introduction to off roading in the Versa. It went on like that for 16 kms. You could actually hear The Guy's teeth grind. If you're keeping track, that was mistake number 2.

We finally made it to The Scariest and Fastest Highway in Canada and our turnoff was covered in fog. We could barely make out the lines to keep us on the road. As we pulled onto the highway, we found out why we couldn't see anything. It was snowing. In May. Not even snowing, really. It was a blizzard. Every car on The Scariest and Fastest Highway in Canada was going 60 kmph.

It was like the world was ending and hell actually was freezing over. The Guy almost broke his own hands from the grip he had on the steering wheel. I suggested he pull over and let me drive (I revel in that kind of driving) but there was no where to stop. I watched him tense every muscle in his body and felt very guilty.

We finally made it to Red Deer in just over 10 hours from when we left home. It is a 8 hour drive at most. It was a long day. The next day, the sun was out and it was like the rain and snow had never happened. Thank goodness the rest of the weekend was fun or The Guy would never travel with me again.